The College forwarded a press release announcing the appointment of Maria Noucas (Bowdoin ’09) as assistant coach for the Dartmouth women’s basketball team. Maria is the daughter of Jim Noucas and his wife, Mary. Their daughter Anna also graduated from Bowdoin. Maria was captain of the Bowdoin women’s basketball team, ranked as one of the college’s all-time leaders in multiple basketball categories and garnered academic all-conference honors. Maria served the last four years before coming to Dartmouth as an assistant coach at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Jim earned a law degree from Boston College Law School after Dartmouth and practices law in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


For the fourth time in 10 years the seniors of Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, have honored Joe Hatcher with the senior class award. The award recognizes the faculty member who best exhibits a commitment to helping students realize their full potential by challenging them in and out of the classroom. Joe has been a professor of psychology at Ripon for more than 25 years. After graduation from Dartmouth he studied in Belgium, earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from Vanderbilt University and taught at Tennessee Technical University. Joe’s focus has expanded well beyond the usual college psychology classroom, however. He became a licensed clinical psychologist in 2011 and works part-time in the Wisconsin corrections system, encouraging his students to participate with him as interns. He teaches a regular course on motivation in the Ripon exercise science department that requires him and the students to run a half-marathon. Joe also has an interest in peace studies, and the Wisconsin Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies named him their Peace Educator of the Year in 2011. Joe and his wife, Karin Suesser, also a clinical psychologist, have four sons: Andrew ’98, Walter (26), Alex (17) and Cody (15). In addition to being a runner, Joe is a private pilot. He flies an Ercoupe 415-C, which he characterizes as an affordable antique. Joe is currently training to become a light-sport flight instructor and practices with sons Alex and Cody. 


I am deeply saddened to report the death of Walter Hinkle in Minnesota in May. An obituary will appear on the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine website.


As always, be safe and send news.


—Rick Sample, Retreat Farm, 1137 Manakin Road, Manakin Sabot, VA 23103; samplejr@msn.com