CLASS OF 2014 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
The class of 2014 has been busy taking over the world through academia, policy, finance, real estate, travel, and more. Here is what our talented class is up to:
Andy Gottlieb received a master’s degree in international relations, with concentrations in American foreign policy and international economics, from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in May. He is interning in Washington this summer at the European Parliament Liaison Office and may extend his work with the European Parliament in Brussels in the fall. He enjoys hanging out with DC residents Olivia Alperstein, Maggie Feldman-Piltch, Leo Liu, Benny Docter and other Wesleyan characters whenever he gets the chance.
Maddy Oswald begins a PhD in developmental psychology at The University of Chicago this fall.
Anya Morgan is at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project this summer in New York, doing prisoner justice work. Next year is her last year of law school.
Ethan Hoffman is enrolled in a clinical psychology PhD program at Clark University. His first scholarly article, “Acting Otherwise: Resistance, Agency, and Subjectivities in Milgram’s Studies of Obedience,” was published in Theory and Psychology. Ethan co-authored the paper with N. Reed Myerberg, and Wes Professor Jill Morawski.
Henry Cheung decided to stay for a third year teaching high school mathematics in the Bronx, through Teach For America. He’s transitioning from a teaching role to a coaching role, working with new and second-year teachers in both the math and science departments, in hopes of garnering better outcomes for students and teachers.
Lucy Finn is graduating from Columbia’s public health school in May and is moving to SF to start working at Kaiser. She is going to be traveling in New Zealand and Australia for two months before she starts her job. Lucy is very sad to leave NY.
Jalen Alexander moved to D.C., to accept an opportunity to serve as the research and policy analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. The Foundation’s mission is to eliminate disparities in the global black community, and Jalen is leading the charge to bring sound methodology and research practices to survey design, program evaluation, and data and policy analysis the organization undertakes. Jalen has remained active in the alumni community, recently attending an event hosted by Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service (WAPPS) (where Maggie Feldman-Piltch was among the speakers), and Wesleyan’s GOLD party. He has also remained active with the Invisible Men organization, which just awarded its inaugural recipients of the Invisible Men Summer Experience Grant. Jalen is one of the five grant co-founders and works with University Relations to implement all aspects of the grant process.
James Hill is doing corporate restructuring at Capstone Partners in Boston, Mass.
Nicki Softness is getting her master’s at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia, concentrating in international security policy. She is also the research assistant for SIPA’s director of the Initiative on Cyber Conflict.
Randy Linder is on a 90-day work visa in Sydney, Australia, researching the retirement market by day and skydiving, scuba diving, eating Tim Tams and swimming at Bondi Beach by night/weekends. In early June he was planning to move back to LA, where he is likely to reconnect with Chloe Shipko, Dan Light and other Wes alums.
After spending one-and-a-half years in Tokyo for the first time, Yusaku Takeda is moving back to the U.S., this time to Boston, to start his doctoral study at Harvard Business School. Henry is super thrilled to live close to East Coast Cardinal friends!
Jenessa Duncombe is finishing up her second year of her master’s in science in physical oceanography at Oregon State University. Her research in Oregon looks at ocean turbulence and sometimes she goes out on boats! Jenessa is enjoying life generally, going surfing and hiking for fun and continuing to write in her spare time. She is looking forward to being out of school soon and finding work in either research or science publishing and wishes everyone well!
After working as a therapist with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, Sophie Riffkin has accepted an offer to join UW Madison’s MS occupational therapy class of 2018!
Tom Brewer writes: “Having received less-than-polite rejection letters from all the major publishing houses, I’ve temporarily given up hope of turning my poetry to cold hard cash; brilliant as my book will likely be regarded in 15 years, neglect is the sad fate of many a great artwork that comes ahead of its time. Not to be discouraged, I took life by its proverbial horns and hopped on a plane at LAX, a red-eye to the Twin Cities, inverting the au courant narrative of Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA by eschewing the glamour of the Big American City for the amity of the Small American Town. I now reside in a passably cozy SRO in suburban Minneapolis (all I could afford!), where I’m working towards a real estate license. Initially over-confident in my abilities, I failed the exam after a woefully minimal engagement with its subject; I now atone for my sin of pride, engrossing myself in the nuances of Minnesota’s realty laws. Soon I will be making a realtor’s honest living, which should keep me sated while I wait for history to catch up with my contribution to the literary avant-garde—and for the delicious royalties that will inevitably follow.
Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu