Dennis Kratz may be a medievalist but his heart and mind are very much in the 21st century. Last fall Dennis, dean of the school of arts and humanities, and David Daniel, president of the University of Texas at Dallas, broke ground for a new $60-million, 155,000-square-foot facility to house programs in visual arts, emerging media technology and multimedia communications and a 1,200-seat auditorium. Dennis has been dean for 15 years and has devoted much of his tenure to building a program to revitalize humanities and make arts and humanities more in sync with science and technology with help of $5 million from anonymous donors.


Arts and humanities, the fastest growing school at the university, has a center for arts and humanities, a Confucius institute that partners with China and an Asian center. Dennis has been at UT at Dallas for 33 years, starting as a professor of classics. He earned a Ph.D. at Harvard. He was one of three students majoring in classics at Dartmouth, which included Latin and Greek studies. Wife Abby is associate provost at UT at Dallas; son Matthew also works with the university. Abby, who has a doctorate from Texas A&M, is head of the arts commission in Richardson, Texas, where the campus is located and where the Kratzes live. Dennis ran into Blair Wood of Dillon, Colorado, and Jim vonGal of Quechee, Vermont, at a Dartmouth Alumni College program on the American Indian in Hanover.


Quechee, incidentally, was one of the areas in the Northeast battered by Hurricane Irene. This was evident in photos shared by Terry Russell, class webmaster, who is a resident and a trustee of the landowners association. “We were hit really hard—roads, bridges and highways shut down, water was cut off, some lost electricity and stores and homes were flooded,” Terry said. “Diane and I were fortunate. We had a slight leak that damaged some ceiling tiles in the basement but no real problems.”


Wine aficionados, oenophiles and iPad owners you are in luck. Steve Yafa, author (Big Cotton, Penguin, 2006), screenwriter (Three in the Attic with Christopher Jones and Summertree with Michael Douglas) and wine writer and vintner (www.seguecellars.com), has launched “Uncorked,” coverage of the world of wine for occasional sippers to experts and available as a weekly download from the Apple app store. Steve also runs Segue Cellars, a winery on the Russian River of West Sonoma, California, which makes only pinot noir that is served at many fine restaurants in the region. Steve lives in Mill Valley, California, with Bonnie, his wife of 30 years. Their three children from two marriages live in the area and have made them proud grandparents. Steve relaxes writing and playing blues and alternate country on guitar, and jogs and mountain bikes on Mount Tamalpais, a.k.a. Mt. Tam.


Veteran Orlando, Florida, lawyer Randolph Fields has joined GrayRobinson, which has more than 250 lawyers throughout the state. He previously was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and partner with Baker & Hosteler.


—Harry Zlokower, 60 Madison Ave., Suite 910, New York, NY 10010; (212) 447-9292; harry@zlokower.com