1992

You may have noticed there were no notes under class of 1992 in the last DAM issue—it went from 1991 right to 1993. And you thought to yourself, "What is Mahoney doing? I need to know about my classmates, and I need to know now."

I know, right? Sorry about that. No news to report. No fun, exciting, amazing, glorious tales to tell. My class is clearly boring. C'mon, people, write in! I love mundane, day-to-day, punch-the-clock stories. I'll make em sing!

In the meantime, I do have news this time around on two of our stud classmates—you know, the people who make the rest of us say, "Now why would I want to let people know how boring I am when I keep hearing about people like this?!" Bear with me, much of the text below comes from press releases.

Props to Teri Balser, who was named the U.S. Professor of the Year. An associate professor in the department of soil sciences and director of the Institute for Cross-College Biology Education at the University of Wisconsin—I don't know how that would fit on a business card—she was honored in November in Washington, D.C. Started in 1981, the U.S. Professor of the Year program is sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. It is the only national program that recognizes excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Just four professors are chosen each year, one each in doctoral, master's, and baccalaureate degreegranting institutions and community colleges. (Balser was the winner in the doctoral and research universities categoiy.)

Another honor to the class came in the form of Aimee Loiselle, who earned a third-place prize and publication in the latest volume of American Fiction: The Best Previously UnpublishedShort Stories by Emerging Authors. The anthology has been described as "one of the best places in the United States to publish fiction" by Writers Digest. The 2010 judge, novelist Clint McCown, selected Aimee's short story "Souvenirs" for its intimate portrayal of a disintegrating family and the disturbingly unreliable narrator. (I'm hoping that this describes the story and not Aimee!)

So that's it for this time around. Again, looking forward to hearing from all of you. If that doesn't happen, my next trick will be to jump on everyone's Facebook pages and pull what I consider to be the best "Status" reports I can find. (I know you and I probably agree... that could actually be more fun!)

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