Susan McFarland ’90 has been named the director of environment, health, and safety at Carrier Corporation, a division of United Technologies Corporation. She has been working in environmental compliance and occupational safety for 17 years. A molecular biology and biochemistry major at Wesleyan, McFarland earned an MS in environmental sciences at the University of New Haven and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Charlie Hill ’46 was made an Officier in the French Order of the Academic Palms at a ceremony conducted by the Cultural Attachée of the French Embassy in New York. The order was established by Napoleon as a means of recognizing accomplishments in teaching and research, and in promoting the study of French. In 1979, he had been named a Chevalier of the order. He earned his MA and PhD at Yale and taught there, as well as at the University of Rhode Island, at Skidmore College, and from 1962 until his retirement in 1992, at Brooklyn College, CUNY, where he was also department chair for 11 years. He served many years on the boards of the American Association of Teachers of French and the Société des Professeurs Français et Francophones d’Amérique. He is the author of a book on Jean-Paul Sartre, several articles on various aspects of French and Francophone literature, and many reviews and encyclopedia articles.
Lawrence Green ’74 was elected chair of the Board of the American Jewish Society for Service, a national service organization that sponsors summer community service camps for Jewish teens. Founded in 1950, AJSS has served more than 140 impoverished communities in 46 states, as well as in Canada and Israel. Green served as a camper and counselor for AJSS for three summers and has served on the AJSS Board since 1977. He is a partner with Burns & Levinson LLP in Boston, where he serves as co-chair of the Business Litigation Department. At Wesleyan, he was a College of Social Studies major; he received his JD from New York University.
Royal Hartigan, M.A. ’83, Ph.D. ’86, received a Fulbright-Hays research and teaching award from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars and the U.S. State Department. Hartigan, an associate professor of music at UMass-Dartmouth, will research the indigenous kulintang gong and drum ensembles of southern Mindanao and the gangsa gong ensembles of the northern Luzon mountains while he is in residence at the University of the Philippines this fall. His interest in world music developed while at Wesleyan from 1981-1986 and he writes that “Wesleyan is a psychic, physical, aesthetic space where the life of the mind and heart is celebrated.”
Dave Kane ’92 placed seventh in the 35-39 age group and 43rd overall in the amateur division at the 2006 World Triathalon Championships that took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, this September. At Wesleyan, he was a member of the men’s swimming and track teams. An art history major as an undergraduate, he received his master’s degree in education from Harvard. He attended the World Triathalon as a member of the U.S. team, finishing the event in just over two hours.
Russell Hoxsie ’48, M.D., received the Creative Living Award from the Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha’s Vineyard. Hoxie and his wife, Maryann, have lived on the Massachusetts island for 51 years, where he worked as a family physician and is the resident expert on Lyme disease. He recently published a local bestseller, Let’s Walk, Lilly, about his favorite places to walk on the Vineyard with his springer spaniel. Additionally, with a co-author, he has published a book of poems. As an undergraduate at Wesleyan, he pursued pre-medical studies and received his medical degree from Cornell.
June M. Jeffries ’75, an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia’s specialized cases unit, was profiled in the Aug. 6, 2006, Washington Post as “The Avenger,” by Neely Tucker: “With Child Slayings, There May Never Be a Why. But Prosecutor June Jeffries Makes Sure There’s a Who.” A government major at Wesleyan, she received her J.D. degree from Georgetown and joined the U.S. Attorney’s office. In the mid-1980s, she began her current focus. In the article, Superior Court Judge Michael L. Rankin calls Jeffries “the ultimate prosecutor.” While acknowledging to Tucker that most wouldn’t choose her career, her answer is firm: “Well, the fact is, somebody has to.”
Lee M. Mitchell ’65 was elected chair of the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that since 1934 has been dedicated to improving economic development, quality of life, and equity of opportunity in the greater Chicago metropolitan region. A partner with Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, he has been a member of the MPC board for 22 years and has already served as board chair once previously, in addition to holding other offices as well. A government major at Wesleyan, he earned a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago.
Santa Clara Superior Court Judge Leonard Edwards ’63 received the 2004 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence from the National Center for State Courts. NCSC President Mary Campbell McQueen calls him “one of the most effective and progressive trial judges in America.” In fact, under Edwards the juvenile dependency court in Santa Clara County was named a “national model” be the National Council of Juvenile and Family Courts Judges. Edwards has also received the Judicial Council’s Distinguished Service Award, and in 1966 the California Wellness Foundation declared him the recipient of the California Peace Prize Award.
Aimee Eng ’03 was recently crowned Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Queen, a Japanese-American community ambassadorial position. In her official capacity, she travels to various cities–in and out of the state–to promote the cultural ties between Japanese American communites. She will meet with community members, as well as city mayors and governors, to talk about the cherry blossom festival traditions. In addition, she will take an extended trip to Japan and meet with several of the Consul Generals and other dignitaries. Eng is an active volunteer in her community.
