. . .  Fall 2002

Alumnae and Alumni News

Please include the degree(s) and year(s) for alumni/ae you wish to be included in this section of Michigan Today.  Submissions that lack this information may not be used.

Evanne L. Dietz '90, '93 JD, '95 MA, has joined the law firm of Butzel Long as an associate attorney in the firm's Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, office. Dietz, a resident of Ferndale, practices primarily in the area of family law. Prior to joining Butzel Long, she Dietz served in the Family Division of the Third Judicial Circuit Court, and co-founded and worked for LEAP (Lawyers for Equal Access Project) and LEAD (Lawyers for Equal Access of Metro Detroit). She recently completed her term as chair of the Young Lawyers Section for the State Bar of Michigan.

Han Xu (Hsu) '84 has launched an online partial gift registry that permits family and friends to earmark a cash gift for a bride and groom, or a new grad, for a big-ticket item—like a honeymoon fund, which is among the choices at Felicite.com, or a student loan payment, at GradFree.com. "The partial gift registry revives the old-fashioned concept of family and friends joining hands to help newlyweds start out in life—a practice common in 19th-century America," Xu says.

A Marshall Scholar at U-M, Xu has appeared on CNN and been covered by Reuters and other news media for his innovative service. "People are searching for ways to give a more meaningful gift," says Xu says, who is vice president of marketing at Felicite.com, a London-based Internet gift registry company with business offices in Greenwich, Connecticut. The trends of more active lifestyles and people waiting until they're older to marry, Xu says, are driving the demand for more costly or nontraditional wedding gifts, which often show up on partial gift registries at Felicite.com (http://www.felicite.com). At GradFree.com, based in Bethesda, Maryland, the generosity of parents, aunts and uncles and others goes toward the grad's student loan account (http://www.gradfree.com) Xu who was an analyst for UBS Warburg UBSZn.VX before cofounding Felicite.com in early 1999. "The model for this comes from Wall Street. When you're raising money for a company, you do it through syndication," he says.

Jeffrey L. Howard '69, '74 JD, has joined the law firm of Butzel Long and is Of Counsel to the firm, it was announced on October. Howard practices in the firm's Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, office. Prior to joining Butzel Long, he was a founding shareholder at Seyburn, Kahn, Ginn, Bess and Serlin, P.C. He has years of experience in property acquisition and disposition; land use matters with particular emphasis on use permitting and site plan approval; development, including construction contracts, construction, bridge and permanent mortgage financing; formation and structure of partnerships and similar entities for real estate investments and development purposes.

Paula A. Osborne '96, '99 JD, has been named an associate attorney in the Detroit office of the Butzel Long law firm. Her primary area of practice is business bankruptcy with experience in out-of-court restructurings, representation of secured creditors, debtors, unsecured creditors and formal and informal creditors' committees in a wide range of industries including automotive and retail. She also has experience with troubled supplier and collections matters.

Osborne is the co-author of Best Bids: Sales of Assets in Bankruptcy for the Spring 2001 ABI Central States Bankruptcy Workshop. She also prepared written materials for a July 2002 presentation on basic bankruptcy issues including tax implications for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Leonard M. Niehoff '81, '84 Law, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Michigan Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Niehoff, of Ann Arbor, is an attorney and shareholder in the Ann Arbor office of the law firm Butzel Long. He has substantial experience in litigation involving media law, higher education law, civil rights, constitutional law, First Amendment, and employment issues. He has also advised a number of clients on media relations and "crisis management" issues. He serves as an adjunct professor of legal ethics at the U-M Law School and has also taught at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School.

Susan Linden McGreevy '71 of Kansa City Missouri, was recently selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2003-2004 (Copyright 2002 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.) for her work in Construction Law. McGreevy is the chair of the construction practice group and a member of the law firm Husch & Eppenberger's business transactions practice group. She also serves on the firm's management committee. Her practice consists primarily of advising construction companies, sureties, design professionals and owners in their day-to-day business ventures, including the drafting and negotiation of all types of agreements, resolution of disputes, strategic and succession planning, and representing sureties in bond claims and litigation.

Dennis A. "Denny" Kross '63, director of the Space Transportation Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has been awarded a 2002 Presidential Rank Meritorious Executive Award—one of the highest honors attainable for a civil servant. He received the award at a ceremony in Washington, DC, in November.

Kross earned his BA in aerospace engineering. In 1968, he received a master's degree in engineering mechanics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Kross has led the Space Transportation Directorate since June 2001. Under his guidance, the directorate has provided world-class propulsion and engineering expertise to NASA's Space Shuttle program, as well as development of advanced space transportation and launch vehicle systems, in-space propulsion and a Mars ascent vehicle.

The Presidential Rank Awards honor executives who have provided exceptional service and leadership.

Dr. Melvin D. Shipp '96 DPH has been inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame in Cleveland. An associate professor in the School of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Shipp, serves as treasurer of the American Public Health Association. His credits include consultant/contributor to the 1999-2003 National Eye Institute - National Institutes of Health Strategic Five-Year Plan, member of the National Advisory Eye Council and member of the National Research Council/Transportation Research Board Committee on Safe Mobility of Older Persons. Dr. Shipp has become "a leading educator and lecturer in the public health and optometry communities," the Ohio Optometric Association said.

Chuck Miller '93 M Arch. has been promoted to an associate in the firm of Tuck Hinton Architects in Nashville. Miller was the project manager for the recently completed Allen Arena at Lipscomb University. He was also involved in the Private Business Inc. Headquarters and internal renovations at the Cumberland Science Museum.

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