May 2012 Alumni News

Anthony Capizzi '79, a juvenile court judge in Montgomery County, Ohio, participated in the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness in Washington, D.C., April 10-12. He spoke during a session called “Ask a Judge: Demystifying Juvenile Court and How Judges and Treatment Providers Can Partner Together Successfully.”

Michael Coleman ’80, the mayor of Columbus, Ohio, gave the commencement address at Capital University's graduation ceremony on May 5. He was first elected in 1999 and has been re-elected three times, most recently in 2011. He previously served as president of Columbus City Council from 1997 to 1999, and as a council member from 1992 to 1999.  

Susan Orr Henderson ’84 was recently honored as a “Woman of Distinction” by the YWCA in West Lafayette, Ind. Susan first began practicing law in Fountain County, Ind., in 1984. In 1999, she was elected judge of the Fountain County Circuit Court, and has been re-elected twice. As judge, she established a teen court program a Court Appointed Special Advocate program for Fountain County. She also launched the Fountain County Interagency Team, which helps families in need, established and Fountain County mentoring program for young people.

Helen Jones-Kelley ’84 is a finalist for the position of president of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. She is currently the executive director of the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board. She is also on the faculty of the Public Policy Institute’s Center on Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University. Previously, Helen was special assistant to the president for external relations at Central State. Helen is a member of the School of Law’s Advisory Council.

Sara A. Begley ’85, a partner in the Philadelphia office of Reed Smith, was named one of Pennsylvania’s “Women of the Year” by The Legal Intelligence, a law journal covering the Pennsylvania legal community. Sara counsels employers on employment issues and is a trial attorney with background in litigating cases involving race, age, disability, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and individual and collective/class wage-and-hour litigation. Sara also conducts management training on employment issues for corporations and government agencies and lectures on discrimination, sexual harassment, ADA, FMLA, internal and EEOC investigations, and workplace privacy and social media. She also received her B.A. from the University of Dayton, in 1981.

Debbie Lieberman ’86 received the Liberty Bell Award from the Dayton Bar Association during its annual Law Day celebration on May 1. The Liberty Bell Award is presented to a citizen who has rendered outstanding service to the community. Debbie is a member of the Montgomery, Ohio, County Commission. Debbie has served on the Dayton Development Coalition’s Regional Leaders Forum, the Downtown Dayton Partnership Board, the United Way Board and co-chairs the Economic Self Sufficiency Outcome Team. She has also served as chair of the Kids Voting Bipartisan Bash, honorary co-chair of the NAACP Freedom Fund Banquet, chair of the “Dayton, A City of Peace Celebration” and the 2012 honorary chair for the Day of Caring that benefits the Montgomery County Housing Coalition and The Food Bank.

Andrew D. Gowdown ’98, an attorney with Rosen Hagood, was awarded the “AV Preeminent” rating by the LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating directory. The AV rating is the highest designation given by Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review. Andrew practices in the areas of personal injury, traumatic brain injury, business and commercial litigation, securities litigation and medical malpractice. He serves on the Leadership South Carolina Board of Trustees and the Primerus Leadership Council.

Stephanie Kimbro ’03 spoke about “Unbundling and the Future of Legal Service Delivery” at Stanford Law School on May 2. She discussed how a virtual law firm delivers legal services online to clients. Video of the talk is available on Stephanie’s blog. This summer, Stephanie is teaching a distance-learning course, Unbundling and the Future of Law Practice, at Dayton Law. She operates a web-based virtual law office in North Carolina and is the director of the North Carolina branch of Burton Law, a Beavercreek,Ohio-based firm.

Nsé Ufot ’05 was named an assistant executive director at the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Based in Ottawa, the association represents more than 66,000 teachers, librarians, researchers and other academic professionals and staff. Nsé previously was a government relations officer for the American Association of University Professors, where she was senior lobbyist and coordinated initiatives for mobilizing members about legislation and regulations that impact higher education and labor law. She also served as regional director for the Service Employees International Union and a staff representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Sasha VanDeGrift ’06 received the Ohio State Bar Foundation's District 2 Community Service Award for Attorneys 40 and Under. She received the award at the district's annual meeting on April 4. Sasha is an attorney with Coolidge Wall in Dayton, where represents clients in civil and criminal cases. Previously, she served as staff attorney for Montgomery County, Ohio, Judges Mary L. Wiseman and John W. Kessler. She volunteers at Carehouse, a home for abused and neglected children, and serves as an associate board member of the Boonshoft Children’s Museum of Discovery. She is chair of the Dayton Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and has served on other DBA committees, including the Business Law Division, Civil Trial Practice Committee, Criminal Law Committee, Congeniality Committee and the Appellate Practice Committee.

Sasha is also featured in a TV commercial for the Dayton chapter of Girls on the Run, which is sponsoring a 5K on May 12. The commercial is also running during the morning and evening news on Fox 45 in Dayton.

April Besl ’07 is serving as acting president of the Cincinnati Intellectual Property Law Association. April is also vice president of the association. She is an associate in Dinsmore’s Cincinnati office, where she is a member of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Litigation Department. She focuses her practice on intellectual property issues, including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, social media, advertising and Internet law.

Glen R. McMurry ’07 has joined Dungan & LeFevre as an associate attorney. The firm has offices in Troy and Piqua, Ohio. Previously, he was an associate with the law firm of Bieser, Greer & Landis. He practices in the areas of business/commercial litigation, tort, tort defense, utility services, employment matters and criminal matters. Glen is the chapter president of the Dayton Chapter of the Federal Bar Association and co-chair of the Dayton Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, and serves on the National Board of Directors for the Federal Bar Associations’ Younger Lawyer Division as publications editor.

Susan Suriano ’09 is now staff attorney for the Honorable Kimberly Cocroft in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus, Ohio. For the last three years, she served as a Franklin County, Ohio, prosecutor.

Stephen Schilling ’10 has joined Strauss & Troy's Cincinnati office as an associate in the litigation group. He previously worked as a law clerk for Federal District Judge Michael R. Barrett in Cincinnati.

Rob Scott ’10 was elected head of the Montgomery County, Ohio, Republican Party. He is the founder of the Dayton Tea Party and a member of the Kettering, Ohio, city council. He is a partner at Oldham & Deitering.