Alumni Council welcomes in four new members
July 11, 2018 — Four Grinnell College graduates will assist with fostering strong connections among Grinnell College’s more than 20,000 alumni.
The new Alumni Council members are:
- Debby Feir ’68
- Debbie Gottschalk ’90
- Andrea Jackson ’95
- Jocelyn Wyatt ’99
Each will serve two-year terms through Reunion 2020.
“The four new members of the Alumni Council are each remarkable alumni and together they will strengthen the Council because of their diverse experiences,” said John “Fritz” Schwaller ’69, Alumni Council president. “Coming from different corners of the country and different class years, they are passionate about helping the College and serving their fellow alumni.”
The Alumni Council strives to unite Grinnell graduates and former students. The 25-member group (along with two student ex-officio members) promotes a spirit of fellowship among alumni and supports the College leadership, faculty, staff, and students in the advancement of the College.
Debby Feir ’68
Debby Feir ’68
Feir lives in Decatur, Georgia, and teaches in the Master of Business Administration program for international students at Mercer University. She previously served a number of different roles at BellSouth from 1978 to 2006, including writing training manuals and working as a manager in sales and marketing.
Feir was a Grinnell College class agent for 35 years. She has spent countless hours volunteering to the betterment of her class and community. She has mentored a teen girl, trained a therapy dog, started a Neighborhood Watch Program, volunteered at the 1996 Olympics and Paralympics, and served on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Council for the Hearing Impaired.
“I want to broaden the scope of what I had been doing as class agent to communicate with and engage a wider representation of alumni of diverse backgrounds and interests to help the College attract top students who have a love of lifetime learning and a strong desire to improve the world around them,” she says.
Feir will serve on the Alumni Council Diversity and Inclusion, and Election and Membership committees.
Debbie Gottschalk ’90
Debbie Gottschalk ’90
Gottschalk lives in Newark, Delaware, and works as a nonpartisan attorney for the Delaware General Assembly. She has also served as chief policy advisor to the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Health & Social Services and as an attorney at the Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. She is a class fund director, has hosted Grinnell College students as externs and worked with the College’s Grinnell Regional Admission Support Program (GRASP).
“As a student, Grinnell provided me with the skills and experience to be successful in my career,” she says. “As an adult, the extended Grinnell community provides alumni and current students with both formal and informal support, resources, and friendship. I’d like to assist in strengthening those connections.”
Gottschalk will serve on the Council’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Andrea Jackson ’95
Andrea Jackson ’95
Jackson lives in San Diego and works for Dexcom, a consumer medical device company. She is responsible for the product development strategy for the company’s mobile device app portfolio. She previously was a marketing manager at Qualcomm and program director at Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance.
Like Gottschalk, Jackson volunteered in the GRASP program. She served on her class committee for their 20th reunion and returns to Grinnell annually for Swimming/Diving Alumni Weekend.
“I wanted to be more directly involved in giving back to an institution that continues to have a positive, daily impact on my life,” she said.
Jackson is serving on the Council’s Stewardship Committee.
Jocelyn Wyatt ’99
Jocelyn Wyatt ’99
Wyatt lives in New York City and is CEO of IDEO.org, a nonprofit organization that applies human-centered design to improve the lives of people living in low income and vulnerable communities in the U.S. and around the world. She cofounded the organization in 2011. She heads up partner development with foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises and builds networks by speaking widely on how design is changing the social sector.
Wyatt is an externships host and has previously served as a class agent and Grinnell Prize Committee member.
“I'm interested in learning more and helping to steer the direction of the College and to help identify valuable opportunities for Grinnell students and alumni,” she says.
Wyatt will take part in the Council’s Alumni-Student Connections Committee.
Other council news
The Council also re-elected the following members to their second terms: Lester Alemán ’07, Claudia Beckwith ’77, Ann Poor Cary ’81, Kelly Clements Hopfer ’96, David Jarvis ’04, Chris Meyer ’70, Howie Schein ’66, and Archie Tyson ’05. Council members elected to a third term were Jim Asplund ’88, Mary Knuth Otto ’63, Ahsan Rahim ’11, Schwaller, and Rhonda Stuart ’86. Council members can be elected to up to three consecutive terms.
Ryann Haines Cheung ‘93 was elected Alumni Council President-Elect for this year. She will serve as president in 2019-2020.
Students serving on the Council this year are Myles Becker ’19, Student Government Association president; and Emily Zaffiro ’19, Student Alumni Council president.
The terms of Allison Brinkhorst ’11, Angela Onwuachi-Willig ’94, Saurabh Saraf ’05, and Lara Szent-Gyorgyi ’89 lapsed following Reunion 2018.
—by Jeremy Shapiro
For your information:
Visit the Alumni Council web pages for a full list of members, committees, meeting minutes, and information about serving on the Council.