Class Notes

Andrew Yin is a first year at Cornell Medical School in NYC. He has been trying to stay afloat amidst the loads of work and uses every chance he gets to explore the city or catch a baseball game.

Katherine Gibbel started her MFA in poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop this fall. Mackenzie McPike is now an analyst at Jane Street Capital in NYC. Alicia Gansley joined an e-commerce startup called Zola in Manhattan where she is a software engineer.

After working in litigation for almost a year in Boston, Ming Zhu is now going to a master’s program in entrepreneurship at Babson College’s business school to pursue his passion in the agri-business/food-tech business. Also, if any alumni or current students are interested in the food business, especially plant-based beverages, they should reach out to him!

Mateusz Burgunder is working at Accenture in Switzerland, where he is focused on big data and business intelligence.

Five years after meeting on the first floor of 200 Church, their freshman dorm, Marianna Ilagan and Jimmy Nguyen got married in Professor Alice Hadler’s backyard in New Haven, Conn. They are moving to Ann Arbor, where Jimmy is starting his master’s in biostatistics at the University of Michigan.

Michael You Rong Leung has been enjoying summer in Chicago since passing level one of the CFA program. He has been taking sailing classes and traveling around the country. He managed to meet up with Leslie Lai ’14, David Mai, and Jenna Starr in his most recent trip to Wesleyan!

Ibironke Otusile has left NYC Health and Hospitals on Rikers Island, a jail complex in Queens, where she worked in the medical records department, serving the underprivileged jail population. She is an MS candidate in biomedical sciences at Barry University, in Hollywood, Fla. In her free time, she creates videos for her new YouTube channel, Ibironke Otusile.

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu

Greetings and happy fall, class of 2014! Here is what some of your classmates are up to:

Jessica Titlebaum is back in Michigan for her second year of veterinary school at Michigan State University. She is hoping to focus on small animal medicine upon graduation, and toys with the idea of specializing in neurology.

Lucy Finn moved back to San Francisco and is a business consultant for Kaiser Permanente. She is missing New York, but it’s been fun being back in the Bay.

Jennelle Herrick reports: “After working as a paralegal in trust and estates and at real estate law firms, I have taken a break from the legal setting and joined the private real estate developer, Discovery Land Company, on one of their newest projects on Maui, Hawaii, located at the Makena Golf and Beach Club. Although it was hard to say goodbye to Connecticut—the state in which I was born, raised, educated, and started my career—it’s safe to say I have fallen head over heels for paradise. I am in the final stages of completing my Hawaii real estate license and I am looking forward to witnessing our project grow from the beginning stages.”

Rachel Fox has been quite busy. She completed a master’s in narrative medicine at Columbia University in August 2015, spent the 2015-2016 academic year as an adjunct professor at Rutgers and Sarah Lawrence, and is now getting her PhD in communication and science studies at UC, San Diego. Rachel is living in La Jolla.

In other news: “Nick Petrillo, Keegan Dufty, Sky McGilligan, Ben Kafoglis, Remy Lieberman, and Casey Lasda all live in NYC where they are working on a scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot remake of Dirty Dancing. Most of them are single.”

After graduation, Simon Riker worked mainly as a freelance musician, most notably as associate music director for Summer Theatre of New Canaan, and as music director and marketing associate at PGT, a nonprofit children’s theater in White Plains, N.Y. He is an assistant choirmaster at Christ’s Church (Rye, N.Y.) and associate product manager at Axial, a fintech startup in Manhattan. Simon is stoked to share that his Wesleyan senior thesis, Me Prometheus: Caveman Love Story, had a second student production at William & Mary, and will be having its New York premiere as part of the New York Theater Festival in next summer.

Julian Theseira completed a master’s in international history at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Since he left Wesleyan, he has presented his research at the inaugural global history student conference at the Freie Universitäet Berlin, the inaugural world history student conference at King’s College London, the inaugural Yenching Global Symposium at Peking University, Beijing, China, and the British Postgraduate Chinese Studies network annual conference also at King’s College London. Outside of academia, Julian has interned with the Permanent Mission of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the United Nations in Geneva, during which time he managed external communications and reported on sessions of the UN Human Rights Council, UNHCR Standing Committee, the UN ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, and other international meetings. He is interning with the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, where he manages external communications on social media.

Keep the notes coming and enjoy your PSL’s. Much love,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

With the arrival of fall comes the realization that it’s already been three years since the Class of 2013 graduated from Wesleyan. During this time, we’ve traveled the world, earned an additional degree (or two), and settled into an exciting new chapter of our lives. Keep reading for a snippet of our adventures!

Jim Curley is the director of state relations at Boston University. He is also working towards an MBA at BU. He sees his fellow classmates Derek Lukin and Carmen Boscia in Boston. Amanda Simmons relocated to Philadelphia from NYC to study at Penn Law. She is joined by her partner, Adam Jaskol, who works as a management consultant and engages in casual sax(ophone). Amanda and Adam are hoping to reconnect with Wes friends, so reach out if you’re in Philly. Sarah Cassel finished her master’s in criminology at the University of Cambridge this summer. She wrote her dissertation on higher education in prison, and is working at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. Anna Swartz is still living in Brooklyn and is a staff writer at Mic, where a few coworkers are also Wes grads. From her office in One World Trade she can almost see all the way to Connecticut! Happy to say that she still sees Wesleyan friends at least once a week, if not more.

Kristen Salustro missed LA by a couple of thousand miles and wound up in Chicago, which is just fine by her. She is a writer for bswift, an Aetna company, and is working on her third novel. Her first two books, published under the name K.N. Salustro, were nominated for the Chanticleer Book Reviews Cygnus Awards for science fiction and speculative fiction. Sydney Lowe is also living in LA. After working as an associate producer at HBO in New York for three years, she joins the staff of HBO’s upcoming fall comedy, Insecure, as producer’s assistant to show creator, Issa Rae. Sydney continues to work as a photographer and creative producer on several video projects, documentaries, and branded content campaigns.

Despite tenacious efforts to avoid gainful employment in 2016, Evan Carmi ended up with a new job, joining Airbnb’s Portland engineering team. After failing to muster the courage to take Drawing 1 at Wes, he signed up for a local drawing class this fall. Zach Schonfeld delivered a Drunk Ted Talk on the subject of Nicolas Cage appreciation. He still works for Newsweek, and he hasn’t gotten stuck in an elevator since 2014. Julian Azaret moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he’s run into a few Wes alumni. He has been racing bikes, climbing mountains, and consulting in the SaaS industry all over Asia-Pacific. Things haven’t changed much in the last three years. Anyone passing through that part of the world should give him a holler!

After finishing her master’s in sustainable engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, Alissa Santucci has been working at Xerox Corporation in the environmental, health, safety, and sustainability department. Alissa was promoted to environmental technology program manager and is excited for all of her new responsibilities which can help shape the environmental sustainability future of the company. Katie Havlovic writes in from D.C., where she transitioned from working for Congressman Beto O’Rourke to the Opportunity Finance Network, where she advocates for the interests of community development financial institutions throughout the United States. While she continues to explore the D.C. food truck scene, nothing can beat the falafel and grilled cheese trucks back at Wes.

Brooklyn is full of entrepreneurs! Noah Masur ’15 has started a humane pesticide business (very popular in Williamsburg), and William T. Davis has taken his experience in the coffee industry and now runs an online exotic coffee bean store on the deep net. Sora Akiyoshi ’14 and Chloe Rinehart ’14 began a volunteer outreach program that offers ultimate Frisbee classes for those in senior housing, and Peter Horton and Croy Salinas are still making sweet music together as they enjoy the start of their fourth year of happily living together. Mark Popinchalk enjoys keeping tabs on his friends, both in Brooklyn and afar, including Ethan Grund, who is starting his second year working on his comprehensive lake survey of Minnesota.

Matt Lichtash, much like Andrew Perlmutter is wont to do, is also working away, doing all things BKE. Aside from pursuing all forms of football except for the actual thing (fantasy, flag), Matt has also embarked on a new creative venture: a website dedicated to presenting information about climate change in concise posts containing three bullet points or fewer. The site, thecarboncapital.org, is easily digestible, shareable, and nonpartisan, and posts info to motivate anyone to take climate action.

Evan Okun (aka E. Oks) performed a solo show at the NYC’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe alongside Sam Friedman and other members of his Chicago collective. The show celebrated the release of his new single (soundcloud.com/eoks). The next morning, he flew back to Chicago to continue his work with Circles & Ciphers, a hip-hop infused restorative justice organization led by young people who are court-, gang-, and DCFS- involved.

As for myself, I wrapped up three years at Apple and transitioned to Fitbit to work in advanced product development. When I’m not searching for the latest and greatest technologies to apply to future Fitbit products, you’ll find me traveling, watercolor painting, and (still) eating my way through the wonderful city of San Francisco. Would love to reconnect with any Wes alums living in or traveling through this area!

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

As many of you know, or perhaps some of you are in denial (like myself), 2017 marks our five-year Reunion. That’s right, it has been five years since that beautiful spring day on Foss Hill when we threw our caps in the air. Similar to time, the class of 2012 has not slowed down.

Alex Ketchum is finishing up her PhD in the department of history at McGill University, focusing on feminist restaurants and cafés in the United States and Canada. She coaches lacrosse and teaches in Montréal where she lives with her husky/lab mix, Bubbles. Laura Bliss is a staff writer for CityLab, the Atlantic’s urban affairs vertical, also based in Montréal.

In New Jersey, David Amrhein has been working at TAG Optics, a recently acquired startup spun out of research at Princeton University, making ultra-fast focusing liquid lenses for microscopes and laser systems. Also on the East Coast, Kenny Feder is in Baltimore doing his PhD in public health at Johns Hopkins. Kenny studies how parents’ mental health and substance use challenges can spill over and affect the well-being of children.

Down in Texas, Katie Silver is a support manager at Atlassian, a software company. She is getting married in this spring, and Benny Kaufman is officiating!

Jed Rendlemen is an independent naming consultant. While he works out of his hometown of Portland, Ore,. he partners with businesses around the world to help them create strategic, memorable brands.

Julia Mulhern just finished her PhD in geology at the University of Utah and is moving to New Orleans to work for Shell this fall.

Out on the West Coast, Henrik Cotran is a sector lead at the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), based in San Francisco. SASB is chaired by Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor, and is developing sustainability accounting standards. Outside of work, Henrik can be found mountain biking, backpacking, skiing, or volunteering at a youth reading program in Oakland.

After working for a year in Denmark and nearly three in D.C., Adam Fishman is now enrolled in a master of environmental management degree program at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Kwasi Ansu ’09 and Nate Kaufman ’08 are in the same program.

After co-founding an independent record label in NYC called Par-ka Records, Charlie Hanna is now working at Paradigm Talent Agency to rebuild the brand partnerships department. You can check out his work in the IBM commercial featuring Stephen King. Charlie is not slowing down anytime soon. He is applying to MBA programs to continue building the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill his aspirations of one day creating a business at the intersection of media and technology.

After beginning their romance in the basement of Psi U, Anna Brugioni and David Sedgwick finally got engaged. They’re also both at Stern Business School.

Kurt Lyn successfully graduated from Columbia Law and is gainfully employed as a lawyer. Erin Kelly received her MPH from Columbia and is working for the NYC government to improve health.

As for me, I am trapezing between NYC and Connecticut as I have started a new role with Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut. As always, wishing the best to the entire class of 2012!

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu

Class of 2011, I hope you all are well. Lots of exciting news from our classmates including weddings, graduations, and graduate school!

Both Leah Coe and Rebecca Friendly got married! Leah writes, “I got married on Aug. 20 to Tom St. Marie in Milwaukee, Wis. Rhee Soo Lee (she officiated the wedding), Jill Reynolds ’12, and Jaime Bonner ’12 were there to celebrate with us.”

Rebecca Friendly graduated from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business with a master’s in social entrepreneurship. She then joined Age of Learning as the communications and public affairs specialist, and is focused on driving the social impact aspect of their mission to help children build a strong foundation for academic success. In July, she married her longtime boyfriend of 10 years.

Joella Jones reports, “I started a new job in May as the communications and Web manager at the Heyman Center for the Humanities and the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University.”

Congratulations to Marshall Johnson who defended his PhD in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in July. “My research focuses on planets around stars more massive than our own sun. I have now moved to Columbus, Ohio, where I am a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University.”

Jamie Thabault graduated from the University of New England in Portland, Maine, with a bachelor’s in nursing this spring. She is now working on a cardiac progressive care unit at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington and enjoying the beginning of an exciting and challenging new career!

Alicia González-Gross is excited to have begun her MSW studies at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Alicia hopes to work as a bilingual social worker for Chicago Public Schools upon completing her degree.

Corrina Wainwright writes, “I moved to Boston to start at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Health Policy and Management program.”

From Reunion Chair Joe Giaimo, “On behalf of the Reunion Committee, thank you to everyone who donated to our class gift in 2015-2016 and to everyone who made the trip back to Middletown for Reunion and made it a huge success. It was great to reconnect, be on campus, and see some familiar faces. We successfully raised $7,163 from 208 donors (30.45 percent of our class), which was 41 donors and $1,500 more than 2014-2015. We hope we can keep up this trend into next year! Lastly, a big thank you to all of our volunteers who help with getting classmates to contribute to the class gift every year, help with career mentorship of undergrads and young alumni, who interview prospective students, and who are involved in many different ways across campus!”

Thanks for the updates!

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu

Happy fall, Class of 2010! Please enjoy the following updates in the lives of our classmates:

Holing Yip has been working for the past four years in an advocacy group in Hong Kong on education policies for ethnic minority students, and just moved to Cambridge, Mass., to start his master’s in education policy. “I would love to connect with Wes friends in the field and in the area!”

Sarice Greenstein is delighted to report that she graduated with a master’s in public health from Columbia University, alongside Jessica Steinke. The two both received certificates in sexuality, sexual, and reproductive health. Sarice is working for Culture of Respect, a project committed to ending sexual violence on campus. She works remotely from various Brooklyn coffee shops. Sarice has enjoyed a season of celebrations as well, proposing to her boyfriend with some extravagant gifts: an “I said yes” t-shirt and matching pair of socks. They plan to get married next summer.

Jenny Ajl and Ruthie Lazenby are co-habitating and celebrating their 10-year “friendiversary” in New Haven, where they are at Yale, studying to be a family nurse practitioner and lawyer, respectively.

Sam Friedman reports that he got married to Rebecca Cimino ’11, and “we had a few Wes people there to help us celebrate: Nadeem Modan, Eugenie Carabatsos, Nick Miller ’09, Dana Shukovsky ’11, Nic Wilder ’11, and Marlene Sim ’11.”

Niki Holtzman-Hayes is happy to say, “I am (finally) in medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago!”

Seth Rosen reports: “After moving back to domestic soil (San Francisco, specifically) a year ago, I’m finally emerging from crunch mode at work. The past year I’ve been working on Mafia 3, making the ambient life in our version of New Orleans in 1968, and the game will be out in October.”

Ben Seretan writes, “I continue to play music, and performed a concert at the National Gallery of Albania in Tirana.”

Michael DeFranco and Jason Krigsfeld continue to build Lua Technologies, the startup they founded while at Wesleyan. Lua provides a secure messaging solution to the healthcare industry. They are now serving hospital systems, clinics and laboratory environments, encrypting communication wherever patient information is being digitally shared.

Michael added that he enjoyed playing a part in the greeting of the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe from Hawaii, The Hokule’a, as it sailed into NYC in June. The Hokule’a has been on a worldwide voyage, spreading a message of malama honua, to care for the earth. Over 2,000 attendees congregated in North Cove Marina, a few blocks from the Freedom Tower, to receive and honor the canoe. Michael was responsible for the coordination of all the indigenous communities present that day. Since then, he has been playing a larger role with the United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and has been helping shed light on some of the issues Hawaii is facing. He has also been working with the indigenous tribes of New York to support the Lakota in their efforts to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Danielle Mor is finishing a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania. “My work has focused on the mechanisms of neuron death in Parkinson’s disease. I am starting my postdoctoral research at Princeton University to study the genetics of aging.”

Wesleyan alumni of all ages have been collaborating in the Berkshires, Alice Maggio reports. As executive director of BerkShares, Inc., she works with potter Dan Bellow ’87, who serves on the board of directors of BerkShares, Inc. She and Emily Watts ’03 joined forces to bring BerkShares, a local currency, to northern Berkshire County. All three of them hope to work with Adam Hinds ’98 when he gets elected to the Massachusetts state senate in November.

Brendan McEntee has some great news: “I, and projects I oversee at my work, have been honored with major recognitions. I received recognition as the top ’Forty Under 40’ in the association community, and a project I oversee was recognized with top honors for having the power to profoundly impact society. The project is implementing clinical decision software that assesses individuals with addiction to determine what treatment is appropriate. It has been an exciting five years working at the American Society of Addiction Medicine. I will be sharing this experience with Wes students in October as part of a career center event.

“In my personal life I took up the hobby of rock climbing and have been enjoying pushing myself indoors and out on mountains. I’ve been living in D.C. and I spend my free time cooking, seeing friends, and volunteering for mentoring programs and on my condo board. I look forward to catching up with everyone next time we are all back on campus. I am impressed every time I catch up or see what my colleagues are doing. I cannot wait to see the further impact as we keep on advancing. Go Wes!”

Angus McCullough updates us that he is managing a newsletter, At the Present Moment. Angus’ newsletter invites folks to art exhibitions and events around the country. Angus explains: “Art requires being in the room with something to feel and understand it. Over the past few years, I’ve been sending out invitations to exhibitions and events that are, for many city people, hard to get to. So I’m very happy to send invitations to events in three major cities and in Vermont, all happening this fall.” Angus also adds that he has been playing improvisational music. “One notable jam was a live score for Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams at the 2016 Cooperstown Biennale. Another was when we played in a field under the full moon and let the horses decide when the session was over. This fall, there will be a show, potentially in Saratoga Springs and in NYC.”

Jonna Humphries has an update: “For the past year, I have been with Sofar Sounds leading growth in D.C. Sofar Sounds is a global music series that hosts secret concerts in over 271 cities around the world. In D.C. we’ve featured artists like Broods, Vanessa Carlton, BUIKA, Fruit Bats, and more. I am excited to announce that I’ve accepted a position at Moog Music and MoogFest to help lead their branding team.”

As always, if anyone has notes to add anytime feel free to send me an e-mail.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Hi, Class of 2009! So much news to report this time around. Below are some of the latest and greatest updates from your fellow classmates.

Wesleyan tennis superstars Matthew O’Connell (aka OC, aka Cash Money, aka Oye Tiooo) and Ania Preneta were married in Newport, R.I., on July 9. Many members of the Wesleyan community were in attendance including Casey Simchik ’10, Anika Fischer ’10, Alex Sirois, Matt Schaff ’11, Michael Frank ’08, Jaafar Rizvi, Graham Immerman, Alejandro Alvarado, Vincent Colangelo, Aaron Truchil, Lauren Cruz, Micki Stager Black, and Kwabea Osae-Kwapong.

Eugene “Geno” Wong and Caitlyn McCann were joined by many Wesleyan alumni as they got married at Memorial Chapel on Aug. 20. Applause is in order for their epic wedding hashtag #McCantgoWong.

Andrew Dermont married Elizabeth Wolff ’06 on Sept.10.

Daphne Schmon writes, “I moved to London and am directing a narrative short called All of Me. Through my company, Seek Films, I have also been filming promotional content in the Greek Islands. I am heading back to Mykonos in late October to film for a boutique hotel.”

Shane Heckstall reports, “My book titled Did You Create a Monster? is available on Amazon. This book focuses on the black-white achievement gap in higher education. This issue is unique for minorities going off to college. Even minorities who went through college can benefit from the scholarship of the book. I’m fortunate enough that my book is going to be used in a college class for teacher education. Also, I wrote an epic children’s book that doubles as a coloring book called The Romance of Lala, also available on Amazon. And lastly, I wrote a screenplay. If you are in a position to review my screenplay please reach out to me at seheckstall@wesleyan.edu. We all know by now that Wesleyan is deep into Hollywood, so don’t be shy.”

Jodie Rubenstein is engaged and will be getting married next September. Jodie and her fiancé, Alex, live in Logan Circle in D.C., and Jodie is beginning her second year as regional director at J Street, and her fourth year with the organization.

Asia Neupane writes, “Kevin ’08 and I are delighted to announce the birth of our son, Kieran Emerson Kromash. Born June 9—making him the Class of 2038 for when he continues the tradition of attending Wesleyan! He is an absolute joy and we look forward to introducing him to ,many of you soon enough!”

Sophie Reagan writes, “I’m living in D.C. My husband and I adopted a dog, which is not, as I’d previously assumed, just like having a large cat/house plant. Willie had a pretty rough puppy-hood, but I think he’s loving life with us in Georgetown. I’m working at Deloitte as a senior consultant in the federal human capital practice, primarily in the national security sector. Not at all what I saw for myself back in 2009 as an English major at Wes, but it’s been really great. I also had the pleasure of traveling to Greece with Jodie Rubenstein and Sophia Dumaine for the incredibly beautiful wedding of our dear friend, Emily Dine. The wedding was divine, and so was the feta.”

Annie Paladino and Eric LaMotte were married on June 11 in Washington’s Olympic National Park, a couple of months after celebrating 13 years together. Their ceremony was officiated by Gedney Barclay, with a reading by Miriam Krent, a reception emceed by Adam Black, hair/makeup/flowers/staging by Second Stage alumni, and many other classmates making the trek out to beautiful Washington State.

Rachel Berkowitz writes, “I’m living in Boston, where I completed my residency in ocular disease at the Boston VA. I am now an optometrist at the Lynn Community Health Center and a clinical assistant professor at the New England College of Optometry.”

Arthur Nazarian graduated with his MBA from Cornell and moved from the East Coast to Seattle with his girlfriend, Catherine Walsh, to work as a strategy consultant at Grant Thornton. He has enjoyed recent encounters with Wesleyan friends, including Silver Kim, Dustin Brockner, Wesleyan still-newlyweds Eric Weiskott and Sofia Warner, Paawan Punjabi, and Jermaine Lewis, who all helped him settle into his new home. While continuing to wait for his West Elm furniture delivery and to hit the jackpot, he is devising plans to move to the south of France to live on a diet of wine and homemade sourdough bread. It is unclear which event will happen first.

Nina Gonzalez-Sisson started a business, Dyer & Sparks, creating hand-painted textiles, clothing, and accessories. Find her online at dyerandsparks.com and facebook.com/dyerandsparks.

And last, but not least, Brittany Delany reports: “I am enjoying life and creative work in the Coachella Valley and desert region. It’s been fun to link up with Wesleyan alumna dancer and choreographer, Sue Roginski ’87, and participate in her programming.”

Thanks for all of your notes!

Alejandro Alvarado | ale.alvarado12@gmail.com

Anthony Albrecht writes, “I am happy to report that I have earned a second degree from Wesleyan—my MALS, with a concentration in humanities, this past May. I am still living in Middletown (this time in my own home with Kelly, my wife of almost six years!), and am going into my fourth year as a seventh grade language arts teacher at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, with the upcoming school year being my first as a team leader. It has been great being back on campus the past couple of years and I look forward to upcoming events that will bring me five minutes down the road to my alma mater!”

Lauren Goldman is living in Brooklyn, and working as the national coordinator for an anti-Trump campaign with Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. Before starting this campaign, she did a one-month hike in Uttarakhand in the Himalayas, and visited Delhi, Agra, and Ladakh. Janie Stolar is thrilled to announce that her Facebook posts are doing well. Bex Allen was promoted to associate director of grants and strategic partnerships at the YMCA of Metro Chicago, where she manages corporate and private foundation grant funding.

Leah Weinberg writes, “This spring, following a lovely trip to New York, during which my husband, Scott Horowitz ’07, and I caught up with JJ DelSerra and Julia Cheng, I graduated from the University of Michigan with a PhD in musicology. Over the summer, we also got to spend a long weekend in Minneapolis visiting more Wes friends, including Kat Aymeloglu ’07, John McNeil, Emily Marshall, and Will Matthews. Tasty food was consumed, artsy miniature golf was played, one uptight Minnesotan was annoyed by our cheerful revelry, and a good time was generally had by all.”

Jeffrey Stein published an op-ed in August in The Washington Post, confronting the widespread problem of law enforcement offices refusing to disclose officer misconduct information to the public. The op-ed is entitled, “What about police misconduct in your city? That’s confidential.”

Lyuba Azbel is doing her PhD at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Her research is in Kyrgyzstan on drugs, prisons, and HIV. She’s been living in Berlin for three years and writes, “[I] am in it for the long run so if any Wes folks are in town, give me a shout! I will soon have several couches to offer.” Sandra Manzanares moved to Brooklyn to start her grad school journey, creating her own master’s in the art and science of storytelling at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, while still playing a senior marketing manager by day. Downtime is usually spent hanging out with the usual lovely Wes heads.

Sally Rosen has worked at CBS News for many years, where she started as a page and worked up to the role of producer. She covered the recovery from the financial crisis, the Boston Marathon Bombings, the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, Election Night specials, and many less memorable moments in recent U.S. history that often caused her to cancel plans with little notice. In June, Sally took a job at WME | IMG, where she works as a senior coordinating producer in IMG’s Original Content group. She’s still committed to telling great stories through television, in both broadcast and digital platforms. She lives in Manhattan and sees her Wesleyan friends all the time.

Alicia Collen Zeidan | acollen@wesleyan.edu

Greetings Class of ’07! Can you believe it? Our 10th Reunion is just months away. Hope to see you all on campus next May! In addition to Wesleyan alumni, many classmates have added a new title to their résumé: parent. Megan Harrington writes, “My husband, Brian (Princeton ’07), and I welcomed our first child, Teddy Paul Harrington, in June. We’re looking forward to showing him around campus ASAP!”

Fellow ’07-ers have followed suit:

Katie Koerten says, “I’m living in western Massachusetts with my husband, Matt Valliere (Hampshire ’07). Since graduation I’ve been sharing my curiosity and wonder for nature with children and families as an environmental educator in Amherst. Matt and I welcomed a baby daughter to our family in March. We love living close to Grace Nowakoski, and her husband, Jeff!”

David Scardella and Jaime Wendel welcomed a son, Andrew Reed Scardella, on May 31. David, Jaime, Andrew, and their dog, Penny Lane, reside in Duxbury, Mass.

Kara Schnoes and Jeremy Brown ’08 made the trek west from New York this summer, settling in Eugene, Ore. Jeremy is an emergency physician for Sacred Heart Medical Center and Kara continues her consulting role remotely for Rosetta out of NYC. They happily welcomed their first child and daughter, Edia Rae, on Sept. 2 and are grateful that mom and baby are healthy. Abby Austin and Julia Mergendoller joined in the fun with a due date visit and celebration.

Julie Edelman writes, “My husband, Oliver Broad, and I just welcomed baby #2 on Sept. 4: Lael Eve. Lael joins big sister Maayan Rose, who just turned 2. I’ve been living in Berlin, Germany for seven years this October! Would be thrilled to see any Wesfolks who pass through these parts!”

Wes grads have also been busy researching, studying, and making career moves. William Santiago moved from Florida to attend medical school at the University of Connecticut. He married Vladrose Santiago ’05 in 2008 and they have two girls: Lisette (5) and Natalia (18 months). William is proud that Lisette started kindergarten this fall and that Natalia has started speaking. He continues to enjoy poetry, dancing, basketball, and science.

Jon Pierowicz writes, “After graduating from the UCLA School of Law in 2015 and a brief stint in NYC, I returned to my hometown of Buffalo, where I work as an associate at Phillips Lytle LLP. I specialize in real estate development and environmental law.”

Matt Franco says, “I (finally) defended my PhD in the history of science at Johns Hopkins back in April. I am in the midst of settling my publishing contract with a university press, so maybe the book will be out by our 15th Reunion—ha! I had a bunch of interviews for professorships this year, but no offer, so I am still teaching as an adjunct professor at a small liberal arts school in Maryland. Hope to see you all at the 10th Reunion.”

Jessica Mack is headed back to Mexico City to do research for her dissertation on the history of UNAM, Mexico’s largest public university.

Rosa Cohen-Cruz married Elric Kline on June 18. The wedding was officiated by Jacqueline Rubinstein and was attended by several ’07 Wes alumni. Rosa left her job as staff attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, and is now an immigration attorney at the Bronx Defenders.

Grace Nowakoski reports, “I’m loving my new work as a birth doula. It’s such an honor to help families on the journey of welcoming a little one. It’s great living in the Pioneer Valley near dear Wesleyan friend Katie Koerten and spending time with her beautiful baby daughter as often as possible.”

Our class is also making waves in the art world. Scout James is entering his third year in the Juilliard drama conservatory. And Leon Hilton writes, “I received my PhD in performance studies from New York University in May and have been teaching at Occidental College in LA. This year I am a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Humanities Forum.”

Jennifer Celestin received her MFA in fiction this year from Queens College of the City University of New York. Additionally, a microfiction piece that she began in Writers’ Bloc was published as a part of Akashic Books’ noir online series. She has been invited back to the Queens Library to facilitate a creative writing workshop for adults. She spent Labor Day weekend at a Wes ’07 wedding and in Vermont with Kaitlyn O’Donnell’s new bundle of joy. She’s settling into her new position in Harlem at SUNY/CUNY. She feels like Claudine, with the grace through adversity that only Diahann Carrol can bring. Every morning, she dances down 125th street like Mary Tyler Moore.

Maude Bass-Krueger received her PhD in decorative arts, design history, and material culture from the Bard Graduate Center in New York this past May. She’s completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the department of history at the University of Tel Aviv and moving back to Paris as a research fellow at the Modern History Laboratory of the CNRS (IHTP/CNRS). In Paris, Maude will direct a monthly seminar on dress history and prepare the opening of an exhibit she is curating, Mode et Femmes, 1914 to 1918, opening at the Museum of the Bibliothèque Forney in February. If you’re in Paris, drop her a line to grab a drink and get a tour of the show!

Finally, our class agents, Eric Altneu, Estrella Lopez, and Liam McAlpine would like to remind everyone to mark your calendars for May 25 to 28, and stay tuned for Reunion updates. Eric adds that he’s back in Ohio and looking for Midwest friends!

As we gear up for the big 1-0, keep the updates and good news coming! Send submissions to wesleyan007@gmail.com, victoriapinsky@gmail.com, or megan.kretz@gmail.com.

Megan Harrington | wesleyan007@gmail.com

Victoria Belyavsky Pinsky | victoriapinsky@gmail.com

Congratulations to Willy Friedman, who is one of the producers of the hit HBO series, High Maintenance. The show follows a marijuana dealer  as he interacts with various clients around NYC. The show began as a popular Web series before transferring its clever brand of humor to a major network. The cast and crew are gearing up for season two. Willy and his wife, Jessica Smith, have a daughter, Ruby Max Friedman, who just turned 1.

As Pia Silva Wasterval continues to build her company, Worstofall Design, she is also traveling the country for speaking engagements and is publishing her first book, Badass Your Brand, about branding for small businesses. Worstofall Design has been featured in Complex Magazine and continues to be known as a top-notch branding company.

Rachel Bleshman practices law in Delaware, as of earlier this year. She is doing immigration work for victims of violent crimes and domestic violence with Community Legal Aid Society, Inc.

Maggie Elliot received her PhD in human development from Tufts this May. She is a research associate at CUNY’s Institute for State and Local Governance on a large jail reduction initiative (the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge).

After getting a master’s degree in cello performance in 2009, Psyche Cassandra Dunkhase has stuck around the beautiful mountains of Colorado, teaching cello at Boulder Suzuki Strings. Her youngest student just turned 3! She has also performed and collaborated on projects ranging from a hip-hop band to folk singers to regional orchestras.

Hayley Stokar is a professor of social work at Purdue University Northwest. In July, she married Alexander Fullam, with Celia Reddick and Dana Raviv by her side as bridesmaids. In her spare time, Hayley is one of the Chicago regional representatives for the Wesleyan Alumni Association with Johanna Russ ’03.

After three years as an emergency room attending physician, Risa Cyr has made plans to spend some quality time with her wonderful son, Atticus, who turned 4.

Belated congratulations to Adrienne Naomi Santiago and Andrew Aprile, who married after a five-year romance that began when they met at the Fifth Reunion and vaguely recognized one another from their volunteer work at Traverse Square. They were married in a NYC park, under a sun-filled gazebo, by Leora Abelson ’07. Adrienne spends her days at NYU researching the role of interneurons in early emotional development, while Andrew maintains a relatively lighter schedule, adjunct teaching at various CUNY schools and teaching music in early childhood settings.

Zach Strassburger had an article, Medical Decision Making for Youth in the Foster Care System, published this fall in the John Marshall Law Review. Zach’s wonderful son, Samuel Benjamin Strassburger Jenkins, will soon be celebrating his first birthday! Zach continues to teach at Winona State University in rural Minnesota.

Congratulations to Katey Rich and her husband, Michael Baltus, who welcomed their first child, Charlie. Katey is the deputy editor of Vanity Fair’s website. And congratulations to Kimberly Lippman and her husband, whose child, Joseph Maxwell Koziara, celebrated his first birthday. Joe’s favorite pastimes are putting random objects in his mouth and swatting at Chief, their surprisingly tolerant dog.

Mike Butterfield and Leila Russell welcomed their first boy, Maxwell David Butterfield, Aug, 23. He is eight pounds and five ounces of love and they are extremely proud.

Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com