2021 Lycoming College Summer Magazine

collaboration, enhancing knowledge and skills, and creating connections through inclusive educational, networking, and professional growth opportunities. In her role, Lauren serves as CEO of the chapter and has primary responsibility for the general welfare of the chapter. In addition, she presides over a 17-member board of directors. She has a long record of service with PRSA NCC, including chairing its awards program and pro bono committee and founding its student service award. She is also the recipient of PRSA NCC's Platinum and Diamond Awards for exceptional service. Ashley Lenig accepted a new position with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in March 2019. As a conservation program manager, she oversees several financial assistance programs including the Conservation Stewardship Program, National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI), and Conservation Innovation Grants in Pennsylvania. In addition, she serves as the Source Water (drinking water sources) point of contact for NRCS in Pennsylvania. She has been enjoying the challenges of working with others to roll out the 2018 Farm Bill including using new programs for mapping, assessing, and ranking land and projects associated with client applications. She also has had the opportunity to work with partners on watershed concerns. Through the NWQI, five watersheds across the state developed watershed assessment plans in 2019 which identified critical source areas for pollution, outreach plans, budgets, and outcome goals (including actual water quality indicator data) with the end goal of removing streams from the state’s Ag-Impaired Streams List. In 2020, contracts were signed with farmers and landowners to install conservation projects on the landscape to make improvements to assist in meeting these goals. In her free time, Ashley continues to enjoy many hobbies and remains active in the community. She has served as the director of curriculum for the Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp for the past three years. This camp has been in existence for more than 25 years and strives to educate future leaders on the value of conservation while also teaching them a hobby they can enjoy for life. 00 Katie (Wuestner) Bell completed her MBA with highest honors from the Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI) in June 2020. JWMI’s MBA program provides a firm academic grounding in leadership strategy, marketing, and finance. Katie is the director of defense marketing for Textron Systems in Hunt Valley, Md. She and her husband, Greg Bell ’99 , reside in northern Maryland with their two daughters. 01 Danielle (Sheehan) Curzi earned her Doctor of Education in educational leadership and curriculum and instruction from Wilkes University in June 2020. Her dissertation study is titled “Educators perceived adherence to provisions of intervention in RTI schools,” with publication of the study expected in Spring 2021. Previously, Danielle earned two master’s degrees from Wilkes University in early childhood literacy (2008) and educational leadership (2011). She has utilized her personal academic growth and front line teaching experience by presenting across the country at a variety of educational conferences and coaching K-12 educators on innovative instructional practices. She currently serves the Capital Area Intermediate Unit Student Services department as the instructional technology specialist/coach. Sandy (Utsch) and Donald Jameson welcomed a son, Landon Michael, on Feb. 5, 2021. 04 Natasha (Simchak) and James Edinger welcomed their second son, Otis Stephen, on Dec. 12, 2020. He joins his adoring big brother, Lukas, and the family is over the moon! Matthew Ross Smith has published a new novel for young readers, “THE MILLION DOLLAR RACE.” The novel has garnered a number of glowing reviews. Educators can reach out to the author through his website, matthew-ross-smith.com , to set up a virtual author visit with students. 05 Kirby (Brookhart) and Scott Baker ’06 welcomed their daughter, Lark Isuphena, on June 1, 2020. 06 Megan Deane (Maiolo) Eppleman was recently awarded a Love of Learning Award worth $500 from The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines, to which she was inducted while at Lycoming in 2006. Love of Learning Awards are designed to help fund post-baccalaureate professional development for active Phi Kappa Phi members including graduate or professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, travel related to teaching and research, career development, and more. Megan, a graduate student at The University of Alabama, will use funds from the award to complete a Master of Arts in educational psychology: learning and assessment. Additionally, she received a 3-year award (full tuition, approximately $25K) from the Kern Family Foundation to complete a second Master of Arts, this one in character education at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) in coordination with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues in Birmingham. As the librarian for information technology initiatives at Pennsylvania College of technology, Jessica (Urick) Oberlin has written one of 13 accepted chapters in the American Library Association’s “Technical Services in the 21st Century,” spotlighting the substantial behind-the- scenes work that allows students to seamlessly access scholarly digital material. Jessica wrote “Data of e-Resources: Moving Forward with Assessment” for the 42nd volume of Emerald 39 www.lycoming.edu