Big Bash is just around the corner, and we hope you can join us for our Psychology Department Reception for alumni, which will be held during Big Bash, on Saturday, June 1st, from 2:30-4pm in Baxter Hall, room 312. If you will be back on campus for a reunion or just to catch up with fellow alums, faculty and staff, we hope that you will be able to drop in!

And, we are hoping to post updates from alumni who have reunions this year (5, 10, 15 years, etc.). Even if you will not be back for Big Bash, send us a short update on where life has taken you since Wabash, and we will post it below (photos are welcome, but not necessary!).  Updates can be directed to Dr. Neil Schmitzer-Torbert: torbertn@wabash.edu.

Class updates

Class of 1954 – 65 year reunion

  • Richard Sadler – Dick Sadler called in with an update from Laguna Woods, CA. He is looking forward to this year’s Big Bash, and recently came across a few of his term papers from Wabash, including two from psychology – one on visual distraction, and another on personnel selection, based on a visit he made to the Ball Brothers factory in Muncie. After Wabash, Dick completed his Master’s degree in labor and industrial relations, before being drafted for the Korean War. One memorable experience from that time was when he travelled over 12,000 miles during a 33 day leave, making very effective use of hitchhike flying: over the entire month, he only spent $100 on air travel for one commercial flight!

Class of 1969 – 50 year reunion

  • Craig Fox – Earned his Master’s degree while teaching at Vincennes University then completed law school at the University of San Diego. As a lawyer, Mr. Fox practiced in Hollywood and Beverly Hills in finance, real estate and contract law.
  • Dan Werbe – Since leaving Wabash, my working career has been about sales and sales management. Eli Lilly taught me the fundamentals of selling, which I have subsequently redirected into other positions and industries. Since 1987, it has been commission driven insurance, particularly life insurance. Working face to face with prospects, making needs assessments, and recommending solutions should there be excessive exposure. I developed a marked preference for selling expensive complicated things to well-educated prospects. My Wabash years helped me to write well and effectively. I have sought to distinguish myself from others by better communicating skills, better listening, and a better knowledge of the subject matter than others. I would develop a strategic plan in advance, and seek to gain the confidence and respect of my prospect. In a nutshell, … know the matter better, speak better, look better, and follow up with respect and common courtesy. What I call basic blocking and tackling skills. I would not hesitate to have my prospects know of my industry awards and recognition. Apart from my working career, I have pursued my avocations in much the same manner. I’d give it my all, my best and nothing less. Extensive preparation, high energy, great determination, coupled with a hunger to learn how to become better at what I was doing. Or I wouldn’t ‘fool’ with it at all. In general, my own personal goals have almost always exceeded those of any associates or supervisors. I would compete against myself, with lofty expectations.

Class of 1974 – 45 year reunion

  • Robert Hall – Being a pre-med, psychology major at Wabash, I would have never thought I’d be in banking for 39 years as a commercial lender assisting businesses thrive and be successful in their industry sectors as well as helping with economic development in our community. Obviously, the liberal arts education gave me the foundation for a successful career and my psychology studies greatly assisted as well, especially with the character analysis of my borrowers 😉 Aside from work, I have loved giving back to my community by serving on numerous, not-for-profit boards and volunteering for their activities– Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Turnstone Center for Adults and Children with Disabilities, Mad Anthonys, my high school’s Scholarship Foundation and others. But, the biggest impact in my life aside from family, Wabash and my fraternity brothers, is being a Big Brother to my Little Brother(s) for over 12 years. The photo above shows me with my current Little Brother. While BBBS says we make impact in their lives, my Littles have made an impact in mine – it’s Fun!  Volunteer and be a Big!

Class of 1979 – 40 year reunion

  • Joel Rice – I briefly attended graduate school in clinical psychology at the University of Texas before figuring out that it was not for me. After I returned home, I took the LSAT, and applied to law schools. Thereafter, I attended law school at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1983. I am a partner at Fisher & Phillips, a national labor and employment law firm. I have practiced labor and employment law for the better part of 30 years. I am married, live in suburban Chicago, and have two grown sons.

Class of 1984 – 35 year reunion

  • Thom Irelan – I have traveled a bit of a winding road since graduation in 1984. I got a doctoral degree in counseling psychology in 1992. Since then I have worked in a community mental health center in rural southern Illinois, done private practice in Columbia, MO, and then moved to Aberdeen, Scotland where 8 worked in the National Health Service for 14 years. I came back and taught psychology at Westminster College in Fulton, MO for 2.5 years. Last summer I returned to Scotland where I am working in private practice with First Psychology, which is a practice with clinics throughout Scotland. I am an accredited Schema Therapist and provide supervision and training to trainee psychologists and professionals. My Wabash education has stood me in good stead throughout the years!

Class of 1989 – 30 year reunion

  • Scott Baum – I have been  teaching and coaching in high school in the Chicago Area for almost 30 years.  I am currently teaching AP Psychology & Regular Psychology at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois.  I have a wife, Margie, and three sons; Scott 18 just graduated from Loyola Academy and is headed to Western Michigan, Sean is 15 and a Sophomore at Loyola and John is 12 and a sixth grader at St. Mary of the Woods grade school.  We live on the Northwest side of Chicago. I will be in attendance this Friday night only, I have to get back for my sons graduation party on Saturday!
  • Dan Couch – I live in Murfreesboro, TN with my wife of 26 years and our 3 children.  Our son, Casey, is a gymnast at The Air Force Academy where he just completed his first year. Our oldest daughter, Kenzie, graduated from high school last week and will be cheering on the sidelines next fall at The University of Tennessee. Our youngest daughter, Cassidy, will start her sophomore year of high school in the fall where she’ll return to the volleyball court as reigning All County libero. My wife,Tina Marie, stepped away from patient care recently at St.Thomas Rutherford where she as been a RN in L&D for 20 years, and into a Nurse Auditor position. I’m still writing country songs for a living and enjoying the work. I recently put my writing skills to a different test as a guest contributor to Wabash Magazine. I wrote an article chronicling the pretty amazing story of my classmate and fraternity brother Curt Selby ’89 and his wife Julie and their insanely successful franchising business, Board and Brush. Look for the article in the next issue Wabash Magazine!
  • Rhys Helt – I have been providing wealth management solutions to clients for 27 years. After graduating from Wabash College in 1989, I started my career in the financial services industry with Prudential Securities. After 16 years with one legacy firm, I accepted the Branch Director position in Indianapolis for RBC Wealth Management in 2009.   As the Branch Director of the Indianapolis office, I oversee the branch and I am working to expand with quality financial consultants in the Indianapolis market.  I still maintain my own group of clients in addition to my management responsibilities. I completed the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA) designation at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2000. By attaining this designation, and ongoing education, I maintain membership in IMCA (Investment Management Consultants Association). In addition, I obtained the professional designation of Accredited Wealth Manager (AWM) through an education program sponsored by RBC Wealth Management and Michigan State University. I have been married to my wonderful wife Christina for 27 years and we have two sons.  My oldest son Rhett will be a senior next year at Wabash College and my youngest son Rhye will be a sophomore at the University of Dayton.
  • Andrew Smith – After graduating in ’89, I returned to suburban Chicago and did some desktop publishing for a printer while getting a second major in English Literature at Benedictine University. Next, I went to work for the Daily Herald newspaper for ten years. For the past eleven years, I’ve been a writing coach at College of DuPage. Along the way, I’ve become a licensed high-school English teacher with endorsements in–you guessed it–psychology and history.

Class of 1999 – 20 year reunion

  • Ryan Holmes – After graduating Wabash, I studied at Indiana University School of Dentistry, earning a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 2003.  Since then, I have been in private practice in Fort Wayne, where I started Holmes Family & Cosmetic Dentistry in 2006.  My wife Tobie and I have been married for 15 years and have 2 daughters, Sydney (14) and Bella (11).

Class of 2004 – 15 year reunion

  • Kevin Nolan is an Associate Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Hofstra University and Managing Partner of Employee Insights, LLC (New York). His scholarly research provides unique insight into the cognitive processes underlying employment decisions and has been published in a variety of outlets including: Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business and Psychology, Corporate Reputation Review, The Psychologist-Manager Journal, Personnel Assessment and Decisions, Human Performance, Public Personnel Management, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, and Consulting Psychology Journal: Research and Practice. As a consultant, his applied work focuses on improving organizational effectiveness and worker well-being through application of best-practice principles in the areas of organizational change and development. After graduating from Wabash College, Kevin earned a M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis and a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Bowling Green State University. He currently lives on Long Island with his wife, Erin, and sons, Patrick (5) and Brooks (2) – where he is regularly found in the Fall with a cold beverage over a hot grill listening to Wabash College Football games.

Class of 2009 – 10 year reunion

  • Naun Antonio Benitez – After graduating from Wabash in 2009, I earned my J.D. from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. While in law school, I was a Legal Writing Fellow in the Dean’s Tutorial Society. I interned in both the public and private sectors, and I gained courtroom experience with the Indiana Federal Community Defenders and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. I’m now a Senior Associate at the Marc Lopez Law Firm, and my practice is primarily devoted to criminal defense. I handle a wide variety of felony and misdemeanor criminal cases, and I’m in court almost every day. I love jury trials almost as much as I love my family: Sarah, my wife of almost 13 years, and our beautiful children, Aiden (12) and Adriana (8). When I am not working, the Benitez are always on the soccer field.
  • David Braitman – I graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 2015 and went on to the University of New Mexico for my psychiatry residency. I also elected to stay for a forth year in order to be a chief resident. In the past 4 years I also served on the American Psychiatric Association as a representative to their congressional body, wrote a book chapter that will soon be published on foundational research papers in schizophrenia and wrote an article on sleep apnea and psychiatry for the American Journal of Psychiatry- Residents Journal. This past January I was accepted at Stanford University for a two year fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry and will be moving to Palo Alto this June. I continue my research interests in attention and self-regulation and plan to keep research a part of my career. I have never forgotten all that Wabash (and the psychology department in particular!) have taught me, most importantly to always stay curious.
  • Michael Kaster – After graduation I went to paramedic school and worked as a full time paramedic in Indianapolis. During that time I was in graduate school at IUPUI for a semester before I went to medical school. I graduated medical school and started my internal medicine residency at St. Vincent hospital in Indianapolis. I finished residency in June of 2018 and passed my board exam and am now board certified in internal medicine. After residency I started a fellowship in pulmonology and critical care medicine at Creighton University. I am currently finishing my first of three years in fellowship and live in Omaha with my wife Liz. Liz and I got married May 19th 2018 just before moving to Omaha. We live in Omaha with our two dogs.
  • Wade Heiny – I live in Greenfield, IN with my wife of 8 years and 1 year old daughter. In 2012 I was accepted to attend the Indiana State Police Recruit Academy to become an Indiana State Trooper. I made it through the 6 month training and graduated on December 21st 2012. Since then I have become an active member on the department by joining the Honor Guard team, methamphetamine suppression team, Riot Team, and maintaining numerous other certifications. I was asked to become a field training officer after just three years and have trained 6 new officers. I am now a Detective working multiple high profile cases, this new position allows me to better utilize my degree when interviewing individuals. I attribute much of my success with the Indiana State Police to the work ethic in which Wabash instills in you.
  • James Leuck – Post-graduation I went into training in neurophysiology and completed my credentialing in Electroencephalography (R.EEG.T), Evoked Potentials (R. EP. T) and Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring (CNIM).  I have been practicing intraoperative monitoring and patient care for over 8 years now and have advanced to a management position with my company – Spine-Tek, powered by Neuro Alert.  I travel to 15 hospitals in the Greater Indianapolis area and one 1 in Phoenix as scheduled for surgeries.  I monitor patients’ nervous systems for all types of procedures: spine, brain, cardiovascular, peripheral nerve, tumors, etc. I get to work with great alumni like Dr. Kyle Hayes ’09 and Austin Shurtz ’08 (anesthesiologists), Dr. Rick Sasso ’82 (orthopedic surgeon) and Neurosurgeons Todd Vogel ’04, Zach Dodd ’01, and David Stockwell ’03.  I stay very active as an alumnus of Wabash and Theta Delta Chi and am recently living in Geist after I moved from Fall Creek Place near downtown Indianapolis.
  • Devin Moss – Following Wabash I went on to receive my Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis followed by a residency program in Sports Physical Therapy with Proaxis Therapy (now ATI) our of Greenville, SC. I spent 7 months working in Boulder, CO at a hospital-based sports medicine clinic before moving to Fort Worth, TX where I have worked for Texas Health Sports Medicine for the past 5 years. I am a clinic director of one of 6 outpatient offices where we treat a highly active and engaged population of athletes. I am also currently pursuing an MBA in Health Services Management from the University of North Texas with plans to progress into higher administration. Most importantly, my wife and I have a 1 yr-old daughter who keeps us plenty busy!
  • Stephen Prunier – After Wabash I continued my education at Ball State University where I earned my masters degree in Cognitive and Social Processes, which is the complicated way of saying cognitive and social psychology. I was then accepted into a PhD program at the University of Toledo where I obtained my PhD in Cognitive Psychology. I am currently teaching at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis where I also serve at the assistant department chair of Psychology. Ivy Tech just recently began offering an associates degree in psychology, so I oversee that program and work with students to begin their career in psychology before they transfer at finish their bachelors at other local universities and colleges. Wabash is the place where I found my passion for psychology and I try to pass that same passion down to my current students with every course I teach.
  • Zac Simpson – I married my beautiful wife Sharae in 2015 and since have been blessed to be the father of 3 boys—a 3 year old, an 18 month old, and a 3 week old. We recently moved to Mooresville, Indiana after living in Indianapolis, Maryland, and Georgia. Shortly after graduating from Wabash I joined the Indiana Army National Guard. I am currently a Captain and have served as a satellite communications platoon leader, infantry division network officer, and disaster response unit IT project officer. I was recently granted the honor to command the 172nd Cyber Protection Team. As Team Lead for the multi-state unit I get the opportunity to work with talented cyber security professionals who work hard everyday to secure networks, protect citizen information, and respond to cyberspace threats for their states and our nation. My civilian career has taken me from helpdesk to field service technician to system and network administration to systems architect and information systems security manager. I currently work as an Information Assurance Project Manager for in support of the Atterbury Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations. It’s a mouthful but essentially I am the in-house cyber guru helping to build and secure our projects. I owe so much of who I’ve become personally and professionally to Wabash College. And although I did not pursue a career in Psychology, much of my pursuits have been framed and influenced by the understanding I gained from my degree. After all the most important part of any network is layer eight. I wish a happy weekend to all my Wally brothers.

Class of 2014 – 5 year reunion

  • Joel Beier – I have recently accepted a position at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where I will work towards a PhD in the Learning Sciences department.  I will study ways in which students develop conceptual understandings of scientific content, specifically, in my first few years I will study the ways in which students develop visual representations of chemical phenomenon.
  • Shane Brown – I joined Enterprise to grab some external sales training back in 2015. I originally joined to grab that experience but then began moving up in the management training program to management where I’ve been for a year and a half. My degree helped me grab the spot but the specific psychology degree has helped me with communication and obtaining most out of employees. But I love the role and the compensation! Haha
  • Nathan Bryant – After graduating from Wabash, I found myself in a position back at Wabash, managing the campus events. I was the Events Coordinator for campus services, making sure all of the events around the college were probably executed. All the while, I chose to change my field of study, graduating from Indiana Wesleyan University with an MBA. I then pursued a career in the field of finance, starting as a Financial Services Professional with Charles Schwab & Co. I am now in the Active Investor Team, as a Sr. Trading Specialist- High Net Worth Clients. Currently, I am pursuing my licenses for becoming a manager in the financial services industry.
  • Rudy Duarte – Since graduating I worked as a software developer for 2 years. One of them being in Indianapolis and another in Santa Ana, CA (my hometown). I started tutoring part time because I felt an “itch” for helping my community. That quickly turned into me working for a nonprofit organization that helps underserved communities, like the one I came from, apply and graduate from college. I served as a college counselor for 2 years and recently, I have been promoted as the Program Director where I over see the programs and services for 660 students as well as overseeing the growth and strategy of 3 of our 4 departments. I also recently got married. Life is good! Thank you, Wabash. It seriously prepared me transitioning between careers and not only fulfilling the roles but also leading.
  • Andrew Fulton – After graduating Wabash in 2014, I moved to Binghamton, NY where I worked as a research technician in a neuroscience lab studying alcoholism and thiamine deficiency. While there I began learning to write software to perform data munging, analysis and visualization and soon discovered a passion in software development. In 2016, I moved to Denver to do a Data Science Immersive, afterwhich I took a position managing a small team automating the data pipeline for a company doing marketing research for telecommunication companies. This past Spring I joined a startup called Quansight, where I have had the good fortune to work with a lot of really talented developers and scientists consulting on and implementing data pipelines and analysis for clients and contributing to the development of open source software for Python’s math and science stacks. In my freetime, I enjoy spending my time with friends and family and taking advantage of all the great outdoor activities Colorado has to offer.
  • Francisco Huerta – After Wabash College I joined Teach for America and began teaching at Hansberry College Prep in Chicago. In 2016 I completed my commitment with Teach for America, and I elected to stay in the classroom. That same year I graduated from Dominican University with a Master of Arts in Teaching. I am currently wrapping up my 5th year of teaching at Hansberry where I’ve developed a 9th grade world history curriculum that is IB aligned as we are an IB World School. I also serve as the school’s advisor for our chapter of the National Honor Society. Earlier this year I was accepted as a member of 2019-2020 Diverse Leaders Fellowship – a program designed to develop leaders within the Noble Network of Charter Schools. I plan to continue in the field of education for the foreseeable future as I have a passion for serving urban youth in the city of Chicago. In my spare time I enjoy running. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2016 and am currently training to run it again this year.
  • Jimmy LaRowe – Pursued Doctorate of Occupational Therapy from 2014 to 2017. Post graduation took first job in Roswell, NM to rebuild OT program in Med surg, ICU, Mental Health, and Outpatient. Came back to Indiana this year and am now an Occupational Therapist with Angels of Mercy Home Health Care. Previous Director of Iron Wills Bootcamp in Fort Wayne, IN. CEO and Founder of Empoweredby3 LLC, co-owner of Empoweredby3 Wreslting Academy in Fort Wayne and LaOtto Indiana. [Jimmy was back on campus in April, and you can see his Chapel talk, “Response over Reaction – Live to Survive…or Live to Thrive“, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDNYo8YAH5Y] 
  • Derrick McQuiston – After graduation I attended New York University where I received my clinical doctorate in Physical Therapy. At graduation I was a recipient of the Elizabeth C. Addoms Award for excellence in academic and clinical performance. I am now working at ColumbiaDoctors Sports Medicine in Manhattan as a physical therapist.
  • Connor O’Rear – Since graduating in 2014 I have been attending graduate school in psychology at the University of Notre Dame. In my work I study mathematical cognition, with a focus on identifying the best ways to promote math achievement in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. I received my master’s degree in 2017 and will be receiving my PhD in psychology in the spring of 2020. I currently live in South Bend with my wife, Andrea, who I met while at Notre Dame. She will be starting as a visiting professor in psychology at Saint Mary’s College this fall, joining the same department as Terri Aubele-Futch, who was a visiting psychology professor while I was at Wabash (so a cool Wabash connection there!). Once I receive my PhD I plan to pursue a career in academia.
  • Bobby Thompson – Currently I am a teacher at Crawfordsville MS. I teach 6th grade social studies. On top of my teaching duties I am the head coach for Boys’ soccer and track. Outside of sports I am the Academic Super Bowl coordinator for all of CMS, in addition to coaching the state champion social studies team. Despite keeping busy at CMS I also coach all year at Wabash where I am an assistant cross country and track coach. I have had both jobs, CMS and Wabash, for 4 years now. In my personal life I was recently engaged to my fiance, Paige. We will be getting married in the Wabash Chapel next summer. We have two Labrador Retrievers, Luna and Lily. Since graduating I have also kept up with running. I ran my first marathon this past fall and have been the Indiana road mile champion 3 years in a row.
  • Andy Walsh – I’m currently entering my 3rd year at the University of North Texas pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology with a focus in Sport Psychology. I provide mental health services to the community through our community psychology clinic and will soon also provide mental health services to our students in our university counseling center. I also am trained in psychological assessment, administer these to community members/students, as well as teach the lab portion of our assessment course to our 1st year graduate students. Additionally, I am entering my 3rd year as the sport psychology consultant for the UNT Men’s Basketball program. I’m not completely certain as to where I’ll end up, but I’m thinking the most likely location for me is an Athletic Department or University Counseling Center providing mental health services to individuals, teams, and athletes, as well as providing mental skills consultation to teams and athletes. I should have about 2-3 years left on campus and then will be off to my internship!
  • Bradley Wise – After graduating from Wabash in 2014, I worked two lab technician positions in behavioral neuroscience labs at IU School of Medicine and Indiana University, each for a year. While I initially wanted to pursue a PhD in neuroscience, I began exploring other options. I applied for a lab manager position in a cognitive neuroscience lab at Yale University where I began developing hands-on programming skills. That is when I applied to Cornell Tech, a new tech campus in New York City. While at Cornell Tech, I developed skills in data science and machine learning and took two internships at WeightWatchers and a precision medicine startup called OneThree Biotech. Now I am graduating from Cornell Tech, and I am going to the Bay Area to work as a data scientist at Cisco in July. I will be forever thankful for how my time at Wabash gave me the perseverance to go through this career transition.