Class Notes

Thanks for the updates this round. Take a look at what our class is up to!

Terrance Agbi, who is pursuing a master’s degree at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, just got featured in NYU’s student spotlight. Check out the article at engineering.nyu.edu/news/2014/02/06/student-spotlight.

Also in New York is Josh Smith. Josh is living in Brooklyn and making a massive amount of music with an all-star team of friends and collaborators. For the past two years, he has also been secretly posing as Michael Rosen in order to write silly updates on his own behavior for the Wesleyan magazine. He has been having a great time doing this and he sincerely hopes no one finds out.

Alex Bean recently relocated from working in the advancement office at the Windward School in Los Angeles to the Dublin School, a small private school deep in the boonies of New Hampshire near the Keene area. She is serving as the director of annual giving, an advisor, and a dorm parent! Alex is hoping to make it to campus this spring at some point while in the Conn. area.

Both currently abroad are Jared Gimbel and Benjamin Petrie LaFirst. Jared recently authored his master’s thesis: “From Helsinki to Hania: Jewish Media Narratives About Europe, and Why They Matter Today,” and will spend fall 2014 and the subsequent academic year in JTS’s Modern Jewish Studies graduate program. Benjamin reports, “I am living and working abroad in Austria as an English teacher, and will be moving to Frankfurt am Main this summer to live with my fiancé, Christopher Ulrich Jürgensen, who I met in Regensburg while studying abroad from Wesleyan! We will be getting married in New York this summer, if all goes as planned.”

Kim Prosise adds, “I’m working as a traveling freelance writer and circus performer based out of Boston, Mass. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to visit Wesleyan family around the country and spent two weeks celebrating the New Year with Joey Heller and Gabriel Urbina ’13 in L.A.

Last but not least is Danielle St. Pierre, who has been working as an associate editor at AOL/The Huffington Post Media Company. She has been there since November 2013 and is working on the MarloThomas.com women’s lifestyle vertical.

Thanks for the updates!

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu

Dear friends: Doug Larson said “spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.” I’m not sure I agree, but spring is definitely prime time for some awesome updates from the Class of 2010:

Tess Parker manages an organic vegetable farm in Hudson, N.Y.: “We have a growing CSA locally and in Brooklyn of over 150 members. Eric Sherman, our field manager, has been with us for three years now, and we have employed other Wesleyan alums as longer term seasonal employees as well as shorter term work-trade volunteers.”

Dan Bloom shares that he is about to complete the Venture for America fellowship program. He’s working at a new startup in Cincinnati—Dónde. Of course, Dan also co-founded a separate company since graduation, TernPro. He adds, “We [TernPro] were accepted into a startup accelerator in Detroit called Bizdom. If anyone wants to use GoPros to remember a trip, or create video content for their company, we should talk.”

Some fresh news from Pennan Chinnasamy, Ph.D: “I joined as a hydrology and remote sensing researcher at the International Water Management Institute, and will be working on climate change impacts on water resources in the Himalayan regions. I will also be working on the Ganges Basin to identify physical processes to better aid farmer livelihoods.” More information on Pennan and his work with IWMI can be found here: iwmi.cgiar.org/about/staff-list/pennan-chinnasamy/.

Dave Wolovsky adds that he has quit his most recent job at an orthodox yeshiva, and is now focusing on “tutoring and working on a new math curriculum that integrates principles of neuroscience and cognitive psychology, as well as mind-body coordination.” Dave has begun sharing videos of his curriculum on youtube, and encourages any who are interested to have a look! youtube.com/watch?v=nBoL5v_XeJw.

A frigid winter in North Bennington, Vt., gave Angus McCullough plenty of time to make art. Angus shares: “I’ve got two solo shows on the horizon, at the Bennington Museum in May–July and then at the Buoy Gallery (Kittery, Maine) in September. They’re going to be fun. The architecture project I’ve been leading has won two state grants and there’s really a lot of momentum growing. If you’d like to see what my latest ‘work’ is ‘like’ you can ‘check out’ my site at angusm.cc.”

Stephen Schwarz will be attending graduate school at Colorado School of Mines this fall as a research assistant in the Chevron Center of Research Excellence (CoRE).

Mark Fajans is happy to report that he, too, will be pursuing a graduate degree this fall. Mark will be attending the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University to get an MPH in Global Epidemiology.

David Layne will graduate this spring from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law. Assuming he manages to pass the bar exam, he’ll be an active duty officer in the U.S. Navy, globe­trotting with the JAG Corps come August! Dave hopes to connect with fellow Cardinals along the way.

Finally, I am thrilled to conclude with news that Dominic Gibson and Lauren Feld ’11 are engaged and are planning their wedding for the end of May 2015. Dom and Lauren met at Wes while doing research in Prof. Anna Shusterman’s psychology lab in 2008. Congratulations to you both from the Class of 2010!

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions, and as always if you have an update to share, feel free to post anytime on WesConnect, or send me a blurb directly at dlayne@wesleyan.edu.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Your fellow ’09ers have been staying busy—below is a glimpse into some of the exciting things your peers have been up to…

Jake Abrahamson writes and edits stories for Sierra magazine. He recently covered Trevor Thomas, a blind long-distance backpacker, and a group of unlikely environmentalists in Missouri’s Ozarks.

Alex Segal is living in Los Angeles, where he and business partner Riley Rea opened furniture company, Croft House. It is now in its 3rd year! Croft House furniture is handmade in LA primarily with reclaimed and sustainable materials.

After living for a year in Kabul, Alex Footman opted to move to Berlin, which offers more public transportation options and slightly less kebab. Alex has connected with some Wes alumni but would be glad to see more of you!

This May, Eric Weiskott graduated from Yale with a PhD in English Language and Literature and moved to Brookline, Mass. In September, he will take up a position as assistant professor of English at Boston College.

Hollie Matlin is a current third year medical student at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. She is engaged to Ross Littauer, a Swattie she met at the post baccalaureate premedical program at Bryn Mawr College. Their wedding date is the ultimate Pi Day, 3.14.15!

Saul Carlin is joining Medium, a new online publishing platform created by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, after receiving his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. As one of the first members of Medium’s business team, he’ll be working to help people and organizations share stories and ideas that inspire change.

Justin LaSelva has been doing IT work at UT Austin for about three years now and co-hosts a radio show called This Great White North, which airs every Friday on KOOP, America’s only radio cooperative. In December, he and his girlfriend, Katie, made the trek from Austin back to his native Massachusetts and also spent a night in Middletown exploring the campus, the river, Wadsworth Falls, and (of course) enjoying Klekolo and O’Rourke’s. When he’s not working or in the studio, he’s partaking in Austin’s incredible live music scene and eating large amounts of food.

Elana Baurer graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in May 2013. She passed both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey bars and is working at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia as an immigration and employment attorney. Elana is also in the process of launching a juvenile justice focused nonprofit organization that will serve system-involved youth in facilitating their reenrollment back into school when they return home from juvenile detention facility placements.

Sophie Pollitt-Cohen is living in Washington, D.C., where she stays cultured by going to book club with Jodie Rubenstein. Sophie is getting married this summer and then starting Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business this fall.

Still in north Idaho, Oriana Korol is writing for Sandpoint Magazine and guiding nature connection trips through Rewild Institute, a nonprofit that she and her partner, Mike Kopf, began. Visits from Maggie Starr ’06 and Jey Ehrenhalt have been great!

Laurenellen McCann recently organized D.C.’s first ever Dino Co-op, which collaboratively purchased and stewards the use of a Kickstarter-custom-made, 13-ft-tall velociraptor costume. (Look for pictures this fall.) The #DCDino Co-op is sort of connected to Laurenellen’s new gig as a civic innovation fellow at the Open Technology Institute (part of the New America Foundation), but not really. In other news: Laurenellen and her partner, Karl Grindal, proposed to each other in March and plan to get married in 2015. (Yes, the dinosaur will be part of the wedding party.)

Brittany Delany is moving to Santa Fe in early summer 2014. She looks forward to dance collaborations with Sarah Ashkin ’11 and to continuing work in fundraising and development for nonprofit organizations.

Keiko Hamano is now a certified massage therapist in California. She will graduate from the National Holistic Institute in early July. In addition to building her private practice, she has also been hired at a local spa. Keiko volunteers her services at a homeless youth clinic and at various sporting events throughout the Bay Area. She is also progressing through the post-bac program at UC, Berkeley, Extension in preparation for graduate school in physical therapy.

After five great years in D.C., Abby Rosenstein is moving to Philadelphia to study at Penn to become a nurse and family nurse practitioner.

Laura D’Iorio, Becca Freed, Tyler Snell, Jade Scott, and Tanya Moss united to recreate happy Foss Hill memories at San Francisco’s Dolores Park in March. The afternoon rekindled Wesleyan friendships and featured a visit by Tyler’s adorable Labradoodle, Scooter.

Additionally, Laura D’Iorio, Becca Freed, and J.Z. Golden ’08 took the city of Philadelphia by storm in December. The trio took in a victorious Eagles win and tailgate, noshed on Philly’s finest cheese steaks ’wit, and stole the show at a renowned karaoke bar.

Please see photos on the Class Notes website.

Thanks again for all your updates!

Alejandro Alvarado | ale.alvarado12@gmail.com

You may have noticed that after more than five years of service, Caitlin O’Shaughnessy has retired from her position as Class Notes Secretary. I’m happy to be taking over for her. I recently relocated from NYC to Connecticut, buying a house with my husband, finishing grad school, and finally settling into my dream job as a nurse practitioner at a community health center. The health center caters to those who would not otherwise have access to primary care, and I have the privilege of treating newborns to seniors and everyone in between. Stop on by if you need affordable care!

Karla Hargrave received her MFA from San Francisco State University in theatre design in 2013 and works full time at the Brava Theater Center in SF. She has been in the Bay Area for five years now and spends her free time seeing as much of the bay on her bike as possible, occasionally going on adventures with Fiona Lundy.

Since graduation, Stephanie Fungsang has been living in Brooklyn, working as a dance artist and yoga instructor. She is now navigating a transition in career and life, including a move to Cambridge, Mass., in spring 2014 with Jeremy Finch ’09. She is thankful for all the experiences and people in NY, including roommates past and present: Lucy Bickerton and Stephanie Calvert in their first NYC home, a treehouse loft; Sarah Meier-Zimbler and Rosina Belcourt; Jess Jones, Shamiso Mtangi, Stephanie Roer, Mimi Bai ’09, and Briana Deutsch ’09, who helped create their beautiful home of the past four years in Ditmas Park. She has much gratitude and excitement for what may come ahead!

Sophia Kim is going back to school for nursing. She’s decided to go to Johns Hopkin’s accelerated BSN program that starts in May and will be moving to Baltimore soon.

Chayanee Ubol Chinthrajah writes: “2014 has been an exciting year so far… coming up on my two year-marriage anniversary, graduating with my Master’s in HR and starting a new job! Celebrated these milestones with a ring from my favorite Wes grad, Andrea Lipsky Karasz’s new jewelry line, Tilda Biehn. Check out her amazing line!!”

Max Schenkein is having a blast living in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with his roommate Alex Trepp, eagerly awaiting the arrival of Josh Atwood, who is staying the weekend to celebrate Alex’s birthday, along with Natasha Nussberg.

Lauren Goldman moved from New York to the Bay Area in January to work with Organizing for Action. Since being on this coast, she’s seen Tara Moore, Amanda Gordon ’07, and Penelope Essoyan ’07. She was glad to miss the frigid NYC winter.

Joanna Kenty writes: “As of May, it’s Dr. Joanna Kenty! I’m receiving my doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in Classics, after writing my dissertation on Cicero and Roman political rhetoric. Next year I’ll be back in New England, teaching at the University of New Hampshire.”

Marie Brophy spent the winter visiting family in Colorado, Boston, DC, and St. Louis, and ice climbing all around Colorado. She’s a rock climbing guide in Moab, Utah and had a Wes alum as a client last fall. When she’s not working, she can be found stuck to the side of a rock somewhere, putting her E&ES degree to good use, in a way!

Graham Douds passed the Calif. State Bar Exam. He is living and working as an attorney in San Francisco among friends and family.

Sandra Manzanares writes: “After spending the last year and a half dabbling editorially in different industries (from a flash sale site to a sneaker museum start-up), I recently started as marketing manager at Boston-based start-up, Placester, Inc., where I’m diving into the growing content marketing industry. I’m still volunteering, bringing tutoring and workshops to urban youth whenever possible at 826 Boston. Lashawn Springer, Melanie Nelson ’09, Caroline White, and Corrina Wainwright ’11 keep me company in Boston with our wonderful nights out (or in) that involve lots of laughter and wine! When not in Boston, I’m being housed in Rashida Richardson’s beautiful Brooklyn pad, eating ramen, and running into a million Wes people wherever I go.”

Brieze Keeley graduates from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai this May, after which she will begin her residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in June. She’d love to connect with any Wes friends in Boston when she arrives!

Aaron Larner writes: “Last year I started working on a project to help healthcare organizations do a better job of communicating within their organization. With the new healthcare reform there are strong incentives for hospitals and ambulatory clinics to start using electronic medical records (which is awesome!), but most organizations are still figuring out how this change is going to help them. In the short term it’s a lot of work to get all of their physicians, nurses and IT staff up to speed with completely new technology, especially when they are used to scribbling everything down on paper. Having worked for a large electronic medical record software company I knew firsthand the frustrations that new users of electronic medical records were feeling. Along with two other friends in the healthcare IT industry, I put together BreadcrumbsQA, a platform for healthcare professionals to ask and answer questions about the best ways to use their electronic medical record software. Our vision is to help speed up adoption of electronic medical records so that the ecosystem can realize all of the benefits that this change will bring. It’s kind of like Quora but specifically aimed at healthcare professionals. In January we (finally) signed on our first customer, a healthcare IT consulting firm, and are now working to launch another pilot at large healthcare organization.”

Alicia collen Zeidan | acollen@wesleyan.edu

The last several months have brought weddings, exciting career changes, and cross-country and global relocations for the class of 2007. Tory Molnar was married this past summer (Sept. 1). In attendance were Julia Perciasepe, Danny Silva, Eric Altneu, and Mariel Pina! It took place in Ipswich, Mass. In spite of the 100-year floods that washed out the roads to her wedding site a week beforehand, Abby Bader still managed to marry Jonathan Bullock in Denver on Sept. 21st. Antonietta Kies ’06 was Abby’s maid of honor, Cassye Dunkhase ’06 played the cello, and Annie Park, Gian Ishino, Patrick Meaney, and Brendan Dolan-Gavitt ’06 attended! Good times were had by all. Abby also changed jobs in the past year, and is now the manager of software engineering at Spectraseis, Inc.

From moving to the Dominican Republic and teaching, to now-married-for-six-years and living in Inwood, NYC, with her husband and 4-year-old son, every year brings wonderful transitions to Yokasta Tineo. Yokasta recently graduated from the Swedish Institute and is now a licensed massage therapist and Reiki practitioner, who will also soon be a certified personal trainer and certified doula. She has also joined the board of the Brotherhood-Sistersol, a nonprofit which she has been part of since 2002 and is her second family. 2014 has been a year of accomplishments and new beginnings, and she looks forward to sharing all of this with her Wesleyan community.

The class of 2007 also has several new attorneys to welcome to the mix. In May Nicholaus Norvell graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law and will be starting in September as a public law associate at the Sacramento office of Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson. Simon Au is a fresh-faced yet cynical attorney at Mayer Brown.

Other ’07ers have been working on starting their own companies and projects. Andrea Silenzi ’07 has started her own radio show on WFMU in Jersey City, N.J., called Why Oh Why. The show recently featured an interview between Holly Wood ’08 and Avery Trufelman ’13 discussing why dudes never want to be our boyfriends and adulthood is a social construct. It’s only a matter of time before they are asked to join the writing cast of HBO’s Girls. Judith Klausner co-founded the smallest art museum in the world, The Mµseum (check it out online at themicromuseum.com!).

Chris Krovatin continues pouring time and money into the ever-widening gyre of his adult life. By day, he works at Random House; by night, he writes children’s horror novels. His band, Flaming Tusk, is wrapping up the recording of their second full-length album. He can be heard hosting the show Invisible Oranges on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m., on East Village Radio, where he broadcasts under his journalistic pen name Scab Casserole. After 10 years in the US, which started with coming to Wesleyan, Kerem Alper moved back to Istanbul to start a design and innovation hub. You can find out more at atolyeistanbul.co. Kerem is excited to be back home. Himanshu Suri has also traveled a long way and is on self-imposed exile in India.

Others have only traveled cross-country. Vlad Gutkovich is living in the San Francisco Bay Area with his now fiancée, Nicole Tirado Strayer. He’s working with a B-Corp education technology startup in Oakland. Ian MacLeod is also enjoying his new home in beautiful California. He has been mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and plans to move to Sacramento for a new job! Visitors encouraged.

Victoria Belyavsky and Jesse Bardo
wesleyan2007@gmail.com

Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com

Anna Zayaruzny moved to New Haven in August to join the faculty of the Department of Music at Yale as an assistant professor. Her husband, Yarrow Dunham, is joining the Yale psychology department. They are delighted to be within a stone’s throw of Wesleyan and of Anna’s family in Cheshire. They’re also thrilled to be seeing a lot of Michelle Atwood, in nearby NYC.

Last February, Eliza Vitri Handayani published her novel Mulai Saat Ini Segalanya Akan Berubah (“From Now on Everything Will Be Different”) about two best friends coming of age in a newly democratic Indonesia, pursuing artistic ambitions, exploring their sexuality, and trying to break free from a pattern of repeated disappointments. The novel was published by Obor Publishing in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sandy Yudhistira ’12 and Melina Natalie ’10 came to the launching.

Many Wes alums continue to populate NYC in varied capacities. Jon Leland moved to Brooklyn and is the director of community engagement at Kickstarter. Chris Lake joined VHX, a USV-backed startup in Dumbo, as a developer. He now lives and works within a one-mile span and hasn’t left Brooklyn in two months. Ez Cukor is living in NYC and working as a staff attorney at New York Legal Assistance Group’s LGBT Law Project. This past winter she crossed cross-country skiing in the city off her bucket list (a few times). But hopefully there will be better weather fit for biking and beaches by the time these notes come out.

Amy Crawford spent a good portion of 2013 on tour with Os Mutantes as their keyboardist/vocalist and then joined Man Made Music as a producer in December. She then went on to produce Anthony Braxton’s opera, Trillium J (The Non-Unconfessionables), in April in New York. Now that she is off the road, she would love to reconnect with other NYC-based ’05-ers, especially those in music, media, and the arts. Dave Ruder continues to be a jack of all musical trades in Brooklyn. Dave was a featured performer in the premiere of Robert Ashley’s final composition, Crash, at the Whitney Biennial in April. As part of the group thingNY he’s taking a new evening length multimedia opera he co-wrote around the U.S. and Canada this year. His pop duo with Aliza Simons ’09, Why Lie?, released their second album this June on Gold Bolus Recordings, a label Dave started last year. Gold Bolus Recordings also features music from Woody Leslie ’08 and many of Brooklyn’s finest.

Che Landon finished 2013 strong with a critically acclaimed performance in the Lily Tomlin Center’s 16-week run of The Laramie Project: 10 years later, in Los Angeles. She plays the lead, Madeline, in the feature film Good Mourning Lucille, due out this summer. She and her business partner have opened a lauded artists’ collaborative in L.A., “The Creative Artists Lab, whose mission is to bridge the socio-economic gap between working class artists and career building resources, specifically providing education, crafting materials, film equipment and community.”

Sivan Cotel left WhistlePig Whiskey to found Stonecutter Spirits with his wife, in Middlebury, Vt.

Julia Silbergeld is attending UC Berkeley’s, Haas School of Business (with Will Leuchter-Mindel ’07!), focusing on sustainable and healthy food.

Niv Elis is living in sunny Tel Aviv, where he is covering business and economic news as a reporter for The Jerusalem Post.

Anna Talman Rapp recently joined the Gates Foundation, where she works on global vaccine delivery. She’s thrilled to be back in Seattle after two years in Idaho. She married Ryan Rapp in September. Ruth Chaffee, Brielle Madej Rey, Sam Schwartz White, Henry White, Andrew Breck, and Kim Nelson ’02 came to Boise to celebrate.

In April, Ali Gomer took a weekend break from her job as attorney in L.A. to visit Hillary Rubesin, an expressive arts therapist, in Durham, N.C. While driving up to Philadelphia to celebrate Passover, they had a failed attempt at a rendezvous with fellow former housemate, Dan Fox, who could not change his MegaBus reservation to New York so close to his scheduled departure time. Thank goodness they had a chance to catch up the previous summer, when they rented a cabin in Vermont with Danielle Dixon and Jana Luft!

Capt. Jesse Sommer is a paratrooper and judge advocate with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. He serves as the Division’s first special victim counsel, providing legal representation to victims of sexual assault in military courts-martial. He will attend jumpmaster school in July and, if successful, will head to air assault school in August. Capt. Sommer is ecstatic to undergo life-changing corrective laser eye surgery in May, and thus extends his deepest thanks to the American taxpayer for footing the bill.

Dave Ahl writes: “I am delighted to share that I married Molly Catchen on Sept. 21st, 2013. We are happily living in Washington D.C.: She is a lawyer clerking for judges in the district and I’m graduating in May with my MBA from Georgetown University. In June, I start a position with The Washington Post as a manager in digital advertising.” (See a gorgeous photo of the couple on their wedding day in the online notes: classnotes.blogs.wesleyan.edu/.)

Sam Fleischner ’06 writes: “My new film, Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, (distributed by Oscilloscope) comes out May 23rd. The film won prizes at festivals around the world including Tribeca last year.”

MARCELLA MARTINEZ
momartinez@wesleyan.edu

Class of 2004: While there are many great updates to share, we’d like to start this set of class notes by remembering one of our classmates—Jocelyn Sweet Moore—who passed away in April after a long battle with cancer. We want to pay our most sincere respects to Jocelyn’s family. And if there are any favorite memories you’d like to share, please send them along and we’ll be sure to fold it into the next set of notes.

In additional updates, it seems that members of our class are still doing well! In great couple news, it looks like Michelle Paul and Dael Norwood got engaged! To each other! Hallmates and then housemates at Wes, and partners since, it can’t be said that anyone was at all surprised by this turn of events. For the moment, they are continuing to enjoy Brooklyn but they’ll soon be moving to scenic Binghamton, N.Y., where Dael will be starting as an assistant professor of history at Binghamton University. Michelle will continue on as director of product development at Patron Technology, where she’s worked since 2005.

Meanwhile, Sita Singhal attended medical school from 2006–2010 and finished a residency at UConn in 2013. Now, she is working as a hospitalist at Manchester and Rockville general hospitals. However, she also managed to travel the world, too. In Oct.–Nov. 2013, she took a trip to Australia and New Zealand, and earlier this year was in India, Dubai, and South Africa.

Meanwhile, back East, Ari Pliskin tells us: “I’ve been building a pay-what-you-can community café in Western Mass., teaching meditation and yoga and promoting dignity-based methods of reducing hunger around the world.”

Also nearby is Nick Blondin: “I joined Associated Neurologists of Southern Connecticut, located in Fairfield, last July. I’m the practice neuro-oncologist, and one of only four neuro-oncologists in the state of Conn. I’m still married to Rebecca Gordon ’06, and our baby Alice is turning 2 in August!”

Out on the west side of the country is Sohana Punithakumar, who is loving Seattle even more now that Marc Berger and Jess Richman Berger have moved here. They’re gearing up for their first local WEServe event in May.

And former New York native, Jenina Nuñez, continues to call Chicago home, where she lives with her little Chihuahua mix, age 4, and looks forward to summer weather that makes the city a blast after the rough winters!

Lena Eson Roe and Matthew Roe ’05 are living in Mexico City this year with their toddler, Gabriel. Matthew is lending a hand with pedestrian and traffic safety planning. Lena is taking Spanish-language intensive classes at UNAM while Gabriel learns Spanish at his amazing escuelita. And they’re all exploring lots of Mexico together. It’s mango season!

Jenina NuÑez meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward
jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Julie Stankiewicz and Ben Teaford live together in their Manchester, Conn., home with their two cats, Vespurr and Lovebug. Julie has enjoyed working with Our Companions Animal Rescue as a cat adoption specialist and recently became a member of their magazine editorial staff. Ben has been working at ESPN for the past eight years in their digital media department. Julie and Ben are happy to announce that they are engaged and are planning to get married at the Wesleyan Chapel this coming fall.

Gabriela Herman is engaged to Tyson Evans, an editor at the New York Times, and will be getting married this June on Martha’s Vineyard. She continues to work as a freelance photographer in NYC shooting for publications such as Travel & Leisure, Martha Stewart Living, and Cosmopolitan.

Alison Plenge and Colin Aitken are the proud parents of Nora Brian Aitken, who unexpectedly made her arrival 10 weeks early on Feb. 23, 2014. After almost six weeks in the NICU, Nora is doing beautifully and came home in early April. They can’t wait to put her in her first Wes onesie!

M. Bob Kao is a visiting professor at Henan University Law School in Kaifeng, China, where he teaches American law. He is starting his PhD research on marine insurance law at Queen Mary, University of London in the fall.

Sandy Batista and Gabby Carson are married and live in NYC where Gabby works as a clinical psychologist at Bellevue Hospital and Sandy as deputy chief investigator at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. They are the proud parents of Ayla and Callen.

Tom Rabstenek and Sara Bremen Rabstenek ’05 welcomed their daughter, Dorothy, on Nov. 29. The whole family is doing great in sunny L.A.

Mayuran Tiruchelvam’s documentary film, To Be Takei, made its world premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. A portrait of Star Trek actor and civil rights activist George Takei’s journey from WWII Japanese American internment camps to the daily Facebook feeds of over six million fans, To Be Takei will be released theatrically by Starz in August. Over the course of a busy year, Mayuran co-produced The Mend, co-starring twins Todd Stone ’05 and Adam Stone ’05, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. The Village Voice recently called Girl is in Trouble, a film Mayuran co-wrote with director Julius Onah ’04 a “a standout” of BAM’s New Voices in Black Cinema series.

At the end of 2013, Matt Meyersohn left the Celtics after eight years of running the community relations department. Starting in the new year, Matt joined the U.S. Fund for UNICEF as senior director of sports partnerships. He’s in charge of working with American sports leagues, teams and athletes to raise awareness and funds for UNICEF’s international work. Matt is married to Nina, who is a radiology resident at Mass General Hospital. He’s addicted to golf and lives in Cambridge.

Matt Lerner and his wife, Chelsea, are thrilled to announce the birth of their son, Everett Finn-Lerner, on Dec. 22nd. Everett has already met (and charmed) many of his parents’ Wesleyan friends and is excited to meet many more!

Alison Criscitiello has finished her PhD at MIT, and moved to Canmore, Canada, for epic backyard skiing and climbing—and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary.

Johanna Russ and Rebecca Cohen moved with their daughter, Iris, from Detroit to Chicago. Jo is working for the Chicago Public Library’s Special Collections Division, and Rebecca is working for a consumer protection law firm.

George Obulutsa is still in Nairobi, working as a correspondent for Reuters News.

Divya Gupta has moved back to Southern California with her expanded family. She welcomed her second daughter, Niyati, in November, who joins big sister, Jahnavi, who will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

AMY TANNENBAUM |atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

JUSTIN LACOB | justinlacob@gmail.com