Alumni Doings
1950's
Daniel K. Hess (B.S. 1952) has been enjoying retirement since 1986. He has traveled in Europe and the Caribbean. Hess is a licensed vendor in Sarasota City and, as “Danny’s Unlimited,” creates designer linens and accessories for a shop in Venice, Florida.
1960's
W. Darrell Haden (M.S. 1965) has gone to a half-time teaching schedule after thirty-six years at the University of Tennessee at Martin. After more than twenty years as an associate editor of the Shakespeare journal The Upstart Crow, he is a member of its advisory board. Haden edits the literary magazine New Ground and the Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society.
1970's
John W. "Jack" Ferstel (B.A. 1971) is the recipient of the 2003 "Excellence in Teaching" Award at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he has taught in the Department of English since 1977. He founded the NIU English Student Association, an organization for English majors, when he was an undergraduate in the late 1960s. Ferstel teaches classes in sophomore surveys of American and British literature, technical communication, and Canadian Studies at UL - Lafayette.
Marcia (Duncan) Naseman (B.A. 1975) is a certified wedding planner and the owner of Elegantly Yours. She was named one of the top 3 event and wedding planners for 2002-2003 by the Arizona Foothills Magazine readers’ poll.
Patrick Pentecost (B.A. 1972) has used his English degree for the past 30 years as an industrial copywriter. After working for several different advertising agencies in the Chicago area, he started his own advertising and publicity business in 1993, Brewer Hayes Communications. While at Northern, Hayes had poems published in Towers and hopes to return to poetry upon retirement.
Denise L. Rode (B.A. 1972; M.S.Ed. 1976; Ed.D. 1990) put her English degree to good use by serving as senior associate editor of the Journal of College Orientation & Transition, and as a reviewer for the Journal of the First-Year Experience. She is currently the Director of Orientation at Northern Illinois University and coordinator of “First-Year Connections” at NIU.
Chuck Taylor (Ph.D. 1971) has been teaching at Texas A&M University since 1989, working at its main campus in Texas and at its Japanese campus in Koriyama. He is currently Coordinator of Creative Writing in the English department.
1980's
Major Larry T. Thorson (B.A. 1989), a minister in the Salvation Army, completed an M.A. in counseling from Olivet Nazarene University and a Doctor of Ministry in counseling. He also completed four units of Clinical Pastoral Education at St. John’s Catholic Hospital and St. Francis Catholic Hospital. Thorson teaches at the Salvation Army’s College for Officer Training and is the Assistant Director of Personnel.
1990's
Stacy (Christiansen) Krol (B.A. 1992; M.A. 1994) is the director of copyediting for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). She is also a faculty member of the University of Chicago’s Medical Writing & Editing Program. Stacy and her husband welcomed a baby boy in April 2003.
2000's
Lisa C. Carriere (M.A. 2001) joined Awana Clubs International and works in the International Program department. Her work includes editing, writing, training, and communicating with personnel in over 110 countries. This work allows her the opportunity to use her faith, degree, and abilities.
Terry L. (Sanders) Haycock (B.A. 2001) was recently installed as secretary of the board of the Illinois Women's Press Association, an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women. She was also reappointed to the editorial committee of Association Forum of Chicagoland's Forum Magazine. A freelance writer and editor, Haycock works part time for Donahue-Meehan Publishing/Penton Media in Des Plaines, Illinois, on a contract basis for Miographies of Crystal Lake, and is currently working on a book of creative nonfiction essays.
Diane M. (Littlefield) Lanham (M.A. 2001) has developed
and has been teaching an integrated history-literature course, European
Studies, at
Maine West High School. Lanham received a fellowship to a National Endowment
for the Humanities Seminar in England during the summer of 2002 entitled “Historical
Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in Britain,” which
took an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the time period. She
and her husband, Cole, welcomed their first child, Maxwell Avery Lanham,
in May 2003.
In Memoriam
Novelist Charley W. Perlberg died on September 17, 2002, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He earned his M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1973) degrees in the Department of English. He was a teaching assistant, postdoctoral fellow, and from 1982 to 1986 an instructor in English at NIU. During his teaching career, Charley also served as a writing consultant for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, school district and taught English part-time at Waubonsee Community College.
Perlberg began his career as a novelist in the late 1970s. His first manuscript, Showdown Country, was published by Tower books under the pseudonym Charley Barstow. In all, Perlberg published twenty-two western novels under various pseudonyms, including the popular Jake Logan. Perlberg also created two western novel series, The Hangman for Dell and Cutter for Pinnacle.
During the 1990s, Perlberg received recognition from such organizations as the Ozarks Writers League in Branson, Missouri, and the Missouri Writers Guild. He also served as a judge for the Oklahoma Writers Guild and for the Western Writers of America.
Perlberg is survived by his wife, Dr. Marilyn A. Perlberg, a former student in the Department of History (B.A., M.A.) and a former NIU employee.