1973

One classmate who took "though 'round the girdled earth they roam" to heart professionally is Frank Ricciardone. In 1976 he went to Iran as a teacher, traveling widely in southwest Asia, Europe and the Middle East until he entered the Foreign Service in 1978. At the end of july 2005 it was announced the Senate had confirmed Frank as the new U.S. ambassador to Egypt. He has served twice in Egypt, as chief of the civilian observer unit of the multinational force and observers in the Sinai desert between 1989 and 1991 and as an embassy political officer from 1986 to 1989. He was most recently ambassador to the Philippines and to the Republic of Palau from February 2002 until May 2005.A career diplomat, Frankwas the secretary of states special coordinator for the transition of Iraq from 1999 to 2001. In 2004 he led the U.S. government's organization of the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Franks other assignments included two tours in Turkey, most recently as deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires, as well as service in Amman and London. In Washington he worked in the bureau of intelligence and research, the Near East bureau and held senior management positions under the director general of the foreign service and human resources, where he won high awards for policy and program management and for political reporting. Much to the delight of professor John Rassias, whom Frank has kept in touch with, Frank speaks Arabic, Italian, Turkish and French. He is known to, and respected by, individuals such as Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright. Just imagine Frank's holiday card list.

Bruce "Tony" Douglas, previously assistant general counsel in the investment law department for CIGNA Corp. in Hartford, Connecticut is now a partner in the Hartford office of Bingham McCutcheon. He is working in the real estate and affordable housing area within the finance group and deals with all types of real estate financing issues, including commercial real estate loans, joint venture, limited partnerships and the development, financing and restructuring of real estate assets.

Chairman, president and general manager of Fairholme Farms Inc. in Lewisville, Indiana, is none other than Charles (Kim) Drackett. He is a trustee of the Indiana Pork Producers Association and a longtime director of Ameriana Bank. Previously he served as a director of the Cincinnati Nature Center. After Dartmouth he attended the Indiana Institute of Food and Nutrition Purdue University.

After 40 years of teaching, professor of chemistry Charles Braun is retiring. He is the 2005 recipient of the Robert A. Fish 1918 Memorial Prize, which honors a lifetime of outstanding teaching and scholarship. Braun did pioneering work in photoconductivity and energy transfer in molecular materials.

The philosophers among us may recall professor Willis Doney, an internationally recognized scholar of 17th-and 18th-century philosophy. Professor Doney died in July. I am also saddened to report the recent death of Mike Bonner. An obituary appears in this issue.

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