CLASS OF 1992 | 2016 | ISSUE 1
Adam writes: Greeting to all. Hope that all is well with you and yours. Things are chugging along for me in Cambridge: still at MIT and still serving as a housemaster at a graduate dorm on campus. My call for notes generated a lot of news, so here goes…
Michelle Elisberg just celebrated her 10-year anniversary as a pediatrician at Family Health Centers, a federally qualified health center in Louisville. The bat mitzvah of her oldest daughter, Elena, occasioned a reunion of the Havurah, with Lara Small Laurence ’90, Jen Hammer ’91, Sarah Leavitt and Jenny Simon Tabak ’93 in attendance. Michelle returned the favor by attending Sarah’s son’s bar mitzvah in Maryland, where she caught up with Sue Beals-Simon and Jessica Feierman.
Recently (though I use the term loosely) on the move was Hal Skinner, who de-camped with his family to Chapel Hill, N.C. He is director of epidemiology for Truven Health Analytics, where he has been working primarily on developing measures of healthcare quality for a federal government client. Also in the health industry in North Carolina is Morgan Bain, who works as medical director for outpatient palliative care at Duke University Medical Center, where he has been since 2013. He enjoys caring for patients and teaching young medical students/doctors/nurses. Since Morgan hadn’t written in since the 1990s, he had a big update, including news about his marriage (since 2005) to his husband Jonathan Brady, a theater director who has started his own theater company, Bartlett Theater, in Durham, N.C., this past year. Recently Morgan bumped into Bill Kim at a Barnes and Noble store in Durham. Bill is an oncologist conducting research at UNC.
I had another update from a classmate who hadn’t written in for a while. Kevin Heckman left his last theater job in 2010 to get his MBA at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University. After graduating in 2014 he joined Bain & Company as a management consultant, where he has been working since. He recently moved to Geneva, Ill., with his wife, Christine, and their 6-year-old twin daughters, Arianna and Noelle .
Lots of news this month from the world of academia. Bradley Herling became chair of the division of humanities and social sciences last year, and just published the second edition of his textbook, A Beginner’s Guide to the Study of Religion (Bloomsbury, 2016).
Elizabeth Shakman Hurd published two books in 2015: Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion (Princeton University Press) and Politics of Religious Freedom, co-edited with Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Saba Mahmood, and Peter G. Danchin (University of Chicago Press). wesconnect.wesleyan.edu/s/1318/L3parent_social.aspx?sid=1318&gid=1&pgid=3211
Kathryn Edgerton-Tarpley is an associate professor of history at San Diego State University. Her research area is modern Chinese history, and she travels to China or Taiwan most summers to hit the archives there. She is married to Van Tarpley, who pastors an American Baptist church in the San Diego area. They have two little boys, Peter (9) and Isaac (6). Kate got to return to Wesleyan last spring to take part in an event marking the retirement of Professor Vera Schwarcz, who sparked Kate’s passion for Chinese history.
Sidra Smith moved to suburban San Diego last summer to become the assistant head of school for Pacific Ridge School, a 7–12 independent school founded in 2007. While most of her work is with adults, she also teaches 7th grade English and participates in a service learning program.
Josh Sitzer accepted a position as chief marketing officer of Unanimous A.I., a Silicon Valley-based startup that uses artificial swarm intelligence to pool the intelligence of individuals to make better decisions and predictions. He works remotely from Kansas City, where he lives with wife Amy and kids Eli (9) and Zoe (5).
Mark Hunter just moved to Vermont and bought a home near Lake Champlain. He just published his first book and is expanding his company, Pinnacle Coaching (Pinnacle-Coaching.net) to include more keynote speaking in addition to corporate leadership coaching.
Dina Amsterdam is spending the year in Cambridge as a visiting scholar in the Social Computing group at the MIT Media Lab. Her company, Leadership Within, is the business end of this project. She’s also part of an innovative network of K–3 schools, Wildflower, which is growing globally.
Grant Brenner published a book, Irrelationship: How We Use Dysfunctional Relationships to Hide from Intimacy, and, with partners, started a business, Neighborhood Psychiatry.
Also with a new book is Shura Pollatsek. Unbuttoned: The Art and Artists of Theatrical Costume Design will be available summer of 2016. It explores creative collaboration during the costume design process, between the designer’s sketch and the final costume on stage, and features the photography of her husband, Mitchell D. Wilson.
Chris Chesak is the executive director of the Family Travel Association. Linda Perlstein remains in Seattle and works on the team developing Amazon’s bricks-and-mortar bookstore. She oversees the nonfiction buying and is involved in strategic planning, too. Ken Lefkowitz just started as the CEO of NetIX, a telecommunication start-up
My frosh hallmate Anne Jennings Paris reports that, along with husband Marc and son Duncan, she moved to London in May of 2014. This past fall, she completed a book of paintings and descriptions of the places they’ve encountered (A Long Walk to a Good Pub: Post Cards from an Expat Year). Duncan, 11, attends the local state school and Marc works in software consulting. They plan to return to the Portland, Ore., area later this year.
And speaking of Clark 3, I close with very sad news: Lori Robbins passed away in January. I will never forget her warmth and infectious good humor. She will be missed. On behalf of her friends, I’ve been working with University Relations to erect a memorial in her honor for our 25th Reunion next year. If you would like to contribute, please let me know and I can pass along the details.
ADAM BERINSKY | berinsky@mit.edu
PAUL COVIELLO | coviellop01@alum.darden.edu