Alumni/ae News

Alumni Career Night
On March 9, 2006, the department welcomed back five distinguished alumnae to speak to English majors about the career paths they have followed since leaving UMass Amherst.

Cristina B. Aviles (2001) graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Letter of Specialization in Professional Writing and Technical Communication (PWTC). After graduation Cristina joined Eze Castle Software (ECS), a financial software company located in Boston. She was what some call a "lone technical writer," in that she was the only professional writer at ECS at the time. Over the next three and a half years Cristina grew the technical writing team, hiring a second PWTC graduate and developing a strong base of written material supporting the entire ECS product line. In December 2004 Cristina was asked to work on a new initiative at the company, the ECS Training Program. Cristina now works as the Training Manager, designing and directing a training curriculum focused on developing programs that enhance employee job and career growth. In addition to her work in writing and training, Cristina is the chair of an internal committee created to provide employees with the opportunity to influence their work environment and culture. The committee works on a variety of projects from community-building activities like corporate events and potluck lunches to employee proposals for the annual management off-site event. Cristina continues to pursue creative writing on the side and plans to continue to develop her skills in the training industry.

Sarah Coffey (1997) is currently a reporter covering business for Reuters news agency in New York, NY. After graduating from UMass Amherst she worked for the Community Newspaper Company in Marshfield, Massachusetts and did some radio work for WATD-FM, also in Marshfield. A short stint at the Massachusetts State House as communications director for the House Minority Leader convinced her to abandon public relations and return to journalism. She spent four years reporting for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts, and then worked as a reporter first for United Press International and then for The Associated Press. She returned to school to earn her master's degree in journalism from American University in Washington, D.C., and then went to work for Reuters.

Alan D. Hurvitz(1972) is Global Marketing Manager at IBM in Waltham, MA. He writes, "My career path hinges on a simple phrase… 'yeah, I could do that.' I'm bored by routine, excited and confident about tackling new and challenging tasks. The plan was a career in academia. Instead, I ended up owning two retail pharmacies in Boston. Go figure. I was (miraculously) accepted by Harvard Business School. That led to positions as Chief Operating Officer (heavy-equipment manufacturer), VP of Finance and Administration (insurance), Chief Financial Officer (commercial printing), VP of Client Relations (software), and a Director at a technology consulting firm. I joined IBM six years ago. I've held five distinct job roles across three divisions that span every industry IBM serves. I love it. I live in Concord, MA, with my wife and 8th-grade daughter. My older daughter studies neurobiology at Brandeis. And it's all come full circle… I'm taking creative writing classes in Cambridge."

Mark Sullivan (2006) has made his career in the design and marketing of games. He began by starting his own company, designing games and toys, and moved on to jobs writing rules and copy for games, creating names for games, and writing the copy for game boxes and for commercials. After four years of this he took a job as principal game designer for Coleco, home of the Cabbage Patch Kids, where he designed word games in the Scrabble line, trivia games to go with Trivial Pursuit, and card games, among others, and continued working on the marketing of games, eventually joining the marketing department. He then moved to Mattel, Inc., where he was Senior Vice President of Boys Toys and in charge of brands like Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Uno, Pictionary, Harry Potter, Yugioh, Batman and Superman. Mark has recently accepted a role as Executive Vice President of Spin Master Toys, one of the fastest growing toy companies in the world. He has spoken about games on such programs as Good Morning America and Nightline and was Mattel's judge on The Apprentice, responsible for reviewing toy concepts created by two teams, choosing the winner, and explaining the choice to Donald Trump, the teams, and 20 million viewers. To read more about Mark , his career, and how he has used his English major, click here (PDF).

After graduation, Lai Ying Yu (2002) became the Lead Community Organizer for the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) in Boston, a community-based nonprofit organization devoted to serving the Asian American community of greater Boston-and especially to preserving and revitalizing Boston's Chinatown. Most of her organizing focused on a development campaign that advocated the return of a "Big Dig" parcel to Chinatown for maximum community development. As part of that work, she conceived, designed, and implemented the Chinatown Civic Participation Development Kit. This Kit, used by ten teachers in an English-as-a-second-language curriculum for over 150 adult students, introduced the history of Boston's Chinatown and its urban development and created ways for the students to become involved in the community campaign to reclaim the land from the "Big Dig" project. After working at the ACDC for two years, she took her present job at the Chinese Historical Society of New England, an organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting the history and legacy of Chinese immigration in New England. She has also written for and edited the Journal of Community Power Building and has published book reviews in the Asian American Writers' Workshop magazine, Ten.

The department takes pride in our alums’ creative career-making, and we are grateful to them for their generous investment in the future of our majors. Students attending the forum had the opportunity to ask questions and to have dinner with the speakers.

Alumni Achievements and Support
To our delight, a number of department alumni have returned to campus during the past year to contribute to our mission in a variety of ways. The College of Humanities and Fine Arts Dean’s Seminar Series, “CHFA Alumni in the World,” focused on entrepreneurs. The speakers included English alums Larry Bohn, of General Catalyst Partners, and John Jacobs, co-founder of Life is Good, Inc. Author Jeannine Atkins was one of four writers (including English Professor Ron Welburn) to read at the W.E.B. DuBois Library’s second annual fund-raiser, “Dinner with Friends.” Last May, Roberta Soolman, an alumna of the English Departmemt (‘79), received an honorary degree from the University. For the past two decades she has served as executive director of Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts (LVM), the commonwealth’s largest volunteer tutoring program. As mentioned in the opposite column, Christina Cronin, Kelly Scarmeas, and Alexandra Kennedy spoke at a career forum for English majors.

Alexandra and Jeannine also served as members of our Alumni Outreach Board, along with Ted Buswick, Kim Cromwell, Frank Hertz, Tamar Hacker, Drew Hammond, Susan Hammond, Margaret Powell, and Bruce Penniman. Most of them were able to attend the board’s annual meeting last November, where we discussed plans for involving alumni in internships and mentoring, as well as in outreach, advocacy, and “telling our story.” Finally, two English alumni, Pamela Jacobs and Beth Mahoney, are serving as members of the new UMass Amherst Foundation Board. We are grateful for the important and generous contributions of these alumni, as well as the many others who participate in less visible but equally important ways.