Tag: 2003

Alison Criscitiello, back from the Indian Himalaya, is now director of Canada’s national ice core lab, based at University of Alberta.

After completing his M.F.A. in filmmaking from Columbia University, Jesse Soursourian will travel to Nagorno-Karabakh this spring to direct a documentary about an all-women team of land-mine-removal specialists.

Katie Nordine has taken on new challenges working in communications for Baker Demonstration School in Wilmette, Ill. She also runs her own small event planning business, Nordine Events, and dabbles in teaching yoga, having received her 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Teaching Certificate last year. She enjoys binge-watching and binge-reading (which with her two children, Nils Heltibrand and Vallely Nordine, around really means reading a page or two of a book and, at most, one whole episode of a show). She and her husband, Dave Heltibrand, live in Evanston and look forward to longer stretches of uninterrupted silence.

Matt Sienkiewic ’03 explores America’s efforts to employ “soft-psy” media to generate pro-American sentiment in the Middle East in The Other Air Force: U.S. Efforts to Reshape Middle Eastern Media since 9/11 (Rutgers University Press).

Jeremy Cluchey was elected to the Select Board in his town of Bowdoinham, Maine, where he lives with his wife, Sally, and kids, Rose and Fred. He works as communications director at Maine Audubon, a wildlife conservation group.

Rikkia Ben Yehudah, a long time resident of New Haven, Conn., is the founder of Xpressive Arts Creative Solutions for Everyday Living. She is an expressive arts therapist and consultant, as well as a wife and mommy. She keeps in contact with longtime Wesleyan friend Sherry-Ann Brown, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, and Chaya Braxton ’02, a branding and marketing consultant who helps her with the business. Connect with Rikkia if you are in New Haven.

Alison Plenge, Colin Aitken, and their daughter, Nora, were excited to welcome Lucas into their family on June 2. Nora is a great big sister, and Alison and Colin are happy to be the parents of two wonderful little kids, despite being completely exhausted. In July, the family will pack up and move from D.C. to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where Colin is joining the faculty of the biology department at Vassar. Needless to say, the timing of getting out of D.C. couldn’t be better, and everyone is looking forward to being closer to friends in the NYC region!

George Obulutsa is still going strong and growing grey knee hairs working for Reuters News in Nairobi. He had the pleasure of meeting with Sunho Hwang ’05 when he visited Kenya in July.

Jesse P. Karlsberg and his wife, Lauren Bock, are living in Atlanta and expecting their first child in February. After a year as a postdoctoral fellow, Jesse accepted a new job as senior digital scholarship strategist at the Emory University Center for Digital Scholarship where he oversees the center’s project process and edits Sounding Spirit (soundingspirit.org), a series of digital critical editions of the American southern sacred music diaspora using a new platform developed at the center. Jesse also manages Atlanta Studies (atlantastudies.org), a multi-modal scholarly magazine on the Atlanta metropolitan region.

Pete Harvey is taking a sabbatical in 2017 to travel and would love to meet any Wes grads living in Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Norway, Sweden, or Iceland. Say hi at peteharvey@gmail.com. Advice and tips very welcome.

Arcelie Reyes and Evan Newell ’02 recently moved to Evan’s hometown in Vermont. Sledding and snowboarding down the driveway with the kids (Kingston, 7, Phoenix, 5, and Cassius, 1) is their current favorite pastime.

Roberta Pereira is currently the producing director of The Playwrights Realm, an off-Broadway theater company dedicated to early-career playwrights. Their production of Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves recently completed two sold-out runs and was lauded by Forbes as “a milestone for women in entertainment.” and made it on The New York Times list of the Best Theater of 2016.

Amra Turalic and her husband, Jimmy Maynard, had a little girl in July. Her name is Marilyn Zada, and she is a happy little baby who likes to explore NYC, listen to songs and stories, communicate, and smile. She brings her family so much joy.

Meredith Barrett and Aaron Stoertz have an 18-month-old daughter, Winslow Elizabeth Stoertz (Wes ’37). She enjoys chalking with offspring from Wes alums in the Bay Area.

Amy Tannenbaum | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Congratulations to Michael Lewis, who recently got engaged to David Scott.

In March, Jacob A. Bennett and his wife, Charlotte, welcomed baby Eloise into the world, just a couple of months before Charlotte completed studies in a speech-language pathology master’s program. They then moved from Philadelphia to the University of New Hampshire’s education PhD program, where Jacob accepted a role as a graduate assistant, concentrating on higher education policy. Charlotte is now a speech pathologist; Jacob is completing the transition from English professor to education student; and Eloise is cutting teeth and starting to crawl.

Alison Criscitiello, who was awarded the Mugs Stump Award for alpinism this year, is headed this fall to the Garhwal region of the Indian Himalaya to attempt a first ascent on Brahmasar II.

Joey Wender and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their first child, Sam, into the world on Aug 11.

Anna Christensen and husband Gabe welcomed their first child, Maya, in April.

Gabriela Herman and her husband, Tyson Evans, welcomed their first child, Emilia, on June 30 at the Martha’s Vineyard hospital. All enjoyed a memorable summer on-island before heading back home to Brooklyn.

Juliet Werner directed her first feature documentary, The Laughter Life. The film looks at a group of young Mormon comedians with their own sketch comedy TV show. It premiered at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Film Festival, co-founded by Lloyd Komesar ’74, P’07.

Amy Tannenbaum | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Noah and Julia Bruckner Newman welcomed their daughter, Hannah Adele Newman, into the world on May 23rd. She couldn’t have arrived at a better time—Julia just finished her OB/GYN residency program and Noah just wrapped up four years working on Pixar’s summer release, Finding Dory.

Anna Christensen and her husband, Gabe, welcomed their first baby, Maya Judith, on April 10.

John A. Graham defended his dissertation at Princeton University and is graduating in May, 2016. This year, he taught his first graduate course at Yale University, and next year will be back in Tbilisi, Georgia, working on his book and leading wine, music, and culture tours (georgianchant.org/tours). The family welcomed another child, Sebastian, in February.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

George Obulutsa is still going strong as a correspondent for Reuters News, based in Nairobi, and had the pleasure of covering Pope Francis’s visit to Kenya in 2015.

Marisa LaScala and Jesse Hassenger ’02 welcomed their daughter, Eloise, in October. They live in Brooklyn in an apartment almost big enough for the three of them.

Coe Hoeksema (Will) and husband Craig, welcomed their son Owen Calder Hoeksema on Aug. 24, 2015. He is so delightful that Coe quit her architectural marketing job of 10 years at FXFOWLE and took a position as marketing manager for WE Design in Brooklyn, within walking distance of her apartment. She continues her freelance architectural photography work on the side.

Neville Galloway-Williams began a year-long clinical psychology post-doc in PTSD at the Baltimore VA in July 2015. She, her partner Joshua, and their daughter, Alice, welcomed baby Louis in Dec. 2015. The family of four continues to enjoy Baltimore, and they have been lucky enough to hang out with Rachel Gooze ’02 and Amy Sanchez ’02. Anyone in the Baltimore area is welcome to come hang out!

Arcelie Reyes and Evan Newell ’02 welcomed their third child, Cassius, on Feb. 2. Cassius was born peacefully at home and is getting lots of loving attention from his older siblings, Kingston and Phoenix. Arcelie has been busy attending other Brooklyn mothers and babies as a birth doula and providing postpartum support, including lactation counseling and babywearing tutorials.

Bethany Caruso completed her doctorate in public health at Emory University in mid-December 2015, and just two weeks later she and her husband, Matthew Freeman ’00, welcomed their daughter, Hannelore Scout Caruso Freeman. Bethany and Matt both work at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Eve Hadley is a nurse-midwife in Rockport, Maine. She and her husband welcomed their son, Solomon Sugar Nelson, in January.

Jessica Ely is splitting her time these days working at Wolff Olins, a creative agency in NYC, and spending weekends at her house in the Berkshires where she paints and volunteers at the organic farm next door.

Roberta Pereira was appointed the producing director of The Playwrights Realm, an Off-Broadway theater company dedicated to supporting early career playwrights. She also continues to run Dress Circle Publishing, the premiere publisher of theater-themed books.

Neville Galloway-Williams has earned the title of Dr. Galloway-Williams. She is completing a postdoctoral fellowship specializing in PTSD at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. She, her partner Joshua, and daughter Alice (4), are thrilled to share that a new baby will be joining the family some time around Thanksgiving this year. They would love to hear from anyone living in the Baltimore area.

Johanna Russ and Rebecca Cohen welcomed their second daughter, Flora Josie, on June 28. Along with big sister Iris, they live in Chicago where Jo is an archivist for the Chicago Public Library and Rebecca is an attorney for the Office of the State Appellate Defender. They are also very proud of Vanessa Carbonell, who earned tenure at the University of Cincinnati where she teaches in the Department of Philosophy.

Chris Watters published a book, The Gamer’s Bucket List, in which he recommends a diverse selection of video games for your edification and enjoyment. He still loves living in Berkeley, with Jill Green ’02, who continues to outdo herself as the properties supervisor at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

On a beautiful July day, Amra Turalic and Jimmy Maynard were wed in Brooklyn, N.Y. Amra and Jimmy live in and enjoy all that New York City has to offer. Amra still works in healthcare PR and is loving it.

Christopher Walsh and Austin Horne Walsh welcomed their son, Cary James Walsh, in August.

Juliet Werner works as a segment producer on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and loves that living in NYC means she’s surrounded by great friends from Wesleyan.

Sonya Behnke Page was married to Emlen Page on Aug. 8, 2015 in Walpole, Maine. The couple celebrated with family and friends, including many Wesleyan alums.

Ricardo Watson welcomes the birth of his first child, Ricardo Junior, born March 2nd in London.

Aaron Gilary is in the D.C. area working for the Census Bureau, producing labor force estimates and conducting research for the Current Population Survey. In February, he and his wife, Jennifer Styles, welcomed their daughter, Nora Jane Gilary.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Last April, Nezia Azmi relocated to Honolulu where she now lives with her husband and recently began working as international and special programs coordinator in the Dean’s Office for the College of Education at the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa. Nezia and Paul enjoy days at the beach as well as ridiculously perfect mangoes and papayas on a regular basis.

Retse Johnson-Daniel is living in Atlanta with her husband, Alfred, and 4-year-old daughter, Ania Mari. She works as a special education and science teacher at Dutchtown High School, where she also co-sponsors Sisters of Virtue and coaches the swim team. Retse was awarded Teacher of the Year for the 2014–2015 school year and recently gave birth to her second daughter, Amya Irie, on Feb. 3.

Arcelie Reyes has begun working as a birth and postpartum doula in NYC. Having already helped a lot of parents and their breastfeeding babies as a La Leche League leader, Arcelie is excited to delve deeper into birth work. She and Evan Newell ’02 are looking forward to September, when their daughter, Phoenix, will join her big brother, Kingston, at school.

Rachel Morris was married to Samuel Bruce on May 17th. Many Wesleyan alumni spanning more than a decade of class years were in attendance. The couple continues to reside in New York City.

Geoffrey Hill completed his fellowship in interventional radiology at Thomas Jefferson University in June of 2014. He, his wife and two children moved to Saratoga Springs, where he is working for Adirondack Radiology and developing a new interventional oncology program at Glens Falls Hospital.

Emily Chenette welcomed a baby son, Avelino Hudson, on Aug. 14, 2014. She is still living in the Hartford area and is a social worker.

Jessie Rubin is living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, working at Yahoo on its event marketing team, and was planning to marry her fiancé, Darius Van Arman, in Brooklyn come August, with many Wesleyan friends in attendance.

Alison Criscitiello successfully completed Borderski (an all-women’s winter ski traverse of the Pamirs in Tajikistan)! She headed to the Canadian high Arctic for May to drill ice cores as part of a new project she is the principal investigator on.

Andrew and Betsy Fippinger welcomed their second child, Henry David Fippinger (Wesleyan class of 2037), into the world on June 3, 2015.

John A. Graham accepted a one year position as a post-doctoral associate at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music. He would love to reconnect with alums in the area!

Dana Goldman lives in her hometown, Atlanta, with her husband and daughter. She started her own psychotherapy private practice this past year, Stone Cottage Counseling, treating kids, teens, and adults.

Rikkia Hunter Ben Yehudah is living in New Haven, Conn. She works at a large nonprofit organization as a clinical director. She is an expressive arts therapist and will receive her license to practice counseling this year. She is married and has three children. She also works with youth and the arts and hopes to develop an organization with her colleagues.

Meghan Kelly (now Kelly-Stallings) works as a policy analyst for the Seattle Public Library. She and her husband, Danny, welcomed their new addition, Amos, on Feb. 22. One of Amos’s favorite baby-sitters is Kristin Kyrka ’04.

Jill Benson lives in Asheville, N.C., and is pursuing a master’s degree in nurse-midwifery at East Carolina University. She and her husband, Brett, just welcomed a new addition to their family, a bouncing baby boy named Miles Rafael.

Ariana Mufson Dazet graduated from Simmons College with her MSW, specializing in perinatal social work, and will be starting off her new career at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. Her son, Desmond, is almost a year old.

This fall, Aaron Paige will begin his second year as a visiting assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Denver.

After 11 years of teaching middle school humanities and developing curriculum, Liz Simmons is a doctoral candidate at Penn in the teaching, learning, and teacher education division.

In early June, 15 ladies gathered in Waterbury Vt., to celebrate Sonya Behnke. Participants included Erin Malone, Melissa Courtemanche, Julie Perlin, Catherine (Rodin) Faulk, Laura Pfeiffenberger, Dr. Sarabeth Broder-Fingert, Emily Berman, Martina McPherson ’04, Bernadette Doykos ’04, Meriel Darzen ’04, Jenna Flateman Posner ’04, Leila Bozorg ’04, and Lynn Leber ’06. They’re all excited to gather again on the Maine Coast in early August for the nuptials.

Matt Kushner and Lauren Edgar Kushner welcomed their first child, Marian Lois Kushner, on June 10th at 2:09 in the afternoon, weighing 7 lbs. and measuring 20 inches. Mom and baby are fine and all are home getting used to the beginnings of family life.

Kate Reder married Nadeem Sheikh on May 9, 2015. Ari Wolfe and Juliet Werner were in Kate’s bridal party. Ari and Peter Wilson-Tobin sang during the ceremony. Other Wesleyan friends were in attendance: Cara Zwerling-Moeller, Rigel Massaro, Joanna Shalleck-Klein ’04, Dan Moger, Jenny Gassman-Pines, Claire Kessler-Bradner, and Alex Krassner ’02. Kate and Nadeem live in London and invite alums passing through to reach out.

Joseph Gindi moved back to Boston in June, and is happy to be reunited with lots of Wesleyan friends in that city.

Vida Long teaches English and German at the American International School in Salzburg. She welcomes contact from Wes alum teachers (especially English or math) who’d like to join her next year, or recent grads who’d like to work as an RAs.

Jesse Soursourian co-wrote a short film that was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival, and screened this January in Park City, Utah. He will be finishing his final semester of his MFA in film at Columbia University at the end of May.

Sandy Glassman White (who now goes by her Hebrew name, Samara) and her husband, Troy White, are excited to announce the release of their first children’s book, Maya & Friends Visit the Acupuncturist (acupuncturekidsbook.com), written by Samara and illustrated by Troy. Samara graduated from the Seattle Institute of Oriental Medicine. She’s a licensed acupuncturist and craniosacral therapist, specializing in infant craniosacral work. Samara and Troy were married last May.

Josh Daniels was reelected to the Berkeley School Board and was co-chair of the successful Yes on Measure D campaign, which was the first approved soda tax in the US.

Ben Rhatigan continues a very pleasant life in Barcelona, working as a management consultant for a firm specializing in organizations in emerging economies, and is currently on a project in Nigeria and Kenya. If any ’03ers are around that area, he’d love to be in touch.

Claire Lutgendorf McPhee and husband Christopher continue to love life in beautiful Bellingham, Wash., where she is a veterinarian. In May, they welcomed son Henry Alpin McPhee, into the world. They have since been seeking adventures, one scenic diaper change at a time.

Jason Pinter married Dana Lauren Klinek on Nov. 29th at Shadowbrook, an event space in Shrewsbury, N.J.

Alison Criscitiello is headed to the Pamir Mountains to complete a first, all-women’s winter ski traverse of the Tajikistan border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China (borderski.com). She and her teammates will explore the impact of fences on migratory wildlife, and hope to inspire people to think about borders in different ways.

Jeremy Cluchey is director of creative design at Bates College. He and wife Sally welcomed their second child, a boy named Fred, in late 2014.

Kirsten Yamaguchi is working in film previsualization. As a CG shot creator, Kirsten helps plan the action, cameras, and framing for film sequences in 3D visualization software.

Katrina Nordine and husband Dave Heltibrand, welcomed their second child, Vallely Nordine, on March 4, 2014. Their son, Nils Heltibrand, is petitioning hard for additional siblings, with little success to date. Katie has also launched Nordine Events, an event planning outfit.

Amy and Tom Hodgman are living in Evanston, Ill. They just enjoyed a vacation to North Captiva Island with their, son Sam, 3-1/2, and daughter, Aquinnah (Quinn), born April 2014. Tom works at The Nature Conservancy, doing large scale land conservation in North America.

Mayuran Tiruchelvam received a creative producing fellowship from the Sundance Institute, where he met four inspiring Sundance and Wes alums Matthew Greenfield ’90, Jonas Carpignano  ’06, Dan Janvey ’06, and Michael Gottwald ’06. His production of Across the Sea, a Turkish-American romantic drama, received the Audience Award at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival. He wrote a crime thriller, The Girl is in Trouble, to be released April 2015 across North America by eOne Films.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Divya Gupta started a new job in Irvine, Calif., at the law firm Severson & Werson, where she practices financial services litigation. She and her husband welcomed their second daughter last fall. Baby Niyati joins big sister Jahnavi, who just turned 5.

Caroline Knox is moving to Asheville, N.C., with her husband, Mike, and new baby, Adeline Reid Lindow.

Bayard Templeton and his wife, Alex, were delighted to welcome their wonderful daughter, Elisabeth (“Issie”) Ruth Templeton, into the world on April 8th, weighing 6 lbs., 7oz. Bayard continues to teach middle school history, coach girls’ basketball and softball, and advise the karaoke club at Germantown Academy; he and his family now live in the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia.

Ann Chen received the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship. Starting in September, she will be traveling across Western Canada, mapping and documenting the communities along the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.You can follow her journey on Nat Geo’s website. Wes people living in Alberta or BC should give her a holler.

Tejas Desai is building his New Wei literary movement. In spring 2014 several of his articles on literature were published, including in the Huffington Post Books Section, Neworld Review, and Publishing Perspectives. He also gave many radio and print interviews, read at the renowned KGB Bar Reading Series, and exhibited at the AWP Conference in Seattle. He is currently writing the second book of The Brotherhood Trilogy, which he is calling a “noir epic,” as well as articles and book reviews.

Earlier this year Gabriel Popkin began a new career as an independent science writer, and recently had his first piece published in this magazine. He lives in Mount Rainier, Md., just outside Washington, DC.

Aaron Paige will be starting a three-year post-doc in ethnomusicology at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music in the fall.

Arturo Vidichand his wife, Julia, had a baby boy on February 1st named Ryder Metteya.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

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