CLASS OF 1987 | 2025 | SPRING ISSUE

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Hello, Class of ’87!

For this column, I connected our updates with our college majors. See whether you find the through lines. And stay tuned for an interesting further class connection. 

Paulina Bren published her latest book in September, She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street, which tells the outrageous history of the women who came to Wall Street from the 1950s through 9/11. Her Wesleyan friends (Anne Dunham, Vivian Trakinski, Jeremy Mindich, Becca Gallagher, Adrienne Fitzgerald, Ralph Savarese ’86,and Pauline Frommer ’88) attended her launches in NYC, for which she’s grateful as always, she writes, because the trick is to plant allies in the audience, preferably in disguise. She-Wolves was named one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2024 by the Kirkus Reviews. Paulina was a College of Letters major.

Michael Peter Edson has been working as a museum director and digital cultural strategist in the U.S. and Europe. He has focused on encouraging cultural institutions to address large-scale societal challenges such as climate action and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. In 2024, he finished four years as the founding director of the Museum of Solutions (MuSo)—a state-of-the-art facility in Mumbai, India. MuSo is dedicated to inspiring and empowering young people to solve the world’s most pressing problems. In its opening year, MuSo was named to Time magazine’s World’s 100 Greatest Places list and won the prestigious Hands On! Children in Museums Award bestowed by the European Museum Academy and the International Association of Children in Museums. Mike has been married to Leslie Spitz-Edson ’86, his TA for intro to music history sophomore year, for more than 30 years. He’s happy to talk with Wesleyan grads, especially those working in arts/culture and sustainable development! Mike was an art major. His thesis was a show of prints about television static—something that his kids can barely relate to!

Josh Calder, a government major, has finished the last Wesleyan-assigned book on his to-read list! He put it on the list on May 18, 1987, and finished it 37 years, 6 months, and 11 days later, in November 2024, if I have my math right. Josh has alerted Professor Burns that he is in the clear.

J.B. Davis is following one path of the common life patterns I’ve been noticing—as a milestone birthday approaches, many of us are planning retirement, but a significant number of us are planning their next professional acts. J.B. is in a graduate certificate program in nonprofit management. He’s using the classes and Case Western’s connections to the Cleveland community to transition from a 25-year career in corporate marketing to a sector that, now more than ever, needs to effectively deploy resources to fulfill their missions. J.B.’s kids are university students—Abby, creative writing at Iowa; Eli, pre-med at Case; and Josiah, 1L at Ohio State. J.B. and his wife, Rachel, celebrate their 25th in May. J.B. was a double major in government and American studies.

As for me, I was an American studies major, and I got certified to teach high school English through the Educational Studies Program while I was an undergrad. I didn’t have enough confidence at the time to be an English major. Later, I got a master’s degree in English. I taught for five years, including in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and at the East New York High School of Transit Technology in the New York City Public Schools. I transitioned to a career in educational publishing. I worked for Pearson, mostly developing literacy curriculum for 6–12 English. Now, I work for myself as consultant and freelancer supporting nonprofits and developing curriculum. I am currently working on a reading program for McGraw Hill, and I have worked on social studies programs for states on both sides of the political spectrum. So, I am making good use of my degree. 

Johanna Maaghul is spending more time in the U.S. after six years of living primarily in Switzerland. She is still working as a literary agent to help publish books that focus on functional medicine, health, and healing, and institutional whistleblowers. Johanna extended her work to include film representation. She is eager to review any nonfiction works by classmates on their adventures in this space. Johanna was a government major with a minor in music at Wesleyan and reports it didn’t have much impact on her career.

So, what’s the “interesting class connection” about our college majors? As I pressed classmates for their majors, Johanna shared her professional interest in the same question. She and her husband are launching a new platform in 2025 that rewards people for sharing verified portfolios including education and career information online with their alma maters and former employers. She can be reached at johanna@nextwaveresources.com and will also share more on this in future notes.

Finally, Ralph Worrick ’88 shared late news that Alison Sprout passed away in November. They both lived in WestCo. They were never tremendously close friends, but he always enjoyed her sardonic humor and quirky kindness. He had a nice visit with her and her son, Peregrine, in 2012. Many of you have written to express condolences.

Until next time . . .

REBECCA ZIMBLER GRAZIANO | rebecca.graziano@hotmail.com