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Alumni and Campus News
The group speaking with the docent at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma. Left to right are Ty'von Colvin (partial), Kanae Yoshida, Artemii Stepanets (beyond Kanae), Sofia Abramkina, Tony Mayle, Seth Neville, Keeli Grant, Hannah Ford, Josh Jacobs, and Isaiah Mitchell. Mr. Wayne Johnson is speaking to the group.
The group speaking with the docent at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma. Left to right are Ty'von Colvin (partial), Kanae Yoshida, Artemii Stepanets (beyond Kanae), Sofia Abramkina, Tony Mayle, Seth Neville, Keeli Grant, Hannah Ford, Josh Jacobs, and Isaiah Mitchell. Mr. Wayne Johnson is speaking to the group.
Display in the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma.
Display in the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma.
The group walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
The group walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
The marker for lynching victims in Ohio at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery.
The marker for lynching victims in Ohio at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery.
A mural in downtown Selma honoring the Selma-to-Montgomery March in support of voting rights for Blacks in Alabama. The mural is sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past from Youngstown, Ohio, which you can see in the lower right corner.
A mural in downtown Selma honoring the Selma-to-Montgomery March in support of voting rights for Blacks in Alabama. The mural is sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past from Youngstown, Ohio, which you can see in the lower right corner.
A sculpture at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, with Virginia Feidler in the background.
A sculpture at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, with Virginia Feidler in the background.
Lunch in Selma that featured speaker Joanne Bland, who participated in the march on Bloody Sunday at the age of 11 and has continued as an activist her entire life. Left to right moving around the table in clockwise fashion: Artemii Stepanets, Henry Gyamfi, Terry Gasper, George Fazah, Perry Gasper, and Elivh Pérez Núñez, with Ryan Boggs at table in rear on far right of photo.
Lunch in Selma that featured speaker Joanne Bland, who participated in the march on Bloody Sunday at the age of 11 and has continued as an activist her entire life. Left to right moving around the table in clockwise fashion: Artemii Stepanets, Henry Gyamfi, Terry Gasper, George Fazah, Perry Gasper, and Elivh Pérez Núñez, with Ryan Boggs at table in rear on far right of photo.
A memorial to Rosa Parks on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery, the first public-funded HBCU in the nation and her alma mater.
A memorial to Rosa Parks on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery, the first public-funded HBCU in the nation and her alma mater.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, which honors victims of lynching.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, which honors victims of lynching.
At times, everyone was emotionally exhausted. It was a lot to absorb for the 33 students who were bussed from Marietta College to Alabama as part of the first "Exploring Black Slavery" trip. The students were able to visit and learn at the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Selma Interpretive Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Museum and Memorial. They also walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which was the site of the conflict of Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, when police attacked Civil Rights Movement demonstrators. And the students were able to do this at no cost, as everything was paid for by an anonymous donor.
"The trip was amazing because it allowed people to learn further about a touchy subject that not many people talk about," says Alayna Francis ’26. "It could be emotionally wrecking at times, and things were hard to learn about, but they are things people need to know about."
If you would like to support these types of life-changing student experiences, please visit marietta.edu/give
IRS proves to be a perfect fit for 2001 graduate
For more than 22 years, Ryan Korner ’01 has worked with IRS Criminal Investigation, and within the past few months was promoted to Director of Field Operations for the Western United States.
If it weren’t for the mentorship and guidance he received from Jason Gandee ’95, he likely wouldn’t have survived the first few years in federal law enforcement.
“That is not an exaggeration,” Korner said. “Jason stayed in touch with me and helped me through some of the early days as a Special Agent. That is tough work, but also exciting.”
Gandee recruited Korner to the IRS after the two met on campus when Gandee spoke about career opportunities. He said it has always been important to make sure new recruits know they have an advocate.
“It was important to me because that’s how I was recruited and how I was treated when I first arrived,” said Gandee, who is in his 26th year with the IRS, and was an on-the-job instructor for Korner. “You could tell right away that he was intelligent and had the aptitude to be successful in this career. But federal law enforcement is not an easy profession to get your feet on the ground. It is a pretty grown-up environment, and I wanted to make sure he got off to a good start.”
Korner recently relocated to the Los Angeles area with his wife, Jessica Tobin Korner ’02, and their two sons, Andrew, 17, and Bennett, 14. In his new position, Korner is in a leadership role — and it is something he really enjoys.
“Los Angeles is the last place I thought I would ever want to be,” said Korner, who grew up in Athens, Ohio. “However, I got here and immediately recognized the incredible diversity and the amazing people I get to work with every day. Stepping outside my comfort zone and moving across the country to work in LA has been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of my IRS career.”
His family is also enjoying it. His sons are competitive swimmers, and both are learning to surf the Pacific Ocean.
Korner believes his four years at Marietta prepared him well for the challenges he has faced as a veteran government employee.
“In addition to my accounting degree, I also took some Leadership classes at Marietta,” Korner said. “What I learned from Dr. (Steve) Schwartz, Ed Osborne and Grace Johnson helped me believe in myself and gave me the confidence to do what I am doing now. I wasn’t that successful as a high school student academically. I got to Marietta, and it challenged me.”
Johnson, McCoy Professor of Management and Accounting, said her earliest memories of Korner are of a young student who was serious, industrious, confident, personable, and ethical.
“This combination of character traits clearly is what propelled Ryan to strive for excellence and succeed in the many roles he’s had at IRS-CI,” Johnson said. “Since graduation in 2001, Ryan has remained in contact with me. He’s been generous in sharing his time and expertise with Marietta’s Accounting program, talking with students interested in careers with IRS-CI and providing me with information for research on which I am currently working.”
Ryan Korner ’01
Ryan Korner ’01
Korner said he is always looking for new talent and he consistently turns to Johnson for potential hires.
“If a student is interested in public service, there are tons of IRS jobs available,” Korner said. “Government service is very rewarding and the benefits are excellent. I would tell any recent graduates or those who will be graduating soon to check out USAjobs.gov. The federal government is always looking for talented people. Pioneers interested in a career with IRS-CI can also connect with me on LinkedIn.”
And Korner would enjoy mentoring other Pioneers.
“I want to provide the opportunities I have been able to enjoy to others,” he said. “I see a lot of new agents come in at the beginning of their career and I tell them that they can go as far as they want, and it is nice to play a part in their success. Because of this experience, I feel like I have friends all over the country.”
One of his good friends is still Gandee.
“We became really good friends, and I can say we have a similar sense of humor and a similar outlook on life,” Gandee said. “To see Ryan get to the level that he has, well, that’s a source of pride for me and I am very proud of everything he has accomplished.”
Former McDonough Dean honored with ILA Lifetime Achievement Award
During his funeral in July 2021, colleagues and former students heaped praise on Dr. Gama Perruci for being a mentor, as well as a driving force in leadership education.
Dr. Tanya Judd, Marietta College’s Education Department Chair, referred to Perruci as a “rock star” in the leadership world.
That’s why it shouldn’t be a surprise that Perruci was honored by the International Leadership Association (ILA) with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 24th ILA Global Conference in Washington, D.C., in October.
“Gama’s leadership within ILA as an organization was instrumental in helping it grow into the thriving organization it is today,” Judd said. “I had the great pleasure of traveling with Gama to ILA conferences both domestically and internationally, and it was often like traveling with a rock star. Everyone, from academics and practitioners to students, knew who Gama was and wanted time in his light to talk about their ideas, their programs, and their leadership journey.”
Dr. Alexandra Perry, Interim Dean of the McDonough Center, was honored to call Perruci a colleague and she echoes Judd’s sentiments on his impact on ILA.
“Gama’s work with the ILA is immeasurable, both in its impact to the organization, and in what his work with the organization has meant to Marietta College and the McDonough Leadership Program,” Perry said. “Gama’s work with the ILA shaped it as a professional organization as it watched the growth of Leadership Studies programs throughout the world. In that time, Gama and his Marietta College colleagues built Marietta’s Leadership program to be one of the top five undergraduate leadership programs in the country.”
Perruci joined the College in 1999 and served as the Dean of the McDonough Leadership Center from 2003 until he passed away on July 9, 2021, after a courageous battle with cancer.
Perruci was recognized as a McCoy Professor in 2001. He also authored and co-authored multiple articles and books on leadership and leadership education, including Global Leadership: A Transnational Perspective. Perruci also co-authored Understanding Leadership: An Arts and Humanities Approach with his former colleague Robert McManus. Perruci also published Teaching Leadership: Bridging Theory and Practice with Sadhana Hall, Deputy Director of the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Gama Perruci
Dr. Gama Perruci
“Gama is remembered as having a commitment to this work and to his family,” Perry said. “His legacy is apparent not only in our alumni, but across the globe in the community developers, educators, and political leaders that he mentored and taught. While Gama’s lifetime feels as if it was all too short, the work that he has done certainly seems to be more than one lifetime could have encompassed. What an honor for Gama’s family, friends, and colleagues to see his work honored with a lifetime achievement award from the ILA.”A native of Brazil, Perruci served as the Interim Provost for two years (2011-13) while maintaining an active role in the McDonough Program.
Aside from his teaching, research, and administrative duties, Perruci also served as a consultant for The New York Times, focusing on the newspaper’s educational programming for leadership students. His other consulting assignments included a review of the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law (LEL) at the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis, Maryland) and an evaluation of the leadership program at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Perruci was the Past Chair of the Board of Directors for ILA, a global nonprofit organization focused on the study and practice of leadership. He was also a frequent guest analyst for the London-based BBC World Service and Paris-based Radio France International broadcast to Brazil.
“I had the benefit of observing hundreds of interactions between Gama and our Marietta College students, I had the opportunity to see a master in action,” Judd said. “Gama could ask the right question, provide the best anecdote or quip, or suggest just the right reading or activity that would help a person feel like they had solved their own problems. Gama was literally leadership in motion at all times.”
Do you know a middle or high school student who would be a great fit at Marietta? Alumni can refer deserving students for a Refer a Future Pioneer Grant. If that student is accepted to and attends Marietta, they will receive a $1,000 grant every year for all four years.
Internship leads to interview with linguist Dr. Noam Chomsky
During All Scholars Day in April, Johannah James ’24 presented a poster about her internship with The PropWatch Project, a nonprofit organization aimed at raising awareness of propaganda and misinformation. Though her internship requirements for her major were met, James continued working with PropWatch to learn more about how misinformation is spread.
Over the summer, she and the PropWatch CEO Michael Gordon interviewed one of the premier linguists and cognitive scientist, Dr. Noam Chomsky, to discuss how propaganda and systemic bias work within corporate media.
“This was a very good experience,” James says. “My knowledge about the questions I asked came from working one-on-one with (Michael Gordon), and we worked to get our questions perfect for the interview.”
James was looking for an internship that would combine both of her majors: Political Science and Journalism/Broadcasting.
“In her search, she discovered the opportunity at PropWatch,” says Marilee Morrow, Professor in the Communication Department. “PropWatch is relatively new and is credited with developing the first visual database of real-life propaganda. … I was thrilled to learn that her internship supervisor allowed her to actually take the lead on important assignments and enabled her to interview Dr. Noam Chomsky.”
Morrow says James was able to use Marietta’s radio production studio in McKinney to conduct this interview.
“Johannah obviously impressed them, just as she impresses us, with her professionalism and work ethic,” Morrow says.
James, who is still working with PropWatch and wants to help other students earn internships there, says her internship has strengthened her passion for social issues.
“I plan to continue my studies and eventually go into education or research or both,” James says.
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