Amanda Bowser Ellinger ‘05
Member-at-large
Amanda Bowser Ellinger has put her economics degree to good use, currently working for Carolinas Property Shop and actively involved in the real estate industry in Charlotte, N.C. After moving to Charlotte in 2006 with her husband Rob, Ellinger became a DART admissions interviewer and Annual Fund class agent, as well as a Gold Society donor, and helped organize the Denison Alumni Club in Charlotte. At Denison, Ellinger was a member of the varsity swimming and diving team and the Denison Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She has continued her love for swimming and coaching in Charlotte as a coach for the South Mecklenburg High School swim team, as well as various neighborhood swim clubs. Ellinger also holds several leadership positions in the Daughters of the American Revolution, a lineage service organization that awarded her the title of North Carolina Outstanding Junior Member for 2012. Ellinger is also on the planning committee for the Charlotte Walk to D’Feet ALS.
Amy Hardesty Gilles ‘92
Member-at-large
Amy Hardesty Gillies serves as the graduateprograms coordinator in the provost’s office at George Mason University. She oversees a wide variety of graduate education initiatives including presidential scholars, graduate health insurance, and academic concerns, as well as managing the graduate education budget and finances. Gillies also serves as project manager for academic affairs.
She has worked in finance and human resources at several institutions, where she has managed benefits, budgets, and forecasting, as well as many other projects. Gilles lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband, David Gillies ’91, and their two children.
Bryan Blanskie ‘09
Constituent representative for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Alumni Association
Bryan Blaskie is a pianist and composer living in Los Angeles, Calif. He performs throughout the city in a blues duo and for musical theatre productions. Recently, his 15-minute musical, iWish, was produced by the Academy for New Musical Theatre. He also volunteers with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, serving on its Young Adults at the Media Awards Committee as well as the TV nomination jury. He currently works as a staff accompanist for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood.
Henry Durand ‘70
Constituent representative for the Black Alumni Association
Henry Durand was one of the original founders of the Denison Black Student Union and served as its first chief minister. Today he is the senior associate vice provost of academic affairs at the State University of New York at Buffalo, a member of the Graduate School of Education faculty of the University at Buffalo, a U.B. senator on the SUNYwide Faculty Senate, and a member of the U.B. Faculty Senate Executive Committee. He primarily teaches quantitative research courses in statistics, survey research methods, and SPSS statistical analysis, among other courses, and works with Ph.D. students. He is the president of the Tri-State Consortium of Opportunity Programs, the professional organization representing more than 200 colleges and universities that serve students from educationally and financially disadvantaged backgrounds in the states of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Durand earned his M.Ed. from Xavier University and his doctorate from the University of Cincinnati. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Management Development Institute.