Joseph D. Lisaius, President of Lisaius Marketing, announced that Andrew Sawtell and Mikaela Shea have recently accepted full-time positions with the company. Andrew Sawtell joins the firm as a Graphic Designer. Prior to joining Lisaius Marketing, Andrew most recently worked as a graphic designer at the weekly Vermont publication, Seven Days, after having completed his B.A. at UVM, followed by a Professional Certificate in Multimedia and Graphic Design at Champlain College, where he received two “Critics Choice Awards” for print design.

Saint Michael’s College associate professor of physics, Dr. Alain Brizard, learned this month that he will be the recipient of a grant from the Department of Energy for $33,000 each of the next three years to support his research. The funding comes from the DOE’s office of Fusion Energy Sciences of the Office of Science.

Rick Milliken, General Manager of the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton has announced that Jonathan Amon has received the hotel's Manager of the Year Award for 2010. He is the Rooms Division Manager and supervises the Front Desk Operations along with the Housekeeping and Engineering Departments. Originally employed in 2001 by the Clarion Hotel as Assistant Executive Housekeeper and Front Office Manager he joined the DoubleTree in his current position in 2010.

Geoffrey R. Hesslink, Executive Vice President & Senior Lender at Merchants Bank, announced the Corporate Banking promotions of Bruce Bernier to Northern Region Manager & Vice President and Bill Kidder to Eastern Region Manager & Vice President.

“These two key promotions reflect our continued commitment to build Vermont’s preeminent commercial bank,” expressed Hesslink. “Both Bruce and Bill bring tremendous commercial lending experience to these positions and I expect their impact on our company’s success to be immediate and lasting,” Hesslink added.

Three seniors at Johnson State College – two of them the first in their families to attend college -- are heading to Capitol Hill to present their research to members of Congress. The students -- Ben Chaucer of Burlington, Danielle Gregoire of Poultney, and Autumn Santor of Alburg -- were selected by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) to participate in the annual “Posters on the Hill” event April 13. They are the only students from Vermont invited to share their research at the prestigious event along with their supervising professors, Dr. Elizabeth Dolci and Dr.

Julia Andrews, Lorilee A. Lawton and Mary E. Moran have been elected to the board of directors of Vermont Public Television, Vermont's statewide public television network. Andrews is a resident of Westford. She is marketing strategist/account executive at Spike Advertising in Burlington. Before that, she held sales and marketing positions at Comcast, Charter Communications and Competitive Computing. She is affiliated with Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility and is co-founder of the Westford Food Shelf. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Her work, taking Saint Michael's College students to tutor refugee youngsters in Champlain Elementary School, was heralded as a life-changing experience by both students and teachers. And it earned Dr. Patricia Delaney, Saint Michael's College Associate Professor of Anthropology, the Paul Harris Fellowship for humanitarian work from the Colchester/Milton Rotary, awarded at their March 17 meeting.