CLASS OF 1986 | 2024 | FALL ISSUE
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Hi ’86ers! Some news from classmates:
Monica Jahan Bose had a very busy spring 2024: “In March, I had an exhibition in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of a U.S. Art in Embassies visit. The exhibition was a three-channel video installation with collaborative saris about climate change and its impact on farmers in Bangladesh and around the world. In June, I created a temporary public art project called Swimming in front of a D.C. public school and pool, looking at inequities in access to water and swimming. Also in June, Michael Scott Bennett ’87 and I celebrated our 30-year wedding anniversary and visited our daughter, Tuli, in Portland, Oregon, where she just started a Doctor of Nursing Practice/Midwifery program at OHSU. Our younger daughter, Koli, is a junior at Bryn Mawr College this fall. Sending love to our friends in Classes of ’86 and ’87!”
Steve Elbaum wrote to remind us of Bill Gerber’s victory last November to be first selectman in Fairfield, Connecticut. Steve said, “he had a lot of financial and moral support from Wes alums from the mid and late ’80s and won by 37 votes (out of about 18,000 cast) in a state-mandated recount. He and his wife, Jessica ’90, have long been elected officials in Fairfield.”
Ernest Friedman-Hill: “I was recently promoted to distinguished member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, where I’ve worked for 32 years (remotely from the East Coast for over 25 years!). Although I enjoyed my time as a chemistry major at Wes and went on to get a PhD in chemistry (MIT ’92), I’ve been working as a computer scientist almost the whole time I’ve been at Sandia. I’ve written a few books and worked in a range of areas from rule-based systems to graphical programming environments and automated workflow. Stacia ’85 and I will celebrate our 35th anniversary in the spring.
George Justice: “I am entering my third year as provost at The University of Tulsa and excited to participate on a junket—er, a Fulbright Fellowship to France this October. I’m also on my own this year, with wife, Devoney Looser, on a full-year fellowship at the Huntington Library; son, Carl, a senior at Pitzer College; and son, Lowell, a freshman at Wes. We loved coming to campus together in April for WesFest, which sealed the deal for Lowell.”
Lisa Porter: “Hi all: I have moved from San Francisco to NYC, where I am currently the voice and dialect coach for the national tour of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. With the closing of the MFA program at the American Conservatory Theater, where I was the head of acting and dialects, it was time to start a new chapter. I am having a wonderful time seeing Wes friends. Just last week, Shawn Cuddy, James Hallett, Mary Beth Kilkelly ’85, and I went to see Frank Wood ’83 in his show, The Meeting: The Interpreter. In May, Melinda Newman and I went to NOLA for Jazz Fest and saw The Rolling Stones.”
Marc Rosner: “It happened! I retired from teaching science after 37 years. Diane and I are now working full time at Hudson Valley Numismatics doing estate consultation and sales. Much of our work is helping seniors and their families downsize and find a home for possessions and treasure.”
Ellen Santistevan: “Like most of us in the Class of ’86, I am turning 60 this year and doing a few things to celebrate myself. The biggest thing was that I got to take a dream trip (focused on volcanoes) to Iceland in August with a group of alumni from New Mexico Tech, where I got my master’s degree. Getting to spend 10 days in a land that constantly and consistently reminds you that you are small, and the world is so big, was exactly the restorative dip into nature that I needed, among a group of friends and acquaintances that share a deep bond of the Tech experience. For a future trip, I am lobbying for the volcanic islands of Greece (where I did my undergraduate fieldwork with Joop Varekamp) and/or Italy.”
“the windiest place in the world, fortunately not very windy when I visited. Down the slope is a vast puffin rookery, which was great fun to see.”
Lastly, Bennett Schneider says: “It was an extremely busy Pride Month in June. One of the highlights was being asked by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to bless the raising of the Pride Flag over all county buildings. I was asked to create the blessing, which invoked LGBTQ deities from spiritual paths all over the world. Have been seeing Lisa Rosen, Melinda Newman, Cobina Gillitt ’87, Nathan Gebert ’85, Al Septien ’85, and a bevy of others. Went to Palm Springs with Melinda Newman for my 60th and she made it a truly special birthday celebration. Performed my 19th wedding and my third memorial service as a spiritual officiant this summer. Just lived through another earthquake this morning! Viva California!”
Class Notes Editor | classnotes@wesleyan.edu