Margaret Wilmer Bartlett '66 completed an M.A. in International Affairs at Drew University, studied international affairs and United Nations peacekeeping in depth and turned her attention to the troubled island of Cyprus. Her research included interviews with top government officials and authors and culminated in the book, Cyprus, The United Nations, and the Quest for Unity (Melrose Books, 2007). Described by the publisher as a "unique work," Margaret's book "presents a comparative analysis of UN forces in Cyprus with the UNEF II force sent to Sinai in 1973, a comprehensive discussion of how the government of Cyprus works successfully to represent its various political parties, and an overview of the fifth and final Kofi Annan Plan, under which northern and southern Cyprus would become the United Cyprus Republic, two constituent states governed by the federal government." Currently, Margaret is preparing for book-launch events and conferences by giving speeches at meetings of the Summit, New Jersey, Toastmasters. A member since 2004, she is about to complete the requirements for her CTM (Competent Toastmaster Award). Her next speech, "Libraries in Cyprus," is part of the emphasis on education and politics addressed in the final chapter of her book and will be recorded for presentation along with the written speech.

An English major at Western, Molly (as she was known to classmates) was a reporter for Round-Up and senior year, co-editor of the literary magazine, Scope.

James Francis Flynn '04 has written and directed Eastern College, an independent feature film loosely based on his time at Western. "I wanted to capture some of the emotions and memories I have about my time at Western," he says. "Not only about experiences I had, but also about my feelings on the program's shuffling since I left."  Eastern College was written in 2006, filmed in Oxford in the summer of 2007, and premiered at the Oxford International Film Festival on 11 April 2008, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Film. "Seeing the film with an audience for the first time was a real treat," James says. "When you make a movie, you end up seeing it literally hundreds of times, from watching the dailies, to editing the film, to mastering sound, to putting the whole thing onto DVD. It can be easy to get jaded about the whole thing, but, as much as it is a cliche to say, seeing it in front of a paying crowd is like seeing it again for the first time."  Based on the strength of the film's premiere, James and his filmmakers are set to play national and international film festivals throughout the rest of the year.

During his time at Western, James co-created the Miami Film Association, a student group that raised more than $40,000 to bring filmmaking equipment and resources to the University. James graduated from Western with a focus in Creative Writing and Film, his senior project a 140-page paper about the process of and theory behind making a 35-minute short film entitled "10 Months." After finishing Western, James traveled through Europe, then settled in Chicago, where he works as a freelance writer (Dirt Rag magazine) and filmmaker (Fingerman: The Movie).