As Dartmouth Hall continues to undergo renovations, we thought it might be a good time to collect favorite memories of this landmark from classmates. Jeanne Balcom writes, “My biggest memory is arriving for my 8 a.m. Russian class on a freezing cold day wearing multiple layers, only to have to strip off most of the layers because of the old, noisy radiators that gave off a lot of heat. Meanwhile, I thought my Russian teacher was saying ‘horror show’ about my Russian skills when he was actually saying xorosho, which means ‘good’ in Russian.” Now in the D.C. area, Jeanne is the new president of the board of Edu-Futuro, a nonprofit that helps immigrant youth build leadership and STEM skills, navigate college admissions, and obtain scholarships. Eric Valley writes, “I remember in that big lecture hall in the basement professor Donald Pease giving a lecture to his American literature class after a drive across the country. The lecture was thrilling, his excitement was contagious, and he was spitting into the first three rows. I took three courses from him. One time we talked on the steps outside about Herman Melville’s theory of the self. After 20 minutes I said, ‘I don’t get it,’ and he said, ‘Good!’ ”

Amidst her virtual media book tour for The Plot, on multiple top summer book lists, classmate and author Jean Korelitz discussed her book The Devil and Webster, her writing process, the publishing world, and witnessing screenplay adaptations of her books during the first class of ’83 virtual book event hosted by Maren Christensen.

“The book is a walk down memory lane with many direct references to Dartmouth,” says Becky Ankeny. “It also resonated with me because I am working as director of alumni relations at Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, and I interact with the admissions department and office of the president.” Joanne Sardella zoomed in from Vero Beach, Florida, where she is a financial planner for Raymond James and the president of the Dartmouth Club. “An exciting evening with Jean. My small book group of Dartmouth women loved Jean’s book, and we just devoured The Plot.”

The Dartmouth Club of D.C. bestowed Daniel Webster awards for Distinguished Public Service to two classmates: Leighton Chan, M.D., M.P.H., chief of the rehabilitation medicine department at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and Peter H. Kilmarx, M.D., fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and deputy director of the NIH John E. Fogarty International Center. After 25 years in business consulting, Miriam Ricketts made a career transition. “I went to nursing school, and I’m working in Cleveland as a surgical nurse. The work is satisfying and eye-opening. Becoming a frontline worker during the pandemic had its challenges. One positive outcome was having our son home from McGill for 18 months.” Alexander Mandych and his wife, Karen (mathematics Ph.D. from Dartmouth), live in western New York. He’s an associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (a.k.a., ENT surgery) at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “I continue to see patients and perform surgery.”

—Shanta Sullivan, 1541 North Sierra Bonita Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046; shantaesullivan@gmail.com; Elliot Stultz, 421 West Melrose St., #8A, Chicago, IL 60657; elliotstultz@yahoo.com