As a child and then later in the master’s music program at the University of Massachusetts, Matthew Hunter ’81 studied violin with Berlin native Julian Olevsky. So it’s not entirely surprising that in 1996 he became the first string musician from North America to join the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. “Since the age of 6 I’ve had his Berlin sound in my Massachusetts ears,” Hunter told the Digital Concert Hall newsletter. He switched to the viola at age 26 because he preferred the instrument’s deeper sound. “When I heard the orchestra’s first note on my first day with the Berliner Philharmoniker, it was as though I had come home, both for the music and for the sound. A circle was closed.”…

Lara Niell ’02 was appointed in February to the Nevada Department of Conservation & Natural Resources’ new Sagebrush Ecosystem Team. A biologist with Tetra Tech Inc. in Reno, Niell will represent the Nevada Department of Wildlife in the state’s campaign to prevent listing the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act. “Preventing the listing of the bird is an ongoing effort of the utmost importance,” Gov. Brian Sandoval told the Elko Daily Free Press. “I am confident that the collaborative nature of this team—bringing scientists and range managers together under one roof—will help address this critical issue and make this effort stronger.”…

Rembert Browne ’09 is one of the “7 Young Black Writers You Should Know,” according to the January issue of Ebony. The magazine noted that Browne first appeared on the pop culture radar thanks to his blog, 500 Days Asunder, where the then-Columbia graduate student showcased his “exhilarating honesty coupled with his tangy wit and introspective rumination.” Inspired posts such as “Top 10 Diddy Moments. Ever,” and “Me vs. Drake” led to freelancing for Grantland.com, where as a staff writer he “puts his distinct spin on culture and sports,” according to Ebony.…

Amanda Eaken ’99, the deputy director of Sustainable Communities for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco, was named to the San Francisco Business Times’ “40 Under 40” list in March. The newspaper cited her leadership in helping to pass California Senate Bill 375, the “anti-sprawl bill,” which mandates the creation of sustainable regional growth plans and creates regional targets for greenhouse emissions. Her goal by age 40? “I want to replicate California’s successful sustainable communities model—SB 375—across the country in the form of federal legislation.”…

Joseph Dryer Jr. ’44 “has lived a life worthy of an Ernest Hemingway novel,” according to The Palm Beach Post. In fact, the writer, whose son Jack Hemingway ’45 was Dryer’s best friend at Dartmouth, served as a witness in Cuba at Dryer’s 1956 wedding to Nancy, his wife of 57 years. From landing on Iwo Jima with American troops 68 years ago as a young Marine lieutenant, where he nearly died after being shot by a Japanese sniper (the bullet hit his dog tags and veered away from his heart), to fleeing four revolutions in developing countries as a businessman, there’s little question that Dryer’s life has been exciting. He still serves on the board of directors for the American Foreign Policy Council, and last November was saluted for his military service at the annual Marine Corps Ball in Boca Raton. When he was introduced as the oldest Marine in attendance and an Iwo Jima survivor, the 600 guests cheered. “It was such an emotional moment, Nancy and I had tears running down our faces,” Dryer said in the February article. “But what we [Marines] did was what we trained for. It didn’t seem to be anything special.”…

After being regularly asked to assist European family friends with their applications to U.S. colleges, Lucy Stonehill ’10 decided to launch Stonehill Educational Consultants in 2012 to help prospective students worldwide. Employing a two-for-one consulting model, Stonehill provides her services pro bono to one student for each paying client. Thanks to a partnership with the Pan-African Scholars Program, she has advised in Tanzania, Nigeria and Kenya, where one of her students has been accepted into Yale’s class of 2017 with a full scholarship. “A lot of students want to explore their educational potential but knowing the steps to take and knowing how to leverage their individual value is a whole other thing,” Stonehill told the Given Goods blog in February.…

As a former ski instructor and member of the Dartmouth ski team, Dr. James Gladstone ’84 is a good resource for tips on how to avoid ski injuries. The co-chief of sports medicine at New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital recommends getting in shape before ski season starts, remembering to keep your weight forward when trying to slow down, and warming up your muscles with dynamic exercises before making that first trip down the mountain. “Do windmills with your arms, swing your legs back and forth and do abdominal twists so you’re not so stiff when you start,” Gladstone told the Los Angeles Times in February.…

Nick Taranto ’06 and his Harvard Business School classmate Josh Hix frequently prepared meals together as graduate students. But they got a rude awakening after graduating. “When we started jobs in New York we realized that cooking dinner is really, really hard. There’s not enough time in modern lives to recipe-select or grocery-shop,” Taranto told The New York Times in February. So the pair started Plated, an

e-commerce business that will ship to your door a “dinner kit,” complete with recipe and all the pre-measured ingredients you will need to prepare your own home-cooked meal. The Plated menus change weekly and meals start at $10 a plate.…

When a leg injury ended his Dartmouth football career Stephen Doig ’70 lost his focus, left school and was drafted by the U.S. Army, according to a February Arizona State University News article—a move that launched a prize-winning journalism career. After 10 weeks in the Defense Information School (DINFOS), Doig served as a combat correspondent during the Vietnam War, earning a Bronze Star. He returned to Dartmouth and completed his degree before embarking on a journalism career that garnered him a Pulitzer as a Miami Herald reporter in 1993. Now the Knight Chair in Journalism in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU, Doig was inducted in March into the DINFOS Hall of Fame. “I’m pleased because I really owe my career to the service,” he said. “My first few years of college were spotty and I was sort of adrift. The Army gave me strong direction and ultimately my career.”…

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman ’78 (R-Ohio), once a staunch opponent of gay marriage, has had a change of heart on the issue—two years after learning his son Will is gay. In a March 15 interview on CNN and an op-ed in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch, Portman said that Will came out to his parents in 2011 when he was a freshman at Yale. “It allowed me to think about this issue from a new perspective and that’s as a dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister have,” Portman told the Disptach. His announcement came days before the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal ban on same-sex marriage—a measure he co-sponsored as a member of the House in 1996.