Alumni Chapter Board
Arts and Humanities Alumni Association Chapter Board
The Arts and Humanities Alumni Association Chapter Board seeks to design, develop, and implement alumni programs and services that foster lifelong connections among graduates and students of the university. Members include:
- Kyle A. Bodt, President, ’08, English/Business
Practitioner Consultant, IBM Global Business Services (IBM GBS)
Rowena Briones, ’14, Ph.D., Communication
Graduate student representative
Justin A. Coon, Esq.,’02, English/Accounting
Attorney, Office of the General Counsel at the Social Security Aministration
Chris Finnegan, ’99, Journalism
Vice President of Communications, Discovery Communications
Chanelle P. Hardy, Esq., ’99, English/Music
Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Artur Davis
Ashley N. Lam, ’04, Communications/Chinese
Law student, American University
Ryan Edward Merkel, ’10, M.A. in Communication
Development Officer, Kennedy Center
Katlin Meissinger, ’13, English
Undergraduate representative
Michael Olmert, Ph.D., ’80, ’62, English
Professor of the Practice, English Department, University of Maryland
Sylvia Rosenthal, ’61, History
Founder and President, S.ROSE Consulting
Mary Wise, ’74, Theatre
Senior Communications Manager, Fannie Mae
The board supports the College’s signature career networking event for students, Access2Alumni, as well as other initiatives, such as the Access2Leaders Externship Program.
For more information, please contact Christie Brown, Associate Director of Development, at 301-405-4517.
Board Bios
Kyle A. Bodt, ’08, English/Business
Mr. Bodt is a Practitioner Consultant at IBM Global Business Services (IBM GBS) in the Federal Supply Chain Management practice. IBM GBS is the world’s largest business and technology services provider, servicing over 160 countries. Mr. Bodt began his college career in 2004 as an English major in the College of Arts and Humanities. As a student in the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House, Mr. Bodt quickly became involved with Stylus: A Journal of Literature and Art and served as layout director his freshman year. Shortly after, he was elected editor-in-chief and served two years in the position. Through his efforts, the journal was able to double its budget, increase the contributing artist count, and maintain a solid, signature image that Mr. Bodt previously developed. During his final year at the Jiménez-Port Writers’ House, he was a teaching assistant for a fiction and poetry workshop. In 2006 Mr. Bodt was accepted into the Robert H. Smith School of Business. There, he was admitted into the Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams Honors Fellows Program (QUEST). As part of the QUEST program, he was a member of a team that reached the top 10 national finalist list in the General Electric / MTV Ecomagination competition with a solar-powered trash and recycling compaction product development design. Mr. Bodt was also a member of Phi Chi Theta, a business and economics fraternity, and a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Throughout his undergraduate career, Mr. Bodt was employed at United States Army Research Laboratory (US ARL) in the Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate (SLAD) as a software development business analyst and technical writer. Mr. Bodt enjoys coaching youth soccer and continues to support the Terps soccer team. Currently, Mr. Bodt resides in Fallston, Md., but travels nationally for his current position.
Rowena Briones, ’14, Ph.D., Communication (graduate student representative)
Rowena Briones just received her M.A. degree from the University of Maryland's Communication Department in May of 2010 and is continuing on to pursue her doctorate degree starting this fall. Her research interests involve the intersections of public relations, social media and the Web, and health and risk communication campaigns. Her research has been presented at a number of conferences, including the National Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the Eastern Communication Association, and the Public Relations Society of America's Educators Academy, in which she has won a number of honors and awards. In addition to being a full-time student, Rowena also works as an analyst for a research and consulting firm in Maryland, conducting projects for a number of governmental and non-profit agencies. She is also an instructor of record for the Communication Department, having taught courses in communication theory and public speaking (COMM 107) and now teaching a course on news editing for public relations (COMM 232). In her free time she enjoys singing, dancing, acting, blogging, and tweeting (you can follow her at @RLBriones).
Justin A. Coon, Esq., ’02, English/Accounting
Mr. Coon is an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Social Security Administration. In this capacity, Mr. Coon provides legal advice to the Agency on a variety of internal legal matters, including contract formation, tort liability, pending legislation, and implementation of Agency initiatives. Mr. Coon also represents the Agency at adversarial proceedings in various forums. Previously, Mr. Coon was an associate at Hogan Lovells, LLP in Baltimore. There, his practice focused on commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. He also offered pro bono legal services to several community organizations, and was honored for his work by the Community Law Center. Before he became a lawyer, Mr. Coon practiced as a Certified Public Accountant with a public accounting firm in Washington, D.C., that specialized in providing accounting services to nonprofit organizations. Mr. Coon received his J.D. from Duke Law School, with honors, in 2006, where he was an editor of the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum. He currently resides in Hunt Valley, Md. with his wife, Ashley, and cocker spaniel, Betsy. He enjoys cycling, kayaking, beach volleyball, playing violin and guitar, and kabuki theatre. And just to be clear, he is still a die-hard Maryland fan.
Chris Finnegan, ’99, Journalism
Chris Finnegan is Vice President of Communications at Discovery Communications, Inc., the world’s No. 1 non-fiction media company and parent of platforms including Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet. In his current role, Mr. Finnegan oversees communications for the Discovery Health and FitTV cable networks, as well as Discovery Studios, the internal production company within Discovery Communications.
Since joining Discovery in 2007, Mr. Finnegan has led a number of successful network and corporate communications initiatives. From a network standpoint, he launched the successful series “Jon and Kate Plus 8” and “18 Kids and Counting,” and represents notable programming including Dr. Oz specials, “Mystery Diagnosis,” “Dr. G: Medical Examiner.” Mr. Finnegan also plays a key role in the execution of Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge, an annual multi-platform diet and fitness initiative that has enrolled more than 5 million participants over the past several years. On behalf of Discovery Studios, Mr. Finnegan is a communications counselor for the recently announced Curiosity project, one of the largest undertakings in company history. In addition, he is serving as a primary liaison for the yet-to-be-named children’s television joint venture between Discovery and Hasbro, set to launch in late 2010.
Prior to joining Discovery, Mr. Finnegan was a vice president in the Washington office of the global public relations and public affairs consultancy Hill and Knowlton. While at H&K, he spent the majority of his time working on behalf of health industry and health policy clients, including Pfizer and Weill Cornell Medical College. Before H&K, Finnegan worked in the San Francisco office of Ketchum, an international public relations and marketing agency. At Ketchum, he concentrated on biotech and medical technology clients, including Genentech and Medtronic.
Mr. Finnegan lives in Washington with his wife, Molly.
Chanelle P. Hardy, Esq., ’99, English/Music
Ms. Hardy is Chief of Staff to U.S. Congressman Artur Davis, who represents the 7th District of Alabama. In her role, Ms. Hardy serves as political advisor, staff supervisor, ethics officer, and legislative strategist for Congressman Davis. Previously, Ms. Hardy held the position of Counsel in the office, with a portfolio including all of the Congressman’s Judiciary Committee work, telecommunications, education, labor and House Administration Committee work. Before coming to the Hill, Ms. Hardy studied English and piano performance in the College of Arts and Humanities. She wrote an honors thesis entitled “Parallels Drawn in Silence: Charlotte Bronte’s Challenges to Victorian Ideology of Race in Jane Eyre,” completed a concentration in creative writing, won a University honors grant, and had the privilege of providing the student commencement address at the English graduation ceremony. After graduation, Ms. Hardy taught fifth-graders in southeast D.C. as a member of the Teach for America ’99 Corps before going on to law school. Ms. Hardy graduated fifth in her class from Howard University School of Law, where she competed as a member of the Trial Advocacy Moot Court team and completed a year-long criminal justice clinic. Following law school, Ms. Hardy went on to complete the Esther Peterson Public policy fellowship at Consumers Union (the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports), then was promoted to legislative counsel, serving as lead advocate for the CU Minority Media Campaign and focusing on telecommunications and tort reform. Ms. Hardy went on to serve as a staff attorney in the Bureau of Consumer Protection in the Federal Trade Commission before leaving to work for Congressman Davis. Ms. Hardy is a voracious reader, a would-be novelist, a private piano instructor, and mentor living in Washington, D.C.
Ashley N. Lam, ’04, Communications/Chinese
Ashley Lam began her studies at the university as a transfer student hoping to explore her interest in East Asia—she was not disappointed. Ms. Lam spent two years in the Chinese cluster of the St. Mary’s Language House immersion program. She also studied Korean language and Japanese culture. As a senior, Ms. Lam was selected as a delegate to the annual Japan-America Student Conference (JASC) and spent the year after graduation as chairperson of the conference’s planning committee. In 2005, Ms. Lam accepted a position at the Downtown DC Business Improvement District planning special events for the downtown area, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Although she enjoyed the fast pace of community outreach, parades, concert series, and sponsorships, she decided to change jobs once she noticed that energy drinks were becoming a regular (and necessary) part of her daily diet. In 2007, Ms. Lam took a staff position with International Student Conferences, mentoring college students in leadership, event planning, non-profit management, and cross-cultural communication. In fall 2009, she entered American University’s Washington College of Law. She is interested in studying international law/immigration—and perhaps this time will find a way to make professional use of that Chinese degree.
Ryan Edward Merkel, ’10, M.A. in Communication
Ryan Merkel is in the second year of a Master of Arts degree program in communication with a focus on public relations at the University of Maryland. His graduate research centers on non-profit public relations, fundraising, and alumni relations. Mr. Merkel earned an undergraduate degree in marketing from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida, along with minors in history, communications, and art history. As an undergraduate, Mr. Merkel was very active in Student Government, homecoming, and his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. He also joined several philanthropic organizations on campus and in the local community and was a member of several honorary organizations, including Florida Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa. After interning for Representative Wasserman Schultz, of Florida, Mr. Merkel developed an interest in politics and greatly enjoys living in downtown Washington, D.C. Mr. Merkel is also deeply interested in music, regularly attends performances in the metro area, and is a blogger for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. At the University of Maryland, Mr. Merkel has twice been an instructor for COMM 107 Principles of Oral Communication, and will serve as the Alumni Coordinator for the Department of Communication starting in the fall of 2009. When he has time, he enjoys traveling, reading, and attempting to become a movie connoisseur.
Katlin Meissinger, ’13, English (undergraduate representative)
Katlin is a sophomore undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature. She intends to take a minor in Rhetoric and pursue coursework in Education Policy studies. As an active member of the Student Government Association’s Student Sustainability Committee, Katlin coordinates the annual Earth Day Celebration, participates in several environmental rallies, and works on campaigns to increase campus sustainability. Additionally, Katlin participated in the Alternative Breaks trip to the Bahamas for environmental conservation work. She also serves as a Team Leader for the mentoring program, America Reads America Counts, which works with surrounding Prince George’s County elementary schools. This year, Katlin serves as an Arts and Humanities Ambassador and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board. After graduation she hopes to pursue a job in a national non-profit organization involved with higher education while pursuing a master’s degree.
Michael Olmert, Ph.D., ’80, ’62, English
Professor of the Practice, English Department, University of Maryland
Michael Olmert holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in medieval English literature and for more than two decades has taught at the university. He has published ten articles in refereed scholarly journals. He is also a very active television, print, and film writer, with five books, two plays, two feature films, an IMAX film, more than 90 TV documentaries, three Emmys, and some 200 magazine articles, reviews, and essays to his credit. In 2005, he was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame.
Sylvia Rosenthal, ’61, History
Sylvia Rosenthal is Founder and President of S. ROSE Consulting, a firm dedicated to facilitating opportunities for non-profit/corporate collaboration. Drawing upon her national reputation for bringing unlikely allies together to find common ground and work towards consensus, Ms. Rosenthal advises clients on strategic relationships, educational outreach and programming. She previously served as Senior Vice President for Amplify Public Affairs (APA) and its predecessor, Issue Dynamics Inc. (IDI), a public affairs firm serving Fortune 50 companies and major trade associations, as well as non-profit organizations. At both APA and IDI, she advised clients on constituent relationships, built and fostered coalition support, and developed educational outreach programs for community leaders and policymakers. Much of her work focused on the consumer benefits of information technologies and services in areas such as tele-health, economic empowerment for low-income individuals and independent living for people with disabilities. Ms. Rosenthal also served as Executive Director for a non-profit client, the Alliance for Public Technology (APT), a diverse coalition of organizations and individuals that share a commitment to democratizing technology. Before joining IDI, Ms. Rosenthal was Executive Director of the Tele-Consumer Hotline, a toll-free counseling service, where she monitored industry trends and consumer concerns. At the Hotline, she worked closely with the disability community to implement the Hotline's program for information on assistive technologies and services for people with disabilities. Her background also includes experience as the full-time Director of a religious school, a docent at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and an adult education instructor. Ms. Rosenthal received her B.A. from the University of Maryland and her M.A. from Baltimore Hebrew College. She currently serves on the Board of Save a Child's Heart, one of the largest undertakings in the world providing urgently needed pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care for children from developing countries at no cost to the patients or their families. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the DC Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP), where she served as President in 2002 and 2003.
Mary Wise, ’74, Theatre
Mary R. Wise is a Senior Communications Manager at Fannie Mae, where she designs and develops e-learning courses for mortgage professionals. Before moving to her current position, Mary was Senior Manager of Technical Communication at Manugistics, Inc., where she directed the development of documentation for the company’s supply chain management software products. She has over 20 years experience in technical communication and is an accomplished facilitator and speaker. Mary is a Fellow and Past President of the Society for Technical Communication, a worldwide organization of technical writers, editors, web designers, and illustrators. Although she has a B.A. from the University of Maryland, Mary feels her background as a circus clown prepared her well for both her corporate jobs.