Graduates
Amazing Alumni

The thing about St. Lawrence alumni?
They're everywhere.
Relatively speaking, it's a small group, only about 25,000 people world-wide. But they're absolutely amazing people and they've been at the lead of every profession you can imagine. What's even more impressive is their enthusiasm to help fellow Laurentians. Any member of the Laurentian family can count on any other member, at any time, for any reason. Amazing.
Susan M. Collins '75 was elected to represent the State of Maine in the United States Senate in 1996 and was re-elected to her third term in 2008. She was the 15th woman in history to be elected to the Senate in her own right. Senator Collins is the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), and serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Special Committee on Aging. A government major at St. Lawrence, she was a Phi Beta Kappa honor student, and has an honorary doctorate from St. Lawrence.
A government major, Jeff Boyd '78 is president and CEO of Priceline.com, the Internet-based travel service that allows you to bid on your best price for hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. He earned his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1981 and began a career in private and corporate law before taking his place in the new world of Internet marketing.
Before becoming president of the company, Boyd served as a member of the Board of Directors at priceline, and on the Board of Directors of TravelWeb.com, based in Dallas, Texas. As a St. Lawrence trustee, he has served as a Reunion giving volunteer and a career advisor, and has spoken at a number of admissions and alumni events. Boyd and his wife, Terry, established the Mr. and Mrs. John Scudder Boyd Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund at St. Lawrence in 2002.
Elinor Tatum '93 publishes The Amsterdam News, the oldest continuously-published black newspaper in New York City. "At St. Lawrence, I learned how to juggle a schedule, get access to people, meet deadlines and manage others, all of which I do now," says the head of the nation's oldest continuously minority-owned newspaper and former government major; she is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the paper's operation. As both a campus journalist and a student government senator, she learned parliamentary procedure. Going on tour as a member of the Laurentian Singers, she learned how to handle new situations. In these and many other pursuits at St. Lawrence, she learned to work with people. She earned her BA in government.

 
NASA senior scientist Dean Eppler '74, who majored in geology, develops space suits, creates research windows for the International Space Station, leads science operations and logistics concept development for advanced planetary exploration programs (taking him to the high Arctic and the Antarctic). He straps himself into the KC-153 (the "vomit comet") to test rover seat ergonomics, on-orbit hardware assembly, planetary materials processing and biomechanics of walking on the Moon and Mars. Dean earned his BS in geology and has an Alumni Citation to honor his work.

Journalist Martha MacCallum ’86 is an anchor with FOX News Channel, joining FNC in January 2004. Martha hosts "The Live Desk with Martha MacCallum," an afternoon news program and is a member of the "FOX News Live" team. She earned a bachelor's degree in government.
During her tenure with FNC, Martha has anchored major international and national stories, including: Hurricane Katrina; the funeral coverage of Pope John Paul II; and the 2004 presidential election. She also notably secured a rare interview with first lady Laura Bush and reported live from numerous Election 2004 events, including: Election Night; the Republican National Convention in New York; and the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Musician Grace Potter '06n isn't exaggerating when she says her career began at St. Lawrence: her band, The Nocturnals, formed when Potter met Matt Burr '03 here and the two decided to see what would happen if they played together. Burr is still the drummer for The Nocturnals, and with their bandmates, they've torn up the "jam band circuit" and are at work on new material for Ragged Company/Hollywood Records.

Their debut album, Original Soul, was recorded while Potter and Burr were still students at St. Lawrence. Albums Nothing But the Water and This is Somewhere followed, along with opening slots for the Black Crowes and Taj Mahal; performances at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and the Bonnaroo Festival; and appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Good Morning America" and a host of other accolades. Catherine Popper, Benny Yurco and Scott Tournet make up the remainder of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, who plan to release their third album in 2010.

Keep up with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, including tour dates, on their Web site.
The lifelong lessons and other experiences she gained at St. Lawrence qualified Betsy Bernard '77 to become one of the highest-ranking female executives in the telecommunications industry. One main lesson that Betsy learned in her 25 years in the telecommunications industry is how to “treat every experience as an opportunity to learn.” Betsy was awarded a 2002 Alumni Citation “for long-term and exemplary service to the University or for exemplary professional accomplishment or community volunteer activities.” After she graduated from St. Lawrence with a degree in government, Betsy began her career at AT&T and held various positions in sales, marketing and operations. She became vice president of the Business Market Group at Pacific Telesis, then vice president of the Business Market Group at Pacific Teles, and later executive vice president of USWest. She returned to AT&T and was its president until she decided to focus on other career goals in 2003. She is now a director of Principal Financial Group.
Author Lorrie Moore '78 has written fiction, reviews and essays appearing in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Harper's, Best American Short Stories, The Yale Review, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times and elsewhere. She is the author of two novels and three collections of stories, the most recent of which, Birds of America, was a National Book Critics' Circle Award Finalist and the winner of the Irish Times International Prize for Literature. She has also edited several anthologies and written two children's books. She teaches at the University of Wisconsin; her degree from St. Lawrence is in English and she has an honorary doctorate from St Lawrence as well.
Jay Ireland '77 is president and CEO of GE Asset Management Incorporated, and immediate past president of NBC Universal Television Stations, with overall executive responsibility for the operations of NBC Universal's 30 owned-and-operated NBC television stations and 16 Telemundo television stations. He joined General Electric two decades and worked in many GE roles and businesses through 1999, when he became president of NBC Television Stations. He graduated with a degree in government.
The alignment of the stars and planets has an even greater impact on Derrick Pitts '78's life than it does on most people's -- as the chief astronomer of the Fels Planetarium, it's the subject of his daily work. He is Vice-President/Chief Astronomer of the Franklin Institute Science Museum/Fels Planetarium in Philadelphia and host of the WHYY-FM public radio programs "SkyTour" and "SkyTalk." The former geology major has received several awards for his educational work in the community. Pitts' outreach efforts include appearing regularly on the CBS News, "The Today Show," "Good Morning America" and local television news programs; he also has contributed astronomy columns in the Philadelphia Inquirer and New Jersey Courier-Post newspapers. Derrick has received St. Lawrence's Alumni Citation.
Marion Roach Smith '77 is the author Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning, and Sexual Power of Red Hair and of Another Name for Madness, a memoir of her family's struggle with her mother's Alzheimer's disease, and the co-author of Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching Killers. A commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and the host of her own radio show on Sirius Radio, she has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Prevention, Vogue, Newsday, Good Housekeeping, Discover, and American Health. She earned her degree in government and has an Alumni Citation from St. Lawrence.
Philosophy major Mitch Thrower '90 was destined for a career in international business. When he was introduced to speak at his Commencement as class president, Mitch's career objective was described as "international business and business development." That turned out to be pretty accurate, even though, at the time, Thrower's realm -- the Internet -- was years away from general consciousness. He is co-owner of Triathlete magazine and co-founder of Active.com, which offers on-line registration for more than 5,000 athletic events, and founder, CEO and general manager of Active.com Europe. Through the Active.com Web site, you can find calendars, content, community features and training tools for a wide range of sports and activities, as well as locate, learn about and register online for events and activities.
F. King Alexander '87 is president of California State University, Long Beach. An expert in higher education finance and public policy, Alexander was president at Murray State University in Kentucky for five years. He is also a current Foundation Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, and a faculty affiliate at both the Cornell University Higher Education Research Institute and the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. His SLU degree is in government.
Viggo Mortensen '80 has learned, in his life as poet, painter, photographer, activist and actor, that making things is a way of finding out. He has enlivened characters in 40 films, establishing an international presence in the movie industry, with critical acclaim for his work and universal respect for his work ethic. Mortensen has published 16 books of his poems, photographs and paintings and produced 16 CDs of music and spoken word. He founded and supports Perceval Press, an independent enterprise that publishes art, words and music from people all over the world. The former government major has spoken his beliefs about human rights, justice and peace with candor, and has acted on those beliefs in quiet yet transformative ways.
Joseph Lekuton '91 left his native Kenya for the first time when he traveled to St. Lawrence to study economics and government. Formerly a teacher at the Langley School in northern Virginia and now a member of the Kenyan Parliament, he remains actively involved in community development projects in rural Kenya. Through his work with several non-profit organizations, more than 100 nomadic children have received education scholarships and constructed a water system delivering clean water to a dozen villages in northern Kenya. He is the youngest recipient of Kenya's Order of the Grand Warrior, given by the president for exemplary service to the country. National Geographic is the publisher of a short, heartfelt memoir by Lekuton. Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna is a book of cultural encounters as he recounts growing up in a traditional nomadic way of life in Kenya (where "facing the lion" is both a metaphor and a vivid memory).
An investment banker, Michael Ranger '80 is co-founder and senior managing director at Diamond Castle Holdings in New York City. He credits an internship during his senior year as the start of his career. He received his first job through on-campus recruiting and began a bank training program. Later in his career with investment banking and private equity investing, he used his St. Lawrence education to evaluate the bigger picture and seek creative solutions. He led, for example, the restructuring and recapitalization of Niagara Mohawk and the turn-around of TXU Corp., two creative solutions made possible through his critical thinking skills honed in government classes.
John P. Loughlin '79 is executive vice president and general manager of Hearst Magazines. Loughlin joined Hearst after three years at the TV Guide Publishing Group.Loughlin was president and CEO of Primedia Consumer Media and Magazine Group for two years, and before that he served as president of Meredith Corporation's television broadcasting group beginning in 1997. He joined Meredith in 1993 and held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility, including managing Meredith Custom Publishing and Marketing, Country Home Publishing Franchise, Meredith Books, and Traditional Home Publishing Franchise. From 1991 to 1993, he was senior vice president/group publisher of The New York Times Company Women's Magazines, having joined the Times Company in 1985 as a planning analyst. He graduated with a double major in English and government.
Former Saint women's hockey star Gina Kingsbury '04 became the third Saint athlete to earn an Olympic gold medal in 2006, when she was part of the Canadian women's hockey team's gold medal win over Sweden. Psychology major Kingsbury, the second-leading scorer in Saint women's hockey history, had two assists in the Olympic tournament, one against Russia and the other against Finland on a power play goal. She wore the same number, 27, that she wore at St. Lawrence. Kingsbury joins Isabelle Chartrand '03n, who won Olympic gold with the Canadian women's hockey team in 2002 and Ed Rimkus '32, who was a member of the U.S. four-man bobsled team which won gold in the 1948 Olympics as SLU's gold-medal winners.
Jennifer Curley Reichert '90 began her own company in Washington, D.C, in 2002. The Curley Company's focus is to provide public affairs consulting for technology companies and organizations. Her two employees are both graduates of St. Lawrence. When she left St. Lawrence after earning her degree in government, she worked with the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) in Washington, and also in the White House for the Office of Protocol. Throughout the 1996 presidential campaign, she worked closely with Tipper Gore, and afterwards, switched career paths and began working for Edelman Public Relations, one of the largest public relations firms in the world. It was there that she worked closely with Microsoft, and realized she thoroughly enjoyed working with technology companies and advising on their public relations and government affairs.
Walter Jennings '84 is market leader and managing director of Burson-Marsteller Australia, a public relations firm. Jennings has responsibility for the firm's operations in the country and, together with the established Australian leadership team, will direct the corporate, financial, consumer, technology, healthcare and government relations practices. Burson-Marsteller has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Jennings has more than 20 years' experience in the communications industry. He earned a BA in French and economics at St. Lawrence.