As I sit to write this column, it’s late October, the foliage has just passed its glorious peak in New Hampshire and the presidential election is two weeks away. I think the nation will heave a collective sigh of relief when it’s finally over. As Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland, “Curiouser and curiouser.”

But what do we hear about the members of the great class of 1972? Here are some updates.

As the world celebrated the 25th anniversary of the world wide web this year, our own Nii Quaynor was recognized as the “father of the African Internet.” In his home country of Ghana, Professor Quaynor was a pioneer in advancing the technology that allows Africans to connect to the Internet. In the early 1990s he was a leader in developing Africa’s Internet connectivity by setting up key organizations, including the African Network Operators Group. He was the first African to be elected to the board of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and served as the ICANN director for Africa from 2000 to 2004. In 2007 he won the prestigious Jonathan B. Postel Service Award for his work in “putting Africa on the global Internet protocol standard” and he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013. Congratulations, Nii!

Bill Schur continues to be the eyes and ears of the class of 1972. Bill reports that he was in contact with Chris Brewster and Jim Stearns while visiting Washington, D.C. Chris is special counsel with Stroock, Stroock & Lavan in Washington, where he represents foreign and domestic clients in acquisitions that may have national security implications and advises corporate clients on compliance with U.S. trade sanctions, export control and anti-corruption laws. Chris attended Virginia Law after graduating from Dartmouth. Before being in private practice Chris served as legislative and committee counsel in the U.S. Senate and as a senior official in the Federal Trade Commission.

Jim is also a lawyer and serves as regional trade compliance counsel at Accenture, where he is responsible for the Americas and Asia. After Dartmouth Jim attended Victoria University of Manchester in the United Kingdom on a Reynolds scholarship and then attended Georgetown Law. Jim reports that his son, Bill, served as an Army reservist in Afghanistan and now works for a defense contractor in Virginia.

And now an announcement: John Rockwell and Bill Roberts have collaborated to set up a new Dartmouth ’72 Facebook page to “connect and reconnect with classmates and exchange information about the College.” So please check it out. It’s a great way to catch up on what’s happening with the College and with your classmates.

Finally, more “missing in action” ’72s. If you know how to reach any of these classmates by phone or email, please let me know at your earliest convenience: Robert Bialas, Craig Boswell, Mark Brunner, Russell Caplan, Walter Chouteau, Douglas Cranford, Mahmoud Daw, Eliot Demello, Osman Deniztekin and Sheridan Dodge.

Thanks for your help. Be well!

—Dave Hetzel, 5 Chestnut St., Windham, NH 03087; dghetzel@gmail.com