Categories Class Notes | 1930sPosted on

CLASS OF 1938 | 2017 | ISSUE 3

It is definitely fall now, since I saw my breath the other morning as I let our latest “addition,” Bizzy, out for her morning duty. I have no complaints as we sit here on a gorgeous, sunny day in Seattle. I can’t say the same for my friends living on the Gulf Coast. Dodging major weather storms is turning into a regular pastime for Art Kingsbury. Thankfully, he and Diane have missed what Mother Nature has sent their way. I believe Curtis Smith has been fine in Rhode Island, too. So while I know many days of rain are headed my way, as I type these notes I am grateful for the dry spell.

It was such a treat to speak with Art late last month. He was using the new technology that I mentioned in the prior edition. This is the phone device with the captions. “I recommend it to anyone who is deaf,” Art rejoiced. It has made communication so much better for him. I could hear the joy in his voice. Art is doing well. He plays nine holes of golf a couple of times a week because, as he puts it, “I can!” He and Diane really enjoy having family nearby. They don’t travel as much these days so the generations nearby help bring the youth and energy to them. He is looking forward to his 100th birthday in April. Diane stays busy raising her butterflies, which she has done for over a decade now. We spoke about Hurricane Maria. It had been reported that the path was supposed to hit the Venice Beach area. Thankfully as we all know now, it veered off and stayed further to the east. They lost power for less than a day. We did reflect on Puerto Rico and its terrible devastation. “So sad what has happened there.” He and Diane hope the folks there get back on their feet soon.

When I spoke with Curtis there was a somber tone in the beginning of our call. The horrific shooting in Las Vegas was on our minds. “These are difficult times,” Curtis reflected. I shared with Curtis that it must be very interesting to be looking at these events with eyes that have been observing life for almost 100 years. We also spoke about being a parent and the odd feeling one has when you find yourself saying, “this one will go into the history books.”

As these are the class notes, we found a way to carry on with other more upbeat topics, most notably being his 100th birthday celebration happening at the end of October. All family will be present for the weekend. That Thursday they will have a cellist and pianist playing at the house where he lives. Friday they will all gather at the Faculty Club at Brown University to enjoy the birthday dinner. While Brown doesn’t have a reciprocal agreement with Wesleyan, Curtis’s son-in-law’s alma mater does! (Personally, Brown, I think any 100th birthday celebration should qualify!) While the birthday plans were our main topic, we did talk about singing and other family visits. Curtis mentioned that he might change singing groups. He enjoyed the musical shows tunes that the house group performed, but they didn’t really have it arranged for his vocal part. He said there is a group of women who stop by the house every month and sing hymns. He said he’s even taught them some he used to use at his church. Hopefully the women will continue stopping by and offering him a chance to add his baritone voice to the fold.

The Vietnam series had just finished when I called and we both agreed how amazing it was to see the footage and hear the stories. Curtis shared how he had even more admiration for John McCain with what he saw in the documentary and with his recent behavior around healthcare.

I am so honored to have moments with these remaining ’38 fellows. Their view on this world is a deeply textured one, something that only comes with years on this earth. I look forward to what future stories they will share with me next time.

Here’s to a very happy holiday season and a safe and healthy 2018.

GRACE BENNETT, daughter of the late Walter V. Bennett ’38
8104 39th Avenue, S.W., Seattle, WA 98136

Categories Class Notes | 1980s, newsmakers | 1980sPosted on

Hillary Wells ’84

Hillary Wells ’84, executive producer and director of youth media at WGBH, was honored with the 2017 Margret and Hans Rey/Curious George Producer Award. Each year WGBH gives this award—made possible through a bequest to WGBH from author Margret Rey through the Curious George Foundation—to an outstanding producer who works in an area that reflects Rey’s broad interests. Wells has more than 30 years of experience developing and producing multi-platform, multi-partner events, programs, and series. While at Wesleyan, Wells majored in English.

Categories Class Notes | 1980s, newsmakers | 1980sPosted on

Antonie Kline ’81

Antonie Kline ’81, MD, is the recipient of Global Gene’s RARE Champion of Hope award, which recognizes individuals and organizations for their notable efforts in rare disease advocacy, science, collaborative sciences, and medical care and treatment. Kline has been the medical director of the Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Foundation since 2001, and has worked with families with this condition since 1993. Kline is the director of pediatric genetics at the Harvey Institute for Human Genetics at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. At Wesleyan University she majored in math, and earned her Doctor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College.

Categories newsmakers | 1970sPosted on

Charisse R. Lillie ’74

Charisse R. Lillie ’74, businesswoman, attorney, and lecturer, received the A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. [Hon. ’96] Lifetime Achievement Award during the 29th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Association Minority Attorney Conference in October. The award recognizes the accomplishments of a lawyer or judge who has demonstrated dedication to the legal profession and the minority community through civil, community, or legal service. Lillie is the CEO of CRL Consulting. Previously, she was affiliated with Comcast Corporation, where she served as a senior vice president of human resources, among other executive positions. Earlier in her career, she was a trial attorney with U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. A history major at Wesleyan, Lillie earned a master’s from Yale University and a doctorate from Temple University. Wesleyan named her a Distinguished Alumna in 1993.

Categories newsmakers | 1970sPosted on

John Huttlinger Jr. ’73

John Huttlinger Jr. ’73, CPA, was the 2017 recipient of the 14th annual Michael H. Urbach, CPA Community Builders Award by the New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. The award recognizes exemplary achievements of a certified public accountant who serves in leadership positions on charitable organizations’ boards of directors. Martha Spear of the Rotary Club of Lake Placid, who nominated Huttlinger, stated he “is the finest CPA-volunteer I have ever worked beside in my nearly 30 years of nonprofit employment and leadership.” Huttlinger serves as a board member for several community organizations including the Adirondack Film Society and the Rotary Club of Lake Placid. An economics major at Wesleyan, Huttlinger earned an MBA from Rutgers University.

Categories Class Notes | 1960s, newsmakers | 1960sPosted on

Eugene Stanley ’62

Eugene Stanley ’62, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Leicester in July. Stanley has had a long academic career teaching physics, physiology, chemistry, and biomedical engineering at MIT and Boston University. His main research focus is the statistical physics of materials. Stanley is an honorary professor at Eotvos Lorand University and at Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Pavia, and is a chair or member of several science organizations. Stanley majored in physics at Wesleyan and earned his PhD from Harvard University.

Categories Class Notes | 1950s, newsmakers | 1950sPosted on

Newsmaker: Arthur Chickering ’50

Arthur Chickering ’50, an educational researcher, received the Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award on April 8. This honor is presented by Teachers College, Columbia University, to graduates who have distinguished themselves in their fields and whose impact has been felt on a regional, national, or international level. Chickering has worked as an educator and administrator in higher education for over 40 years. He is the author of many publications relating to student affairs and college student development theories. After earning his bachelor’s from Wesleyan, where he majored in modern comparative literature, Chickering earned a master’s from Harvard University, and a PhD from Columbia University.

Categories Class Notes | 2010sPosted on

CLASS OF 2017 | 2017 | ISSUE 2

Congratulations to the Class of 2017 on your recent graduation! We’ll be reaching out soon for your news, which will appear in the December issue of this magazine.

Categories Class Notes | 2010sPosted on

CLASS OF 2016 | 2017 | ISSUE 2

Congratulations to the Class of 2017 on their recent graduation! We are excited for them to join us as the new additions to the Wesleyan alumni community.

Nikku Chatha completed Wes’s BA/MA in math and is working at Andrew Davidson & Co. in New York. She was glad to see so many ’16ers during R&C weekend!

Celia Joyce has been working at New York County Defender Services, a public defense office, since last fall as a corrections specialist. She makes referrals to charitable bail funds, plans and executes regular trips to Rikers and similar corrections facilities across the boroughs, and serves as a liaison between attorneys and social workers, clients and families, and various DOCCS employees. She is preparing to take the LSAT and GRE in hopes of pursuing a dual degree—a JD/PhD in psychology.

Melissa Leung and Sarah Mi frequently ring in Kellyn Maves and Taran Carr throughout their perpetual hunt for authentic Chinese food in Rockville, Md., because Kellyn and Taran have cars, while Melissa and Sarah do not. The group also visited Wes for Commencement, and is planning camping and winery trips for times ahead.

Melissa has moved onto a supply chain management project with IBM, completed a flag football season with her IBM start class, plays on their softball team, toured Rome with her gospel choir, and works on portrait in her oil painting class.

Matthew Stein is a software engineer at YouTube in Mountain View, Calif. In his free time, he plays violin and viola with the Google orchestra, a klezmer trio, and a string quartet, and designs puzzles and puzzle hunts.

Tim Israel is in Portland, Ore., and says, “come chill.”

Michael King has been building a startup that aims to make language learning efficient, organized, and enjoyable: a dynamic curriculum that adapts to your level and your content, placed on top of personalized music and media, language exchange, and spaced repetition flashcards.

Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu

Categories Class Notes | 2010sPosted on

CLASS OF 2015 | 2017 | ISSUE 2

Jenna Starr has switched positions at Wesleyan! She is now part of the alumni and parent relations team. Keep your eyes open for fun event invitations, and, as always, keep sending her your class notes.

Katherine Lu works in human resources at the Mission Neighborhood Health Center in San Francisco. She enjoys hearing more Spanish than English, and is putting her HISP major to the test.

Peter Cornillie earned his certified cicerone, which is the equivalent of a beer sommelier, or someone who knows way too much about beer.

Marissa Castrigno accepted a job writing for the public affairs department of New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She will also be attending the 2017 Wesleyan Writers’ Conference during her time off between positions, and looked forward to a spending few days of early summer back on campus.

Michael Leung gave a presentation on behavioral science at Morningstar Investment Conference—the flagship conference for Morningstar, Inc.—to a crowd of 200 finance professionals! He enjoys his work of incorporating behavioral science methods into software development to help people reach their goals

Since graduating, Catherine Chase works at the San Antonio Museum of Art and is the assistant to the director for a little over a year. She reunited with her former Wes roommate, Katherine Du. They met up at Reunion and Commencement and ate a lot of dumplings at Tibetan Kitchen.

After two years of sharing a wonderful apartment together, Diana Lin, Angela Yoo, and Elaine Tsui are ready to take the next step in their careers. Following her role as a senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, Diana is looking forward to attending Penn State College of Medicine. Likewise, after spending two years at the NIH, Angela will be heading off to medical school this fall. Elaine will miss them dearly, but is excited to return to academia and attend Princeton’s chemistry PhD program. We are glad to have shared so many great memories over the last two years and look forward to our next Reunion!

Virgil Taylor and Gabe Gordon recently took the Staten Island Ferry. In the stormy Friday evening light, they could see for themselves the possibilities offered by a life at sea. Taylor and Gordon live as one in Brooklyn.

Aletta Brady is moving to Jordan in September for a research Fulbright studying the intersection of drought, water scarcity, and the refugee crisis.

Rebecca Caspar-Johnson is starting law school at Columbia in the fall.

Mateusz Burgunder has not changed much since the last issue. He still lives and works in Switzerland. He has met many Wesleyan friends around the U.S., Europe, and on Skype, and he looks forward to more conversations. He is also very impressed by how many of his Wesleyan friends finished marathons.

Orelia Jonathan just graduated from UPenn with her master’s in education. She plans to teach English in China for the summer before heading back to The Lawrenceville School to teach and coach as full-time faculty.

Geneva Jonathan is headed off to Northwestern University in the fall to start a PhD program in clinical psychology in Dr. Evan Goulding and Dr. Cynthia Dopke’s Bipolar Technology Lab.

Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell began singing together at Wesleyan and formed a band called Overcoats. They released their debut album, Young, via Arts & Crafts in April, and performed an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. itunes.apple.com/us/album/young/id1199218160 and youtube.com/watch?v=pXtAhfQhEG4.

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu