John Cohen has been named Auburn University’s 16^th athletics director after serving in the same role at Mississippi State University for seven years. A Tuscaloosa native, Cohen played baseball at BSC for a year before transferring to Mississippi State, where he played from 1997-2000. During his time at MSU, the Bulldogs won the 2021 Men’s College World Series Championship, the school’s first national title in any sport.

Dr. John James Spollen, III ’90 will be the next regional associate dean for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine in Little Rock. Spollen is a professor and vice chairman for education in the medical school’s department of psychiatry and has received multiple awards for his work with students. Spollen was in charge of developing the initial curriculum for the college in 2008.

Millie Murphree Brinyark ’90 has been named the County Extension Coordinator for the Escambia County Cooperative Extension Service in Brewton. Murphree holds a BS in business and communication from Birmingham-Southern, a master’s in secondary education/language arts from the University of Alabama, and a master’s and Ph.D. in agriculture and extension education from Mississippi State University. Prior to coming to the Extension, she spent 12 years as a middle and high school teacher in the Tuscaloosa City and Tuscaloosa County School Systems. She was also a graduate assistant instructor at Mississippi State University’s College of Agriculture.

In July, Ben Bolton ’98, Senior Energy Programs Administrator in the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs, graduated from the year-long National Emergency Management Advanced Academy cohort in Franklin, Tenn.

Andrew Robison ’99 has been named Birmingham office managing partner of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, succeeding Dawn Helms Sharff ’91. Robison served on the BSC President’s Advisory Council and currently serves as a trustee of the Birmingham Museum of Art and its endowment trust and of the Eyesight Foundation of Alabama.

Dr. Heather Hair Meissen ’03 spoke this month to 300 critical care nurses at the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei on her doctoral research on burnout and resiliency in healthcare providers, and on how the pandemic changed nursing practice in the U.S. She currently serves as director of Emory University’s nurse practitioner/physician’s assistant critical care residency program in Atlanta.

The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has named Eliza Kathryn Love ’20, a student at Duke Divinity School, as the 2023 recipient of a $10,000 scholarship to attend the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute at Bossey in Switzerland. Love, a member of the Kentucky Annual Conference, is in the process of ordination and was recommended by her bishop, Bishop Leonard Fairley. At BSC, Love majored in religion, served as a Hess Fellow at the General Board of Church and Society in Washington, D.C., and received the Crawford and Bette Owen Seminary Award for pre-ministerial students. She is a member of Kappa Delta.

Thomas “Tommy” H Light, ’60 on October 22 in Decatur, Ala. A Mobile native, Light played basketball at BSC and was a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was president and CEO of University Credit Union for 32 years, as well as president and CEO of Family Security Credit Union in Decatur.

Dr. Robert L. Estock ’53 on October 16 in Vestavia Hills. A chemistry major and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at BSC, Estock graduated from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force. He served on the faculty of the UAB Department of Psychiatry for many years and was a co-founder of Alabama Psychiatric Services. He was a member of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Hoover.