North Central Now Winter 2011 | North Central College

Robert “Bob” Leslie '75

Robert “Bob” Leslie was elected to a third term as District 3 magistrate in Oldham County, Kentucky. He’s president of Delta Mobile Testing Inc., serves as treasurer for the Tri-County Community Action Agency and is a member of the Oldham County Law Enforcement Council. He lives in La Grange, KY, and may be reached at rleslie@oldhamcounty.net.

O’Brien lands a role in Iraqi Law

Armed with his degree from The John Marshall Law School, Michael O’Brien ’05 is practicing law in a rather unique place: Iraq. He was deployed in November 2010 to Victory Base Complex north of Baghdad and is working as an advisor to an aspect of a Special Forces unit. O’Brien enlisted in the military after completing his law degree in 2008 and is a captain in the Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps. “The JAG Corps starts all of us as prosecutors for our first assignment,” he says.

Ginny Klomps '75 Wallace

Ginny Klomps Wallace is a project manager with natural resources communications firm D.J. Case and Associates based in Mishawaka, IN. As a conservation educator and interpretation expert, she has worked on public involvement for programs like reintroduction of the Mexican wolf and North American waterfowl management. She previously spent 27 years with the Missouri Department of Conservation. She may be reached at ginny.k.wallace@gmail.com.

CEO finds her destiny

Susan Ubben ’75 Miller detoured from her social work career for 12 years but that hasn’t prevented her from gaining recognition for her visionary work as CEO of Rose Brooks Center, a domestic violence program in Kansas City, MO. Miller has been named an Influential Woman for 2011 by the Kansas City business community. This follows multiple awards that Rose Brooks Center and Miller have received for excellence in nonprofit leadership from civic organizations and media outlets.

Christine Ross ’11 in Prague

While Christine Ross ’11 was student-teaching in the Czech Republic, she mentioned to her class that she wanted to visit Egypt and ride a camel. “Four of the 13 students in my class told me they had already been to Egypt and ridden camels,” she says. “And they’re in fourth grade.”

An elementary education major, Ross embraced her passion for internationalism by completing her student-teaching requirement at a British International School in Prague. She applied to a program called Educators Abroad Student Teaching (EAST) and chose the Czech Republic from more than 40 options.

Michael Sparacino '79

Michael Sparacino, M.D., joined the Family Medicine Department at River’s Edge Hospital and Clinic in St. Peter, MN. In addition to his time at the St. Peter facility, he’ll also work at the River’s Edge clinic in Le Center. He previously worked at Immanuel-St. Joseph (ISJ) Hospital in Mankato, MN, as a family medicine clinician and program director for the family medicine osteopathic residency program at ISJ. He’s served as chief of emergency medicine for the 51st Tactical Fighter Wing at Osan Air Base in the Republic of Korea, medical director of high-risk obstetrics at St.

A call to help in Haiti

Don Dexheimer ’65, outreach director of Roscoe (IL) United Methodist Church, has been leading mission trips for more than 15 years after spending a full year, 1994, with his wife, Dorothy, on a mission team in Khabarovsk, Russia. Recently, he has found new challenges in Haiti, leading a team in May 2010 to work on a permanent school and church building in Fond Doux, a remote village.

Kai Ruggeri ’06 in Europe

In five years since graduation, Kai Ruggeri ’06 has studied in Ireland and England, lived in Austria, Spain and Germany, completed a postdoctorate in Portugal and worked in Belgrade, Serbia. Not bad for someone who never studied abroad as an undergraduate majoring in psychology. “I had too many commitments, played football and changed majors late in the process so I never had the opportunity to go abroad,” says Ruggeri, who’s been living in Serbia.

Jeff Seaberg '80

Jeff Seaberg heads up the children’s theater program in Danville, CA, and was director of the campy Danville classic, “Wigged Out,” for many years. During the school year he runs an after-school program called Theatre Performance Workshop, which ends with performances. He has up to 50 kids in each class in what he calls “controlled chaos.” He writes the plays for the group and publishes them as an inexpensive resource for other after-school programs. He says he’s improved his skills at populating his stories with interesting characters, better dialog and good plots.

A Legacy of Building Friendships Abroad

From as early as 1875, the College had developed ties with Japan and China through the mission work of the Evangelical Church. The exposure to the Church encouraged students in Japan and China to attend North Central College for their education. Henry Tayama, Class of 1893, became the first student from Japan to graduate. Fumiko Miyagi ’24 returned to Tokyo to become a renowned artist and humanitarian and a professor of art at Japan Women’s University.