Staff Spotlight

  1. September 17, 2007

    Spotlight: A tale of adoption and the bond of sisterhood

    Clicking on her e-mail inbox button forever changed Sue Kuhnke’s life. (Photo courtesy Sue Kuhnke) “I read an e-mail about an 11-year-old girl who was adopted from an orphanage in Russia by a family in Holland, Michigan,” says Kuhnke, a financial specialist at the School of Nursing. Little did she know this note received two…
  2. September 10, 2007

    Spotlight: Bookbinder tracks history through love of comics

    Norm Harris, a bookbinder in the Library Conservation Lab, is determined to debunk the myth of the comic-book geek. (Photo by Lin Jones, U-M Photo Services) He came of age during the turbulent 1960s. American comic books were the norm: superhero tales purchased at mom and pop drug stores. “Comic books at that time were…
  3. September 4, 2007

    Spotlight: Walking for a cure, one step at a time

    Pamela Rezewski may be a rookie when she joins her first Susan G. Komen for the Cure walk Sept. 28-30, but she is a veteran when it comes to fighting cancer. (Photo courtesy Of MC3, Inc.) Rezewski, senior administrative assistant of Risk Management Services who has worked at the University 27 years, was diagnosed in…
  4. August 13, 2007

    Spotlight: ITSS coordinator cracks code in security challenge

    What do highly skilled IT security professionals do for fun at an international conference? They compete to see who has the fastest hacking skills. (Photo by Scott Galvin, U-M Photo Services) In a bid for global bragging rights, Matt Bing, the incident response coordinator at Information Technology Security Services (ITSS), won the first international Security…
  5. July 23, 2007

    Spotlight: Dance opens doors for eye technician

    There often were times when longtime professional dancer Cynthia Abejuro would be the only Hispanic and/or African-American performer in the room. (Photo by Linda Goings, Kellogg Eye Center) “Through dance I have been accepted into different cultures,” says Abejuro, lead technician for neuro-ophthalmology and plastics and reconstruction at the Kellogg Eye Center. “I feel blessed…
  6. July 9, 2007

    Spotlight: From artist to activist

    A young high school graduate enters the University hoping to leave it as a promising engineer. Another enters with a goal to pursue a law career. But after meeting with Debra Mexicotte, both gain something else—a love of the arts. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services) Mexicotte, assistant director for the Office of New…
  7. June 25, 2007

    Spotlight: Guitarist strives for a heavenly sound

    Joseph Pratt preserves books for a living but he lives to play music. (Photo courtesy Joseph Pratt) “When I was learning classical guitar I would hear the voice of angels,” says Pratt, who pursued nearly three years of formal studies to discover how to coax a heavenly sound from the guitar. As an information resource…
  8. June 11, 2007

    Spotlight: Pets are precious for ticket manager

    Doggy pooper-scooper—$20; leather leash for pet—$15; outdoor dog kennel—$500: (Photo by Dan Wilcox) Giving an animal a new start to life—priceless for Shari Wilcox, ticket manager with the University’s athletic department. “I’ve been lucky to be here for some really exciting times and several national championships,” says Wilcox, whose job involves supervising the athletic department’s…
  9. May 21, 2007

    Spotlight: Counselor bridges home-to-campus chasm

    The Virginia Tech shootings last month drew new attention to issues of mental health among college students. Although Louise Freymann serves U-M as an academic advisor, she and her colleagues know that their work may involve helping students find resources for coping with mental health concerns. (Photo by Lin Jones, U-M Photo Services) “There is…
  10. May 7, 2007

    Spotlight: She’s all for the birds

    Julie Craves knows a thing or two about birds, including when it’s appropriate to “pish.” (Photo by Jennifer Sroka, U-M-Dearborn) Pishing is an acoustic method used to lure birds out of hiding, says Craves, supervisor of avian research at U-M-Dearborn’s Rouge River Bird Observatory. Craves extensively has studied Michigan birds since 1992. There’s a time…