Amy Butcher discusses first book, ‘Visiting Hours’
Also in OWU in the News: Sean Kay, Michael Flamm, Roger Cook ’61, Donald MacKinnon ’86, and Alex Shumate ’72.
Amy Butcher, M.F.A.
Amy Butcher
Amy Butcher, M.F.A., OWU assistant professor of English, discusses her first book, “Visiting Hours: A Memoir of Friendship and Murder,” with reporter Jeannie Nuss of The (Columbus) Dispatch.
The book tells the true story of a stabbing in Pennsylvania and Butcher’s efforts to understand and cope with the fact that her friend had walked her home on a spring night in 2009 and hours later fatally stabbed his girlfriend.
Asked how she has changed since the killing, Butcher tells Nuss: “I sometimes think of it as a coming-of-age overnight. Everything that you think you know about people . . . all of that felt sort of immediately challenged. … Had I not written this book, I think I’d still be paralyzed by this subject.”
Read the complete Dispatch interview, “Friendship with killer inspired memoir ‘Visiting Hours.’ ”
Sean Kay, Ph.D.
Sean Kay
Sean Kay, Ph.D., OWU professor of politics and government, analyzes the Russia-Ukraine situation in an op-ed in The National Interest, a 30-year-old political publication that supports realism in the U.S. approach to international politics.
“The Baltic countries have legitimate concerns about the reliability of the security guarantee in NATO,” writes Kay, whose latest book is “America’s Search for Security: The Triumph of Idealism and the Return of Realism.”
“NATO today is more like a series of concentric circles which gives strategic depth to the large countries,” Kay continues. “This is not a minor thing as it keeps the major powers distant from each other but raises questions about what is the right level of deterrence for peripheral allies.
“There is no magic formula to fix this dilemma, particularly in the midst of ongoing crisis,” he concludes. “Any possible fix to bolster the credibility of collective defense at this time could cause a whole new series of problems and undermine cohesion in NATO.”
Read Kay’s complete National Interest op-ed “Time to Rethink Collective Defense within NATO?”
Michael Flamm, Ph.D.
Michael Flamm
Michael Flamm, Ph.D., OWU professor of history, discusses “The Next Baltimore?” and the recent death of Freddie Gray with writer Allan Greenblatt of Governing.com.
“Riots invariably begin with some form of police action that is interpreted as a form of brutality. But then the riots reveal wider and deeper problems that bring people into the streets,” explained Flamm, author of the forthcoming book “In the Heat of the Summer: The Harlem Riot of 1964 and the Road to America’s Prison Crisis.”
“I don’t think any mayor of any city of any size can rest assured that they’ll have no trouble this summer,” Flamm states.
Read Greenblatt’s complete Governing.com article, “The Next Baltimore?”
Roger Cook ’61
Roger Cook ’61
Roger Cook, a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, is named the 2015 California Lawyer of the Year for Intellectual Property. Cook focuses on high-tech patent infringement litigation, from trial through appeal.
In addition to his law firm partnership, Cook is an Adjunct professor for intellectual property/antitrust at the University of San Francisco Law School. At Ohio Wesleyan, Cook studied physics and mathematics. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1964.
Read more about Cook’s law career.
Donald MacKinnon ’86
Donald MacKinnon ’86
Donald MacKinnon is named chief executive officer and president of New York-based American Retail Capital after serving as president of Realty Finance Trust, an affiliated company.
MacKinnon previously has held high-level corporate positions at a number of businesses in the real estate, investment, and securities industries including Cole Real Estate Investments Inc., EndPoint Financial LLC, and Nomura Securities International.
He graduated summa cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University with a degree in economics and later earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Alex Shumate ’72
Alex Shumate ’72
Alex Shumate, managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs, is recognized as one of Columbus CEO’s 2015 Top Lawyers. Shumate, who specializes in business regulatory, administrative law, and legislative counseling, also has been included on the “Best Lawyers in America” list every year since 1999.
Shumate graduated with honors from Ohio Wesleyan and earned his law degree from the University of Akron. He previously served as chief counsel and deputy chief of staff for former Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste and as Ohio’s assistant attorney general.