Class Notes | 1990s

For some of us, 2022 has been a year of change but also a time to reconnect with friends and classmates. In April, Brian LaCarrubba and his wife (along with their three cats who had no input on this decision) left Denver after 20 years to move to Madison, Wisconsin. They are appreciating being in a college town and one where the growth is not quite as explosive as it was in Denver. Then just when Brian thought his focus was going to be on settling into a new city, a new job opportunity came along! In July, he started working at RubinBrown as a consultant helping organizations navigate large technology projects. While he works remotely from Madison, his new-hire orientation in Chicago afforded him the opportunity to catch up with Frantz Williams who happened to be staying at a hotel on the same block for a conference.

Chad Bartell is also in Madison, Wisconsin, where he continues to practice law by day and play music by night. His steel-drum band, Panchromatic Steel, performed alongside steel-drum luminary Andy Narell in a citywide music festival in August. He is collaborating remotely with Kabir Sen on the further development of an original composition first performed at Kabir’s senior thesis recital at Wesleyan.

Arthur Baraf had the good fortune to see some live music in New Hampshire this summer with Greg Tuzzolo ’00, where they ran into Eric Werner ’00.

He also spent some time this summer with Jed Koslow (who just moved to Berlin with his family after being in Brooklyn for 20 years) and Bill Foster. Arthur is starting his 17th year as a high school principal at The Met High School in Providence, Rhode Island.

For others, 2022 has been a year of new beginnings. Leila Buck and husband Adam Abel ’98 have a joyful update to share—they welcomed their daughter into the world on March 12th of this year. Her name is Zayya, which means hope and faith in Arabic. They figured that we could all use more of those in these times! Leila is “grateful, sleep deprived, and sending energy and wishes for support to all of you out there giving care in so many forms.”

And finally, 2022 has been a year of notable accomplishments for some of our classmates. Through a highly competitive process with applicants from all over the world, Erik Rueter was selected to speak at Project Management Institute’s 2022 Global Summit. He will be leading an interactive session on using human-centered design to enable engagement and inclusivity on project teams.

Rachel Quinn received a Schomburg Fellowship! She will be a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from this September through June 2023 to work on her second book. Folks should reach out if they want to connect in NYC.  https://uh.edu/class/news/archive/2022/july/feminist-scholar-rachel-quinn-awarded-esteemed-schomburg-fellowship/

Megan Wolff and Eve Fox are working together at Beyond Plastics (www.beyondplastics.org), a project of Bennington College that aims to end plastic pollution everywhere, led by former U.S. EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck.  Megan and Eve partnered on a new guide to help restaurants reduce plastic that went live in July. https://www.beyondplastics.org/press-releases/restaurant-guide-to-reducing-plastic

Kevin has had multiple Wes run-ins through work lately. He met David Burke ’10 at The Conference Board in NYC. David is leading wellness and benefits for IBM. Despite being from slightly different eras, they shared experiences of MoCon, Clark Hall (David citing the “new Clark,” not the condemned version of the late 90s) and learning how to think. Kevin also reconnected with Jonathan Bush ’93, who continues to shake up the world of health care and drag it into the modern era of technology.

May the rest of 2022 be full of change, hope, and connection.

Hello, fellow ’98ers,

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the world; about Wes and the broad-reaching education we got there; about my fellow classmates (you!) who encourage(d) each other to think and grow and “fight the patriarchy” and make the world better. And I’m grateful for that experience, and for all of you out there who are bringing all that skill and caring and thoughtfulness and brilliant braininess out in the world around you. Keep it up and keep getting support from the world around you (in whatever form) as much as you do your part supporting outwards.

Just a few notes to share this time, all very smile worthy:

Pastor Yolanda Denson-Byers and her wife Tasha welcomed a new child in July 2021. Baby Kalan is a bright and cheerful child—Wesleyan Class of 2039.

Juniper Hill is still living in Würzburg, Germany, where she works as professor of ethnomusicology and lives with her mathematician-cyclist husband Jesse and two daughters. This year she is immensely enjoying a long maternity leave after the birth of a beautiful strapping baby girl in February. She delights in long walks in the local beech forests and in the Alps and in bike rides along the Main River and local Weinberg (literally ‘wine mountains,’ or hilly vineyards). Occasionally she bumps into other Wesleyan folk at Sacred Harp sings. When she returns to work next year, she’s looking forward to bringing in some international postdoctoral fellows to research the music of immigrant communities in Germany and Central Europe.

After scrolling through all the joyous Reunion & Commencement photos on Wesleyan’s Instagram, Marcus Chung is getting very excited to see everyone at our 25th (what, 25th?!) Reunion next May. He hasn’t seen many Wes friends recently thanks to a certain global pandemic, but he did start a new role as chief operating officer at Coyuchi, a bedding and bath brand that’s focused on premium product that’s also good for the planet. It’s a role that marries his experience in supply chain along with corporate sustainability. He’s enjoying learning about regenerative agriculture, carbon capture, and also pillow shams!

Okay these brought me smiles except for maybe that 25-year thing—“what?!” indeed! But what an occasion to celebrate! Twenty-five years of making the world better in our always-unique Wes way . . . . Here’s to 25 more.

Best,

Abby

Hi, Classmates!

We hope that 2022 has been a good one for you. We’re still enjoying memories of Reunion in the spring and marveling at how magical it felt to step back in time and recognize the impact of our time together at Wesleyan as students and throughout the years as members of the alumni community.

We enjoyed working with our fellow Reunion Committee members on helping to bring everyone back to campus: David Levin, Kimberly King, Josh Thornton, Maggie McLean Suniewick, Josh Suniewick, and Marisa Uchin. Shout-out to our fabulous 1997 WESeminar speakers—thank you for sharing your time, expertise, and your wisdom with us, Min Santandrea (founder, SantM), Lucria Ortiz (president and CEO of the Yonkers Family YMCA in New York), and Francisco Tezén (president and CEO of A Better Chance). We so appreciate you!

Also, we’d also like to congratulate Wesleyan’s 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients for professional achievements (four of the six were from the class of 1997): Carter Bays, Maggie McLean Suniewick, Craig Thomas, and Angela Mae Yee.

And one final post-Reunion note: Our class successfully reached a participation rate of 25 % in honor of our 25th Reunion, so we are now able to give a Class of 1997 scholarship gift to someone in the incoming class of 2026. The Solids (including Carter Bays, Josh Suniewick, Craig Thomas, and Pat Butler ’98) matched our gift up to $10,000!

Lots of good news to share . . .

Congratulations to Kimberly King on her new position as an alumni-elected trustee for Wesleyan! She is one of three alumni-elected trustees who serve on the 33-member board of Wesleyan and contribute to setting the direction of the University. We are grateful to have her representing the alumni body. (Thanks to all who voted, which is an excellent way to participate in the governance of the University as an alumnus.) In addition, Kimberly was promoted to NBC Universal’s vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We are so happy for her! (For context, please read more here (https://www.blackenterprise.com/kimberly-king-crowned-nbcus-vp-diversity-equity-inclusion-for-ads-partnerships/ and here: https://www.nexttv.com/news/nbcu-names-kimberly-king-vp-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-global-advertising-and-partnerships.) Kimberly shared with us: “Family is healthy and my 11-year-old starts middle school in the fall. It’s been a wonderful past few weeks to say the least. I am truly humbled to acknowledge that I am living in my purpose and on purpose. Feeling really thankful and supported.”

We are thrilled for Maggie McLean Suniewick, who transitioned to Twitter in July to take on the newly established role of vice president of Partnerships. Please read more about it here: https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/maggie-mclean-suniewick-twitter-nbcuniversal-1235307019/ Congratulations, Maggie!

Alek Matthew Lev wrote to share with us that he is producing and co-hosting a new podcast called Arts Educators Save the World, which brings successful artists together in conversation with their teachers and mentors. “And in episodes 1 and 2, released on August 29th, the Wesleyan runs—wait for it, wait for it, wait for it—even deeper. It starts with the Hunter College Elementary and High School connection to Wesleyan, which is substantial in the class of ’97: Joel Viertel, Noah Garrison, Amanda Shurgin, Kimani Rogers, David Levin, Amy Bodnick, Amy Gong, Mike Mittelman, Sara Berenbom Friedman ’96, Miwa Geiger. (And FYI for Hunterites, Erica Rosenfeld is the host and Justin Asher is the audio producer.) One of our first guests is Robert Lopez (Frozen, Encanto) who attended that *other* Connecticut university and, bringing it all together, we also have Hunter Elementary (’92), Hunter High (’98) and Wesleyan (’02) alum, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Robert and Lin talk with Ms. Barbara Ames, music teacher to most of the above. Check it out at www.ArtEducatorsSaveTheWorld.com or on your favorite podcast app.”

In August, we had a Zoom happy hour with Sarah Kollman Regnier, who moved from Sacramento, California, up north to Arcata, California, with her husband Justin and their two children, Peter and Joy. Sarah works remotely as an attorney. Full disclosure: The three of us usually group text daily and are still doing the Wordle and occasionally the Quordle (four Wordles, nine guesses) together. Sarah gave us a virtual tour of her beautiful home and the woods outdoors.

Elijah Hawkes wrote, “I enjoyed a spring visit to NYC and New Jersey to visit my old roommate in East Harlem, Omar Rahim ’96, and good friend Ruben Fleischer, who moved back east with his family from LA. I’m also looking forward to seeing Brion and Melanie Winston at their family farm in New York this 4th of July.” Elijah’s second book just came out . . . Woke is Not Enough: School Reform for Leaders with Justice in Mind. You can find some information about the book and his work at ElijahHawkes.com. “I’m particularly excited to see what folks think of the chapters on student activism and counter-extremism, which I think are unlike much of what one might find in literature for school leaders today.” Elijah’s first book came out two years ago: School for the Age of Upheaval: Classrooms that Get Personal, Get Political, and Get to Work.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful fall 2022 and looking forward to seeing you again.

Take care!

Hey fellow ’96ers,

As summer comes to a close, I hope all had some amazing and eventful summer days.

Over the summer months I was able to connect with Debra Stutz Marmor who is enjoying her new life abroad with her family in Israel; Robert “Bobbito” Garcia ’88 who is featured in a new Showtime documentary, NYC Point Gods; and Kem Poston ’97 who is living the LA life and doing good creative work out West. So good to fellowship, connect, and build with folks.

Shereem Brown writes that he is excited about his new book, The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions: A Conversation about Education, Parenting and Race. Check out his link: www.understandingthechoices.com. Shereem was also just featured in Black Enterprise Magazine about the book: https://www.blackenterprise.com/tag/shereem-herndon-brown/.

Amy Pollick writes to say that a bunch of ’96ers were in attendance at Melissa McNamara’s wedding in NYC in April: Rekha Nigam, Charlene Bierl, Amber Gay, Natalie Suhl Bernardino, and of course her sister, Tracy McNamara.

Chung Ma writes that he got up to NYC in June and met with some Wes folks. Alex Fong, John Kong, and Ingrid Wong, and they were all laughing and imbibing together. He is still enjoying Richmond and welcomes any visitors with cocktails if they happen to be in the area.  He is still making sure the teachers get their retirement checks in his day job, as well as spending time with the Council on Economic Education to increase knowledge of economics and financial literacy for all students.

Peace and blessings this fall to all. Go Wes!

#Cardinal4Life

D. Tirado

Hello fellow ’95ers! Lots going on this time—let’s jump into it.

My co-secretary, Katy McNeill, writes: “I’m excited to share that after three years of studying part time, I have completed an MBA from the University of Warwick Business School. A broad-based degree for leading organizations, I also focused on organizational behavior. Next, I’m thrilled to have a new position in which to apply it—directing an initiative at a scholarly society. I just started as program director of DataWorks! at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). This new initiative will foster data sharing and reuse in the biosciences, which can both advance knowledge and foster open and reproducible research. Anyone working in this field—I’d be keen to connect!”

Patrick Hutter-Bluml writes: “I moved back from being a chef and househusband to freelance 3D artist, but I also started advanced studies in 3D modeling and animation for film. So, yeah, I’m basically a student again and loving every bit of it. During the pandemic I assisted in a project organized by an American university, for which my team did a particle simulation used for predictability of aerosol dispersion.”

During the pandemic, Roxane Williams returned to graduate school for a second advanced degree and made the shift from working in tech and volunteering as a crisis counselor to becoming a full-time mental health clinician, hoping to reach and help folks before they get to a crisis point. She largely works in trauma treatment with individuals and couples for whom PTSD is a factor, and also specializes in work with LGBTQI+ folks, especially with members of the trans community, as certain archaic laws require therapeutic support for those opting for surgical transition. Roxane appreciates the wonderful gift of finding her “calling,” albeit later in life, and is grateful to know what it is to be in love with her work! She also acts as a mental-health first responder at Burning Man and has built large-scale art off and on for a decade or so. Roxane lives in the Bay Area with a menagerie of pets and two grown/launched kids who humble and amaze her with both their worldliness and their loveliness, as both are pursuing their higher education and their careers with a bent toward public service.

My man in Oakland, Matt Duffy, sent in some news: “I am reporting that I continue to work as a superintendent of schools here in the Bay. I recently had an awesome reunion lunch with fellow ’95 alums Sherwin Yoder and Brooke (Leinwand) Jackson and Randy Jackson after many years apart! I also still stay connected with Malcolm Edwards! Best regards to my fellow Wes alums.”

In June 2022, Sabrina Prince was finally able to celebrate her COVID elopement with husband Nenad Apostoloski with family and friends, including Jacqueline Moon in beautiful Chantilly, France.

Looks like it was a blast!

Beth Shilepsky Price writes from Charleston, South Carolina: “Still slogging along as a family medicine doctor. Trying hard to unwind outside of work with my husband, three kids (David 18, Madeline 15, and Lily 13), three dogs, and two horses. David and I competed in an 18-mile NATRC competitive trail ride this spring on our horses and had a blast. We had a super visit with Kristin Dunn ’96 and her 9-year-old daughter Vanessa while they were in town recently. She is still living in Long Beach, California, and doing amazing work (https://www.kdbooks.com/). I think I was the last Wes alum to see Hamilton—it came to town in July and far exceeded my expectations!! Amazing!! As of last night, we also have seven more furry (temporary) additions to the family—our golden retriever gave birth. Hope everyone is doing well!”

Shayne Spaulding is living in the seaside town of Swampscott, Massachusetts, with husband Josh Shepherd and two boys, Wiley and Kieran (ages 14 and 11), and dog Hershey. Shayne is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a D.C.–based social-policy research organization, and had the joy of getting together recently with Gabriella Klein, Jennifer Quest-Stern ’94, Kevin Fairley ’94, and Liz Stites in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and swimming in the beautiful waves of Barney’s Joy Beach. “Enjoying being 50 and treating each day lived as a gift.” Sounds right to me, Shayne!

Susannah (Hearn) Kerest reports: Enjoying year 12 living near Lake Champlain with Vermont’s lovely mountains not too far away. I’m taking a break from the nonprofit fundraising world after over two decades, and recently joined a communications and public relations firm called Junapr. Career transition is an unexpected, but welcome brain challenge. Loved being back on campus as both of our kids have toured [Wes] in the last couple of years. Launching kids is not for the faint of heart. While we’ve stayed close to home during these COVID-y times, so appreciate the occasional touch points with classmates Carolyn (Barth) Renzin, Brendan Coughlin, Elizabeth (Meltzer) Bloom, and Constantine Davides as well as rowing pals Meredith Weaver ’96, Enas (Estafan) Hanna ’94, and Wendi Schenkler-Samway ’94. If anyone is visiting the Burlington area, reach out!

Gina Schimpff is super excited to have son Tyler Schimpff begin his Wes experience in Clark this fall, and even more excited that Laurel Williams Wise has her son Will also starting at Wes and they will be hallmates! And continuing the family traditions, Nora Cabrera writes that she and husband George Cabrera ’89 have just taken their son Antonio up to Wes—he will also be class of 2026.

From Greg Rolland: “Living a good life here in western Massachusetts. I’m 10 years in managing finances at Deerfield Academy and my wife survived being head nurse at the Academy through the pandemic (hats off and thank you to med folks!). Our three daughters now have one year together in high school, and the eldest included our alma maters (Bryn Mawr and Wes) in her cut of prospective colleges. These days I’m regularly grateful for the lens of my Wes history education— and I’m very glad to have shared time through the pandemic with alums Peter Follet, Stephanie Flaherty, Justin Stern, James Becker ’97, and Santiago Vazquez ’93.”

Parker Dockray is still living in Oakland, California, and working in reproductive health, rights, and justice; her organization All-Options is funding abortion care, providing diapers, helping people navigate this new mess of abortion laws, and fighting for the compassionate and just world we all deserve. She’s grateful to all the Wes friends who have shown up in so many ways and says look me up if you come through town!

Finally, yours truly is still living in the Hudson Valley and working for StudioLabs, a great digital product shop. Here’s a pic from a trip Lucky (14), Sybil (9), and I took to the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Las Vegas with family back in June.

I turned 50 in September and got to celebrate with friends including Leila Goldmark and Mike Kleinsteuber . . . and, as one of the first from our class to make the semicentenary transition, I can assure you that it’s not too bad.

Summer is over and the kids are back to school. My daughters Sarah and Norah (teenagers now!) are heading to the 8th grade. Time flies.

John Pollock visited Chicago for work in April 2022 and we had a great afternoon catching up over Thai food.

Aram Sinnreich sold his first novel, a literary science fiction story about a software coder who gets stuck in a glitch that sends her on a backward trajectory through time. The book, entitled A Second Chance for Yesterday, was coauthored with his sister Rachel Hope Cleves, and will be published by Rebellion Books under the pseudonym R.A. Sinn in summer 2023.  Congratulations to both!

Aram also is collaborating with Jesse Gilbert. Together they are completing work on a nonfiction book entitled The Secret Life of Data, due to be published by MIT Press in 2023 or early 2024.

Aram also with his wife Dunia Best produced an album of original music, recorded in their home during COVID-19. The album, entitled Bedfellows, was released by German record label GMO on July 8th, and is available on all streaming platforms, as well as vinyl record and CD. More information at duniaandaram.com.

News from overseas: Dave Campbell has extended his stay in Japan to a fifth year and is looking forward to post-pandemic visits from family and friends. Tim, Ruth, and Priscilla are now out of college and into the workforce (finance, social work, and nursing, respectively). Mary will be starting at Baylor University in the fall, while Phoebe will enter 8th grade at International School of the Sacred Heart there in Tokyo. Dave is eager to host visitors. He writes, “With kids leaving the nest, Brenna and I have more room for visitors as COVID restrictions subside. Reach out if/when you’re able/ready to visit!”

Back stateside: Susannah Paletz continues to live in Maryland with her husband and daughter. Through a series of fortunate events, in August 2021 she became a tenured associate professor at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, leaping from a soft-money funded professional track position. She adores her collegial, quirky, multidisciplinary college, students, staff, and faculty of all types.

Sasha Chanoff writes that he is married to Marni Chanoff and has two kids, Hayden, 14 and Lailah, 12. Sasha and his family live in Somerville, Massachusetts. Sasha leads RefugePoint, an organization he started in 2005 to find solutions for the most at-risk refugees.

If any of you are visiting or passing through Chicago, I would love to get together.  Please keep in touch!

Aaron Siskind writes, “Hello from the Maryland suburbs of the D.C. area from me, my wife Sindi, and our teenager Mel; I’ve been working as an economist for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (which you might know from The Smartest Guys in the Room—not referring to our agency, natch) since 2004. While we’ve generally been isolated just like everyone else during COVID, I have managed to have several mini-Wesleyan reunions over the last few months. In April, I was able to get together in Durham, North Carolina, with Richard Dansky ’92, Steve Karon ’92, and Chris Joyal ’95. We’re all in a fantasy baseball league that we started while at Wesleyan and have kept going all these years. While we were down there, we went to a Durham Bulls game where I was able to also meet up with Deborah Lowenthal Sorin ’94; she lives in the Durham area with her husband Dan and their two kids. In June, Kerry Brenner ’94 and I were able to spend some time with Rachel Deyette Werkema ’94, who was passing through the area with her husband Joel and their twin daughters (rising high school seniors) on a fairly epic college tour/road trip (visit to Wesleyan planned for late August). Kerry, who also lives in the D.C. suburbs with her husband Morrie Dworkin and their two kids, graciously hosted all of us so we could have some time to see each other and catch up. Kerry works on science education at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Rachel is a lecturer in the economics department at Wellesley College. Finally, in early July John Pollock ’94 was in the area to speak at a conference on his specialty—the right to counsel for low-income people in civil cases—and we were able to meet him and his son Merritt at the newly renovated Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and had a wonderful day with the two of them.”

Dan Crane now makes documentaries. His directorial premiere, Let Me Be Me, about an autistic boy who grows up to be a fashion designer premiered last year at DOCNYC and is available on most VOD platforms. A documentary he wrote about professional lacrosse called Fate of a Sport premiered at TriBeCa this summer, and The End of the World — a film he produced with Matt Tyrnauer ’91 about Bennington College premieres at Telluride in September.

Bill Wiggins writes, “After 25 years working in financial regulation in Washington, D.C., (much of it with Jake Lesser ’91) and surviving the prior administration and COVID by writing a wildlife/history novel, I was recently named CFO of the National Endowment for the Arts. If you’re in D.C. or coming through, let me know.”

Jason Levy is living on Long Island with his wife Neda and two sons (ages 7 and 9). He’s serving as deputy CIO for Educational Technology Strategy for the NYC Department of Education.

Chris Osmond writes, “I was so proud to watch our eldest son Sammy Osmond ’22 graduate last month! I’d talk about what he’s doing next, but I suppose he’s got his own alumni update to do now. Go Wes!”

Anne Beaven writes, “Very excited to be traveling again after a long COVID hiatus. Margaret, Eli, and I went to Barcelona in March and right now we are in Australia seeing Margaret’s family for the first time in three years.”

Eve Abrams created and was the lead producer of the podcast, Hot Farm, from the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Alison MacAdam ’99 was Eve’s editor!  Hot Farm tells the stories of the people who grow our food—people whose stories offer solutions for how we can keep eating in the age of climate change. It’s the perfect mix of science, policy, and personal narrative, and miraculously, an upbeat series about, arguably, our biggest problem.

Abigail Lorber Clarkson writes, “I have made a career change to public librarianship and am finishing up a master’s of Library and Information Science degree. I also in recent years began studying piano again after carting my piano around North Carolina and Texas but not playing it for over 20 years. I currently live with my family and pets just outside Asheville, North Carolina.”

Greetings and salutations from just outside D.C.

I’ll start this edition down in North Carolina with an update from James Wilton, national account manager and managing director for Genesis10. The former WESU DJ and campus heartthrob is a volunteer coach for football and wrestling. He sends word that his eldest son Jack is a senior at North Carolina State studying business; older daughter Carley is also at North Carolina State working toward a degree in elementary education; and his younger daughter Lola is a senior in high school. Wife Tracy is in her fifth year as a teaching assistant for exceptional preschool students.

On the other side of the world, Kristin Elisabeth Sandvik Lush sends word from New Zealand where she is working as an academic editor and “soaking in the homeyness of home and enduring the teenageyness of my kids as we travel around, have little adventures, and spend time with extended family and friends.” Kristen returned to the U.S. this fall for a balloon festival in New Mexico and visits to National Parks and the upper Northwest.”

It was fun to see the class of ’92 well represented at this year’s Emmy Awards. Francesca Harewood, senior vice president, Business Affairs at NBCUniversal, posted great pictures of her with Mike White who won multiple Emmy Awards for writing and directing The White Lotus. Meredith Tucker also won this year for her role in casting The White Lotus. Besides winning for being an excellent cook on short notice according to Oliver Ryan, Meredith now owns four Emmys and Mike has three. Not too shabby class of ’92!

Of course, an even better place to see the class of ’92 was at the 30th Reunion in May. It was wonderful to be back on campus and spend time with classmates. There were plenty of drinks, stories, songs, dancing, and lots of joy catching up with friends and remembering how special our time at Wesleyan was. The other fun thing about writing notes after reunion is I get to say, “it was great to see” and I’ll lead off by saying it was great to see Soo Lim on campus. Soo, visiting career services advisor at Boston College Law School and Matt Schortmann, vice president, and head of Institutional Product & Strategy at Columbia Threadneedle Asset Management, recently celebrated their 26th anniversary. With their two daughters—Liv a sophomore at UVA and Sophia a senior at Northeastern—in college, the empty nesters have recently discovered a love for TV tray tables, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy as they plan their next adventures.

It was also great to see Oliver Ryan. Oliver continues to live a highly suspect entrepreneurial life as founder and CEO of Count.It, a tech start-up that powers wellness challenges for groups, mostly companies. Oliver sends updates on a number of classmates. “I had a great time catching up with everyone at the reunion, and road-tripping back to NYC with Sam Robinson, whose daughter Bella just started at Vassar. In the summertime, I share an old barn on Long Island with various Wes friends, including Meredith Tucker, Kris Rucker, and Lewis Canfield ’90. Kris is a partner at a chic creative agency in New York, runs the National Air Guitar Championships, and is launching a new tech business in his spare time. When not tending his garden in Williamsburg, Lewis has thrown himself into renovating a magical warehouse in Vermont. Over July 4th, Brian Wolff came for a visit with wife Francesca and kids Ellington and Rosie. That weekend we also had a surprise visit from Jacky Jennings, husband Doug Bothner ’91, and friends. We all sang the Wesleyan fight song. Ok, no, we didn’t, but only because Mark Mullen ’89 wasn’t there. Lewis and I are also in a band with Ben Rader called The Classic, which is anything but. Ben is the one who made the important point that you don’t need to be good (or young) to be in a band. Speaking of musicians, I saw Chris Arndt over the summer at the annual kids versus parents capture the flag game. Let it be known that the parents won. Again. Probably for the last time.”

And it was great to see Ruthbea Yesner, vice president, Government Insights, Education and Smart Cities at IDC. She sent in an update that she “loves her job, which has grown in scope from urban technology and smart cities, to police and justice, transportation, and water and sustainability. I work with tech vendors and state and local governments to adopt new technologies to make the world more livable.” I had a great time at the reunion and just felt transported back in time. I had the pleasure of driving down with Katherine Petrecca, who now runs the women’s division at New Balance, and I drove Matt Young and Adam Berinsky back to Boston. Last thought—there were too many people to name at the reunion that were an absolute joy to talk with. But shout-out to all of them! I’m lucky to have been able to spend formative years with such an amazing bunch.”

And it was great to see Neal Klinman back on campus for the first time in 20 years. “I’ve been wanting to reach out since attending our 30th Reunion this spring. I really enjoyed what was my first return to Wesleyan and Middletown since our 10th Reunion. I enjoyed a hot solo afternoon exploring by bicycle, and I took many photos of favorite places such as the Butterfield courtyard that I crisscrossed for three years and multiple summers, the boathouse and riverfront, downtown, the amazing arts center complex with its active gallery, printshop, and architecture studio, the cemetery where I built character running hills with the crew team, the ‘presence of the absence’ of MoCon, etc.” Neal has been teaching at the same public school in Cambridge where he has taught since 1999. He and his wife Debb live on the shore of the beautiful Chandler Pond with their three crazy but talented teens, two dogs, a secondhand canoe, and a garage full of bikes.

And it was great to see my old hallmate Sam Longley. Foss 7 was well represented this year. He writes, “Hi, fellow 1992ers! It was great to emerge from my ‘COVID shell’ to see so many folks during our reunion. I have been working as a technical sales engineer at Neo4j, which is the first company to bring a graph database to the commercial market (does anyone remember graph theory from math class?). My son Winston is a tween sixth-grader, and enjoys the cross-country team, all things Star Wars, and playing online games with his friends. My daughter Charlotte has hit the 10th grade with a running start, and has found, in volleyball, a rewarding activity and group of friends. She got to experience a night in the Clark dorm during the reunion and enjoyed that experience. My wonderful wife, Grace, has been doing double duty—taking care of the whole lot of us as well as working at our nearby school system.”

And finally, it was great to see my fellow class officer Teresa Ho, managing director at JP Morgan Asset Management. She adds that Karen Earle’s daughter is now a first-year at Wesleyan. Karen is an endocrinologist at Sutter Health. Really there were a lot more people I can say it was great to see—Jane Thompson, Jake Wizner, Adam Berinsky, and Rob Rich among many others but I have to stop somewhere.

Speaking of stopping. This year marks my 30th year of writing the class notes. To borrow a phrase from Bilbo Baggins, 30 years is far too short a time to write about such excellent friends and classmates as you, but it’s time for me to announce this is the end of my stint as class secretary. It was a ton of fun to plan all the senior-year social events with Bill Siegel, Teresa Ho, and Shalei Simms Pilgrim, and I have loved keeping up to date with everyone through the notes, but I am passing the baton. You are now in the good hands of Adam Berinsky who now has logged at least 20 as co-secretary and perhaps you. More to follow on how we backfill as Adam is looking for someone to share the duty.

All the best,

Paul

Peter H. Kim, professor of management and organization at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, is in the final stages of copyediting his first book. How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships are Built, Broken, and Repaired, encapsulates more than 20 years of research on trust and will be published by Flatiron Books, August 2023. Peter and his wife, Beth Fortune, an interior architect, live with their chihuahua mix in Santa Monica.

            Sarah Blustain joined ProPublica in January 2021, to help lead the Local Reporting Network, which coordinates with local and regional newsrooms to create year-long investigations.

            Nikki Harmon is the program director for SIFTMedia 215 Collective, a cooperative that centers Black and Latinx women-identified media artists who work in the Philadelphia area. Nikki produced two short films this year and Tonight, We Eat Flowers, premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival in August. She is also the author of two novels centering on Black lesbian women, When I Was Your Girlfriend and Neither Here Nor There. Nikki and her partner of 21 years, Kelly, are the parents of three teenagers: Eli, Selena, and Natalie.

            Betsy Klimasmith, an English professor at UMass Boston, participated in a week-long seminar at the American Antiquarian Society called On Stage: Spectacle in the Nineteenth-Century America, led by Wendy Bellion, who is a professor of art history and associate dean of humanities at the University of Delaware College of Arts and Sciences.

Betsy writes, “Wendy put together a brilliant seminar that brought together a multi-disciplinary group of scholars to work on visual materials related to early U.S. theater and performance. What a treat it was to be a student in Wendy’s class—it brought back memories of some of our best classes at Wes.”

Speaking of Wes, Betsy’s son Isaac ’20 enjoyed his delayed commencement this June, and married his college sweetheart, Mariel Baitenmann-Middlebrook ’20 in July.

            George Irvine, married to Wendy Bellion, is also at University of Delaware, as associate vice provost for Professional and Continuing Studies and Online Initiatives, helping nontraditional students advance their education. Their son, Luke, heads to Fordham University, excited to study the liberal arts in NYC and eat awesome pizza.

            Rebeca Rumayor reports her son James is thriving at Indian Springs School in Pelham, Alabama, where as a ninth grader he takes on the added responsibility of being an RA. Rebeca is looking forward to once again volunteering at Sundance Film Festival in January 2023.

            Laura Fine lives in the Boston area and is preparing to be an empty nester. Her son Henry will begin junior year at Connecticut College and daughter Hannah is about to start her first year at Wesleyan.

            Greg Mandel is now the provost and chief academic officer at Temple University in Philadelphia, as well as the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Law. He’s adjusting to life as an empty nester and contemplating that his kids are the same age (or older!) as we were at Wesleyan.

            Ann Goebel-Fabbri is officially back in the office after more than two years of conducting tele-psychology from her third-floor-attic guest room. Ann is happy to return to in person, though some patients prefer the convenience of telehealth, so she’ll be in “hybrid” practice for the foreseeable future.

Ann and Bill Fabbri are anxious and excited for their daughter Kate’s first year at Oberlin. The transition will no doubt be assisted by the many other Wes alum parents also dropping off their kids in Ohio.

More drop-offs with Wes connections: Carrie Mosher Gadaleta’s daughter Jessie and Michele (Barth) Still’s son George both start Lafayette College in Pennsylvania this autumn.

Carrie is executive managing director at JLL. She just published her first book, Feed Your Future: Morsels on Building a Meaningful Career, a compilation of her LinkedIn stories from the past four years. Her goal with the posts and the book is to inspire and grow the next generation of leaders in commercial real estate and beyond. Carrie’s older daughter Shelby is class of 2024.

Michele, when not coordinating drop-offs with childhood friend Carrie, checks in on daughter Anna in D.C. and son Henry in NYC. While still Houston-based, Michele has her eye on New England, with a recent property purchase in Vermont. We all know Texas still needs her, with her efforts on behalf of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and various political campaigns.

            Joshua Samuels is now vice chair of pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science in Houston, the same school where his oldest daughter just started medical school.

            Beth Haney and Scott Moore celebrated the graduation of daughter Lea Moore ’22 in May. They connected with Gregg Ribbatt ’90, many members of the class of 1992, and both Chris ’89 and Johannah Townsend whose daughter Rachel ’22, graduated as well.

Beth continues her role with Avenues for Youth, a nonprofit focused on supporting young adults experiencing homelessness. Scott is focused on all things start-up. One endeavor is the Wesleyan-focused WeSpark! and includes classmates Cecilia Pohorille McCall, Kiff Gallagher, and Lexy Funk, as well as alums from other years. The goal is to help aspiring and existing entrepreneurs across the alumni base. https://www.wesleyan.edu/alumni/connect/WeSpark.html. Scott is also a partner in Colaboratory.io, a new platform to facilitate brand x brand collaborations.

Cecilia and Jonathan Moss independently stopped in the Twin Cities to visit with Scott and Beth this year, and they expect more classmates to hit them up in St Paul!

Speaking of Jon Moss, he persuaded Brian Harlin to join him in a dragon boat race event at the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club. Brian connected with rower Mark Hunter ’92, who is prospering personally and professionally in Burlington, Vermont.

Brian also reports on serendipity, as one of his closest high school friends, Mark Sullivan, married our classmate Janine Manzo Sullivan. Their kids, like Brian’s, “are successfully moving off to college and life is good.”

I was also on campus at this year’s Reunion & Commencement weekend, though for a more somber affair as the swim team memorialized Michael Mahon ’89. This bittersweet gathering brought together many friends from many class years, but it was special to see all of the class of ’91 swimmers: myself, Jennifer Zoltners Sherer, Maria Floyd Cohen, Dana Schultz, Doug Bothner, Bill Fabbri, and Ernie Luikart (who is also claimed by ’90).

Take care and stay in touch!

Hi all! Here’s what we have since our last issue:

Alfredo Viegas writes that his oldest Alessandra ’20 “will be heading to USC this August to start her MFA and we will be making it a cross-country drive from NYC. Along the way we will meet up with my other daughter, Ariana, who will be a rising junior at Colorado College. My son Alex will also be a rising junior at Boston University. Likely, there is grad/professional school for the other two so it looks like no early retirement for me!”

Amy Zucker Morgenstern is going back to school to pursue a Doctor of Ministry in theology and the arts at the United Theological School of the Twin Cities, while continuing as a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, California, where she has been since 2003. “I want to use art to further energize my congregation’s justice work. When I double majored in religious studies and studio art and did political work at Wes, I never imagined how those three threads would keep intertwining all these years later.” Amy also wrote that she was sad to learn of the death last month of retired professor of religion, Jeremy Zwelling. I would add here that while I was not a religious studies major at Wes, I share wonderful memories of Professor Zwelling, his personal kindness and his passionate and insightful teaching.

Victor Khodadad “will be singing the roles of Faust and Gonzalve in a French double bill of Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Helene and Maurice Ravel’s L’heure espagnole with New Camerata Opera in September of 2022. The production will take place at the Irondale Center in Brooklyn, New York, and will be sung in French and accompanied by orchestra. Please visit www.newcamerataopera.org for more information. Victor is a member of the company’s Artistic Committee and helps to lead the company with all elements of production including its children’s opera branch Camerata Piccola and its online video opera branch CamerataWorks.”

Tim Hintz is still living in Brookline, Massachusetts, and has been working as a counselor at one of the schools in town, “so I have a miniscule commute and then often keep in touch with people on my longer, after-school walks. I talked about schools and kids with Amy Robins of Milton, Massachusetts, and kvetch about local politics with Denise Casper, who lives in Brookline as well. I was reminded this year of the column that Andrew Siff wrote about me, Bill Sherman, and Andy Spear our senior year at Wes. We were rather enthusiastic and vocal fans of Wesleyan football, which seemingly made for good copy for the Argus. In 2022, I have been fortunate to visit all three of them in their homes—Spear is in his hometown of Berkeley, California, teaching high school; Siff is in NYC reporting on the news (he and I attended the middle-age sing-along at Madison Square Garden known as the Billy Joel residency. Siff is still 100 % on his game in Billy Joel knowledge). I finally saw Bill in Seattle at the end of a camping trip to Alaska with my family. He is still working hard for the attorney general to make sure that Washington’s air and water is clean. Also working hard is Meg Steele, whose history tours of Bath, Maine, are a must if you are visiting the MidCoast region.”

In April, Stephanie Donohue Pilla started a new job as assistant director of leadership giving at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. “If any of you attended or your kids attend/ed, please reach out to me; I’d love to connect!  In May, I spent a lovely afternoon in downtown NYC with Cameron Gearen ’91who was in the city for a wedding. In early August, I was in San Francisco, via Hawaii, and had lunch with Carolyn Gencarella. She had just returned from a trip to Spain and Portugal with Peter Brastow. Unfortunately, I didn’t see Peter because he was still in Europe on sabbatical. Their oldest son graduated from Lewis & Clark last spring and their younger son is a junior at UCLA. At the end of August, I spent time with Janet Hamada and her family for a few days in between East Coast college visits for her daughter who is a senior in high school. In September, my daughter started high school at Convent of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls independent school where Peggy Savino serves as the head of the Upper School!”

I’m sending in these notes as I head to Cape Cod for a week away with my husband David and three children (Eliza, 24; Jack, 21; and Camryn, 16). Summer will be long over by the time you are reading these notes, so signing off, I wish you all a fall/winter of health and happiness. Looking forward to hearing from you!