Class Notes 1994

Hello, fellow ’94s—Sean Kinney here.

I have signed up to be the class secretary for our class. Laura Davis has had the job for several years now and has earned the right to retire from the role. I will now manage the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine column. I want to thank her for her guidance to me and dedication to the role and our class.

It was great to see so many of you in Hanover back in June. Once we returned to the campus, time and memories came flooding back. I think we all experienced lots of nostalgia—including many who spent time hanging out on their former Greek house porch and rocking their ’94 jerseys deep into Saturday night!

If one had to think of a musician or band that captures our four years at Dartmouth, for me it would be Pearl Jam. I think all of you could easily sing the words to “Alive” and “Jeremy.” It is crazy to think their album Ten had its release date at the start of our sophomore year, 33 years ago. Pearl Jam just finished their tour with a couple nights at Boston’s Fenway Park. Neil Smith, John Merhige, Bill Barton, Gregg Frame, Dave Angeramo,John Schneider ’96, and I were at the final concert and night of the tour. I hope many more of the Dartmouth ’94 Boston crew were in the audience. Eddie Vedder and the boys still bring it. The show was an even flow of their ’90s classics and their new album (it rocks).

All the way across the country, closer to the other ocean and far more impressive, is Dan Polta. Dan was recently named school superintendent of the year in the state of Alaska. He has served as superintendent of the Denali Borough school district for almost a decade. He will represent the state in the national conference of superintendents in the spring of 2025. No word if fellow Alaskan Tom Douglas was involved and tipped the scales in his favor.

I would enjoy connecting or hearing from as many of you as possible. Why go through the effort? More input from you leads to better output in the ’94 column. Please reach out with updates on your life, family, location, career, or anything else you think your classmates would like to know or even just to say “Hello.”

—Sean Kinney, 53 Lighthouse Lane, Moultonborough, NH 03254; seankinney2001@yahoo.com

In the first column since our 30th reunion, I’m providing a recap from a jam-packed weekend on campus. Now that we’re no longer considered a “younger class,” our column word limit has been shaved. There is no room to waste words, so let’s dive in.

Thank you to Jen Suhie Hagelston and Samantha Stoddard, as well as the continued support from local Justine Wruble Fahey, for another remarkable reunion weekend. I’m not sure how they managed to line up perfect weather, a DJ with a nostalgic playlist, some Chi Gam-quality dancers, and plenty of fizzy drinks and boozy beverages crafted by Sam Von Trapp, but it was a home run combination. And that was just Friday night. One of the highlights had to be the live band featuring Deb Hafermann Brandt and Jeff Yasuda along with other Dartmouth alums in the new Collis Commons. The “come as you were” themed party brought some nods to early ’90s style, including a few classmates wearing their OG Dartmouth ’94 jerseys and Amy Palmer donning a Tri-Delt hat.

While I wait for you to share your updates and favorite reunion memories, I have a few tidbits to share. First, I ran into dear friends Melissa Diaz-Miranda Maher and Boston beauty Christina McInnes McCormick. I loved seeing, reminiscing, and laughing with these two while recounting stories about living in the Tri-Delt house together while sitting outside of Murphy’s. Because Melissa hadn’t been back to Dartmouth in 30 years, I strong-armed her into providing a brief update of her life. How do you sum up 30 years of a richly lived life? In classic Melly-style, with more laughter, heartfelt kindness, and connection to what matters most in life, Melissa leads with family first and giving back to others. She lives in Garden City, New York, with her husband, John, and three children. She has one child at Georgetown, one at Holy Cross, and one in high school; she is closing in on empty-nest syndrome and couldn’t be a prouder mother. After law school and practicing law for several years, Melissa found her true calling and fulfillment as a special needs teacher for second- and third-graders.

In closing, I wanted to provide a quick update on Pete Moore. He has been interviewing our fellow classmates around the girdled earth during the past year, so naturally I was curious where on earth he was living. Pete shared that he has now lived more than half his life in the Silicon Valley. He is married and has a water polo-playing son in college and a dancing daughter in high school. Recently, he has been rediscovering his love of swimming and competing—approaching both fiercely and seriously. I had to drag his accomplishments out of him, but I have no qualms bragging on his behalf. Pete has set a national record and a world record for the 50-plus age group so far. He has his eyes on setting more records and continuing to compete into the 55-plus age group and beyond. Pete has enjoyed connecting with classmates through the girdled earth series and continuing to meet new people in our class 30 years out from graduation. Keep your eyes open for Pete’s continued installments on our class Facebook page.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN, 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, ’94s! This short column should reach your mailbox shortly before our 30th reunion in Hanover. I am assured that there is still time to register. No matter where around the girdled earth you roam, you will always be welcome to return home to the fold of your Dartmouth friends! Jennifer Suhie Hagelston and Samantha Stoddard have been grinding all year to plan continuous days of togetherness, connection, nostalgia, and good old-fashioned fun.

As a reminder, reunion begins on Thursday, June 13, and will run through Sunday, June 16. If you have any questions, please email Jen at jenniferhagelston@gmail.com.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you in a matter of days. Please drop me a line after our reunion. I would love to report out to the class with your stories from our time together on campus.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

As I draft this column many of you are returning home from Dartmouth Homecoming Weekend or enjoying mini-reunions around the country. It’s fun to see the pictures and hear the stories that continue to unite us 30 years later. These October connections are only the opening act to the huge headliner coming in June, and you can have VIP, all-access passes. Our 30th reunion will be in Hanover from June 13-16, and you won’t want to miss it. Mark your calendars now and keep your eyes out for registration information.

In the run-up to our 30th reunion you can expect to hear more details from Jennifer Suhie Hagelston and Samantha Stoddard. Both Jen and Sam are professional reunion planners and have chaired a multitude of events through the years for our class. With such veterans at the top, they will build a strong team and plan a special campus experience. Please consider joining their reunion committee; reach out to Jen at jenniferhagelston@gmail.com.

Last note about reunion, please make sure you share any updates in your contact information to alumni records at alumni.records@dartmouth.edu. We want to make sure we have your correct information so you don’t miss out on class news and registration deadlines.

In other class news, Andrea Fiorentino Liebross is the author of recently released She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary. From her homebase in Indianapolis, Andrea is a certified business and life coach, mother of two children and two giant Leonberger dogs, and wife of Robert H. Liebross ’91. Andrea specializes in empowering female entrepreneurs, sidelining the drama in business, and inspiring breakout progress and tangible accomplishments. You can catch her advice on her engaging podcast, Time to Level Up.

Ken Davis was in Phoenix to play in the Sophie’s Day Golf Tournament, an annual tournament organized by Tony Lee to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Tony hosts the event to honor his daughter, Sophie, and her successful battle against myelodysplastic syndrome. Ken and Tony caught up with Alison LeBoeuf and Colleen Linehan Haskell during their time together. Ali is living in Palm Springs, California. Colleen’s daughter is in her second year at Dartmouth, playing lacrosse and having a wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in just a few months at reunion and hearing which of you four is really the best golfer. I’ve heard some tall tales but holding off on final judgment for your verification and facts.

Please remember to send your news for the next column, consider volunteering for our reunion committee, and (if you haven’t already) complete the Evergreen Connections survey. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, classmates! In anticipation of our 30th reunion in June 2024 I’m inviting you to share what you’re most excited to do and see on campus. I’ll collect your thoughts and share a David Letterman-style “Top 30 Things to Do During Our 30th” list through the course of the year in this column. In addition, I’ll ask you to weigh in on various Dartmouth-themed “this or that” options.

For the first question, I ask which did you prefer from the Hop: Hop fries or the Hop’s half-raw chocolate chip cookie bar? I live in a house divided. My husband, Ken Davis, has been underbaking chocolate chip cookies to this day because of his love for the Hop bar and his fearlessness of food-borne illness. To me, the Hop fries were a culinary highlight of our dining options on campus. Let me know what you think.

In terms of updates, class president Justin Sadrian shared that a group of 17 Dartmouth ’94s and their significant others celebrated their 50th birthdays last summer with a Caribbean vacation. Justin wrote, “Jeff Goldfaden did a fantastic job organizing the trip to Jamaica. Logan Johnson even arranged for Don Husky, an up-and-coming reggae artist, to put on a private show. Other classmates who were there included Derek Braddock, Todd Carlson, Brian Eller, John Faubert, Matt Feeley, Ethan Frechette, Adam Grossman, Scott Mansfield, Jason Pollard, Dave Rissmiller, Ari Rosenberg, Andy Ruckh, Ryan Spayde,and Mike Thurlow.”

I learned that Andrew Smith has published another novel. His newest book, titled The Pilot: Planet Gallywood #2, is a sequel to The Final Season. In a Venn diagram, Andrew’s Planet Gallywood series sits somewhere between The Truman Show and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Stay tuned for a third book in the series in the coming months.

I look forward to hearing from you and including your update in the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, class of ’94! Keep reading, because I’m getting right to the updates.

Dawn Matthews has lived in central Vermont since 2004. She moved to the area to work on Howard Dean's ill-fated presidential campaign, but stayed, and has practiced law for the last eighteen years as a public defender focused on prisoners' rights, post-conviction, and appellate work. She lives in East Montpelier with her husband, Peter Kopsco, sons Noah and Bram (15 and 13, respectively), and the family dog, Blue Ivy, a 75-pound sheepadoodle.

Sheila Bassiri Ahmed also shared news. Sheila lives in Walpole, Massachusetts, with her husband, Rizal Ahmed ’92, and their four children. Lindsay (21) is a senior at the University of Oregon in the architecture program, Tyler (19) is a sophomore at the Isenberg School at University of Massachusetts, and their younger two, Joey and Ryan, are high schoolers. Sheila writes, “I left my career in 2002 to raise my children but recently went back to work full time as the senior vice president of operations at the Service Council. I am an avid volunteer, serving as the longtime president of the board of directors for the Natick-Walpole VNA and as a district enrollment director for Dartmouth admissions for the past decade. I was also the first Dartmouth alumna to join and serve as president for the Dartmouth Women’s Club of Boston (an organization very dear to my heart), which was established in 1930 by wives of Dartmouth alumni and continues to grow its scholarship fund for current Dartmouth students. It is now a resource and community for mothers of first-year students from the Boston area. I recently went to Hanover to enjoy Riz’s 30th reunion and feel blessed to have kept in touch with so many close Dartmouth friends.”

In closing, I share the sad news of a classmate’s death. Schuyler Wheelock Henderson passed away unexpectedly on November 21, 2022, in New York City. Schuyler was born in New York City, raised in London, and returned to the United States to attend Dartmouth. Schuyler was the English major who was a regular at 4 p.m. Sanborn tea. While an undergraduate student he also engaged in a language study abroad program in Italy and spent his off term working in Romania at an orphanage for severely disabled children. He was awarded Dartmouth’s Lombard Public Service Fellowship to work with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.

Schuyler moved to Chicago, where he worked with refugee populations and attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine. Drawn to those marginalized populations he had served through the years, Schuyler wanted to support these communities in a different capacity. He found his way to NYU Hospital for a residency in adult psychiatry.

For the next 20 years, he devoted his life to working with patients at Bellevue Hospital and within the public mental health system. His continued leadership and impact through fellowships are too numerous to name; he published extensively, predominantly in the area of child and adolescent psychiatry. He was a gifted instructor at the NYU medical school and a bright, motivational practitioner. He is known for championing vulnerable populations with empathy and respect. He also completed his master’s in public health from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Schuyler was certainly a student of life and for life, yet he never lost sight of what brought him fulfillment: sharing his love of literature with his older children, Neko and Sunhie; cooking for friends; and spending time with his wife, Kate, and young daughter, Hattie.

Drop me a line, and I’ll share your news with our classmates in a future column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, ’94s. I have lots of nuggets to share. Please keep reading!

Ally Hyun Rich provided us with a nice update. Ally moved to Cleveland in 2018 BC (before Covid) with her spouse and children. She is counsel with Squire Patton Boggs, where she works with the white-collar and government investigations groups. Given the state of affairs, she is likely finding herself awfully busy.

Ally writes, “At our 25th reunion Lauren Campisi Smit and I reconnected and we’ve hung out a few times, both pre- and post-March 2020. Lauren is a doctor with the Cleveland Clinic practicing family medicine. Last fall I was in Miami, where I got the chance to meet up with Matt Feeley, who is currently the deputy chief of the healthcare fraud unit for the U.S. attorney’s office based in Miami. It was so lovely to see Matt after so many years and we joked that both of us have lived away from our respective home states ever since we graduated yet we are still devoted to our hometown teams.”

When traveling to San Francisco for a conference, Ally also connected with Brian Buenneke, who has been with Pantheon Partners now for more than 20 years.

Ally shared another connection from the same trip: “At one of the conference events Neil Smith and I saw each other across a crowded bar and we both stopped dead in our tracks. Neil is a partner in the Boston office of K&L Gates, where he practices in the white-collar group, which he joined after a number of years working for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the enforcement division. It was fun to catch up with him and we even managed to impress and horrify some of his colleagues when we were able to warble out the first few lines of the alma mater (hat tip to tequila and cigars).”

It comes as no surprise that Ally is looking forward to our 30th reunion and will be ready to give a rouse with a will. I can’t wait to join her!

I close with heartbreaking news of the death of classmate Thanalakshmi Subramaniam. “Shimi” made a mark wherever she went. After growing up in Singapore, Shimi moved to the United States to attend Dartmouth, where she was a leader in the arts and the community. Shimi majored in drama and women’s and gender studies, was a member of Casque & Gauntlet and Panarchy, and was a Tucker fellow.

Shortly after graduation she moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she dazzled the city with her fiery compassion and iridescent talent. She joined the Jump/Start Performance Co. and built an independent performance career featuring every kind of dance you could imagine, from hip hop and hoop to belly dancing and pole dancing. She loved merging her love of movement with her advocacy for people of all identities. After marrying her beloved Oscar Alvarado in 1997, they lived in a converted former bar that quickly became a popular venue for performing artists and shows such as It Came from the Lounge and the Miss Southtown Pageant, an all-gender beauty pageant with great local culture.

Friends describe her as a fighter for social justice, art, women, people of color, and general righteousness. She was known as a beautiful and graceful dancer, a mentor to the youth she taught, an inspiration to those she fought for, and a bold co-conspirator to those she befriended. Shimi was hit by a car in San Antonio and died on December 2, 2020.

Thank you for sending me your news. From the emails I’ve received, it sounds as though you’re finding meaningful ways to celebrate and enjoy this milestone year. In the next several columns I will keep sharing updates.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, fellow ’94s! How’s 2022 feeling so far for you? It’s a big year for many of us. Those who were not already 50 are hitting that milestone birthday this year. For me, big birthdays are a fun excuse to see old friends. Before you read too much into that comment, I truly mean long-standing, enduring friends, not friends of an advanced age!

My husband, Ken Davis,and I recently met up with Gwin Pitman Teasdale and Elissa Slovik Gaies in Denver to celebrate Gwin’s 50th birthday. Looking youthful and stylish to be sure, we met at a trendy Denver hot spot recommended by local entrepreneur Kathryn Murray Dickinson, who was traveling with her husband and unable to join. Lorien Albala Saumier and Anne Jeffers Weber also joined for the weekend at Gwin’s home near Boulder. We had plenty of laughs reminiscing about Dartmouth and our various exploits. Looking back, it didn’t feel as though our Dartmouth years were as long ago as they really are. How are you celebrating and reconnecting with Dartmouth friends around 50th birthday celebrations?

Andrew Smith released his debut science fiction novel, Our Lady of the Artilects, which hit several Amazon bestsellers lists. Writing as Andrew Gillsmith, he captured an interesting perspective of the sci-fi world that critics describe as part artificial intelligence, part spirituality, entirely thought-provoking, and impossible to put down. Andrew lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife, Cheryl, and two sons.

Please drop me a note and let me know what is spinning in your world. I look forward to sharing your news in the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, ’94s. I have a few bits of news to share with a common thread—children who are graduating. Yes, many of us have children reaching educational milestones, from elementary moving-up ceremonies and high school graduations to (gulp) college graduations.

As you may recall, classmates Cameron Matheson and Aleise McCann Matheson were married shortly after college, and perhaps they were even the first in our class to tie the knot within weeks of our June graduation. As goes life, they are already happy parents of a college graduate! They watched their eldest daughter, Daria, graduate from Wake Forest University last summer—with the ceremony delayed 16 months due to Covid-19. It sounds as though this recognition may be coming two years late, but congratulations! To think, at the time, I was bitter when our Dartmouth graduation was moved inside due to threatening rains that never came. Only in recent years has that minor inconvenience seemed almost forgettable compared to the rigmarole of commencements today. In additional news from the Matheson-McCann family, Aleise sold her Irish dance studio several years ago, and she has been spending more time with their younger daughters—who, judging from Facebook, seem to be deeply involved in the performing arts. Cameron is an attorney and shareholder at McGonigle, PC.

Lai Heng Foong is a doctor and specialist who works at different hospitals throughout Sydney, Australia. She has recently been appointed as the chair of the New South Wales emergency department community of practice for Covid-19 response. She regularly speaks at health symposiums and is a contributor to the Australian Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. Aside from work, she is also a proud mother, whose eldest son, Sebi, graduated from high school in December. (Fun fact: As it turns out, Australian schools operate on a calendar year and hold graduation in late fall, rather than in May or June.)

Last, I must thank my favorite, reliable, anonymous source, whom I affectionately think of as my own ‘Deep Throat,’ for these and many other newsy nuggets. You know who you are, and I am going to be nominating you as our next class secretary!

Please share updates, your graduation memories, or news of your own graduates for a future Dartmouth Alumni Magazine column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

I have two bits of news, hot off the presses (literally) to share with you.

Under “Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”: Wendy Tamis Robbins released her first book this past May. The Box: An Invitation to Freedom from Anxiety chronicles her journey to finding freedom from anxiety, obsessive compulsive, and panic disorders that started when she was just 6 years old. She included stories about her time at Dartmouth, when she struggled with depression and suicide ideation. The book became an Amazon No. 1 bestseller in August in four categories: mental illness, depression, stress management, and self-esteem self-help. While still practicing law as senior counsel at Holland + Knight, she has added coaching, corporate wellness speaker, and mental health advocate to her resume. She lives with her husband and his two teens in Marblehead, Massachusetts. You can find more about Wendy’s mental health journey and her articles, podcast appearances, and services at wendytamisrobbins.com. Since I’m pretty podcast crazy, I’m looking forward to the Pretty Panicked Podcast, which Wendy is launching in 2022.

Author and business owner Thatcher Wine has written another book, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better. Thatcher shared that this book “combines my personal experience with research into neuroscience, productivity, and mindfulness. As I navigated a number of challenges in recent years—cancer, divorce, parenting, and managing a small business—I thought a lot about where our attention goes and how to control it. The book provides a clear path for everyone to re-learn how to do one thing at a time (instead of all the tech-enabled multitasking we tend to do) in order to become more productive, less stressed, and happier.”

I’ve been mining a few more updates that I can’t wait to share, but they are not quite ready for this column. How’s that for a cliff hanger? Please send me your verified, vetted updates and stay tuned for more class news in the next issue of the alumni magazine.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi classmates! When my inbox is empty of news, I must use my investigative tool kit to troll for news to share; thank you, Facebook and LinkedIn. Luckily, I mined some good news and professional accomplishments to share about Matt Feeley. Matt earned his law degree from Boston College and master’s in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. After clerking with the U.S. Court of International Trade, he practiced law in Miami, specializing in international and anti-corruption law for many, many, many years. (It’s been a good many of those since we graduated.) He now serves as special assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Matt also authored an article on anti-corruption that was recently published in The International Lawyer.

Just when I thought our Class Notes would have to end here, I received an update from Kelvin Leung. Thank you, Kelvin! He is living in Hong Kong and involved with the Dartmouth Club of Hong Kong, through which he reconnected with Jed Kaplan.Since graduating from Dartmouth, Jed weaved his way across the world. He earned his Ph.D. in plant ecology from Lund University in Sweden and worked throughout Europe for almost two decades. (As I said, it has been many, many, many years.) Now Jed is serving as an earth science professor at the University of Hong Kong. While I am not able to include the photo that Kelvin shared with me here in this column, you can picture a snapshot of two handsome, spry, young men holding up a faded, creased, well-loved memento of years gone by: “The Freshman Book 1994.” Kelvin and Jed, please bring that decrepit relic to our next class reunion!

Kelvin also shared some exciting news about his friend and our classmate Pankaj Dugar. While Pankaj has had numerous impressive tech accomplishments, he is more recently known as the father to future Dartmouth class of 2025 superstar Akhand. Welcome to Dartmouth, Akhand! As Pankaj is used to handling big things, as evidenced in his prolific career in big data analytics, he will handle his son’s big move to the East Coast from their home in the San Francisco Bay Area with his usual aplomb.

As life ticks back to a new normal, many of us will be ushering in rather momentous birthdays during the coming year. Please keep me and your classmates posted on how you celebrate the big 5-0 and send your more ordinary news too. No news is too big or too small to share with your Dartmouth friends.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 03755; lauradavis723@mac.com

A little birdie told me about a bird enthusiast in our class. This nugget of news from an unnamed classmate led me on an online gawking tour of some of the most beautiful wildlife photography I’ve had the privilege to see. Classmate Paul Morf may not have started photographing birds and other animals as art; in fact, he simply snapped photos of birds and insects as a reference so he could identify them later. However, these newly discovered talents in photography, as well as his deliberate efforts to focus deeper onto his subjects, morphed (yep, I went there) into a passion for capturing everything from the extraordinary species in the Galapagos to ordinary migrations of birds. On his website he notes that nature photography is “transformative” because its expression is interactive and alters the artists as well as the viewer. While Paul still views himself as a “hobbyist,” you will appreciate his artistry. Although I didn’t hear about this news from Paul, I hope he will share any news from his home in Ely, Iowa. Check out his website at Morfsylvania.com.

Mark Giordono shared an update from life in 2020 as, like many of us, his professional and personal life blurred and mutated over the past year. Mark is featured in a recent business article, where he discusses how he used his various life experiences to adapt in the work-from-home science experiment as vice president of development and alumni relations at the nonprofit For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).

If any of you have children involved in the FIRST Lego League or FIRST Robotics competitions, you’re familiar with the widespread, STEM opportunities that FIRST provides for extracurricular exploration for students. Throughout this past year, in improvised workspaces and remote learning, Mark was uniquely positioned as a male executive in a primarily female organization to view and approach the organization’s mission. Seeing his coworkers as caregivers as well as professionals gave him new insights.

A self-described “bleeding-heart do-gooder,” Mark has a heart for service, as exemplified in his Peace Corps work in western Africa. Additionally, after graduating from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Mark has worked in both the private and public sector. Mark lives in the beautiful college town of Corvallis, Oregon, with his wife and three children.

That’s all the news. Please send me an update for the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 03755; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, fellow classmates. As we look ahead to a new year, I posed the following question on the “Dartmouth College Class of 1994” Facebook page: What do you plan to do in 2021 when Covid is no longer a limiting factor?

More than 25 classmates chimed in with variations of “We want to be around people!” As Aleise McCann Matheson writes,she wants to “have friends over. Lots. All the time.” We are looking forward to visiting family and traveling freely. We miss live music and movie theaters, and we especially miss enjoying these moments with each other. If you missed the Facebook postings, here’s a recap of your classmates’ plans for 2021.

Tony Lee keeps it simple and heartfelt with plans to visit family and Dartmouth friends. Katherine Zalios Maguire will take her children to Florida and Greece to reconnect with family. Debra Hofferman Brandt plans to reinstate weekly family dinners with her parents.

Shannon M. Sullivan mentions travel abroad—her family plans to “actually use our passports” to connect with extended family and friends in person. Lots of us want new stamps in our passports, too. Julia Caputo Stift wants to see her son living in Canada, Kathleen de Riesthal wants to connect with her husband’s family in Spain, and Nina Cook Silitch wants to “get back to the Alps—my old stomping grounds.” Colleen Linehan Haskell and Kelly Bell Lytle should book seats together, because they’ll go anywhere in Europe.

Jordan Frank looks forward to the good old days of going to a movie theater. Remember that? It seems like ages since we’ve shared popcorn, let alone air, with other cinephiles. Others miss live performing arts, from Broadway shows to their children’s school choral concerts. Aleise McCann Mathesoncan’t wait for her daughter’s show choir performances and competitions; she is even willing to chaperone the group on a chartered bus trip.

Katy Hayes wants to go out to dinner with family and friends beyond the shadow of a pandemic. I concur because I don’t want to wash any more dishes. Kelly Lytle mentions lingering over good drinks and conversation at a cocktail bar, an activity that gets an “amen” from many corners of our class. While my husband, Ken Davis, never goes on Facebook, if he even has an account, I know he would choose to go to the Nashville Whiskey Festival, which is lively, crowded, and delicious.

We have some classmates who still love the sweaty dancefloors and miss the mosh pits. In 2021 Ian Cameron will be heading to an “awful bar in Williamsburg or Bushwick” for late-night dancing, along with other movers-and-shakers Alison LeBoeuf, Maggie Lockwood, and Shannon Sullivan.

The fitness aficionados are looking forward to big races and opportunities to be out in nature. Ruth Maria Marmaril wants to “surf warm, turquoise waters with people who don’t speak the same first language.” Kristin Grosser Tufo, Charis Connell Taylor,and Nina Cook Silitch are looking forward to running—anything from 5ks to qualifying for the Boston marathon. Mike McClure has his sight set on a half-iron man competition.

Our class feedback wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the place common in all of our heart, and this time our classmates are looking forward to visiting Dartmouth as parents. Gates Bryant would like to go to a fall parents’ weekend in Hanover to visit his son and Kelly Lytle is up for a trip to visit her son, Richard. Sara Bone Dyett wants to see her son, Jack, “play Big Green football.”

The written and unwritten wishes and intentions for 2021 are numerous and ambitious, but I am ever hopeful that by 2022 we’ll have collectively checked these adventures off an inspired, metaphoric to-do list. Send me an update on your progress for the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 03755; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hi, class of ’94. I have two bits of exciting news to share with you. During the past few months good things have still been happening beneath the overriding arc of alarming headlines, and I’m happy to share them with you below.

Pam Kunz has recently moved into a new leadership role at Yale School of Medicine as the leader of gastrointestinal cancer programs. This new position brings Pam and her family to New Haven, Connecticut, from the Palo Alto area in California. Pam joins the Yale team from Stanford University School of Medicine, where she has served as the director of the Stanford neuroendocrine tumor program and leader of the endocrine research group. Prior to both completing her clinical and research fellowship in medical oncology and serving as chief resident in internal medicine at Stanford University, she graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 2001. Pam’s professional accomplishments are impressive, but I will always remember Pam’s supportive ear and warm smile for her many friends and fellow Tri-Delts. Congratulations and welcome back to the East Coast, Pam!

Congratulations also go out to Elizabeth Cook Donohue,who was inducted into Dartmouth’s Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society in April. For those of you not familiar with this honor, the Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society recognizes alumni volunteers who provide distinguished service and visionary leadership for the Dartmouth College Fund. As many of you know, Beth has been an active Dartmouth volunteer for years and an extraordinary class fundraising leader. As a class, we are fortunate to have Beth in this position! Year after year she is constantly willing to serve; she generously gives her time, heart, and energy to the College on behalf of her classmates; and she demonstrates her savvy abilities by meeting and exceeding lofty goals set by the Dartmouth College Fund. Beth deserves the College’s recent recognition and honor, as well as our class’ thanks! Cheers to Beth!

Please send me updates and news to share in the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

At this stage in life, many of us are moving beyond the weekend jetsetter persona or sticky-hands phase of life and settling into a more permanent place and reclaiming-space-from-plastic-toys phase. Luckily, beautiful magazines and Pinterest boards provide easy inspiration for home projects. Fellow classmates also provide vision, with their experiences and professional work. Jill Porter recently renovated the Adirondack home of classmate Catherine Ross Haskins. Catherine and husband Taylor Haskins own a beautiful home on picturesque Lake Champlain.

After graduating from Dartmouth Jill went on to earn a master’s in architecture at Harvard University in 2000. She also studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture. Jill’s works run the gamut from modern residential to large-scale urban planning projects. See Catherine’s home and Jill’s finished product featured on Dwell.com.

That’s all I have. Want more news and updates? Then, send me yours!

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Happy new year, class of ’94!

I received one piece of alumni news from the College, about classmate Randall Akee. In a recent article on the College website, Randall is featured as a one-time liberal arts undergrad who has gone on to make his mark as an influential faculty member of color. Randall is an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles in the department of public policy and American Indian studies, and he is currently spending the year at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., as a fellow in economic studies.

Randall has had a distinctive career, one that showcases the interdisciplinary nature of a liberal arts education, such as he received at Dartmouth. After graduating Randall worked on several American Indian reservations and with Canadian First Nations and Pacific Island nations and he worked in economic development for the state of Hawaii. He has conducted extensive research on the political and economic factors affecting race and ethnic mobility and education attainment. Additionally, he has taught students in the classroom, sharing his insights and encouraging deepened thinking.

He completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in June 2006. Prior to his doctoral studies Randall earned a master’s in international and development economics at Yale University.

If you’d like to read more about Randall, you will find the article about him and other Dartmouth alumni who are now influential faculty of color at various universities around the country at https://sites.dartmouth.edu/alumnisymposium/alumni-bios.

Please send your updates to me. I need your news!

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

This class column comes to you on the heels of our 25th class reunion in Hanover. By all accounts it was a blast, full of quality time with dear friends and big fun with the larger groups on the Green. Class president Deme Navab Taleghani sends this update after the weekend: “We had a record-breaking 300 classmates make it back to Hanover to celebrate our 25th reunion. People traveled from all over to be a part of this incredible weekend. Classmates reconnected with old friends and made some new connections, and we were reminded just how magnificent Dartmouth is and what a special place it holds in all our lives. Thanks to the dedication of the reunion planning committee, which was led by dynamic duo Jen Susie Hagelston and Samantha Stoddard and included Shelia Bassiri Ahmed, Jordan Stern, Kristin Siuda Rosenbaum, Christina Dowding Nicholas, and Catherine Adams Stanzler. Their contributions made this the best reunion yet. Thank you, Jen and Sam, for an incredible and action-packed weekend. We appreciate and value your determined work and service to the College.

“We had two riveting ’94 panels: the writers’ panel, which included Christine Carter, Brigid Pasulka, Jonathan Good, and Lisa Kocian, and the entrepreneurs’ panel, which included Alison Andrew Reyes, Lisa Cloitre, Steven Norall, and Trevor Burgess. Our class dinner on Baker lawn was magical, only superseded by the culminating celebration with the Dartmouth Idol all-stars and spectacular fireworks. We capped off the evening dancing and rocking it out on the dance floor until the wee hours of the morning. Thank you all for making this weekend unforgettable. We missed all those who couldn’t make it back but look forward to seeing everyone at our 30th reunion in 2024.”

In other class news, the American Academy of Microbiology elected Sonya Dyhrman as a new fellow in the prestigious and oldest life science organization. After graduating from Dartmouth she earned her Ph.D. in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She now serves as a microbial oceanographer at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and as an associate professor at Columbia University.

Please send your stories from reunion and updates of summer fun. Also take a minute to check out our class Facebook page; there are some fantastic pictures from reunion you’ll want to see!

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

Do you remember walking across the Green on a beautiful late spring day and seeing alumni run into each other? They would stop right there, hug and back-slap, and make up for lost time. Their huge smiles, wise eyes, and expressive faces hinted at their rich, interesting, and much-lived experiences. Their smile lines, gray hair, and class-of-60-something nametags screamed that they had graduated a few decades earlier. They looked happy to be home, they looked full of stories, and they looked old. Well, friends, we are the new set of old folks about to descend upon campus with our own connections to make and stories to tell. I can’t wait to see all of you old hags in just a couple of weeks at our epic reunion.

Class president Deme Navab Taleghani sends this update: “Please join us for our 25th reunion up in Hanover from Thursday, June 13, to Sunday, June 16. If you haven’t registered yet, no problem. You can still register online at http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/reunions/class-1994 or in person at our class tent when you arrive.

“Reunion highlights will include a private group tour of the newly renovated Hood Museum just for ’94s, an architectural walking tour of campus, navigating college admissions workshop for families, and panels featuring ’94 artists, writers, and entrepreneurs. We will cap off an amazing weekend with a class dinner on Baker lawn for the 250th celebration of Dartmouth.”

Not only is there time to register for reunion, but there is also time to contribute to our class gift. Every single gift, no matter the size, is a vote of confidence for the education we received and the experience we value. Our gift will support financial aid for Dartmouth students and support Dartmouth’s continued commitment to enroll brilliant students, talented athletes, visionary entrepreneurs, gifted artists and humanists, bridge-builders and change-makers, regardless of their ability to pay tuition. Reunion head agent Beth Donohoe Cook shared that classmates have already contributed enough money to support more than 50 Dartmouth College Fund scholars at $50,000 each. How many more students can we support together with our gift before the end of reunion? If you’d like to make your commitment today, you can give at dartgo.org/D94.

In other news, I heard from Mike McClure. Mike and his wife, Valerie, are living the dream, as is their son, Ryan. Ryan will join the class of 2023 at Dartmouth! Mike writes, “It will be fun for me to relive my college years through Ryan’s eyes. Being the big skier that he is, it seemed that a nonnegotiable requirement in a college was that it owned its own ski mountain.”

Mike has lived in the Minneapolis area since graduating and has been at Verint Systems for close to 15 years, in sales of customer engagement solutions. His part-time “dad” jobs include shuttle driver to various sports practices and youth baseball coach for 13 straight years. Though he claims his win-loss record isn’t stellar, he earns points for showing up.

He shared bits about classmates as well. He met up with Deb Connell Nagorka last year when he was in Tampa, Florida, on business. They enjoyed reliving the glory days of working at Thayer Dining Hall. He caught up with his freshman-year, South-Mass neighbor Chris Greene in December. Chris even showed up for lunch wearing his ’94 jersey. Chris, please wear your jersey to reunion! I’m impressed that you have it and that it still fits!

As always, I welcome your news and updates.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027; lauradavis723@mac.com

In just more than six months we will meet in Hanover to celebrate and reminisce about our years at Dartmouth College. If you haven’t marked your calendar, stop here! Pick up your device of choice and block out June 13-16 on your calendar. We want you to be part of our 25th reunion!

Now that you have appropriately saved the date, there is still a lot that needs to happen during the next six months. A snow-covered campus needs to thaw and burst with shades of green; days need to lengthen so we can linger under our class tent; you need to contact your friends and make a plan to meet up in June; and you need to register for reunion! Registration will be online later this winter and early spring. You will be invited to link to the registration page electronically.

Reunion co-chairs Jen Susie Hagelston and Samantha Stoddard welcome your help and input in planning day or evening events. If you are interested in volunteering, contact me or class president Deme Navab Taleghani at demetra.taleghani@gmail.com. During our reunion we will also vote on a new slate of class officers. Anyone interested in a position and to find out about exciting ways to re-engage with fellow classmates, other Dartmouth grads, as well as the College, reach out to Deme for more information.

During the next six months you can work on sharpening memory recall with a class-favorite challenge, Flashback Fridays. Deme will continue sending these fun, adorable, and somewhat regrettable pictures of classmates through email on Fridays. If you are not receiving these and would like to, please let me know so you can be added to the class list.

Are you too excited to wait until June to reconnect? You’re in luck! We have several mini-reunions planned for 2019 in various cities, such as Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. As the exact locations and dates are finalized, we will share them with you through email and Facebook. If you would like to plan a mini-reunion in your city, please contact Catherine Adams Stanzler at catherine@stanzler.net. She will help you make that happen.

If you like the friendly competition of Flashback Fridays and don’t want to wait until June, then you are going to like this new challenge. Class leaders are running another competition for the person who attends the most mini-reunions leading up to our 25th reunion in Hanover in June. The rules are straightforward. You must send Deme or Catherine a photo from each of the mini-reunions you attend. The classmate who attends the most mini-reunions will win the grand prize of (drum roll) a free admission ticket to reunion and, perhaps more importantly, bragging rights.

Stay tuned for more updates and news in two months.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

No matter how many years pass since we graduated from college (almost 25, but who’s counting?), I still regard the year on a school calendar rather than the traditional calendar. Maybe it’s my constant craving for summer vacation, maybe it’s keeping the master calendar for my family with school-aged kids, but regardless, August feels likes an ending, and September feels like a fresh start.

What “fresh start” lies ahead of you? Consider sending me your news, as you read through the updates of your classmates below.

Len Mead is sporting a new job these days. He reports: “After seven years managing the content at Comcast SportsNet New England (home of the Celtics among other things), I had the opportunity to shift west and become general manager of NBC Sports Northwest (home of the Trail Blazers among other things). My wife, Amanda MacMillan ’95, and three kids are still in Littleton, Massachusetts, and I’m doing the world’s worst commute. I fly home to Massachusetts most weekends, then hop on an early Monday morning flight out to Portland, Oregon.”

As long as Len is making that commute, he is making the most of his time on the West Coast and is catching up with a few Dartmouth alums. He hosted Jeff Buehler at a Blazers’ game, and he spent a weekend in Seattle with long-time friend Mike Gardner and his wife, Jenn, and their two children. Calling other West Coasters? Reach out to Len!

Honor Sachs shares her own westbound story. Honor writes, “Well, everything is signed, and the ink is just about dry, so I think it’s safe to share my news: After five wonderful years with an amazing faculty here at West Carolina University, I am moving on. In the fall I’ll be joining the history faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It will not be easy to leave my WCU colleagues, who are among the hardest working people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. But I am also excited to join a new group of incredible scholars at Boulder. I will be in North Carolina one more year as a fellow at the National Humanities Center before I head out west. Life came at me fast this year, and I am excited and grateful to have a year off to finally write this long-gestating Coleman family book and to embark on a new professional adventure. Thanks to all who helped along the way!” We are looking forward to reading about your next chapter—both literally in your next book and figuratively in a future update in our Class Notes.

Matt Feeley sends news of his interesting and recent career change. After 16 years in private law practice, he has accepted the appointment to serve as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida. He writes, “I am assigned to investigate and prosecute healthcare fraud cases. As you might imagine, we have quite a bit of that in south Florida. I would be happy to connect with any classmates who might find themselves passing through Miami.”

Keep the news coming!

—Laura H. Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Our reunion committee is coming together! Class president Deme Navab Taleghani sends this message: “We have at the helm the amazing all-star, power team of Jen Suhie Hagelston as reunion president and Samantha Stoddard as reunion treasurer. Remember it’s just us at our 25th reunion from June 13-16, 2019. No other classes in our cluster. Solo mio. Sophomore Summer all over again. We need more people to join our committee to plan an amazing reunion.” After the last Class Notes, a few classmates have stepped forward to volunteer—thank you! Please consider being part of this pre-reunion reunion.

I heard from Heather Wick, and she sends an update of the blissful life in Vermont. After graduating from Albany Medical College in 1999, she began an anesthesia residency and completed a year of internship. As Heather puts it, “Working 120 hours a week was not for me, so I quit.”

After working for a contract research organization managing global clinical trials and then for a management consulting firm in the healthcare division, she moved back to Vermont to be near her family. Heather explains that finding a career niche and paying off medical school debt can take a while. Eventually, she became a recruiter in the healthcare industry, working on a nationwide basis. She writes, “I have been doing this for six years now and own my own company. I have two employees and couldn’t be happier. We focus on executive-level positions in the long-term-care industry. Life in Vermont is great. I work from home so I have no commute. Even if I did, traffic is minimal.” Personally, I couldn’t be more impressed that Dartmouth helped provide the well-rounded, liberal arts education that served as a foundation for an impressive career that spanned medicine, business and human resources! And, no commute or 120-hour weeks? Sign me up!

A little birdie told me that Adam DeWitt was recently named president of GrubHub. Interestingly, GrubHub has announced its partnership with Taco Bell and KFC to provide delivery of these favorites, joining White Castle on the list. As with Heather Wick, Adam’s liberal arts education at Dartmouth and time in Hanover served as pivotal inspiration in his career. Apparently, EBAs’ midnight deliveries made a lasting impression. Every Alpha Chi Alpha brother is thanking you, Adam!

Another birdie passed on an update on Trevor Burgess. Since graduation his career has taken him from Monitor Co. to a lengthy stint executing initial public offerings at Morgan Stanley. After serving as the president and CEO of C1 Bank, he now acts as chairman of TRB Development, a diversified company that includes residential real estate development and consulting. In addition to his knowledge of financial markets, he is apparently quite a technological guru and holds four patents. He recently made financial headlines with a new venture into flood insurance through Neptune Flood. After spending about a year traveling much of the world with his husband and daughter, I bet Trevor has even more stories to share. Trevor, we hope to see you at reunion next year!

And, on that note, we come full circle, back to our reunion. Let me know if you will join our reunion committee, and please send updates and news about yourself (or your friends) to be featured in the next issue. Otherwise, I’ll be consulting the birdies for news!

—Laura H. Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

What an amazing comeback! Who doesn’t love a turnaround story, featuring a come-from-behind victory, and on Homecoming of all days? For those of you who weren’t in Hanover for the epic game, the Big Green was behind 21-0 against Yale at halftime. Our team fought back to a 28-27 victory and even scored a nail-biting touchdown in the last minute of the game. Of course, I immediately thought of our own victorious classmates, who led the football team to three consecutive Ivy League championships. These classmates made Saturdays in the fall a time to come together and develop a deepening sense of school spirit and pride—so thank you to our football-playing alumni!

One of my favorite memories from our first year at Dartmouth, aside from those home football games, is hanging out in the Richardson dorm with new friends and lounging in the halls hearing each other’s stories. Freshman year would not have been as memorable and meaningful without Malik Franklin. Arriving at Dartmouth from San Jose, California, Malik has now gone full circle and lives in the Bay Area in Oakland, California. After Dartmouth he pursued a career in banking and then earned his M.B.A. at Tuck. Now he has settled into life as a husband, a father to son Balin (age 12) and business owner of Northbridge Investments, a real estate investment and advisory firm. He still serves as a real estate venture partner for a local private equity firm and I’m sure he is still throwing the football around with his friends and Balin.

Jen Collins Cross is also a Bay Area resident, and she writes to let us know about her recently published book, Writing Ourselves Whole: Using the Power of Your Own Creativity to Recover and Heal from Sexual Trauma. Jen offers writing groups for sexual trauma survivors, and her book is based on works that have grown from these groups. Jen explains, “The book is a collection of essays and creative writing encouragements for sexual trauma survivors (and others!) who want to risk writing a different story for their lives.”

Jen’s book has received positive reviews from Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, and Ellen Bass, poet and coauthor of The Courage to Heal, among others. Also of note is Jen’s recently published essay, “The Story of a Common Girl,” which speaks in part to her experiences at Dartmouth while still a victim of sexual abuse. Check it out!

Please continue to share your updates by emailing me at the address provided.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Greetings, fellow classmates and welcomed summer air! This winter our classmates have been busy with research, innovation and adventure.

Sarah Wagner is an associate professor of anthropology at George Washington University. As a social anthropologist who has brought together ethnographic studies, military research and forensic science, she is quick to offer kudos for her early inspiration. Sarah writes, “I credit Dartmouth’s classics professor James Tatum with opening my eyes to the possibilities of interdisciplinarity and to the themes of war and memory in his beautiful book, The Mourner’s Song.”

Sarah’s interesting and worthy work was awarded an acclaimed Guggenheim Fellowship this year. Sarah writes, “With the generous support from the Guggenheim Foundation and my university (George Washington University), I’ll be on leave next year, writing the book, tentatively titled Bringing Them Home: The Identification and Commemoration of Vietnam War MIAs. In 2012 I was fortunate enough to participate in a U.S. military recovery mission in Vietnam; the excavation resulted in the identification of two service members. The story of that recovery and what it has meant to surviving relatives and their larger community is central to the book, which seeks to explore how advances in forensic science affect modes of national remembrance.” Congratulations, Sarah!

Dan Popa has used his interdisciplinary Dartmouth studies during the past couple of decades to push innovation. As a professor at the University of Kentucky at Louisville and the head of Next Gen Systems, a robotics research group, Dan is developing an inspiring application of robotic technologies to improve quality of life for the world’s aging population. Dan describes these robots as “nursing assistants, helpers for nurses and patient sitters.” While not designed to replace nurses, the care-bots can literally sit with a patient, speak with the patient and complete simple tasks—such as taking blood pressure or grabbing a remote for the patient. Believe it or not, they can also snitch on a patient who is doing things he or she shouldn’t, such as getting out of bed. It is incredible that Dan’s care-bots could be available within the next decade in hospital settings. Then, who knows the implications and applications for home care? You may be ordering one for your mother or father from Lowe’s or Amazon as a birthday gift before our 35th reunion.

The last bit of news is one of the most harrowing winter stories I’ve heard. Tim Wetherill, who came to Dartmouth from Philadelphia, now lives in the Helena, Montana, area. That in and of itself is a harrowing winter story, but it doesn’t stop there. He and his 15-year-old son were enjoying a day of cross-country skiing when they were caught in an avalanche. The two were thrown, and luckily Tim’s son was “only” buried up to his chest and able to access his cell phone. As Tim explained in his email, “I suffered six broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver.” Leave it to a surgeon to be technical. In layman’s terms, they were just plain lucky to be alive! Tim leaves the story with a bit of a cliffhanger, writing, “still deciding if I’ll ever backcountry ski again.”

As you bask in the June sunshine, linger in the longer days and read these interesting bimonthly morsels of news from friends, I hope you’re motivated to share your own tidbits with our class. Drop me an email and I’ll include your update in the next issue.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Hello, fellow classmates! I’m right in the middle of a busy admissions season at Lafayette College, where I am a part-time admissions director. It’s inspiring to read the stories of high school seniors about to embark on the mind-opening experience of college. I’m lucky to be reminded daily of the important life-shaping role college can play and my own transformative college experience at Dartmouth. How awesome would it be to go back to Dartmouth as a student for just a few days, knowing then what we know now?

I received an update from advocate Suzie Fromer, who has worked tirelessly on behalf of those suffering from life-threatening food allergies. She and her son, Danny, were featured on Fox News in N.Y.C. in December on Good Day New York. Suzie spoke about oral immunotherapy (OIT), an innovative treatment focused on retraining allergic patients to tolerate moderate amounts of allergens by eating them daily. She has been overseeing Danny’s OIT, which has involved introducing mere milligrams of peanuts to his diet daily, as tolerated. Painstakingly slowly, she has increased the amount of peanuts he eats over months and, as of her update, he eats 12 peanuts or 1 tablespoon of peanut butter every day with no ill effects. Doctors hail this break-through as a potential life-saver for those who suffer from anaphylactic allergies, as Danny does, as well as generally freeing people from the fear and stress associated with extreme allergies. Kudos to Suzie for her relentless research and courage to try new approaches! Success stories are all over the news, and she welcomes anyone to contact her with questions if you are considering similar treatments. If you are interested in watching the news spot, as it was filmed live, here is the link: www.fox5ny.com/good-day/228481362-video.

Class officer Justin Sadrian recently returned from his annual Dartmouth guys ski weekend in Vail, Colorado, with a hearty group of ’94s. He writes, “This year included Jeff Goldfaden, Brian Eller, Matt Niehaus, Todd Carlson, Matt Feeley, Derek Braddock, Logan Johnson, Jason Pollard, Mike Thurlow and Ari Rosenberg. A bit older and certainly grayer, but trying to convince ourselves that we’re still 20-something. This year included skinning up to the top of Vail after the mountain closed and skiing down in the dark.” I have a feeling it included more than that!

Thank you for the updates! I’m all out of class news for now. Please keep the news coming or you’ll tear open the next issue and find this column depressingly empty.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Welcome 2017! With the season’s first snowfall, shorter days and clear blue skies, I’m reminded of returning to Dartmouth after a much-needed break, ready to start the winter term. Can you believe we haven’t headed to Hanover to hear “the crunch of feet on snow” for 23 years?

I heard some interesting news about beverage expert and classmate Dominic Engels. He recently became the CEO of Stone Brewing after years as president of POM Wonderful. While he may not have known that the food and beverage industry would play a dominant role in his future career, he did have the right educational foundation. Dominic says he has been using his German culture and society major and his German foreign study abroad (FSA) experience since Stone Brewing has a significant presence in Berlin, Germany. Perhaps Dominic could work with the German department to coordinate a “field trip” for the next cohort of FSA students. Dominic lives in California with his wife and three sons, ages 7, 11 and 13.

Matthew Babcock is an assistant professor of history and program coordinator of the department of social sciences at University of North Texas-Dallas. He specializes in U.S. history, focusing on the history of North American borderlands, American Indians and the colonial Southwest. He joined the faculty in 2010 after teaching undergraduate and graduate history courses at Stephen F. Austin State University and working as a research associate in its center for regional heritage research. Before that he earned a Ph.D. in history from Southern Methodist University in 2008 and an M.A. in history from the University of New Mexico in 2001.

After years of education, teaching and research, Matthew wrote his book, Apache Adaptations to Hispanic Rule, which was recently published by Cambridge University Press. The book is part of their studies in North American Indian history series, in which Dartmouth professor Colin G. Calloway has also published. Matthew writes, “The book reinterprets Southwestern history before the U.S.-Mexican War through a case study of the poorly understood Apaches de paz and their adaptation to Hispanic rule.” Matthew says that thousands of Apaches settled near Spanish presidios in a system of reservation-like settlements, stretching from Laredo, Texas, to Tucson, Arizona. His research showed that these settlements “constituted the earliest and most extensive set of military-run reservations in the Americas and served as an important precedent for Indian reservations in the United States.”

In closing, I share the sad news of the death of an inspirational classmate, our valedictorian, Kamala Devi Dansinghani. To call Kamala a gifted student is an understatement. She was the first female valedictorian to graduate with a 4.0 from the College, and USA Today counted her as one of the top 20 students in the country. We will all remember her moments of genius in the classroom and insights in her valedictory address at our Commencement. Kamala went on to earn her M.D. and M.P.H. from Harvard Medical School and worked for two years at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Her beautiful legacy can be seen and heard through her two lovely daughters, Arya Vasant (10) and Soraya Vaishali (8). She is also survived by her mother, brother and sister-in-law.

Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com
 

Even 20-plus years after graduating I still feel the anxious flutter of the coming school year in late August. No year sits quite so indelibly in my mind as 1990—the year we began our time together at the College on the hill. With freshman fall on my mind, and I hope yours now too, consider sending me a special fall quarter memory. I’d love to share your stories or news with the class.

Erika Katz-Abramson shares an update. She is a parenting expert and the spokesperson for Invisalign Teen. She is frequently featured on Access Hollywood Live, Inside Edition and Fox News and has written an online parenting guide, which can be found at unbraceteenconfidence.com. As a parent to both a teenage daughter and son, she is deep into the trials and tribulations of parenting teens and tweens. Thankfully, she is helping spare other parents the trial-and-error approach!

Harley McAllister and his wife, Abby, recently returned from Dominican Republic, where they were missionaries at a Christian school teaching math and science to local children. As Harley puts it, they “went down there with three boys and came back with a fourth, adopting a young Dominican boy named Isaac who was in need of some pretty serious heart surgery. Everything went well, and he is an absolute bundle of energy and personality.”

The big family lives in Spokane, Washington, and they all enjoy the abundant outdoor activities in the surrounding area. In fact, upon returning to the United States, they spent two months visiting many of the national parks and were inspired to write e-book guides on making the most of the adventure when visiting the parks with children. As Harley writes, “I never figured I’d be any kind of author with my engineering background, and I’m sure my Dartmouth English professors would be even more surprised!”

While Harley’s “day job” is more typical given his engineering background, he and his family still plan their summer vacations to national parks and have a few more guidebooks in the works. If you’re interested in checking out the McAlister guides, you can find them on Amazon.com or at nationalparkswithkids.com, and then more widely in fall of 2017 in paper edition.

On a much more somber note, I report to you the loss of a fellow graduate of the class of 1994, Charles J. Trieloff. Known to friends and family as Jen, he spent his time at Dartmouth as an active leader in Dartmouth Players and the Marching Band, a beloved Sigma Nu brother and a leader in the scenery shop of the Hopkins Center. Who can forget Jen’s distinctive Lennon-esque glasses or trend-setting beard? Who can remember being lifted in his company by his smile and chuckle? Jen was a remarkable person who has been described as “having no enemies, only friends.” Those who knew him at Dartmouth can vouch for that sentiment.

After graduating summa cum laude, Jen earned a master’s of fine arts from University of Wisconsin. He served for years as scenic director, properties master and visiting artist at numerous theaters. The awards and recognition he received during his years in theater at the College were only the beginning of his distinguished and acclaimed career ahead.

Of all of Jen’s accomplishment, he most treasured his family. Jen and his wife, Deb, have two children, Jennings and Rachael. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Deb, Jennings and Rachael on the loss of your beloved father and husband and our dear classmate.

Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

I have some good news to share from our class officers. Class president Deme Navab Taleghani shares that our class will sponsor a research project for a current Dartmouth student in the upcoming year. Annelise Brinck-Johnsen ’17 will be traveling through England researching human rights through 19th-century British literature. This opportunity for both Annelise and the class of ’94 supports our mutual love for Dartmouth, a common quest for knowledge and our continued drive to pursue our passions with purpose. Good luck to Annelise!

Speaking of continuing education, I have updates from our very own classmates who have made education their lives’ work.

Stemming from his interest in his undergraduate minor of women’s studies, David Cohen continues researching this important issue as a law professor at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law. He coauthored an award-winning book, Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism. He and his coauthor were featured on Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR in December. The book has been touted as a top feminist book in 2015 and certainly a starter of thought-provoking, lively conversation.

Martha Douple Tomeo made a leap this past year from the lower 48 to Alaska, where she is the librarian at Tri-Valley School in the Denali Borough School District in interior Alaska. Her two children are students at the school, as well, and they are enjoying the breathtaking, natural beauty of Alaska. Somehow, another ’94 landed at the Tri-Valley School; Dan Polta is the district superintendent. With these two in cahoots this school is the luckiest district in Alaska, if not the whole country!

Lynn Webster has been an inspirational teacher in Massachusetts since earning her master’s in early childhood education from Wheelock College in Boston. She continues to be the kindergarten teacher students never forget and was just recently named teacher of the year for her school district. Congratulations, Lynn!

I finally have a complete update on the exotic life of Katherine Osborne Valdez.She has worked (off and on) for the U.S. Agency for International Development since 2004. Her husband, Pablo Valdez, is with the U.S. State Department. As you can imagine, these positions led to a number of posts abroad: Peru, Indonesia, Chile and now Mexico. Katherine writes, “We are loving living in such a vibrant city, which has the added advantage of being close to family and friends in Houston and Austin, Texas. We’ll be living in the heart of Mexico City until summer 2018 and truly welcome visitors.” If you’re up for an adventure, join Katherine, Pablo and their two daughters!

Katherine notes that she reconnected with classmates Martha Douple Tomeo, Michelle Moore Fortier, Marcie Mitre Levin and Anne Jeffers Weber via a virtual book club for their middle school daughters. This innovative idea is a great blueprint to encourage alumni reconnections. Perhaps other classmates have similar ideas to share? Please let me know so I can share an inspiring idea with fellow classmates. Keep your updates rolling into my mailbox. I may be reaching out to you, as well. Kindly respond!

Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Happy Winter Solstice, fellow ’94s! I’ve heard from a few classmates that this December promises a flurry of travel, frenzied schedules and new opportunities. This description may not sound like news, since it could probably be any of us during any given week this month! However, as it turns out, our classmates are up to notably more than the typical holiday madness and end-of-year commitments.

Cynde McInnis embraced a cross-country trip in the Whalemobile at the end of 2015. As many of you may remember from our years at Dartmouth and from a recent feature article in Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Cynde has a passion for whales, dating back to age 8. Pursuing her interests and blazing a career path, she is now program director for whale-watching programs and has created the Whalemobile as an educational tool for children’s school programs. This fall she has been taking her Whalemobile from Pittsburgh through the Midwest and down to Texas to share a hands-on experience by literally bringing land-locked students inside the belly of the whale. Cynde may even be at a school near you. Check out Cynde’s schedule, where else but at thewhalemobile.com.

Pherabe Kolb also has embarked on an exciting career opportunity. She writes, “After 12 wonderful years I am leaving the Smithsonian to join the Aspen Institute as the managing director of communications and public affairs. I start in November. Aspen is an educational and policy studies organization that fosters leadership based on enduring values and provides a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The headquarters are in Washington, D.C., so I will be staying here (where I’ve been since graduation), but will be based in Colorado during the Aspen Ideas Festival each summer. So if any ’94s are headed out West for that event, look out for me!”

Already an accomplished entrepreneur, CEO and Ph.D., Frida Polli had some other big news coming to us through Demetra Navab Taleghani. Deme writes, “On June 27 Frida tied the knot with Conor Bastable in a beautiful ceremony in New York City. Several classmates were there to celebrate Frida’s special day, including Demetra Navab Taleghani, Catherine Adams Stanzler, Daniele Caston Stanzzini and Christy Brogan.” Congratulations to you both!

In a last bit of news, Anne Jeffers Weber, along with husband Scott and two daughters, recently made a big move. Anne shares, “After enduring 25 years of winters in Hanover, Minneapolis and Chicago, we moved south to Austin, Texas. While it’s been a bit of a culture shock, our girls love playing sports all year round outside and we’ve definitely enjoyed eating our way through this foodie town.” Luckily, Anne has two dear Dartmouth pals who lived in Austin for many years—Katherine Osborne Valdez and Gwin Pitman Teasdale—and they can surely give Anne tips on Texan life. As a teaser for the next Class Notes, I’ll let you in on some of Gwin and Katherine’s fun endeavors.

Thank you for all of the news you took the time to share, and I invite you to continue keeping me in the loop on your lives and the lives of your friends. I’m looking forward to a full mailbox with updates, New Year’s resolutions and more. Let me know what you’re working on, and I’ll share some resolutions in the next article, due out at the end of February, which coincidently is just about the right time to remind us what we were resolving in the first place.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 1664 Cambridge Court, Bethlehem, PA, 18015; lauradavis723@mac.com

Ten years ago Nihad Farooq handed over the reins of this column to me. So it seems fitting to report, in this, my last column, on what she’s been doing this past decade! After receiving her Ph.D. in English from Duke University, Nihad became a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Media and Communication—where she recently received tenure! So a hearty congratulations to Nihad, whose areas of study include American studies, transatlantic anthropologies of race, migration and ethnicity, evolutionary theory, gender studies and British fin-de-siècle literature.

Also receiving tenure and a promotion is Jeffrey “Bart” Bingenheimer, who is now an associate professor in the department of prevention and community health at the George Washington University Miliken Institute School of Public Health. An expert in the social determinants of health-related behavior and social epidemiology and the quantitative methods for studying both, Bart has conducted research on sexual behavior, HIV risks and the impact of neighborhood on health and mortality. Prior to joining the school, Bart was a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded postdoctoral fellow in family demography and individual development at the population research institute at Pennsylvania State University. After completing his doctorate in 2005, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health. His current research focuses on the influences of gendered family, peer group and community contexts of behavioral risk factors for HIV, STIs and pregnancy among adolescents and young adults in Ghana.

And in yet more academic news, David S. Cohen has just been promoted to full professor at Drexel University’s School of Law. In addition David was recently awarded a 2015 Innovation in Scholarship Award from the Center for Reproductive Rights for his scholarly work on issues at the intersection of constitutional law and gender, masculinity and violence against abortion providers.

And I’m pleased to report that Mike Houston and his design team were recently awarded a daytime Emmy for their work on the PBS production, The Mind of a Chef, in the category of outstanding main title and graphic design.

Jen Skoda gave birth to a third child, a May Day girl named Astrid Rose.

Kimberly “Nala” Walla and her partner, Keeth, of nationally acclaimed children’s music band The Harmonica Pocket, have just released Sundrops, their third all-ages recording. Their albums Ladybug One and Apple Apple won national acclaim, awards and radio play. They recently performed with the Seattle Symphony and they plan a full slate of concerts around the Pacific Northwest. Visit www.harmonicapocket.com for updated concert details, and to hear their album-streaming sampler, visit https://soundcloud.com/theharmonicapocket.

So that’s all, folks. Thanks for reading, and rest assured because I’m handing over this awesome responsibility to the equally awesome Laura (Hardegree) Davis, who is also going to continue to serve as our class’s vice president in addition to taking on the ’94 class newsletter. So please help her out and get in touch with her soon with all of your news at lauradavis723@mac.com, because if she can do all that, you can do that little, can’t you?

So long, and thanks for all the dish.

—Suzie Fromer, 76 Dogwood Lane, Irvington, NY 10533; suziefromer@gmail.com

Ever since Roe v. Wade anti-abortion forces have tried nearly every tactic to eliminate it. And while the murder of an abortion doctor may make headlines, the stories of the men and women who are terrorized on a daily basis for being involved in abortion care have not been heard. Until now.


In Living in the Crosshairs: the Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism, David S. Cohen and Krysten Connon have compiled their extensive interviews with abortion providers across the country to tell the stories of how these healthcare workers are targeted at home and work, in person and online. Drawing on ideas from the interviews, the authors then propose several legal and societal reforms that could improve the lives of providers—including the suggestion that we redefine targeted harassment as terrorism rather than protest.


David is a law professor at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, where he teaches constitutional law and gender and the law. This important work will be out May 1. Congrats!


Dr. Christine Carter, a happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a speaker, writer and mother, also has a new book out—The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work. At this point in her career Christine found herself exasperated by the busyness of modern life—too many conflicting obligations and not enough time, energy or patience to get everything done. Determined to create a less stressful life for herself without giving up her hard-won career success or happiness at home, she road-tested research-based tactics that promised to bring more ease into her life. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the latest research related to happiness, productivity and elite performance, she followed every strategy that promised to give her more energy—or that could make her more efficient, creative or intelligent. The Sweet Spot shows us how to live in that zone we’ve glimpsed but can’t seem to hold onto—the sweet spot where we have the greatest strength and also the greatest ease. 


I checked in with Christine to tell her congrats on the new book (I really enjoyed and highly recommend her first book, Raising Happiness, too), and received the following update: “I just got back from Seattle, giving a talk at Microsoft. I was introduced by fellow ’94 Liz Berger Friedman! She has worked there for 11 years and her husband Jordan Friedman is going to be working there soon, too. Jen Dirksen Archer joined us for lunch. She has four kids, ages 3 to 10. It is not dull in their household!”


Thanks and congratulations, Christine!


And I’ll end this column with some official class business. This June 19-21 is our class’s 20th reunion (actual 21st). It’s on my calendar, and I hope to see lots of ’94s there—it should be a lot of fun to see where 20 years, give or take, has put everyone.


I’ll also be retiring from my “job” as class secretary as of this reunion. When I took it on 10 years ago I was newly pregnant with my first child, living in a new community and happy to reconnect with an old one. But now it’s time for me to move on in search of my own sweet spot. If you’re interested in the position of class secretary, please drop me a line or contact our class president, Deme Navab Taleghani, at demetra.taleghani@gmail.com.


—Suzie Fromer, 76 Dogwood Lane, Irvington, NY 10533; suziefromer@gmail.com


Heather Searles and her wife, Christina Guillory, traveled from their home in New Orleans to Boston this fall for Heather to give birth to the couple’s twin sons Jax and Crosby. While a trip is the last thing on most couple’s agendas immediately before a double due date, Heather and Christina had to travel to another state in order to give Christina any parental rights to the duo. If Heather had opted to give birth in their home state of Louisiana, Christina wouldn’t have been listed on the birth certificate or been able to adopt the boys. She would therefore have had no rights at school or to make medical decisions for the twins or even have been guaranteed custody in the event that something were to happen to Heather. However, because they had been married in Massachusetts, Christina was listed on the boys’ birth certificates when the couple traveled there for the delivery. And though much of Louisiana is behind the curve on gay rights, more progressive New Orleans will often honor what is written on a child’s birth certificate.


So though it was disruptive to relocate the family to Boston for two months, Heather and Christina enjoyed seeing East Coast friends—both Lynn Webster and K.J. Ward were there to meet the new additions—and were glad to be closer to family during this happy but hectic time. Heather also added, “We recognize how privileged we were to be able to do this and how most gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender Louisianians don’t have this option.” I see from Facebook that the boys are adorable and growing quickly!


I also heard from Jana (Friedman) Brown, who has been writing professionally for 20 years in the publishing, newspaper and magazine industries. Currently she serves as the editor of the St. Paul’s School’s award-winning alumni magazine in Concord, New Hampshire, where she lives with her family. In addition, for the past few years she’s been working on a screenplay with actor and director Perry King (Riptide, The Day after Tomorrow, Melrose Place, Spin City). The Divide is now taking shape as an independent film to be shot in California next summer. Set in drought-plagued northern California in 1973, The Divide chronicles the story of Sam Kincaid, an aging rancher with a failing memory, his estranged and independent-minded daughter, Sarah, and Luke, a young ranch hand who finds himself in the midst of this family in crisis. Internal struggles, the realities of an unforgiving landscape and the need to reconcile a long-ago tragedy collide to create the backdrop for this classic American Western.


For details about the movie, visit www.thedividemotionpicture.com. If you would like to help Jana fund the film, you can donate at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/90298581/the-divide-motion-picture?.... 


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


I received the below email update from classmate Anne (Jeffers) Weber just in time for tonight’s deadline; thanks, Anne!


“I don’t think I’ve written an update in many, many years, but given our 20th year as alums is just over a month away, I thought I might.


“After working in ad agencies big and small, going client-side for a short stint and starting and selling my own startup, I’ve settled back into the kind of agency I love—small, nimble and creative—at Glantz Design. I’m the proud mother of two girls and happy to be celebrating 10 years in Evanston, Illinois, where I serve also on the boards of four local nonprofits. 


“I regularly keep up with a few ’94s and can report: I’m looking forward to celebrating the bat mitzvah of Elissa Slovik’s daughter Abigail this month. After completing her M.D. at Harvard, Elissa went back for her master’s of public health at the University of Michigan and now works for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.


“Whenever I get home to Colorado I see Gwin Pitman, who is in consulting with Deloitte and the mother of two little towheads. 


“I also keep up with Lorien Albala Saumier, who, in addition to many duties within her community and kids, is an amazing knitter and entering her second career in insurance as she gears up to take over her family business.


“Most years we also reunion with Laura Lee (Hardegree) Davis and Kelly (Bell) Lytle. Laura keeps busy with three kids ranging in age from a teenager to a 5-year-old. She and Ken Davis live in Pennsylvania, where he also took over the family business, and they remain quite active with Dartmouth. Kelly and Rich Lytle ’93 are happily entrenched in Asheville, North Carolina, where she raises their three boys and acts as director of programs for Susan Loomis, an experiential French cooking school. Truly wish we were getting together this year, but trying to convince my family to make the trek next year.”


Which provides me with a great segue into a message from our class president, Deme (Navab) Taleghani. Since our 20th class reunion will be held next year—June 19-21, 2015, to be precise—we need your help to form a reunion committee. In Deme’s own words: “Consider volunteering with a friend. It’s not that much work and actually fun. (I should know because I chaired the last two reunions.) The College helps and provides volunteers to run the actual reunion. So don’t worry, you will not work at all during the reunion, just enjoy yourself, hang out and drink. So far we have a small group that has already agreed to be on the reunion committee: Sam Stoddard, who will serve once again as our reunion treasurer, and Laura Davis, Catherine (Adams) Stanzler, Colleen (Linehan) Haskell, Sarah Thomas, Hugh Carspecken and Marlyse Haward-Sawyer. This is a great start but we need more volunteers and still need a reunion chair to steer this amazing group of volunteers.”


If you are interested in helping, please shoot Deme an email at demetra.taleghani@gmail.com. And happy 20th!


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


I’ve got lots of happy news to report this summer, but I’ll start by breaking the news that our very own People’s Most Eligible Bachelor Sam von Trapp is officially off the market. He was married to Elisa Maya Sepulveda this past May in a chapel on the grounds of the von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. The happy couple will be living at the property, where Sam is working on mountain bike trails and snowmaking and the Trapp Hill Brewery. 


In new-baby news I’m happy to report that Diem (Do) Bloom gave birth to Minh Walter Bloom on April 2. Andrew and I had the pleasure of attending the baby shower in N.Y.C. in February, when we got to visit with Diem and her husband, Dave, as well as meet her parents and many brothers and sisters, which was a lot of fun. Diem is returning to work soon as production manager for the law division at Oxford University Press, where she has been working for the past four years. 


Also in April Lexie Riley Bonitatibus and her husband, Peter, welcomed their second daughter, Isabella Alessandra Bonitatibus. She joins older sister Lira Atalanta, who is 19 months old. Writes Lexie, “We can’t wait to bring Isabella and Lira to Dartmouth for our class reunion next year. We still live in our log home in Saratoga Springs, New York, a great place for our kids to grow up loving the outdoors. Peter and I work at GE and I took a promotion last summer at GE Energy in cost control. We love being parents and look forward to teaching our kids all sorts of things through the years.”


And speaking of teaching all sorts of things, Robert Bordone reported that he was recently promoted to the rank of full clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School. Bordone, who is the founding director of the school’s negotiation and mediation clinical program, is now the Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard, where he teaches courses in dispute resolution and negotiation.


Which leads me to my last bit of news, poached from Facebook. Shoshana Leis recently posted the following as her status update and it caught my eye: “MSU [major status update]: Ben and I are in the final stages of negotiating our contract to be the rabbinic team of Congregation Har Shalom in Fort Collins, Colorado. We plan to leave in the end of July. Goodbye, N.Y.C. beat. Hello, Rocky Mountain high.”


Mazel tov and congratulations to everyone for all the happy news and worthy accomplishments.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suzanne.fromer@alum.dartmouth.org


Seems everyone was very busy over the summer; thank you to everyone for writing in to share your news. 


My hearty congratulations to David S. Cohen, who won a teaching award at the inaugural graduation of Drexel University’s Earle Mack School of Law earlier this year. David is an associate professor at Drexel Law in Philadelphia, where he teaches constitutional law. The Excellence in the Classroom Award was voted on by students and the winners were announced in the middle of the graduation ceremony. We actually got to visit with David this summer—it had been a year since we’d last seen him and his wife, Cassie Ehrenberg ’96—and we had a blast watching our four boys (!) play together.


From Facebook I learned that Rebecca Eldredge recently launched threefourone, a new strategic marketing initiative that represents an innovative take on the traditional cross-promotional event format. Incorporating elements of cause-related marketing, threefourone matches businesses and not-for-profits based on shared current or desired target market to serve as co-hosts for an event that showcases each participant’s products, services or programming and enhances the enjoyment of attendees. For more information, you can find them on Facebook, visit their Web site at www.3four1.com or find them on Twitter at threefourone. Look them up if you’re going to be in the Dallas area; the events look phenomenal.


I got a note from Nina McAdoo, who it turns out lives only 25 minutes from me in Westchester County, New York. We commiserated via e-mail over the sad state of our respective tomato crops; seems like we both picked a hell of a year to start growing tomatoes. (For anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about, this summer’s record rains in the Northeast brought the worst tomato blight in years. And as I write this Hurricane Danny is threatening to do in the last of ’em.) “It’s been a really long time since I contributed to our Class Notes, so here goes. In January I had a baby girl named Caitlin Sydney McAdoo Savitt (yes, I saddled my daughter with four names!), who joins her also lengthily named brother Aidan James McAdoo Savitt, 5. I am an in-house corporate lawyer with the accounting firm KPMG LLP in New York; my husband, Andy Savitt, is a marketing and communications consultant. We live in Tuckahoe in the New York suburbs of Westchester County. We have been enjoying this very rainy summer as much as possible and look forward to spending Labor Day weekend up in Maine with fellow ’94 Lauren DeLong, her husband, Mike Healey, and their two boys Calvin and Luke.”


And I heard that Ashley Campion was just appointed to the board of directors of New Avenues for Youth. This Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit service organization is committed to helping at-risk and homeless teens gain the life skills necessary to lead sustainable lives and avoid lifelong homelessness. Ashley is the vice president of the Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation, where she has served for 15 years. She is also involved with a number of other nonprofits in Portland, including the Community Transitional School, Friends of the Children and Planned Parenthood.


Last but not least, hot off the presses as I write this, Leah (Tarpy) Rodgers and Greg Rodgers have a brand new son! I don’t have too many details yet but earlier this week I received the following missive from the proud new papa: “Franklin Robert Rodgers was born at 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, August 25. Seven pounds, four ounces. Mom and baby are doing great!”


Congratulations to everyone. And happy Halloween.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suzanne.fromer@alum.dartmouth.org


I’m pleased to report some cool news from Mike Houston, whom I got curious about after I saw the Facebook group “I want Mike Houston to join Facebook” (which I’m happy to report he has now done); good timing, because he’s been up to an awful lot! For the past 12 years Houston has been working as an artist and a cabinetmaker in N.Y.C. In 1999 he co-founded Cannonball Press (http://cannonballpress.com), which he still co-runs. Based in Brooklyn, Cannonball Press publishes small black-and-white woodcuts as well as giant woodcut installations and performances. In December Houston and his business partner were named United States Artist Ford Fellows and were also featured in Juxtapoz magazine and were in The Washington Post this past January. “We presently have shows up at the Taubman Museum in Roanoke, Virginia, and the Northern Illinois University Museum of Art in Dekalb, Illinois. This past weekend we were printing our own version of the Bounding Billow, a ship’s newspaper, on board the USS Olympia in Philadelphia as part of Philahgrafika 2010—a printmaking triennial. Yes, we were pulling prints on board a ship built in 1892 on a press from about the same time in a blizzard. We’re heading to Copenhagen tomorrow for a show at Mohs exhibition space. But more important than all that—I’m getting married in May to a wonderful woman by the name of Alison Hart, whom I love dearly.” 


Also on the happiness front, Dr. Christine Carter, a happiness expert best known for her science-based parenting advice, has a new parenting book out, Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents. A sociologist and executive director of UC Berkeley’s Great Good Science Center, Christine also writes the blog Half Full: Science for Raising Happy Kids, (greatergoodparents.org). Christine strives to be a counterpoint to some of the more opinion-based parenting advice platforms out there; however, her newest book is as much about her personal life and her children as it is about science. A parent-to-parent tone and humorous, tell-all approach also make the science accessible and fun for parents. Christine is also a columnist for The Huffington Post and also has a private consulting practice near San Francisco helping families and schools structure children’s lives for happiness.


And now more happy news! I’ve been chatting with Lynn Webster on Facebook and was so intrigued by her status updates out on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, I contacted her to see what she was up to, and here it is:


“I was teaching kindergarten and first grade in Worcester, Massachusetts, when I met my wonderful husband, Jason Ben David. He is a hunter and a farmer and a carpenter. We have two daughters, Maple (6) and Ivy (4). I have been staying home with them on the farm we created here on our two acres, The Little Pond Farm. We have Boer goats, ducks, pigs, chickens, quail, pheasant, sheep and rabbits. Our kids have participated in every aspect of farm life. They’ve watched baby goats get born, seen eggs hatch, planted seeds, picked their own lunch from the back yard, built nest boxes, caught loose chickens. We raise almost all of our own organic meat year round and all of our organic vegetables over the summer. Every year we get a little closer to becoming self-sustained. This summer we have a booth at the farmer’s market so we have increased the size of our garden tenfold.” With her oldest entering kindergarten last fall Lynn also returned to teaching pre-K, so she has now taught every grade in early childhood.


And once again, don’t forget to mark your calendars for our upcoming reunion this June 18-20. Our reunion committee has been hard at work planning an amazing weekend and it is going to be a great get-together. For more information or to register online, visit www.dartmouth94.org.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suzanne.fromer@alum.dartmouth.org


Do any of you remember Susie Lee’s singing debut during freshman trip at Moosilauke? I wasn’t there, but I heard she stood on a table and sang the “I like the Sprite in you” song at the top of her lungs and was forever known (well, for at least freshman year) as “the Sprite girl.” I hope memories will be shorter lived regarding the summer day camp debut of my 2-year-old son Peter, who also made quite an impression on the first day when he decided to strip down and streak the whole camp. Sigh. This event was foreshadowed by my husband Andrew Hyman’s joke at our recent 16th-year reunion; upon leaving the kids’ event at Leverone Field House he told our son, “Come on, this may be your only chance to rush the field.” We can only hope he’ll have outgrown his penchant for streaking by college.


We had a great time returning to campus at reunion, which took place during an idyllically beautiful New Hampshire summer weekend. Things had certainly changed for us, however, from when we were last there, as we’re now traveling with 2- and 4-year-old boys. Instead of returning to the dorms, we opted to bunk with Sari Cohen and Adam Pollak, who live(d) in nearby Warner, New Hampshire. As it turns out, it’s a good thing we finally made the trek up to see their beautiful New Hampshire home, as by the time you read this they will have relocated to Sari’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There Adam will be working as a supply chain manager for Pittsburgh-based grocery chain Giant Eagle. Our boys had a great time playing with their daughter Geri (4) and son Ezra (2) and we had a wonderful time catching up and enjoying some wonderful home-cooked meals and look forward to visiting them next time in Pennsylvania.


We didn’t actually get to spend too much time at the campus or the reunion, but I did run into Alissa Peck, Liz (Berger) Friedman, Rebecca Shaewitz Nathanson and Jen Azapian, who had flown in from France, where she is attending business school, in front of the Hanover Inn. Then we headed straight for the kid-friendly activities, where I had a nice chat with Ann Koppel and Erin (Green) Comite and also saw Mike Schlenker and Greg Irwin, who were both there with their wives and active little boys.


In other class business news, I have been told that we are in need of a class webmaster. The company that hosts our webpage has a very easy-to-use interface that is only slightly more complicated than sending e-mail. So even if you’re no computer expert, serving as our class webmaster would be a great and easy way to get involved in our class leadership. Please let me know if you’re interested.


Other exciting news from June includes this juicy tidbit. A.J. Goldman did his first solo sail across the Pacific Ocean in the 2010 SSS TransPacific Yacht Race in a 36-foot sailboat, Second Verse. For more information, or to see photos of A.J.’s journey, visit http:// mac247waikiki.com/sailing.


Hope everyone has had a great summer and is still enjoying the last bits of it. And if you have an update on Susie Lee, please write; I’d love to hear what she’s been up to.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suzanne.fromer@alum.dartmouth.org


We start off with our baby-news-of-the-(every-other)-month-club with another happy Brigid Pasulka update. I got in touch with Brigid to congratulate her on her novel, The Sun And Other Stars, which was published this winter (and selected by Oprah as one of her winter reads!) and was thrilled to hear back from Brigid that she is also a new mama. “My husband and I just had our first baby—a boy—Levi Vierling Coffey on December 3. We have no clue what we’re doing, so all advice is welcome. Just don’t tell me they never sleep through the night, because that’s all I have to hold onto right now.” I assured her they all do sleep through the night—though I did pointedly refrain from telling her that as parents, she and her husband will probably never do so again—they don’t need to hear that now, right?


I also heard that Dominique Ellner Goldstein gave birth to her second daughter, Jacqueline Ava Goldstein, on January 11. I am sad to say I haven’t had a chance to make it down to the city for quite some time to visit Dominique, and this winter has just been brutal here in the Northeast, but as the weather warms and we can once again stand to be outside, I hope to try to make it to Manhattan with my two off-the-wall boys to meet Dominique’s newest little one. So happy for you guys!


In less sleep-deprived news, Judd Serotta was elected to the board of directors of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, an independent, nonprofit organization established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. Previously Judd had served as a member of the center’s legal advisory board. Judd is a litigation partner at the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome LLP, where he has more than 16 years of experience litigating complex commercial disputes and alternative dispute resolution. 


And in nearby New Jersey we now find Earl Plante, who has relocated to Somerset from San Francisco, California. Earl recently began working as the director of resource development at the New Brunswick-based nonprofit New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC). Every year this community development financial institution provides millions of dollars in capital and technical assistance to support the revitalization of underserved communities across the state. These efforts create high-quality housing, early care, education and employment opportunities for thousands of low-income people. Recently NJCC has emerged as a leader in developing innovative strategies to address the foreclosure crisis and to rebuild New Jersey neighborhoods in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.


Congratulations, Earl, and welcome back to the East Coast.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


Not a lot of news to report today, but as I sit here poolside at the Tarry Crest swim club in Tarrytown, New York, on this warm, breezy day that doesn’t bother me too much. My husband, Andrew Hyman, and I just got back from a brief trip to North Adams, Massachusetts, where we attended Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival at the awesome Mass MOCA museum and had a near encounter with Elizabeth Greenberg. Unfortunately their wireless network wasn’t as good as advertised, so by the time we connected virtually we’d missed each other actually—but next time we’ll plan in advance to meet up! For anyone who hasn’t been, the Mass MOCA is an amazing museum. Set in an abandoned transistor factory that practically bankrupted the whole town when it went under, it’s now one of the largest art exhibition spaces in the world, which means they can host some super cool exhibits (suspended “exploding” cars, for instance). Combined with things such as the Solid Sound festival and other musical and multi-media performances, the museum has, I hope, spurred a suitable revival for the local economy. I highly recommend a visit, even with kids of all ages, if you’re ever in the area.


I did a little LinkedIn poking around and would like to report that classmate Nelli Black is now a producer at CNN’s In America. Previously, she worked at ABC News and The New York Times.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


Scored an update from Heather Nolan off Facebook. She’s looking forward to trading in Davis, California, for Los Angeles in the fall. Heather will be relocating there along with her husband, John, and their 3-year-old son Django in time for her to start a master’s program at UCLA in cinema and new media studies. I suppose this makes us bitter SoCal University film rivals (having studied at USC myself) but I think our shared Dartmouth heritage can help me overcome that. My one question for Heather as she becomes a Bruin is if USC students drag stuffed bears around on the ground in honor of the rivalry, what do UCLA students drag around? The USC mascot is the Trojan….


Received an e-mail from Alissa Peck that she and husband Jeremy Fader welcomed son Max Henry Fader to their family, where he joins big sister Amanda. Born May 12, Max weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces. Congrats!


I also received the following amazing and amazingly concise missive, considering the incredible places he’s both coming from and going to, from Dan Polta: “After living in Islamabad, Pakistan, for five years and working as the principal of the International School of Islamabad, I’m moving to Guatemala to be the secondary principal at Colegio Maya.”


I couldn’t just let that go, so I wrote Dan back and begged him to tell me more; he was kind enough to elaborate about his experience these past few years in Islamabad: “In some ways it is very boring as a city and at the same times very unpredictable. There have been times when terrorist activities seem like they will shut down the city but things seem to keep going. When I arrived the country was on an upswing. Following a major bombing three years ago, the expat presence reduced significantly. Things were quite bad after that with repeated attacks on police bunkers in the city. The situation seems to have ‘stabilized’ but anything can happen. At school we monitor the news and security situation daily; sometimes we go on virtual school and keep the students at home.” We hope Dan’s move goes smoothly and can’t wait to hear more from his new post.


And I awoke this morning to a last-minute reprieve from Kevin Williams, who heeded my desperate news-fishing post on Facebook last night. “I just received a master’s in library science from Catholic University in May, which, I have to say, was made particularly interesting by the fact that I had to commute two and a half hours from Richmond, Virginia, to D.C. for some of my classes, and that my wife gave birth to not one but two little girls during the course of my time in the program. All of this while playing stay-at-home dad by day, club DJ by night. Needless to say, four hours made for a good night’s sleep for me. That said, school is done, the youngest (6 months) has been sleeping through the night, I’m looking for a library job and I now consistently get six hours of sleep a night. Ahhh….”


On the home front, husband Andrew Hyman tossed a piece of paper in my overflowing inbox to let me know he’d been selected for inclusion in the to-be-published Super Lawyers magazine’s 2011 New York Rising Stars list. Cool. Now if only my 3-year-old would stop referring to himself as ‘Dopey’ (as in the dwarf) things would be going pretty well around here.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


I had the pleasure of catching up with award-winning film and commercial director Adam Lipsius right before the theatrical release of his first feature-length film 16 Love in January. After graduating Adam worked in children’s advertising with Saatchi & Saatchi. He then started a film career in post-production in New York, working under such directors as Martin Scorsese on Kundun and Bringing Out the Dead and Barry Sonnenfeld on Men in Black before going on to study writing, directing and producing at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. His graduate-school short films, At A Loss…, A Modest Proposal and 4° have played dozens of festivals, including the Beverly Hills Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival. While he was still finishing up film school Adam got a job making commercials for a toy company, which yielded spots for Bratz dolls and other Little Tykes products—and, with their small budgets and a quick shooting schedules, proved to be excellent training for independent feature filmmaking.


A teen tennis tale, 16 Love was written and produced by the team behind A Cinderella Story and features young stars Lindsey Shaw and Chandler Massey. E One, the international distributors of the Twilight movies, has bought worldwide rights. Adam forged a cutting-edge plan for distribution in the United States, where the film enjoyed a simultaneous 10-city theatrical run with day-and-date video-on-demand and online streaming.


Next up for his production company, Uptown 6 Productions (so named because he and his wife, Linda, met many years ago on the New York uptown 6 subway line), Adam is developing a young adult detective movie, Knox Chase on the Case, which he will write and direct. He’s also optioned the graphic novel Nanny and Hank: Retirement is Hell, which he describes as a “septuagenarian vampire story.” He’s hoping to get it up on the big screen by the 2013 holidays, “because I think 70-year-old vampire grandparents make for a happy Christmas—but that’s me.”


On a more domestic note, Adam is also the proud father of daughter Dorothy (5) and son Eli (3), who both make their big screen debuts in 16 Love. Adam splits his time between Los Angeles and Denver, Colorado, where his daughter is in class with Owen, the son of Lisa and Jake Mortell. Sam Winslow also lives out that way and, according to Adam, “we are always threatening to go out and have a beer together.” Adam also teaches acting for the camera and shooting action at the University of Colorado, Denver. Congrats to Adam on the film, and thanks so much for a great update!


I also found an interesting post on Facebook from Nicole Schmidt, so I reached out to find out more about her and her husband’s organization, the Baby Alex Foundation. 


“In 2007 our son Alex was born prematurely, at 26 weeks gestation and weighing less than two pounds. He suffered many complications in the hospital, including a severe brain hemorrhage that destroyed part of his brain. Thanks in part to Alex’s amazing neurosurgeon, Edward Smith ’92, Alex has made tremendous progress. He is now a thriving 4-year-old, although he struggles with many obstacles resulting from his difficult start, including cerebral palsy on his left side. Through athletics we have helped Alex gain the use of his left side. My husband, Erik, and I established the Baby Alex Foundation in 2008 to raise money for cutting-edge pediatric brain injury research. We have given more than $150,000 in grants to institutions such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Harvard Medical and Children’s Hospital Boston and Mass General.” 


For more information about the foundation, please visit www.babyalexfoundation.com, and if you are an athlete, you can join their long distance running and triathlon team, Team Baby Alex Foundation.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


After graduating from Dartmouth Mariama Todd received her M.S. in publishing from New York University. Her latest venture, hot off the proverbial presses, is www.40muse.com, the online lifestyle destination for black women age 40-plus. She says it more eloquently than I could, so I’ll let her: “Everyone who knows me knows I feel strongly about media that speaks to and supports black folks. As I got closer to 40 I got tired of not seeing myself and my needs reflected in the pages of publications on the newsstand and online. I am stepping out on faith (and some market research) that others in my demographic feel the same. Check us out. Spread the word. Leave comments and suggestions for things you would like to cover. Most importantly, join me for the journey.”


In addition Mariama is a volunteer with imentor, an organization that aims to improve the lives of high school students from underserved communities through technology-enabled mentoring.


Matthew Bloch wrote in to let me know that Gregg Costa was recently nominated by President Obama and approved by the senate as a federal court judge in the Southern District of Texas. At 40, he is the youngest judge in the country at this level. Matthew and Glenn Ingram attended Gregg’s investiture in Galveston last year, and Matthew reported the following from the event: “It was well attended by more than 250 people, including 20 federal judges, a U.S. representative and all of Gregg’s family and friends. We were very proud of him.”


Co-edited by Elizabeth Greenberg, A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860-1960, is now available on Amazon.com. Drawn from an award-winning exhibition of the same title at the Yeshiva University Museum, the book features essays from various scholars investigating the role American Jews played in creating, developing and furthering the national garment industry in the century roughly following the Civil War. 


I have also recently caught up with Carnell Chosa through Facebook. After graduating from Dartmouth Carnell received his master’s from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. After spending four years as a planner for the New Mexico Office of Indian Affairs, Carnell co-founded the Leadership Institute, which he also co-directs. The institute is housed at the Santa Fe Indian School in New Mexico.


Carnell also had some amazing end-of-year holiday plans, which include the honor of traveling with Comanche activist LaDonna Harris to the Bolivian Solstice on Lake Titicaca. There, Carnell will have the unparalleled opportunity to celebrate the solstice with Bolivian President Evo Morales at an honoring-the-earth ceremony December 21 at Lake Titicaca.


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


Earl Plante has been appointed the new chief executive officer of San Francisco Pride (SF Pride). Earl joins SF Pride from the Latino Commission on AIDS in New York City, where he served as director of development.


Earl relocated from New York to the San Francisco Bay area this past December. In his new role with SF Pride Earl will oversee the annual production of SF Pride Celebration & Parade, one of the world’s largest. He will also serve as a key fundraiser for critical community based organizations and services that SF Pride supports as well as act as the organization’s main link to the media, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the general public


Earl said he is “honored and humbled by this exciting opportunity to serve as CEO for SF Pride, a truly groundbreaking, inclusive organization in the forefront of progressive social and economic justice for LGBT equality. I look forward to working closely with SF Pride leadership, sponsors and the diversity of community stakeholders as we continue to build upon SF Pride’s mission and visionary legacy.” Congratulations on this wonderful new appointment!


Hugh Carspecken wrote in with an update from Dallas, where he has been living for the last few years. “In fact, I live just down the street from Glenn Ingram. We represent Dartmouth proudly as the boat anchors for the annual holiday neighborhood party boat race. You would be surprised how scared some of those big Aggies and Longhorns get when you mention ‘boat race’! I’ll let Glenn share who has taken the title the last couple of years...I have two little girls, 6 and 4, on whom I try to dote, when they’re not bossing me around. But, my wife, Cassie helps me keep them in line. Have recently started another company in the technology space, which looks promising but will require more working and less doting. There is always an open door policy to any alumni passing through Dallas!” Thanks so much, Hugh, both for the update and the invite.


Jennifer Zepralka has rejoined the law firm WilmerHale as a partner in the transactional and securities departments. Jennifer rejoined the firm from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where she was the first Linda C. Quinn Attorney-Fellow and also served as senior special counsel to the director of the division of corporation finance since 2009. Jennifer focuses her practice on corporate finance, federal securities law compliance, governance and business transactions. Jennifer is a former counsel in the corporate practice at WilmerHale, having advised public companies and financial institutions on compliance with corporate and federal securities laws.


Frida Polli has started blogging for Forbes online; you can check it out at www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs.


And Jess Andre and her husband, James Heugas, welcomed daughter Juniper this February, and from Facebook it seems like everyone is doing just fine. I also heard that Elise Wellford Tillinghast made her daughter Lucy a big sister when she welcomed son Turner Everett Tillinghast on February 27. Congrats, mamas!


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


Professor Robert C. Bordone’s Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program was selected by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution to be the recipient of its 2010 Problem Solving in the Law School Curriculum Award. The clinic’s director and founder, Robert is the Thaddeus R. Beal Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Along with Nancy Rogers, Craig McEwen and Frank E.A. Sander, Robert is also currently writing Designing Forum and Disputing Systems, a new text on problem-solving and dispute systems design that will be published by Aspen in 2012.


This month I also have the pleasure of having had several guest column writers—without further ado, I present the beautifully crafted stories of Dr. Mary Hayes, Marcelino Garcia, Ruth Mamaril and Rebecca Obstler.


“On March 12 Dr. Mary Hayes married Jim Lawrence in a beautiful ‘medievalesque’ wedding ceremony in an old southern mansion at the Castle Hill resort in Oxford, Mississippi. Marcelino Garcia, who served as the man of honor, Ruth Mamaril, who was a bridesmaid, and Rebecca Obstler, who read an assortment of poems both tame and erotic, all flew in from faraway places to take part in the festivities. 


“For the past five years Mary has been teaching medieval literature at the University of Mississippi, where she is an assistant professor of English and director of the medieval studies minor. She met her future husband on a boat sailing across the Drake Passage while en route to run a marathon in Antarctica in 2005. They live in Oxford with their two black labs, Chutzpah (who was the flower girl in the wedding) and Zeke (who had an untimely attack of ‘cold paws’ before the event and thus stayed home to guard the house), rescued dogs who share their parents’ zeal for distance running. As part of her work toward tenure, which she hopes to be awarded next year, Mary published two books earlier this year: a scholarly study of medieval piety and a textbook on the history of the English language. 


“Since graduation Marcelino has lived in Chicago. After working in the international relations department of Chicago 2016, the organization tasked with bringing the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games to the city, he now works as an attorney helping people going through the mortgage foreclosure process. In addition, he is also a partner with Overseas Strategies, LLC, a small company that does consulting work in the import/export trade business. An avid traveler, he has visited more than 60 countries and is always planning his next trip to a new location.


“Ruth Mamaril has worked in various aspects of the post-production industry, from post supervising to editing, both in L.A. and N.Y.C. She moved to New York City 11 years ago and currently freelances as a film/video editor. You can see what she’s been up to on her website www.ruthmamaril.com. In the last year she has enhanced her passion for travel with a new love: surfing. And she was definitely stoked to have had the opportunity to reunite with her fellow Dartmouth alums at Mary’s wedding.


“Rebecca Obstler has also lived and worked in a variety of exciting locales since graduation: New York City, Rome, Washington, D.C., and now London for the past two years. She was thrilled to be able to fly in for Mary’s wedding and to spend time with her old mates. Rebecca hopes soon to recapture the magic she shared with her fellow ’94s the day after the wedding at ‘Graceland Too’ in Holly Springs, Mississippi, the local $5 alternative to the better-known and less colorful attraction in Memphis.”


Thanks, guys, both for writing in and also for literally writing my column for me; it was a luxurious break!


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com


Well, the saying is “no news is good news,” but I’m here to refute that. Sorry this month’s column is more like sound bytes, but that’s all I got. I dug around my inbox and Facebook for these little gems, so enjoy and, more importantly, please send me some news.


After working withglobal consulting firm ZS Associates for seven years, Jim Adelizzi has transferred to the firm’s new San Diego office, where he is now serving as a principal. Jim joined ZS Associates from Prometheus, where he had served as vice president of strategic planning and analysis.


Tod Modisett worked with producer Doug Reid ’00 editing segments for NBC’s The Sing-Off. “We got assigned all the Dartmouth Aires’ stuff. It was a lot of fun and the Aires are doing amazingly well on the show. Check them out on Monday nights.” Thanks, Tod!


In other Los Angeles area news, it seems Jess Andre is now situated there. She also got married this year, so congratulations are in order!


Elizabeth Greenberg is now curator of fine arts at Siena College, an independent Roman Catholic liberal arts college situated in Loudonville, New York, just outside of Albany. 


And Nathan Saunders transferred from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission office in Washington, D.C., to the SEC’s offices in Philadelphia. Thanks for sending, Nate!


—Suzie Fromer, 26 Irving Ave., Tarrytown, NY 10591; suziefromer@gmail.com