Xavier L. Rozas ’98 recently completed a six-month, 28,000-mile motorcycle journey from New York to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in Argentina, ending his two-wheeled adventure in Rio de Janeiro. A volunteer firefighter and founder of Call To Fire, a not-for-profit benefiting under-resourced firefighters in Latin America, he visited firehouses in all 16 countries on his goodwill mission. In addition to Call To Fire’s fundraising and community awareness efforts, Rozas maintained an interactive travelogue with second-grade classes in New York and Boston. Back in New England, Rozas has continued his efforts for Call To Fire, in addition to working with English-as-second-language students in Boston. (For further information, please see www.CalltoFire.com).
Christopher Swain ’90 was featured on CNN.com when he reached the Pacific Ocean on July 1, 2003, completing his 1,243-mile swim of the Columbia River. Swain, a self-described “advocacy swimmer,” first attracted notice for his 1996 Connecticut River Swim for Universal Human Rights. “Professors like Joyce Lowrie, Richard Slotkin, George Creeger, and Jeanine Basinger convinced me that it was worth putting my life on the line for the greater good,” he says. Swain, who began this journey on June 4, 2002, braved such extreme conditions as 38-degree F water-temperatures as well as bacterial, chemical, and radioactive pollutants. He is the first person in history to swim the entire length of the Columbia, and observes that clean water is not only an environmental issue, but a human rights issue, as well. For his efforts, he also received the International Earth Day Award from the United Nations.
Suzanna Tamminen ’90, MALS ’94 was named director of the Wesleyan University Press. With 15 years of experience in scholarly publishing, most recently as the Press’s associate director and editor-in-chief from 1997 to 2004, she was the interim director since last summer. Her recent notable acquisitions include last year’s National Book Award winner in poetry, Door in the Mountain, by Jean Valentine. “I like being in a job that allows me to see a project from the first kernel of an idea to the finished project,” she says. “It’s really the whole process I enjoy—and it’s never the same. Each book finds its way into the world differently. It’s a process that requires critical thinking at every step.”
DAVID WIBORG ’93 was selected as a semi-finalist in the international design competition for a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. Wiborg, a designer at Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc., was among 84 semi-finalists selected from an original pool of more than 1,100 entries to the competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His design, “Honoring the Spirit,” included a Freedom and Remembrance Garden, a Living Wall, a Reflecting Pool, and a Glass Volume housing a replica of the American flag that was hung at the Pentagon after the Sept. 11th attacks.
Robin Delman Ekiss ’91 received one of only six 2007 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards. The foundation selects women who demonstrate excellence and promise at the beginning of their writing careers. Ekiss, whose poems have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly, is finishing her first book of poetry, The Mansion of Happiness.
Josh Lockwood ’93 was appointed executive director of Habitat-NYC, a leading affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, which builds affordable homes for ownership in New York City’s five boroughs. He joined the organization in 2006 as chief operating officer and was appointed acting executive director in the spring of 2007. Prior to joining Habitat-NYC, Lockwood was a principal at HR&A, focusing on affordable housing and strategic planning. A government major at Wesleyan, he received his master’s degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
Touching Snow, the debut novel by M. Sindy Felin ’94, was selected as a finalist in the Young People’s Literature National Book Awards. A sociology major while at Wesleyan, she has said that she drew inspiration for this work from her own experiences and those of other Haitian immigrant households in the suburban New York community in which she grew up. The first member of her family to be born in the United States, she was also the first woman in her family to attend college. Her book was published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, a division of Simon and Schuster.
Christianne Meneses Jacobs ’95, founder, publisher, and editor of Iguana, a Spanish language magazine for children, was one of only 10 Latina business women throughout the United States honored with an Anna Maria Arias Award, named for the creator of Latina Style Magazine. A government major at Wesleyan, Jacobs is a native of Nicaragua; her family moved to the United States in 1988. Now a second-grade teacher and the mother of two, she holds a master’s degree in education. She and her husband, the creative director, founded the magazine to fill a gap they noticed as their first child began to read, and they found very few Spanish language texts geared to children. “The dream for my daughter, and for all Latino children, is that they will continue to read in Spanish, to feel proud of being bilingual, and to never forget their roots,” she writes. To see the magazine, go to www.IGUANAmagazine.com.
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.
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.
