Alumni Spotlight: Kim Bonniksen

Kim Bonniksen (’93, Communication & ’96, Education) is using her SUU experiences to advance online learning organizations and school accreditation.

As the owner and operator of Visions Consulting, an educational consulting business, Kim works with for profit education corporations, smaller online learning organizations and individual schools to develop curriculum, assessments, evaluate corporate policy and strategy, facilitate school improvement planning and support accreditation efforts. She has been fortunate to work with industry leaders in virtual education and has served on national committees to improve the state of online learning throughout the world.

The educational industry has in turn recognized Kim for her leadership and expertise. In 2005, she presented at the National Indian Education Association’s annual conference in Alaska on the value of technology in expanding educational opportunities for Native American students. In 2008, she was recognized as the Elluminate Hero of the Year for her work in online teaching, professional development, instructional design and work with at risk students. And in 2009, Kim worked on the International Association for K12 Online Learning Committee for the Development of National Standards of Quality for Online Learning Programs, which were released early this year.

Kim values SUU for the education she received. “I appreciated the intelligence and compassion of my instructors as well as their ability to relate to my ambitions,” she explains. “I was given the security of learning in a safe environment, encouraged by professors who knew and cared for me.”

Her favorite SUU memory is of being surprised as a freshman to wake up in her dorm room after a long debate team trip to see Eric Bonniksen (her future husband) sitting at her desk. “I hurried from my dorm room in Juniper to the bathroom, cleaned up and got dressed and we went to play pool . . . which of course, I didn’t know how to play. We dated, became engaged, married our senior year and have lived happily ever after.”

Kim and Eric (’93, Social Sciences) have three sons, Nicholas (13), Derek (10) and Caelan (7) and reside in Camino, California.

Alumni Spotlight: Anna Turpin Crowe

Anna Turpin Crowe (’04 Communication) is a graphic designer and web manager in the regional marketing and research department of Grubb & Ellis, a large commercial real estate company in Los Angeles, California.

Following SUU graduation, Anna lived in downtown Salt Lake City and worked in the marketing department of a regional health insurance company.  She did event planning and communications analyzing – which consisted of designing, writing and editing marketing materials and web sites.

While in Salt Lake, Anna’s passion for the stage found a professional, post-college outlet in theaters across the valley including Hale Center, Off-Broadway and Roger’s Memorial.  In all, she performed in 11 musicals and sang with 250-voice Sterling Singers.  Currently, she is part of a regional choir that will sing back-up for The Kinks in November of 2009.

Favorite SUU memories involve roommates and late night trips to Quail Lake, silly escapades, practical jokes, long talks and hours of laughing.  “College is an incredible time for playing and learning.”

Anna is married to Steven, who incidentally in 2008 was one of 12 people accepted into the MFA program at UCLA for Producing for Film and Television.

Alumni Spotlight: Beverli Jo Dewalt

Beverli Jo Dewalt (’98, Communication) is a Foreign Service Officer and Diplomat for the Department of State in Washington D.C. where she works in the Secretary's Office for Coordination of Reconstruction and Stabilization. 

Currently, she is on a temporary tour of duty in Afghanistan working in two provinces north of Kabul. She assists local government leaders, line ministers and local people improve the stability and security through reconstruction and regular engagement.  Beverli spent three months earlier this year assisting with the Kosovo transition from a U.N. protectorate to an independent state. 

Beverli also served a tour in Brussels, Belgium at the U.S. Mission to NATO, working as an Executive Officer to the Ambassador for a year and a political officer on Iraqi issues. She reveals, "The most interesting part was working with our 25 NATO Allies. In one day I would have lunch with the Germans, afternoon hot chocolate with the Dutch and an evening meeting with the French."

Her first tour with the Foreign Service was in Islamabad, Pakistan as a Vice-Consul interviewing Pakistani citizens wishing to visit the United States. She met people from every walk of life -- poor farmers, famous Bollywood stars, political figures and businessmen. She loved the job and fell in love with the country. 

Beverli credits her SUU education, specifically her Communication training, for providing her with a strong background for service as a diplomat.  She values having learned the importance of relationships, politics and economics. Reflecting on her classroom experience and still using what was taught, she remembers Suzanne Larson opening class by saying, "Persuasion is manipulation with ethics," and Les Jones repeatedly stating, "Why do we do the things we do?" 

Alumni Spotlight: Mvema Phezo Dizolele

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele (’94, Political Science and French) is a W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has been an international business advisor, radio broadcaster, columnist and foreign policy analyst, which has allowed him to bring a distinctive perspective to African economic and political development. 

Prior to Stanford, Mvemba was Vice President for Business Development at GoodWorks International, LLC, a global advisory firm in Washington, D.C.  While there, he initiated new public-private partnerships between African State-owned enterprises and U.S. companies. 

As a fellow at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Mvemba covered the 2006 historic elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also embedded with United Nations peacekeepers in the war-torn Ituri and South Kivu regions.

He was a policy analyst at the Center for Global Development and managed the Millennium Challenge Account Monitor. While serving as a global analyst at Thomson Financial Institutional Shareholder Services, he advised U.S. and British fund managers on investment transactions that included the $2.5 billion Norsk Hydro-Saga merger and ISS International’s $417 million share issuance.

He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, served eight years in the Marine Corps and speaks English, French, Norwegian, Spanish, Swahili, Kikongo and Lingala, and is proficient in Swedish and Danish.

For Mvemba, SUU was his first home in the U.S. and he still considers it as such. "I enjoyed the fellowship I received from the faculty and student communities. SUU professors Rodney Decker, Craig Jones, Michael Stathis, Jim Harrison and Jim Mills all had a profound impact on my education. They laid a foundation of how I came to look at things in my world and how I analyzed my political thought.  I still remember those classes."

Alumni Spotlight: Sherri Smith Dodgson

Sherri Smith Dodgson (’94, Education) is grateful to SUU for preparing her to join the workforce, facilitate her own classroom and develop the minds of her students.

With a mission to make smart cool, Sherri founded Discover Science 4 Kids and Miss Science in 2009 as a way to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education for children Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade in the greater Phoenix area. She is spreading her wings nationally through a partnership with Biz in a Boxx (a youth entrepreneurship program). She is also a contributor on Arizona Midday (NBC 12-Phoenix) sharing with families how to make the connection between home, school and science.

She volunteers in her community by serving on several committees that promotes quality education and programs.  Currently she serves on the Arizona SciTech Festival Advisory Committee, the Scottsdale Workforce Committee, the Scottsdale Unified School District Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee and the Scottsdale Unified School District STEM and Afterschool Sub-Committee. She is also a former legislative liaison for the Scottsdale Parent Council.

Sherri credits SUU for peaking her desire to learn, something she had not experienced growing up. Professor Richard Dotson had a profound on her education. Chemistry was not her forte but Professor Dotson worked with her and held multiple study sessions to help her get through the class.

Husband Joe played football at SUU and Sherri fondly remembers cheering the team on victory at the 1993 conference championship in Sacramento. Other favorite SUU memories include dancing with Orchesis and Zoology field trips that cultivated her love of “critters”.

The Dodgsons live in Scottsdale, Arizona and are the parents of two children, Alex (16) and Cassidi (14).