Through the Years

Ingo Titze BS’63 MS’65, who holds a doctorate in physics from Brigham Young University, has been awarded the Silver Medal in Speech Communication from the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. The Silver Medal is awarded periodically by the ASA for contributions to the advancement of science, engineering, or human welfare through the application of acoustic principles. At the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Titze is the executive director of the National Center for Voice and Speech, the only voice research and clinical care facility in the world that is a division of a performing arts organization. At the University of Iowa (UI) in Iowa City, he is a UI Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, in joint appointment with the UI School of Music.

Titze has published more than 350 articles in scientific and educational journals, is a regular contributor to the Journal of Singing, and is the author of three books, including Principles of Voice Production, which has been translated into multiple languages and is used worldwide as an introductory text. He is a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, American Speech Language Hearing Association, and American Laryngological Association. Bicultural (he was born in Germany) and bilingual (German and English), Titze sings in and has taught multiple styles, including opera, Broadway, and pop. He also invented a singing robot, called Pavarobotti.

Cheryl K. Contant BS’77 (magna cum laude), Ph.D., has been named vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean at the University of Minnesota Morris, following a national search. Since 1999, Contant had been professor and director of the City and Regional Planning Program in the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. During the 2006-2007 academic year, she served as an American Council of Education (ACE) Fellow at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Contant holds a master’s degree in environmental engineering and a doctoral degree in civil engineering, both from Stanford University. She has worked with the Soil and Water Conservation Society, the Institute for Alternative Agriculture, and the American Water Resources Association. She is the author or co-author of several articles and publications on the topics of policy, planning, and the environment, most recently co-authoring Seeking Signs of Success: A Guided Approach to More Effective Watershed Programs.

Scott Parker BS’80 MBA’81 has been appointed senior vice president of sales for Avanex Corporation, a pioneer of intelligent photonic solutions that enable next-generation optical networks. Parker has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in the optical and semiconductor industries and a strong track record in driving sales growth and leading customer-focused teams. He previously served as the vice president of sales and marketing at Integration Associates and as CEO at Chelsio Communications, both start-up companies funded by Sequoia Capital. Prior to that, Parker was senior vice president of sales and marketing for JDSU, where he integrated the sales and customer service teams from numerous acquisitions.

David L. Harmon BS’81, C.P.A., has been named chief financial officer for CirTran Corporation, a full-service, multinational contract manufacturer of IT, consumer, and consumer electronics products. Harmon had most recently served as SEC manager for Investools Inc. of Salt Lake City. Previously, he held controller, treasurer, and CFO positions with Utah-based UCN, Inc., Traco Manufacturing, Inc., and publicly traded Gentner Communications Corporation. He also spent nine years with two C.P.A. firms in the Salt Lake City area.

Douglas Cropper BA’84 has been named CEO of Davenport, Iowa-based Genesis Health System. Cropper brings with him more than 25 years of health-care experience, most recently as executive vice president of Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va., and administrator of Inova Fairfax Hospital, honored as one of the nation’s best by U.S. News & World Report. For 12 years, he held hospital leadership positions at HealthEast in St. Paul, Minn. His last assignment there was serving as CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital. In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Cropper holds a master’s degree in health care and hospital administration from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Mark R. James MPA’87 has been named senior vice president, human resources and communications, for Honeywell International. A member of Honeywell’s senior leadership team, James is responsible for leading global human resources strategy and programs for the company’s 118,000 employees in more than 100 countries. James had previously served since October 2004 as vice president of human resources and communications for Honeywell Aerospace. He joined Honeywell in February 2000 as director of human resources for Federal Manufacturing & Technologies in Kansas City and was promoted in March 2001 to vice president of human resources for Aerospace Electronic Systems in Phoenix. Prior to Honeywell, James held human resources positions with Iomega, JM Family Enterprises (a Toyota distributor), AT&T, and Lockheed Martin.

Ronald L. Weiss MBA’89, M.D., FASCP, received the 2007 American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Ward Burdick Award for Distinguished Service to Clinical Pathology. The award recognizes an ASCP member who has made a significant contribution to pathology through sustained service to the profession and ASCP. Weiss is professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and president/chief operating officer of the University’s ARUP Laboratories, where he is also staff hematopathologist. He is board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology, with subspecialty certification in hematology and medical microbiology. Weiss received his medical degree from the Creighton University School of Medicine. He trained in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Utah, where he completed a fellowship in medical microbiology, joining the faculty in 1985. LM

Robert L. Martin BS’92, ENP, MPC, has joined e-Copernicus as vice president of business development. Martin was most recently executive director of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), a 7,000-member organization dedicated to the advancement of 9-1-1 service, where he had worked for the previous three years. A certified Emergency Number Professional (ENP) and previously executive director of the National and International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, Martin has 20 years of association management, coalition building, marketing and publication, and organizational communication experience, with emphasis in public safety and emergency services. In addition to his bachelor’s degree in business marketing, he holds a master’s in professional communication from Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

D. Andrew Myers BS’95 has joined Scientific Learning Corp., makers of the Fast ForWord® educational software, as president and chief operating officer. Myers brings more than 10 years of high-level general management, sales, and marketing experience to his new position. Most recently he had served as senior vice president, digital product development, for Pearson Curriculum. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Jennifer Cannon BA’98 MD’02 was featured as a contestant on the TV quiz show Jeopardy! in December 2007, winning just upwards of $60,000 over the course of three shows. Cannon, 34, is a general surgery resident with the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. She focused on Middle Eastern studies as an undergraduate at the University of Utah before pursuing medicine.

Greg Lowe BA’99 has joined Dyersburg Regional Medical Center (DRMC) in Dyersburg, Tenn., as the hospital’s chief executive officer. Originally from Utah, Lowe has worked in the administrative side of health care for nine years. He began at the University of Minnesota before moving on to HCA Inc. in Nashville. Most recently, he had spent two years in Easton, Penn., as the assistant CEO at Easton Hospital, which like DRMC is owned by Community Health Systems. Lowe holds both an MBA and a master’s of health care administration from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife, Lee, are the parents of three boys.

Nerin Kadribegovic BS’00, Assoc. AIA (associate member of the American Institute of Architects), has been promoted to associate director with Lehrer Architects in Los Angeles. He is responsible for project management and overseeing the firm’s Research and Development Room, an in-house workshop created for designers to experiment with materials, create full-scale mockups, and explore new concepts and ideas. Since joining Lehrer in 2002, Kadribegovic has worked as a designer on such award-winning projects as the James M. Wood Community Center for the homeless and the 18-acre Water + Life Museums campus. He holds a master’s in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Patricia Ravert PhD’04, R.N., has been named associate dean for academic undergraduate affairs at the Brigham Young University College of Nursing. For the past several years, Ravert has coordinated BYU’s Nursing Learning Center, a laboratory that provides students with hands-on learning via human patient simulators prior to working in actual clinical settings. The National League for Nursing recently invited her to participate with several other national and international simulation experts in a three-year project focused on the advancement of simulation in nursing education in the United States as well as in multiple international locations. She will continue her work in simulation in addition to her responsibilities as associate dean and as an associate professor in the college.

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