Meet New Employees

Mark Beckwith joined the Augustana Office of Public Safety as the Assistant Chief of Security on November 12, 2012. He graduated from Western Illinois University with a Bachelor's Degree in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration from the FBI-National Academy 216th Session. Mark recently retired after 28 years with the Milan Police Department, the last 10 years as the Chief of Police. During his career with the Milan Police Department, he served on various local, state and national committees. He was President of the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System (ILEAS) which is the statewide law enforcement mutual aid system for Illinois representing over 950 agencies and 35,000 officers/deputies. He participated with the response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, President Obama's 2008 and 2012 election night, 2008 Euro Cup planning team in Warsaw, Poland, 2009 NIU incident the 2010 G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago and recently "super storm" Sandy. Mark lives in Moline with his wife and has two daughters, Katie and Megan and two grand daughters, McKenzie and McKenna. In his off time, Mark enjoys golfing.

 Susan Horan joined the Augustana staff on November 19th as our new Director of Annual Giving.  Susan received her B.A. in Art History from the University of Oklahoma and M.B.A. from the University of Iowa.  Prior to joining the Augustana staff, Susan worked at the Figge Art Museum.  Susan lives in Davenport with her CairnTerrier Winnie.  Away from work, Susan enjoys traveling to visit her family, cross-stitching, and red wine. 

 Kertesha Riley joined the Augustana staff on November 26th as one of the Coordinators within Internships & Careers, located in the Community Engagement Center.  Kertesha is originally from Florida, and recieved her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Florida before recently moving to the Quad Cities Area.  When she's not getting acclimated to the Augie way of life, she is out exploring the Quad Cities and embracing her new life in the Midwest!

 Pamela Rathe joined the Augustana College Advancement office on December 10, 2012 as a Major Gift Officer. Pamela's fundraising experience includes serving as Director of Development for the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University; Foundation Director for Tulane Athletics; and most recently, several years of development consulting work for non-profit organizations and volunteer boards. She received the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education from University of Northern Iowa, and MBA and JD from Tulane University. Pamela lives north of LeClaire where she enjoys gardening. Her daughter Anne (22) is a senior at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

 Chris Loula, Annual Giving Assistant, is a 1988 Augie grad.  She is a quad-city native, who lived in Chicago for 14 years, and has returned home to Rock Island with her husband, Brad to raise their 2 sons, Ethan (10) and Leo (6).  They enjoy spending time doing various home-improvement projects, lots of different art projects, and game nights with friends.  Chris is very excited to be back at Augustana.

Alex Salaverria joined the Augustana College Communications Department on January 9th as a Graphic Designer.  Alex graduated from St. Ambrose University in 2009 with a B.A. in Fine Art and another in Graphic Design.  She previuosly worked at Group O Marketing as a Design Media Specialist, conceptualizing designs for Fortune 500 companies.  Alex is a new homeowner in Moline.  She lives with her husband Tom and their miniature schnauzer, Ember.  When Alex isn't glued to her computer, she enjoys painting in encaustics and expermenting with different art mediums.  She is also beginning to realize that her new home will be her main project for quite awhile.