CLASS OF 1998 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
Embarrassed by my paltry previous edition of class notes, I turned to the handy mass-email strategy of soliciting information—and boy, did you all respond! We have an abundance of news to share, so please make sure to go online to view those notes that didn’t fit in the printed magazine.
Sadly, I begin this edition with tragic news. Our classmate Michelle L. Salisbury passed away on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014. Michelle worked at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority as a senior project manager. She is survived by her husband, Jon D. Orris; mother, Judy Salisbury; grandfather, Edward M. Salisbury; brother, Brian E. (Cristen) Salisbury; and nieces, Elliote and Reilly.
In 2014 Sara Brenneis, published her book Genre Fusion: A New Approach to History, Fiction, and Memory in Contemporary Spain, welcomed her son Charlie in October, and achieved tenure in the Spanish department at Amherst College.
Nadia Khan also welcomed a son in October 2014: Iago Khan Martell. She and her husband, Hector, left the Bay Area for Austin, Texas. Hector works at Mell Lawrence Architects and Nadia is “‘working from home’ as I scheme up where to put my modern, sustainable architecture stamp moving forward.”
Anthony Veneziale and his partner welcomed their second child, Ociela, in 2014. Anthony partnered with Thomas Kail ’99, Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02, and Bill Sherman ’02) on a live improv rap show, Freestyle Love Supreme, that aired on Pivot. He also started a new show/company, Speechless, which gives improvised PowerPoint presentations and helps companies make better presentations on stage and on camera.
President Obama recognized Dave Lubell, executive director of Welcoming America, for their immigration integration efforts. In a Dec. 2014 event in Nashville, President Obama said, “David’s initiative is expanding across the country… This is what makes America exceptional. That we welcome strivers. We welcome dreamers from all around the world.”
Nadine Forrester Mills and husband Gregory welcomed daughter Angelique. Nadine was also inducted into the Middletown, Conn., Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in track and field.
In Paris, Becky Cohen is enjoying the semester abroad she never experienced. She, husband Jake and two daughters moved there from Boston last summer. Becky teaches at the Lycée International: “Jake is taking care of the homestead and finding more time for biking and art; the girls are immersed in French schools! It is a fantastic adventure, and we are trying to see as much as we can before heading home, either this summer or next!”
Dahlia Schweitzer is pursuing a PhD in cinema and media studies at UCLA. She published Cindy Sherman’s Office Killer: Another Kind of Monster, a book examining artist Cindy Sherman’s only film.
Also in LA, Guillermo Brown is working on his next music releases with his bands Pegasus Warming and Thiefs, with whom he’s touring.
Jessica Cortes hosted a Wesleyan Lawyers Association (WLA) cocktail event in New York at her firm, Davis & Gilbert, LLP. The event attracted approximately 40 alumni; see the group’s LinkedIn page for more information.
Lia Salza Goldstein encourages those in D.C. to visit the neighborhood art space for children that she calls Little Loft in Capitol Hill. A second location is about to open in Takoma Park, where Lia lives with her husband and three children.
Michael Sternhell and his wife expanded their family in Dec. 2014 with baby girl Iris Sternhell.
Georgia Silveria Seamans also welcomed a daughter, Colette, in March 2014. She encourages all in NYC to check out the projects she’s planning for Washington Square Park Ecology.
For the past 12 years, Amanda Green has taught film studies and English at Berkeley High School. When she’s not teaching or spending time with her husband and two children, Amanda finds time to teach jujitsu and aikido in nearby Oakland.
The faux bois furniture that Mike Christie-Fogg makes was recently featured in Architectural Digest and Traditional Home magazine. His furniture is distributed through David Sutherland.
Abe Forman-Greenwald is filling our FaceBook feeds with content as a video producer at BuzzFeed Video. His short videos have racked up more than 150 million views in total. Recently he’s been focusing on documentary shorts about subjects of identity and social justice. He tweets about his projects at @filmingdocs.
As founding VP of Operations, Tali Schmulovich is working to build Global Health Corps, a nonprofit developing a pipeline of leaders focused on global health. While she is based in New York, Tali has worked in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi.
Laura Polania, a psychiatrist focusing on women’s mental health, has expanded her private practice to Brooklyn, where she lives. She keeps up with Christine Rizkalla, an emergency pediatric doctor, Rebecca Preiser, who’s finishing up her doctorate in clinical psychology, and Sarah Kless Seigel, who is practicing pediatrics.
Thanks to Instagram, I learned Penelope Linge and her family were vacationing on Maui at the same time I was. I loved having an unplanned Hawaiian get-together with my former Wes swimming teammate who’s now the CFO at HelloGiggles, an online community covering pop culture, love, friendship, style, and news.
Sourav Guha is back at Wes: a visiting instructor of government, teaching contemporary Indian politics. This follows earlier stints back on campus as assistant dean of admissions, institutional research associate, and assistant provost.
In Cairo, Jaime Nelson El-Helw opened FLOW Wellness Center, which offers activities for mothers to develop positive bonds with their children. She, her husband, Sherif El-Helw, and their three children return to New England every summer to visit Jaime’s family, including her grandfather, Ted Nelson ’41, who lives in Rhode Island.
Arshad Chowdhury and his wife, Anika, welcomed a baby boy to their family in Brooklyn. Arshad is CEO of an exercise app company, Power 20, and co-founder of Crowd Interactive, a Web development company.
As Director of Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Makaela Kingsley inspires current Wes students to create projects and organizations that change the world for the better. She also gets to connect with classmates focused on social impact, including Amir Hasson, CEO of Oxigen USA and a serial social entrepreneur, and Rebecca Knight, who writes about business and will be presenting a business plan and pitch workshop for social entrepreneurs at Wesleyan during the spring semester. Of course, Makaela also spends time with husband Matt Kingsley, associate head coach of men’s basketball at Yale, and their children, Amelia and Eli.
Nathan Eddy, his wife Clare, and their two children, Mahalia and Elise, landed in Marylebone, London, in Aug, 2014. Nathan is pursuing a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Clare is serving as a minister in the Church of England.
Jessica Browning and her husband, Jerad, are busy with two daughters who arrived within the last year-and-a-half! Although sleep deprived, Jessica is hanging in there and is a college counselor at a K–12 school in Asheville, N.C.
David Schleifer is working with Chloe Rinehart ’14 at Public Agenda, where they conduct research on domestic policy issues including healthcare, education, and democratic participation.
In Brighton, England, Erica Nelson is an independent consultant on global public health projects, having completed a post-doc research fellowship in anthropology with the University of Amsterdam. She and husband Dylan Howitt have been in England since 2008. Their daughter Sylvie, 4, just started school in Sept, 2014.
Aimee Miles co-founded FOGG Theatre, a musical theatre company in San Francisco that commissions, develops, and produces musicals with a Bay Area focus. The company’s first musical, The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, enjoyed rave reviews and sold-out shows every night. Aimee also leads the education wing of the company, which offers performing arts programming and summer camps for kids. Aimee adds, “Thank you, Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown, for all you taught me!”
Scott McCracken received a fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. He will be teaching a course at UPenn in March.
In Cambridge, Mass., Nella Young runs a fellowship program that places architects with community development organizations through Enterprise Community Partners. She regularly bumps into Kirsten Von Trapp in Davis Square, where Nella lives with her husband and son.
David Greengrass and wife have a son, Ben, born June 2014. They live in D.C.; David works as a counsel on the House Judiciary Committee.
Joshua Steadman’s company, Videoo, is the technology behind a new campaign aiming to connect people through acts of love. The #Share1Love campaign will donate $1 to “charity: water” for every “random act of kindness or love” video uploaded.
Angela Pellegrino-Grant welcomed twins Lena and Silas Pellegrino-Grant in June 2014.
MARCUS CHUNG | marcuschung98@gmail.com
Jason Becton | jcxbecton@yahoo.com