Perhaps it’s reunion hangover or maybe it’s due to the likes of Facebook and Google, but it appears that our class news has slowed down significantly during the past few months. Please keep sending me the news of your weddings and growing families so we can share with others! 


In the growing family department, Mike and Debbie (Godsoe) Rand welcomed their son Simon Elliot Rand into the world on October 6. Big sister Emily (now 3 years old!) loves her baby brother and the family is enjoying every new gurgle and giggle with their little man. Debbie and Mike are now living in Redding, Connecticut. Congratulations!


In the alumni making their way back to Hanover to leave their mark on the College department, Eli Burak was recently named the College’s photographer, replacing former College photographer Joe Mehling ’69, who retired in August after serving 18 years in the position.


From The Dartmouth online: “Out of approximately 30 applicants who interviewed for the position over the phone, Eli was one of a handful brought to campus for full-day interviews. ‘Eli was a standout from the beginning, not just for his work, which was just amazing, but he’s just a guy who captured our interests. He’s very genuine, he loves Dartmouth and he loves the area.’ ” Burak said that during his first few weeks on the job he has encountered aspects of the College that he did not experience as an undergraduate. “I never went to Sherman Library,” he said. “I just went there for my first time today. I like the ability to interact with professors and staff in a different role than I was before. I’m now communicating with them from a position. It gives me a whole new perspective.” Since Burak started in mid-November he has gone to Rauner Library to flip through photos by Adrian Bouchard, Dartmouth’s first College photographer, who worked from 1937 to 1976. “It’s cool to think that someone’s perspective of Dartmouth 60 years from now will be influenced by how I capture Dartmouth,” Burak said. He said he hopes to eventually capture scenes from Dartmouth’s various off-campus programs to expand the College’s visual offerings. “It’s one thing to hear about these trips but it’s another to see pictures,” he said. “Martin [Grant] is hoping to keep me on campus for a while, but thinking long term there’s a lot of opportunity to explore the amazing things that Dartmouth is, above and beyond student life.” Burak said he looks forward to embedding himself within College life. Getting to know his subjects will create compelling imagery, he said. “Dartmouth is amazing in the diversity of experiences of people that are here, and that’s what I want to show,” he said. After graduation Burak managed the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge for three years and worked for Resource Systems Group, a consulting firm in White River Junction, Vermont. He quit his consulting job in 2007 to work as a full-time freelance photographer, capturing everything from weddings to the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region, an unrecognized state in Azerbaijan. Eli is married to Julia Martiesian ’01.


—Kelly Heaps, 3666 Willowlea Court, Unit B, Cincinnati, OH 45208; heaps.k@pg.com