As the summer comes to an end, our class finds itself having had a massively successful (albeit slightly off-schedule) reunion in late July; hundreds of classmates were able to make their way home to Hanover and celebrate 26 years as alumni and 30 years since we became part of the Dartmouth family. While the group milestones are significant, the end of this summer also brings with it some massive professional shifts for a few ’96s.

In particularly exciting career change news and almost immediately after his visit to Hanover for reunion, Joey Hood was called to Washington, D.C., for his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. President Biden formally nominated him in late May to be the U.S. ambassador to Tunisia. N.H. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen formally introduced his confirmation.

Our classmates in academia seem to have had a particularly busy summer of transition as well! After 11 years at St. Louis University, Miriam Cherry is now a professor of law and faculty director of the St. John’s Law School Center for Labor and Employment Law in Queens, New York. She and her husband, Lucas Amodio, recently purchased a house in Larchmont, New York, and are looking forward to being back on the East Coast!

Betsy Miller continues to develop the next generation of legal scholars. “I’m excited to join the adjunct faculty at Harvard Law School this fall, when I’ll be teaching a new course: ‘Polarities: The Power of Both/And in Law and Leadership.’ ” Betsy, who continues her 14-year practice as chair for the public client practice for Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has previously been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University focusing on coursework in negotiation and settlement theory, mediation advocacy, and conflict management.

Erika Meitner also shared news of an exciting move. “After 15 terrific years at Virginia Tech, I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be joining the English department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall as a professor and director of the M.F.A. [program] in creative writing with these poetry luminaries!”

After seven years at the University of New England, Holly Parker set sail for a new adventure as the new director at the Bowdoin College Schiller Coastal Studies Center (SCSC). The 118-acre research facility is located 13 miles from the main Bowdoin campus on Casco Bay, Maine. In her new role, she will set long-term vision for the SCSC within the Bowdoin community and through external partnerships with other educational institutions, nonprofits, and industry partners.

One classmate also declared his intention for a desired job change: On July 13 Matt Wiltshire formally launched his campaign to become the next mayor of Nashville, Tennessee—with a focus on affordable housing and prioritization of public education for his hometown. For a combined 11 years prior, Matt was the chief strategy and intergovernmental affairs officer for the Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency and director of the mayor’s office of economic and community development. Visit his campaign website at wiltshire.com.

Lastly, word came from overseas with an update from Erika Monahan. She and her family have relocated to Cologne, Germany, after she was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship to work on a history project about Russia in the 18th century. “Since it’s Ukrainian Independence Day, I’ll share that a family that fled Ukraine due to the war lived with us this spring until we were able to help set them up in an apartment in our building. Please keep supporting Ukraine, folks! Any Dartmouth folks passing by the Cologne area would be totally welcome!”

—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org