We love celebrating the personal and professional accomplishments of our alumni!

Have an exciting update? Let us know so we can share with our community.

You can submit news of promotions, awards, births, engagements or weddings online at advancement.truman.edu/register/class_note. Interested in what your classmates are up to? View submitted class notes online at advancement.truman.edu/portal/classnotes.

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Bethany Hahn, a proud 2007 Truman alumna, has been promoted to associate at Apex Engineers, a structural engineering firm headquartered in Kansas City. Bethany is also the first non-engineer to reach this leadership level at Apex, and she was recently recognized as a 2024 BD+C 40 Under 40 honoree.

 

 

 

 

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Evie Townley (’17) and her husband welcomed their son Rowan! Definitely a future Bulldog 🙂

 

 

 

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Four alumni from Truman work together now as staff at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Shelli Allen (’93), Kim (Mitchell) Steinmetz (’08), Kara (Bollinger) Kynion (’09), and Amy (Bockelman) Sellers (’09, ’10). Shelli is the vice president of student success and engagement, Kim is the director for international and immigrant services, Kara is the director of the writing center, and Amy is the director of early college partnerships and outreach.

 

 

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The sixth annual Alumni & Friends Book Club will feature “Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age” by Truman alumna Dr. Kathleen Sheppard (’01). 

The history of Egyptology often focuses on male archaeologists seizing precious artifacts for their competing homelands. But that is only half of the story. “Women in the Valley of the Kings” highlights more than 11 women whose work in Egypt laid the groundwork for future exploration. “Women in the Valley of the Kings” shows how a group of courageous women charted unknown territory and changed the field of Egyptology forever. The book was reviewed in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and was chosen by Goodreads readers as the sixth-best non-fiction book of 2024.

Sheppard graduated from Truman with a degree in sociology and anthropology and is currently a professor of history at Missouri S&T in Rolla. Her main research interest is the work of women in Egyptology and telling these amazing stories to anyone who will listen. Discussion of the book will be held on the Alumni & Friends Facebook Group page and will conclude with a virtual conversation with the author in July. To learn more about this year’s Alumni & Friends Book Club, email bulldogforever@truman.edu.