Samuel H. Selesnick ’81, MD, F.A.C.S, has been elected president of the American Neurotology Society, the largest specialty organization of neurotologists-skull base surgeons in the United States. He is professor and vice chairman of the department of otolaryngology and professor of otolaryngology in neurological surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as a member of the department of neurological surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. A recipient of the Certificate of Honor from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, he has lectured nationally and internationally on neurotologic and ear-related topics. Named one of the best doctors in his field by New York Magazine, he also sits on the editorial board of the journal Otology and Neurotology.
Amy W. Schulman ’82 was named senior vice president and general counsel of Pfizer Inc., effective June 23. She joined Pfizer from the global law firm DLA Piper, where she served on the Global Board and U.S. Executive and Policy committees. She also spearheaded a number of the firm’s strategic initiatives, most notably in the areas of diversity and inclusiveness. She was co-leader of the firm’s mass tort/class action practice, handling some of the most complicated legal, scientific and regulatory issues facing the world’s most respected companies, including Pfizer, General Electric, and the Altria Group. In a Wall Street Journal article last May, Pfizer’s CEO Jeffrey Kindler said, “Her knowledge of the legal, business and regulatory challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry and her experience tackling large, complex cases make her uniquely qualified to lead Pfizer’s legal team.” She earned her J.D. from Yale University Law School in 1989. AMY W. SCHULMAN ’82 was selected from among 600 candidates as one of The American Lawyer magazine’s “45 Under 45.” A partner with Piper Rudnick’s New York office, Schulman, who received her law degree from Yale University, is the only woman on her firm’s nine-person Executive Committee. She is also the mother of three children (and has had children, now 13, 9 and 3, at every stage of her career– “in law school, as an associate and, finally, as a partner”). She specializes in large-scale corporate litigation, working with a team she has built of “extraordinary lawyers.” She adds: “I own my clients’ problems and when people ask me how (as they invariably do) I juggle all the competing demands, I always return to the fact that I love what I’m doing. Nothing is more exciting to me than helping clients craft solutions. I get to spring into action when a client comes in and says, ‘I have a really big, messy problem.'” Her clients include Altria Group Inc., General Electric Company, Wyeth, Johnson & Johnson, and Cisco Systems, Inc.
Dr. Michael R. Rosen ’60, the Gustavus A. Pfeiffer Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Center for Molecular Therapeutics at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York, has been elected professor honoris causa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of the country. Founded in 1724, it is one of the oldest such organizations in the world and awards its degrees to only the most eminent foreign scientists. He has focused his research interests on the prevention and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. In the 1970s, the National Institutes of Health and the Soviet Ministry of Health started joint research in sudden cardiac death, and by the late 1980s he was spending a significant portion of his time working with Russian scientists in Moscow and New York. His work is credited with increasing our understanding of how best to provide therapy for hearts that have developed arrhythmias.
Gregg Ribatt ’90 was named president and CEO of The Stride Rite Corporation, and will direct the growth of Stride Rite’s brands, which include Stride Rite, Keds, Sperry Top-Sider, and Saucony. He will be responsible for managing all operational aspects for Stride Rite’s business, including approximately 300 Stride Rite stores. Previously, Ribatt was hired as president and chief operating officer of Stuart Weitzman Holdings, LLC, in 2006 and promoted to chief executive officer in 2007. Prior to this, Ribatt worked for Bennett Footwear Group. A government major at Wesleyan, he holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Charles “Chip” Stone Jr. ’49 was named a Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen. The president of CB Stone Venture Company, engaged in securities, real estate, and business investments, he was previously president of CB Stone, Inc., a heating and air conditioning company. He has long been active in the Middletown community, serving as general manager of a United Way campaign and as co-chair of a capital campaign for Middlesex Hospital. Additionally, he was a director of the YMCA and a trustee of Wesleyan. In 1979, he received the university’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Peter Sipples ’64, an attorney and standout athlete in high school and college, was inducted into the Middletown, Conn., Sports Hall of Fame. He coached both soccer and baseball at Xavier High School, soccer at the University of Hartford, baseball in three different twilight leagues, and officiated high school and college soccer for 20 years. He is a three-year letter winner in both soccer and baseball at Wesleyan, and his scoring record of 33 goals in one season stood from 1963 to 1995. He was an English major at Wesleyan.
Gil Seeley ’60, the James W. Rogers Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., received the Governor’s Arts Award for his dedication to furthering choral arts in the state, including his artistic direction of the Oregon Repertory Singers. “Music may be the most intangible of the arts, but in my years at Lewis & Clark, I’ve enjoyed teaching my students about what an exciting and uniquely challenging study it can be,” Seeley said. He also noted: “It’s great to see that the state is invested in supporting the artistic community.”
Ramon Rivera ’95, a government major at Wesleyan, was named one of “New Jersey Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2007,” based on peer recognition and professional achievement. Additionally, The New Jersey Law Journal named Rivera to its “40 Under 40” list for 2007, featuring lawyers “worthy of attention” for their accomplishments to date. Rivera, a senior associate with the firm of Scarinci & Hollenbeck, LLC, works on both labor and employment issues, as well as practicing in the areas of land use law. He received his JD from Rutgers, where he served as articles editor for the Rutgers Race & Law Review.
Geof Rips ’72, whose book, The Truth, was published in January, received a prize for the novel from the Associated Writing Programs (AWP), the organization of graduate writing programs around the country. Now serving as director of special projects for Austin, Texas, public schools, he was an English major at Wesleyan and holds an MA in English/creative writing from Indiana University. Writer Nicholas Delbanco, an AWP judge, said: “This is a hard book to describe and an impossible one to forget. The Truth is—that rarest of things—an original vision and text.”
Linda Corwin Palmer ’77 was appointed director of corporate compliance at Network Health, a Cambridge, Mass., company that provides healthcare access to low- and moderate-income families. She will oversee the company’s compliance with federal and state laws, as well as with contract requirements, access to information, and privacy issues. Previously she was director of corporate compliance and senior associate general counsel at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. A government major at Wesleyan, she received her doctorate of jurisprudence from Boston University.
