The Classes

Anne-Marie Prabulos ’87 MD writes: “I saw Peter Jacobson ’87 at the Hartford Stage. He starred as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and he was terrific!”

Robert K. Fitts ’89 AM, ’95 PhD, a curatorial consultant for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown (N.Y.), is pleased to announce the publication of his latest book In the Japanese Ballpark: Behind the Scenes of Nippon Professional Baseball (University of Nebraska Press, 2025). Learn more at RobFitts.com.

Director of Technology at Amazon, Gus Lopez ’89 ScM, created The Star Wars Collectors Archive and leads the Collecting Track for Star Wars Celebration. He is a frequent speaker at conventions on Star Wars collecting topics and has co-authored four books relating to Star Wars collectibles.

David Lloyd ’85 AM, ’85 PhD writes: “Since receiving my PhD in literature and my master’s in creative writing from Brown, I have published numerous books of poetry and fiction, and edited anthologies. My most recent poetry collection, The Last Season, appeared in November 2025 from Tiger Bark Press.”

Shoshana D. Kerewsky ’85 AM published her novel The Codex of Christian Surname on February 25. Her other works include the award-winning memoir Cancer, Kintsugi, Camino and 50 Days in May: Reflections Along the Camino de Santiago.

Herbert Blaine Lawson ’63 PhD received the 2026 Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the American Mathematical Society. He says: “My journey in mathematics has been a wonderful personal experience: rapture, woes, absolute involvement—but most of all, the people.”

Jared Boyce ’21 ScM writes: “I am excited to share with you that I was awarded the Young Scientist Award to attend the 2026 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Interdisciplinary). My nomination for this award is supported by Sigma Xi.”

Francesca Capone ’15 MFA is a participating artist in the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial: The Price of the Ticket, curated by T.K. Smith. The Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial is a survey of works by visual and performing artists who are defining and advancing Oregon’s contemporary art landscape. The exhibition is supplemented by a series of interdisciplinary programming and events. The Price of the Ticket explores the interconnected themes of place, power, and promise, especially as they relate to our complex relationships with the land, our histories, and our nations. Contact Francesca at [email protected].

Leslie Shimotakahara ’06 PhD writes: “My fourth novel, The Breakwater, was published in April by Cormorant Books. It explores the rivalrous relationship between two brothers of Japanese heritage prior to the Japanese Canadian Internment, which one brother escaped by being committed to Essondale Asylum. Decades later, they must confront the lasting effects on them and the following generations when they’re brought together for a final reunion. I based the novel on the story of a great-uncle I didn’t know I had, until my family and I took a road trip to visit him at a mental health facility in British Columbia circa 1990. My most unsettling childhood memory, it inspired this novel.”

Dani Friedman Baker, author of The Home-Scale Forest Garden: How to Plan, Plant, and Tend a Resilient Edible Landscape, was featured in an eight-episode PBS TV series, The Home-Scale Forest Garden Show. The series offers practical advice on creating a perennial food forest for any size plot and maintaining it through the seasons. 

Ava Eisendrath launched the fashion brand Ironwire. Ava writes: “Ironwire is a new unisex ready-to-wear label. We launched the brand both online and with a pop-up at 303 Broome St. The collection is made up of mostly pieces that I make myself in my art studio. Additionally, there are a couple pieces that are small-batch-manufactured in the Garment District.”

Kishore Thota ’25 ScM joined RSM US LLP as a management consulting director in its CIO advisory practice. He most recently served as chief of staff to the lieutenant governor of Virginia following his appointment by the governor of Virginia to lead the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR). He continues to focus on advancing technology modernization and operational performance across both the public and private sectors.

Matthew Lo ’19 ScM writes: “After a battle with Hodgkin lymphoma throughout 2025, I plan to participate in the Pan Mass Challenge. The PMC is a two-day bike ride to raise money for cancer care and research through the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. I am biking 162 miles from Babson College in Wellesley to Provincetown. I want to give back to the cancer teams in Boston and connect with others who have been touched by this disease. I am alive because of the life-changing work they do and research they have accomplished.”

Brittany Link ’17 ScM and Luke Fraker were married July 26, 2025, in Cernobbio, Lake Como, Italy.

Hannah Sisk and Benjamin LeVeque ’14 ScM welcomed baby Eliza in February, joining big sister Tessa. Hannah writes: “Doug Sisk ’72 is an excellent Poppy to both girls.”

Shawn Wen writes: “I got started in radio and audio journalism while at Brown. I worked at BSR and also was TA of a class called Radio Nonfiction in the English department with Professor Beth Taylor. I have a new podcast called Foundering: The Killing of Bob Lee. It’s a five-part limited series about how a homicide became a national story and about the decline of a city. It also touches on how attacks on San Francisco from tech leaders presaged both tech’s rightward shift and attacks on left-leaning cities nationwide.”  

Amy Littlefield published Killers of Roe: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights in March with Legacy Lit.

Kira Ganga Kieffer writes: “I concentrated in history and religious studies at Brown and am now a writer and professor at Fairfield University. My work is in religious studies and American religion, health, and medicine. My first book, Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America, was published on May 19 with Princeton University Press.” 

Perrin Roosevelt Ireland published her debut this summer, Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex. Perrin writes: “It is a zany, informative, and graphic—in all senses of the word—work of illustrated nonfiction.” 

Calvin Ho turned a long layover into a mini-reunion with Alex Schultes in Doha, Qatar, where Alex has lived with his family for the past decade while working at Northwestern University’s Qatar campus. Over a few beers, the two caught up on the essentials: Brown memories, spirited (and unresolved) debates about the U.S. economy and Middle East politics, and life in Qatar. Alex reminisced about his lacrosse days and how Brown helped open professional doors around the world. Both appreciated the curiosity Brown instilled in them—fueling careers that have taken them across continents and to many memorable meals along the way.

Courtney Maum’s new novel, Alan Opts Out, was published on June 2 with Little, Brown and Company. Courtney writes: “The novel is a big-idea, laugh-out-loud satire about ambition, marriage, status, and what it means to step off the treadmill of late-stage capitalism.”

María Ospina released a new novel on March 31, 2026, titled Only a Little While Here. The winner of the Colombian National Novel Award (2024) and the prestigious Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Literary Prize, this debut novel is ecological fiction at its most soul stirring. 

Caitlin Shetterly writes: “My sophomore novel, The Gulf of Lions, was published on May 19 and is an evocative, stand-alone sequel which follows Alice, who, recovering from the trauma of breast cancer and a mastectomy, takes a once-in-a-lifetime trip across France with her two daughters, determined to recapture her joie de vivre and to live life to the absolute fullest. This follows my debut novel, Pete and Alice in Maine. I gave my main character, Alice, cancer in her left breast, something I had meticulously researched. I handed that book in during October of 2024. In April of 2025, six months later, I found out that I had the exact same kind of cancer in the exact same breast. It felt like my wall had been broken. I was undone, honestly. The preconception of it terrified me. And I had a total crisis of both hope and faith, sort of separately, one crisis giving way to the other. The existential crises, honestly, were even more terrifying than the cancer in some ways.”

Sara Lippmann writes: “My new novel, and fifth book, Hidden River, was published in May. With a timeline that toggles between the summer of 2008 and the late 80s/early 90s, this lean but bold novel casts an intimate look at grooming in the era before #MeToo.”

NFL analytics expert Aaron Schatz ’96 is the creator of advanced stats including DVOA, DYAR, and Adjusted Line Yards. He has been writing about NFL analytics since he founded the website Football Outsiders in 2003. He is chief analytics officer for FTN Fantasy, as well as a writer for ESPN+ and ESPN BET and hosts the FTN Fantasy Schatz and Tanier NFL Podcast. He is also on the 50-members Associated Press NFL voting panel for regular-season awards and the All-Pro team.

Darryl Heslop writes: “I am proud to share that my son, Cameron Heslop, was accepted to Brown’s precollege program for the summer of 2026. He attended The Loyola School in New York City, where he excelled as a high school student both academically and personally. Cameron carries forward our family’s Ivy League legacy and aspires to ultimately matriculate at Brown as a member of the Class of 2033.”

Ana Porter Levy-Lyons writes: “I’m living in New York City, married with teenage twins. I’m in rabbinical school, and I’m an author, a ghostwriter, a teacher, and a speaker. I recently ended a two-decade career as a Unitarian Universalist minister and I published a new book on June 10, 2025, titled The Secret Despair of the Secular Left. Find me on substack: analevylyons.substack.com.”

Dovie King is the author of Survivor at Law, a memoir chronicling her experience surviving domestic violence while navigating the failures of the legal system. A social justice attorney, author, and mother, she focuses on reforming the legal profession by integrating trauma-informed mental health support for survivors and advancing ethical accountability for perpetrators. She serves on the board of visitors at McLean Hospital and on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Theo Davis’s book, Organizing Relation: Attachment Theory and Literary Criticism, was published in January 2026 with Oxford University Press. Theo writes: “This is the first book to assess the critical history of attachment theory in order to put it in contact with literary criticism. This is my third book, with the first two also being about literature and relationality. I must say that I am tremendously grateful to my education at Brown and especially to Professors Ellen Rooney and Susan Bernstein. Thanks to them I made it to graduate school and on to a career in academia, so it would be a nice chance to share what I did with their teaching and the wonderful community at Brown.”

Jonathan Sheehan writes: “I was an independent concentrator in, more or less, the history of science. I then went on to become an historian who now teaches at Berkeley, and have been central to various initiatives on religion in the public sphere over the past decade here. In January, I published my book On the Altar: A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular with Princeton University Press.”

Katherine Oxnard Ellis writes: “Greetings from Savannah, Georgia! My first book, a collection of short stories entitled The Leg in Question, was published on May 19, 2026, by the women-owned independent publisher Unsolicited Press. I’m proud that two stories in this collection have won literary awards: First Prize in the 2024 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival Fiction Contest and Second Prize in December 2021 Curt Johnson Prose Awards. Several stories were finalists for other prizes, and many have appeared in literary magazines such as Story, MOM Egg Review, and Tahoma Literary Review. In addition to my bachelor’s from Brown, I hold an MFA in fiction writing from New York University. After a peripatetic life, I now live and write in historic Savannah, home of Flannery O’Connor, Johnny Mercer, and many ancestors on both sides of my family.”

Nina Perales ’87 is vice president of litigation for MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she supervises the legal staff and litigation in offices across the United States. She is best known for her work in voting rights: She tried and argued successfully before the Supreme Court of the United States a challenge to Texas redistricting that resulted in that court’s first ruling of Latino vote dilution under the Voting Rights Act. She currently serves as an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School, where she teaches a course called Current Topics in Latino Civil Rights. 

Margaret Berger Cassady was one of the earliest employees of Rick Steves’ Europe in 1991, where she found the perfect career to combine her passion for travel, love of European culture and languages, and talent for packing everything she needs for a six-week trip into one tiny suitcase. After 30 years of friends asking to travel with her, she’s also organizing her own small-group boutique tours, which you can find at guided-by.com/margaret. She lives in Seattle near her 27-year-old son and 24-year-old daughter, and always enjoys hearing from fellow travel aficionados, parents of developmentally disabled kids, 1984.5 midyear transfer friends, and Theta sisters. Contact Margaret at
[email protected].

Lynne Greenberg writes: “I am still a professor of English at Hunter College, CUNY (25 years!), and I am thrilled to announce the publication of my new book, Masculine Births: Milton, Women, and the Law with Northwestern University Press.”

Debra Weiss Huddleston writes: “In May, daughter Hailey Huddleston ’15 completed her five-year orthopedic surgery residency at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City. She is off to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a one-year fellowship in hand surgery. Son John Huddleston ’21, a mechanical engineering major, was named to the Forbes 2026 ‘30 Under 30’ list. He is a cofounder of Albacore, which he started last year while at Wharton Business School. The company develops long-range autonomous underwater vehicles to deter maritime invasions, unlock our understanding of the maritime environment, and defend our coasts. They have raised over $6.5 million to date from backers, including Y Combinator, Outlander VC, Liquid 2, and D3.”

Like Wafers in Honey, written by Leah Eskin, was published on April 14. Leah was represented by Kim Witherspoon. The novel was edited and published by Arthur Levine Ferrante, with a little advice from Karen Dukess. Finally, it was advised by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author David Kertzer ’69, who is also a Brown professor of anthropology and Italian studies. 

Christopher Rapuano is the 2026 president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The AAO is the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons, with 32,000 members worldwide, dedicated to protecting sight and empowering lives. His son, Patrick, is also an ophthalmologist. Contact Christopher at [email protected].

Paul Powers is living well in a small town outside Chicago. For the last 37 years he has been working in building maintenance at New Trier High School, but retirement is approaching. He writes: “I hope all my classmates are well and living the dream. Love you all! My recorded music is happily playing away on Spotify and all other streaming platforms. Want a laugh? Have a listen. Ever Truly Yours.”

Vicky Oliver’s novel, Firebrands, was published by Histria Books in October, and sold and distributed by Simon & Schuster. It has garnered two awards—a 2024 Killer Nashville Claymore Award Finalist for Best Historical Fiction, and a 2025 Writers’ League of Texas Award Finalist for Best Historical Fiction. Part of the story takes place in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bob Morris writes: “I’m still writing the occasional Talk of the Town column for the New Yorker, but mostly songs these days. Call it my knitting or pickleball. Spent the snowy winter in the sunny Yucatán teaching Mayan kids ukulele. ¡Canta y no llores!” Contact Bob at [email protected].

Save the Date for your 45th reunion during Memorial Day Weekend May 28–30, 2027. Interested in getting involved with the Reunion Planning Committee, contact Liza Boyajian at [email protected].

Lauren Wolk-Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Wolf Hollow, Beyond the Bright Sea, Echo Mountain, My Own Lightning, and Candle Island and cofounder of the InkLine Project, published her new book, The Outermost Mouse, in May 2026. 

Robert Risko ’80 AM writes: “I’ve retired to Sacramento, California, which is a long way from my farm-town roots in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. I live downtown, which is lively, diverse, and full of great restaurants. If only it had Brown basketball games!”

Valerie Mehlig Curry writes: “I received my master’s in literacy education from Mary Lou Fulton College of Teaching and Learning Innovation at the University of Arizona on August 12, 2025. I used my thesis topic of ‘Increasing Fluency Development through the Literary Performance Instructional Strategies of Choral Reading, Reading Aloud, and Readers Theatre’ in a workshop presentation at the annual conference of the Georgia Council of Teachers of English (GCTE) in Macon on February 6, 2026, and continue my action research projects in fluency development as an independent community literacy educator in Atlanta and in Gwinnett County, Georgia.” Contact Valerie at [email protected]. 

Deborah Chick Burke, co-chair of the upcoming 50th reunion, writes: “With our 50th reunion less than nine months away, we hope that you have begun planning to return to Brown next Memorial Day weekend,  May 28–30, 2027. Along with Reunion Co-Chair Jeffrey Waldron, the reunion committee includes Kenneth Dill, Lucinda Flowers, Mark Hauser, Dee Miranda-Gould, and Jean Follet-Thompson. We are in the planning stages for what we hope will be an enjoyable time renewing and creating new friendships as we celebrate a remembrance of things past and a promise of new adventures yet to come. Our goal is to reach out to as many classmates as possible before the big event to encourage you to return to campus as we look to break the record for the highest attendance at a Brown 50th Reunion. So book your hotel room, dust off your dancing shoes, and make sure that Brown has your current email address. Remember, all future Reunion communication will be via email and in the Class of 1977 section on Brown Connect+.   If you need help with logging in, please contact the Brown Alumni Help Desk at (401) 863-9662. Finally, if you want to get involved with the reunion planning, we would like to hear from you. Please reach out to either Debi at [email protected] or Jeffrey at
[email protected].”

Franklin “Bud” Zimmerman ’80 MD writes: “I received a lifetime achievement award from Phelps Hospital/Northwell Health at their October 2025 annual gala, which celebrated my 36-year career in cardiology and hospital leadership. I served two terms as president of the medical staff and was director of the critical care units and cardiac rehabilitation program, and I remain on the board of directors. I recently retired from clinical medicine and am staying active teaching and writing. My textbook of electrocardiography, ECG Core Curriculum, was published by McGraw-Hill in 2023. I’m also continuing my work on promoting cardiovascular health in law enforcement personnel, and I serve on the police physicians’ section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Laurie Grant Zimmerman and I split our time between Manhattan and Chappaqua, New York, love being grandparents, and are looking forward to seeing our fellow classmates at the 50th reunion.”

Griffin Rodgers ’79 MMSc, ’79 MD, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH, was honored with the 2026 John Phillips Memorial Award for Outstanding Work
in Clinical Medicine from the American College of Physicians, recognizing a lifetime of innovative clinical achievement.

Tom Del Prete writes: “My new book, Providential: A Memoir of Growing Up, Education, and Learning to Be What We Are, is a Providence and Rhode Island story and, more broadly, an account of an educational and vocational journey, including an effort to understand the spiritual underpinning of who we are and the path we take. It spans what, for most of us, is the most formative period of our lives—childhood to young adulthood—and includes a segment devoted to my Brown years.”

Tony Affigne ’91 AM, ’92 PhD writes: “Greetings, all! I’ve just completed a three-year service as an executive of the Western Political Science Association (WPSA), culminating in a year as president. WPSA is the nation’s third-largest scholarly association for political scientists, and our April 2026 annual conference in San Diego drew more than 1,100 attendees from more than 35 states, as well as Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Here at home, I’m the senior member of Providence College’s political science department and past chair of both political science and Black studies. In recent years I’ve served as a member of the City of Providence Ethics Commission and the state Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). After helping to shepherd CRMC’s design and construction approvals for the Block Island Wind Farm, my October 2016 climb to the top of Turbine #2 made me the first public official to ascend the first, and tallest, offshore wind turbine in the western hemisphere. Since 2021, I’ve been a member of the state’s Long Term Care Coordinating Council (LTCCC), with advisory oversight for Rhode Island’s nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and related services for older adults and individuals with chronic disabilities and illnesses.”

Faith Tomases has been elected to the board of directors of the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware.

James A. Beagan ’74, of Methuen, Mass.; Feb. 3. Having lived much of his life with multiple sclerosis and being diagnosed with ALS in December 2024, he was a passionate advocate for disability rights, testifying at hearings at the Massachusetts State House and serving on Methuen’s Commission on Disabilities. He worked as a business consultant for Exxon and Sylvania, and from 2017 to 2025, additionally co-hosted the award-winning Methuen Community Studios program Yes We Can: In the Know About Disability. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He is survived by his partner Robert Burke and four siblings, including sister Marianne Beagan Quirk ’84 and brothers Dan Beagan ’73 and Kevin Beagan ’82. 

The official portrait of First Circuit Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson ’73 was unveiled at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston. Chief Judge David J. Barron noted that the portrait adds diversity to the court’s 150-year-old collection, as it is the first portrait of an African American and only the second portrait of a woman. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Thompson has served on the Boston-based appeals court for more than a decade.

Brian Cullman’s debut memoir How to Prepare for the Past: Travels in Music & Time was published on April 28 via ZE Books. 

Sally Horn writes: “The women of the Class of 1968 are still dancing and still meeting weekly on Zoom. We invite all Pembroke ’68 classmates who haven’t yet joined in the weekly Zooms to do so.” Contact Sally at [email protected].

Joel Bennett enjoyed the Brown Travelers trip to Japan—it was his eighth Brown trip.

Michael Joseloff’s book, The Greatest Scientific Gamble, was published in March with Michigan State University Press. Michael writes: “I am a retired TV news and documentary producer. I worked at the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour for 13 years, 20th Century with Mike Wallace (CBS News Productions) for five, and several other programs after that. My documentaries have won four Emmys and several other awards. In writing this book, I wanted to transport readers to the 1930s and 40s to shed new light on a pivotal era in global history. I anticipated writing a story about impossible odds and brilliant engineering—and while I found plenty of examples, I was surprised by what came with them—the surplus of good luck, the near disasters, the chance encounters, the unexpected plot twists, and the botched experiments by Nobel laureates. Combined with the assassination attempts and a kidnapping plot, the true history often felt more like a fictional thriller than a historical narrative.”

Joe Fisler writes, “Bobbi and I left Providence in November and have resettled in Williamsburg Landing, a wonderful retirement community not far from where we lived before. We loved being in Providence for 11 years close to our granddaughter and the Brown campus. It’s been a pleasant surprise here to find many of our former neighbors and friends who have made the same time-of-life decision that we have.”

Glenn Cashion was honored by his hometown of Freehold, N.J. as grand marshall of the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Glenn’s Irish relatives settled in Freehold in the 1850s and he lived there until his marriage in 1969.

James Harmon writes: “My second book, A Daring Enterprise: A US-Egyptian Partnership and the Case for Soft Power, was published in June. I brought 20 copies to give to the students of Brown on April 30 at the Watson during my lecture.” 

Sidney Baumgarten writes: “Terry and I abandoned Battery Park City after 34 years and have settled in North Brunswick, New Jersey. I have spent the past two years working on a book, mostly devoted to my years as an assistant to the mayor and director of midtown enforcement, including my days at the Queens district attorney’s office, where I was involved in the prosecution of seven mafia chiefs, etc. If there is a theme, it is the corruption and hypocrisy I encountered. I was included in a documentary which aired in 2019, produced by fellow Brunonian Oren Jacoby ’77, entitled On Broadway. My two younger brothers and two of my sons also went to Brown and, except for my brother Joel, who died, are all doing well.”

Ravi Bellamkonda ’95 PhD, who served as Ohio State University’s executive vice president and provost since January 2025, was named the university’s new president in March. The university’s board of trustees skipped the traditional national search process, instead relied on depth of experience and character when it hired Bellamkonda.

John Stasko ’85 ScM, ’89 PhD, writes: “This past summer I retired from the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech after 36 years on the faculty. I joined GT out of grad school in 1989. Computing here at GT has grown from a relatively small department to a full-fledged college, and is one of the country’s largest computer science programs. My research over the years focused on the areas of data visualization and human-computer interaction. In addition to teaching courses on those topics, I enjoyed teaching one of our large intro courses (Object-Oriented Programming) for most of my career. This class typically had 250–300 students, mostly freshmen, so it kept me on my toes. Teaching this class allowed me to stay closer to the core educational mission of the university, which can be lost with the strong focus on research at R1 schools today. In retirement, my wife, Christy, and I hope to travel. We live in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta. Our three children are grown and living in Baltimore; Richmond, Va.; and New York City. I still play a lot of golf—well, as much as my aging body allows me.”

Alexander ter Weele ’65 MAT writes that after a 25-year career at the World Bank (upgrading and expanding education in some 100 countries), he retired to become an author. At Brown, his thesis for the physics department was “Modified Bremsstrahlung Spectrum of 5.4 Bev Electrons in Copper,” which he says was “not much fun reading that!” His more recent publications are from “the other end of the spectrum—none of that scientific research stuff!”  To see his writing, visit alexterweele.com and look up A Family’s Flight from Holland During World War II, Poems from the Blue Ridge, or short stories about camping and canoeing. (Flight is a true story of Alex and his family fleeing Hitler’s Gestapo.) Given that Alex spent hours in Brown’s physics department in the ’60s, he writes that he was particularly dismayed at the recent murders there.

Jazlyn Nketia ’19 ScM, ’23 PhD, has been selected for the Museum of Science–Boston’s 2026 Digital Science Communication Fellowship, a national program supporting emerging leaders in public science engagement. Dr. Nketia will join a cohort of 40+ fellows from across the United States in workshops, mentorship sessions, and hands-on communication labs culminating in a public capstone presentation in Boston.

Following her field hockey career at Brown, Julia Hitti led the Atlanta Field Hockey Club to their first national title, winning the 2025 U.S. Field Hockey League Women’s National Club Championship. 

John Lin writes: “I am writing to share a new book published on February 3 that I believe may be of interest to the Brown community. The Medical Student’s Field Guide to Research is a practical, empowering guide published by Johns Hopkins University Press designed to help medical students engage meaningfully in research and scientific discovery. Our book is authored by three Brown alumni, one who is also a Brown professor (Dr. Paul Greenberg ’17 MPH, Victoria Tseng ’08, ’12 MD, and me). We bring together perspectives from senior and junior faculty and a current medical student to demystify the research process—from preparation and project design to publication and presentation. Through practical tools and case studies, the guide reinforces the idea that every student can contribute to advancing medicine.”

The Good Daughters, published with Pegasus Books on Nov. 4, is the moving and vivid debut novel of Brigitte Dale. The book has been selected as a Women’s National Book Association Great Group Reads for the 2025 season. The Good Daughters follows three suffragettes and their battle for equality that tests the strength of their will and the bonds of their friendship.  

Jennifer “Jenny” Gorelick wrote an illustrated humor book, The Book of Red Flags, with illustrator Margalit Cutler. The book was published on Jan. 20 by Rizzoli. 

Katie Quimby ’14 MPH writes: “My nonfiction book, Protected: Birth Control’s Remarkable Story and Uncertain Future, was published on November 13, 2025 by Bloomsbury Academic. Protected explores questions such as: How has birth control changed over the years? Will there ever be a birth control pill for men? Why is birth control so political? Why might Black women be more likely to prefer methods they can start and stop without a visit to the doctor? Are the hormones in birth control safe? What impact will the overturn of Roe v. Wade have on the ability to get birth control? What does religion really say 

The EQUUS Foundation honored Brianne Goutal-Marteau ’12 with the foundation’s Spirit Award. The Spirit Award is presented to equestrians who have significantly elevated the image and desirability of horses. As a young rider, Goutal-Marteau was featured on Animal Planet’s series, Horse Power: Road to the Maclay where viewers watched her train and compete. Not only did she win the Maclay, she still holds the record of winning all four equitation finals. She continues to win major show-jumping events and is a sought-after equestrian trainer. Throughout her career, she has leveraged her reputation to speak out for horse welfare, helped find homes for adoptable horses, and adopted horses herself.

Breadless, founded by Mark Howland ’11, LaTresha Howland, and Ryan Eli Salter, has been recognized as one of the “Top 20 Fast Casual Brands to Watch.” Breadless was born out of a simple but powerful vision: to redefine fast-casual dining with bold, energizing meals that fuel your next goal, moment, or adventure. Being recognized among the top 20 brands to watch is a testament to the impact Breadless is making in the fast-casual dining industry. 

Kira Ganga Kieffer, who is married to Aaron Eisman ’23 PhD, ’24 MD, published Unvaccinated Under God: Religion and Vaccine Hesitancy in Modern America in May with Princeton University Press. This is Kira’s first book. She is currently a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at Fairfield University. She received her PhD in religious studies from Boston University and was a dual history/religious studies concentrator at Brown. 

Emily Nemens published her novel Clutch on Feb. 3 with Tin House. The story follows five women who have been friends for 20 years, now facing the biggest personal and professional challenges of their lives and wondering if their friendship is the only thing that will see them through. 

Benjamin Mathis ’08 MD was appointed chief medical examiner of the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department on Sept. 29. In this role, he oversees the operations of the largest medical examiner district in the State of Florida, ensuring the continued delivery of high-quality, science-based death investigations that serve the public interest. He was also named program director of the department’s accredited fellowship in forensic pathology.

Tuckernuck was originally founded by Maddy Grayson, September Votta, and Jocelyn Gailliot ’03 as an online direct-to-consumer clothing boutique. Named for an island off Nantucket, where the three cofounders grew up summering, Tuckernuck now has its own in-house label and two brick-and-mortar stores, one by the Georgetown waterfront in Washington, D.C., and the other on New York’s Upper East Side. CEO Jocelyn Gailliot calls the clothing “classic with a twist.”

Olivia Wong writes: “At the 30th anniversary presentation of the 2025 Hilton Humanitarian Prize Ceremony this past October, which celebrates organizations fighting human suffering, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) was honored with the $3 million award. Representatives from the U.S. contingent of MAG were present at the awards ceremony gala in New York City, which included Steve Solow ’80, MAG U.S.’s pro bono counsel, and me, U.S. secretary of the MAG board of directors and vice president of the Brown Club of Boston. MAG aims to save lives and build safer futures through the removal of landmines and explosive remnants of war, and reduce the impact of small arms and light weapons and ammunition on people and communities.” 

Jamie Effros writes: “I’m excited to announce that Big George, a short film I wrote and directed, has been released on Omeleto, a YouTube channel featuring the best short films in the world. After 20 festivals, including two Oscar-qualifiers, and several awards, you can watch it online for free. The synopsis: When a New York actor gains too much weight to pull off his survival gig as a George Clooney impersonator, he must justify to his nine-year-old daughter, and to himself, why he’s still chasing his dream. It’s an ode to working artists, and a heartfelt father/daughter story about the compromises we all make for our passions and the people we love.”

Lee M. Hoffman ’03 is the cofounder and president of Runwise, the leading smart controls platform that operates key heating and water systems more efficiently in 7,500 buildings throughout the country. Hoffman cofounded and managed technology for companies as diverse as Time Warner, Razorfish Studios, and Terabolic, Inc. Most recently, he cofounded and served as CEO of Veri, a venture-backed NYC mobile startup that was acquired by The Knot in 2018.

Darren “Magnus” Jorgensen announces the forthcoming publication of his memoir, STILLBORN: How They Taught the Nightingale to Scream (2026). “This 75,000-word narrative nonfiction work chronicles a lifetime of survival.”

Col. Vincent F. Capaldi II ’02, ’03 ScM, ’07 MD, was announced as the 2025–’26 winner for the American College of Physicians award for Distinguished Contributions to Behavioral Medicine. This award recognizes an individual who has furthered the care of patients by recognizing the importance of caring for the whole patient, both mind and body. He accepted the award at the National ACP meeting in San Francisco in April 2026.

Vita Redding Shields released her debut album, Vitaologee, on Nov. 25. She wrote the 11 tracks, which blend neo soul, R&B, and pop/R&B in an exploration of love, healing, and loss. Each song grew from journals and poems capturing her journey through grief, personal challenges, and self-reflection. The album blends her songwriting with her voice through guided vocals to form melody while utilizing AI-assisted music and lead vocals to create raw, soulful, and vibey tracks. Vitaologee turns life’s challenges into music that inspires, uplifts, and resonates. A Brown Sports Hall of Fame athlete and longtime recruiting leader and coach, Vita brings a lifetime of reflection, guidance, and storytelling into her songwriting. The album’s title reflects her study of life: Vita meaning life and ologee a playful remix of  the suffix “-ology” symbolizing the lessons she has learned.

Jeremy Harley writes: “The band ‘the hot,’ featuring Ismail Lawal ’99 and me, has a new single available digitally and as a physical CD release. The recording also features Michael Esper and Andy Bernick. Order online at rcarchives.com/thehot.htm or find it on the major streaming services. A new album of entirely different songs will be available sometime next year, so please like and follow.” Contact Jeremy at [email protected].

Madelyn Postman writes: “My story collection, Staring into the Sun: Stories from a Chinese American Family 1895–2015, will be published in May 2026 by Ten16 Press. It links memoir and narrative nonfiction about my family.”

Pat Kelleher writes: “Tara Mounsey ’03 was officially inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame on December 10, 2025. In the photo posted by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Tara is flanked by me, executive director of USA Hockey, and Jim Madich ’75, board member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum.”

Helen Kapstein’s second book, Petroforms: Oil and the Shaping of Nigerian Aesthetics, was published in November 2025 with the West Virginia University Press’s Energy & Society series. Petroforms offers a theory of petrocriticism, the critical study of fossil fuels from a humanities perspective. It is a finalist in the humanities/ literature category for the PROSE Awards from the Association of American Publishers. 

Andrew Sean Greer’s book, Villa Coco, was published on June 9, 2026, with Doubleday. Andrew is the best-selling author of seven works of fiction, including Pulitzer Prize winner Less and its companion, Less Is Lost. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O. Henry Award for short fiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in Venice.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Lisa Gelobter ’91 as New York City’s chief technology officer and commissioner of the Office of Technology and Innovation. A recognized leader in social impact and digital equity, Gelobter recently founded tEQuitable, which helps organizations identify and address systemic workplace culture issues and uses technology to make workplaces more equitable. She has served in the Obama Administration as Chief Digital Service Officer at the U.S. Department of Education and has also worked as Interim Chief Digital Officer at BET Networks. She has been recognized by Inc. magazine as one of the 100 Women Building America’s Most Innovative and Ambitious Businesses and named to Fast Company’s list of Most Creative People. 

Joshua Garren ’96 AM, ’97 MD, writes: “We have moved to Manhattan. Daniel is studying medicine at Oxford. Ariella was a Rhodes finalist this year and is in Buenos Aires doing fertility research, and has just received her first medical school acceptance. Maya has her first medical school interview next week. Uzi and Shira are continuing the Parysow Project, which so far has published Oy Mame! Oy Mame!, The Parysow Yizkor Book (Volumes I and II), Memories of Vilna, On the Jews of Yemen, and several other volumes. The first volume of their latest project, the Salonika Memorial Book, a translation from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Ladino, is in press. Michelle and I would love to see old friends, and we have guest bedrooms.” Contact Joshua at [email protected].

The children’s book Spark: Jim West’s Electrifying Adventures in Creating the Microphone, by Ainissa Ramirez, was selected by the National Science Teaching Association, in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council, for their list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students. These books represent the best science trade books published in 2025 for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The books featured on the list include captivating stories, compelling characters, and beautiful illustrations. 

Alison Stewart, host of WNYC’s daily arts and culture show All Of It, was awarded the Gracie Award for Interview Feature for her interview with her neurosurgeon, Dr. Randy D’Amico. Together, they recount the sudden loss of speech that Alison experienced in February 2024 that precipitated the need for emergency brain surgery—a procedure that required her to remain wide awake. In the conversation, they discuss the groundbreaking technology used for brain surgeries like Alison’s, what her recovery process entailed, and a surprising connection—Dr. D’Amico, a music obsessive who plays rock music while he operates on patients, remembered Stewart from her early career role as a correspondent for MTV News. This episode marked her return to the airwaves following a four-month recovery period.

Douglas Stearn writes: “After more than 17 years at the FDA and 15 years at the DOJ, I retired from government service in September 2025. I held a number of positions during my time at the FDA, including principal deputy associate commissioner for inspections and investigations, deputy associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, deputy director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, director of the Office of Enforcement and Import Operations, and deputy director of the Office of Compliance in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. I spent my time at the DOJ litigating civil and criminal cases that involved consumer protection statutes. After spending a few months in retirement, I began working at a consulting firm for FDA regulatory issues, Canal Row Advisors. Andrea and I enjoyed seeing folks at our last reunion and are happy to see friends when they come to the D.C. area.” Contact Douglas at [email protected].

Lynne Greenberg’s book, Masculine Births: Milton, Women, and the Law, was published in March by Northwestern University Press. The book is an interdisciplinary study focused on the writings of the 17th-century poet John Milton, through the lenses of feminist history and early modern law.

Leah Eskin’s first novel, Like Wafers in Honey, was published Apr. 14, 2026, by Levine Querido (see p. 49). Editor and publisher is Arthur Levine Ferrante, and Leah’s agent is Kimberly Witherspoon, with literary advice from Karen Dukess. “Go class of ’84!” Contact Leah at [email protected].

Elise Ansel writes: “I am a visual artist. An exhibition of my paintings was held at the Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea [N.Y.] on April 2, my fourth solo exhibition at a major New York gallery. I’ve had solo exhibitions in Milan, Cologne, and London. I was an adjunct lecturer, visiting artist, and critic in the visual art department at Brown on and off from 2007 through 2019. My daughter, Ingrid Ansel-Mullen ’24, graduated with a dual concentration in honors MCM and visual art. Every aspect of my Brown education informs the work I do as a visual artist. I concentrated in comparative literature and this catalyzed the conceptual framework foundational to my work.”

Eric Dolin published The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail on June 2. A powerful story of survival and a revealing window into the great age of sail—a time when maritime ambition collided with local sovereignty, and when the outcome of one voyage rippled across oceans and empires. Eric writes: “My wife, Jenn, and I purchased our dream house in the historic district of Marblehead [Mass.], which was built in 1753. It retains most of its original details, and I love writing in my home office surrounded by so much history. If any classmates visit Marblehead and want a history tour of the town, send me a message via my website, ericjaydolin.com, where you can also read about my other books.”

Diana Badger writes: “Following in the footsteps of two prominent women astrologers who are Brown alumnae, I’ve published my first book, Dance of the Archetypes: How Astrology Informs Our Lives and Connects Us to the Earth. The book is available on Amazon. My predecessors in this endeavor are Caroline Casey, who wrote Making the Gods Work for You: The Astrological Language of the Psyche (published in 1998), and Jessica Murray ’73, who wrote Soul-Sick Nation: An Astrologer’s View of America (published in 2008). The latter is a great read for the modern moment. I don’t have the reputation of a giant the way these astrological elders do, but I have combined my writer’s talent to create what I hope is a work of art, inspiration, and awakening.” Contact Diana at [email protected].

Forty-plus years later, Nina Bogosian, Sara Schley, and Bonnie Waltch are thrilled to be working together on BrainStorm, a documentary film about the bipolar spectrum, out spring 2026. Leslie Gell, Lisa Gossels, Elizabeth “Beth” Gould, Betsy Hinden, Mary Jo Kaplan, Melissa Lukin, Janet Friedman Mann ’83, Claude Mellins, Nancy Roosa, Marie Skomoroch Stein, Greg Stern, David Tausik, and Scott Triedman ’85 MD are also generous supporters of the endeavor. “So much so that our kids now refer to us as the ‘’82 Cabal.’” For news on the project, visit brainstormthefilm.com.

Rob Whitney writes: “I am a partner in the Boston office of the law firm McAngus, Goudelock & Courie and have specialized in insurance coverage and reinsurance issues for over 30 years. I recently tried my hand at playwriting. I submitted the first play that I have ever written, a 10-minute short play titled Puck, for consideration for inclusion in the 24th Annual New Works Festival. Puck was one of eight short plays selected out of over 150 submissions to be performed during the festival. My play is set in Beacon Hill, Boston, and features a conversation between a father and son about hockey. It premiered on January 24, 2026, at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It was great to have family and friends in attendance at the premiere. I have been bitten by the playwriting bug because I am working on my next play.” Contact Rob at [email protected].

Erroll Southers writes: “I was honored to be the recipient of the 2025 William H. Webster Profiles in Leadership Award for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement. The award is named after Judge Webster, who was the FBI director when I was appointed to the Bureau, and is presented by the National Economic Security Alliance. The ceremony was hosted at the Boeing headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.” Contact Erroll at [email protected].

David Shields’s films Lynch: A History and How We Got Here (which he wrote, produced, and directed) are streaming on Amazon Prime and many other platforms. I’ll Show You Mine (a feature film that he cowrote) is streaming on Prime and Apple TV+; Salinger (he cowrote the companion volume) is also streaming on Prime and Apple TV+. I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel (he cowrote the book and the screenplay and plays himself in the film) is streaming on Fandango at Home. The Very Last Interview (adapted from his book of the same name) is streaming on Vimeo, and The Loser is streaming on YouTube (Kris Borgli, Bret Easton Ellis, and Shields play versions of themselves).

Bonnie MacWhinney-Cramer continues to serve as the Hillel director at Union College. She and her husband, Steven Cramer, are the proud grandparents of Ari, Cole, Juliet, and Caleb. Steven was named a recipient of the 2025 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education from the National Academy of Engineering.

David Gottsegen writes: “I’m excited to announce the publication of my first book on the intimate and amazing connection between mind and spirit, Mending the Body with the Mind: Harnessing Kids’ Superpowers to Heal and Stay Healthy. It’s the result of my 39 years of experience as a pediatrician in a diverse community, utilizing language, play, and tools like hypnosis, meditation, and biofeedback to heal everything from headaches to bed-wetting to sleep problems to ADHD to the fear of shots. It’s available online at ThriftBooks, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Books-A-Million.”

Richard “Rick” Carrell writes: “Now that you checked the obituaries, time for some 1977 class notes. My wife, Aileen Jordan Carrell ’78, and I celebrated our 45th anniversary in Newport, Rhode Island, where we had spent our honeymoon. We visited Brown and it was beautiful. I often joke that we attended college in a Revolutionary War museum. There are many new buildings on the Hill, but they are artfully camouflaged to blend in with the colonial ambience. Aileen, a former swim team captain, was impressed by the new aquatics center. I was surprised by all the new indoor sports facilities in the AD complex and wondered if there were any grass fields remaining. George Caraberis scored tickets for the Princeton football game in the end zone VIP section. George, Janice, and their lacrosse phenom daughter, Jennifer “Jen” Caraberis ’08, hosted an Aperol Spritz–themed tailgate, under the copyright-infringing Grateful Dead/Brown Bear flag in Lot A. The tailgate area was our spring lacrosse practice field except when Coach Stevenson made us clear snow from the Marvel Gym parking lot. Shoveling snow before practice is so central to the Brown lacrosse myth that my roommate, Danny Scofield, and his brother Frank Scofield ’69 spread some ashes of their sibling Rupert Scofield ’71 there last spring. We watched the game with Brown football royalty, including Mike Bernert ’76, Attilio Cecchin ’78, Nancy and John Gaddis, Gerry Muzzillo, and Fred and  Lori Goldstein Polacek ’80. I introduced myself to Dean Barrett Hazeltine, who was 94 years old and attended with his daughter. George said, ‘If you took ENGN 9, he would have remembered your name.’ Unfortunately, the Bruins lost. Looking forward to our
50th reunion.”

50th Class Reunion Cochair Deborah Chick Burke reports: “The reunion committee is busy planning a memorable weekend for our upcoming 50th reunion, which will take place next Memorial Day weekend, May 28–30, 2027. We will be communicating details about the reunion by email, so please log in to Brown Connect+ to update your contact information. Select the profile icon at the top right corner of the page. Select the red ‘My Profile’ button, then click on ‘Edit Profile’ to make any additions or corrections. If you are planning to return for our reunion and stay at a local hotel, we would like to strongly encourage you to book your hotel room now. Our class emails will contain more details about hotel accommodations in the Providence area. We hope you will reach out to friends to make plans to return to campus in May 2027, and we look forward to seeing you at our 50th reunion.”

Franklin “Bud” Zimmerman ’80 MD writes: “I received a lifetime achievement award from Phelps Hospital/Northwell Health at their October 2025 annual gala, which celebrated my 36-year career in cardiology and hospital leadership. I served two terms as president of the medical staff, was director of the critical care units and cardiac rehabilitation program, and remain on the board of directors. I retired from clinical medicine, and I stay active by teaching and writing. My textbook of electrocardiography, ECG Core Curriculum, was published by McGraw Hill. I’m also continuing my work on preventing heart disease in law enforcement personnel and serving on the police physicians section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Laurie Grant Zimmerman and I split our time between Chappaqua, New York and Manhattan and are looking forward to seeing our fellow classmates at the 50th reunion.”

Bob Tracy, along with Tom Clark, Mark Herendeen, and Paul Koza, got together for a few days to enjoy a mini reunion in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the residence of Tom Walsh. 

CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, is honored to announce the October 2025 publication of Moments That Matter: Marking Transitions in Midlife and Beyond by Rabbi Laura Geller and Rabbi Beth Lieberman.

Jack Keane writes that four couples with Brown class of 1968 ties enjoyed their time together during two weeks in France, including Chip Filak and Kay Filak,  Richard Grant and Mary Grant, Jack Keane and Kitty Walker Keane, and Dag Wittusen and Robin Newsome Wittusen. They enjoyed one week in Paris and a second week on a barge on the Burgundy Canal. 

Sally Kusnitz Horn writes: “Some 30-plus years ago, a group of women in the Pembroke Class of 1968 began meeting in person periodically in New York City. Over time, the meetings expanded to include milestone celebrations and women in the class who lived outside of the New York City metropolitan area, and pre-reunion gatherings in Newport, R.I. Covid turned these occasional in-person meetings into weekly Zoom gatherings. The weekly gatherings strengthened existing friendships and forged new friendships among classmates who barely knew each other at Brown. They also led to the creation of the Pembroke Emergency Gap Fund endowment to help undergraduates meet unexpected financial challenges and emergencies. These gatherings are still going strong, every Monday at 6 p.m. on Zoom. They are a weekly source of friendship, where participants share smiles, laughter, wisdom, advice, comfort, and contemplation. Among those who have joined past Zooms are: Molly Erb Adams, Dinah Lamb Bain, Martha “Marty” Barylick ’69 MAT, Karen Maziarz Bell ’70 MMSc, Kathleen Cook, Leigh Dickerson Davidson, Anne Emerson, Shelley Fidler, Judith Ginsberg ’68 AM, Joyce Wolfenden Goff, Carol Pilkinton Grave, Eva Benes Hanhardt, Maggie Harrer, Nina Salant Hellerstein, Ginger Heinbockel Ignatoff, Vikki Aldridge Kingslien, Marcia Knight, Jean Trescott Lambert, Mary Lark Lovering, Connie Berkley Margolin, Helaine Benson Palmer, Nancy Parr, Gay Parrish, Fredi Pearlmutter, Binnie Ravitch, Sandy Richards, Carole Sayle, Kathy Schreiner, Nancy Carlson Schrock, Shelly Sender, Gwyneth Walker, Sharon Wilkerson, and Ancelin Vogt Wolfe. If you are a member of the Pembroke Class of 1968 and haven’t Zoomed with us or haven’t recently Zoomed with us, please consider joining one of the upcoming Zooms. Contact Ginger Heinbockel Ignatoff at [email protected] to join the Pembroke ’68 list serv and receive notices of our weekly gatherings, or contact me at [email protected].”

Fred Brack writes: “When I retired from IBM in 1999, my wife Kathy, who is blind, suggested that I take a class on how to be an audio describer since I had been doing it for her for more than 25 years. Audio description is the narration of key visual events at live theatre, cinema, or on TV for people with visual impairment. I’ve been an audio describer locally in Raleigh, North Carolina, since then. In 2003, I started a website on audio description for a blind gentleman named Barry Levine that was later picked up by the American Council of the Blind as the Audio Description Project. In the summer of 2025, I received the Barry Levine Memorial Award for Achievement in Audio Description from the ACB for my 22 years of work on the website, for which I now list nearly 13,000 movies and series available with audio description across nearly 25 providers (like cinema, TV, and streaming services like Netflix). I encourage any readers or their family members with impaired vision to visit the website.”

Joel Bennett enjoyed the Oct. 27–Nov. 14 Brown Travelers India Trip that visited Delhi, Pashkur, Jaipur, and Agra.

Michael Joseloff, an Emmy Award–winning television news and documentary producer (The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, CBS News productions, and several cable programs), published a book in March. The Greatest Scientific Gamble: A Story of Impossible Odds, Rival Scientists, and the Atomic Bomb tells a little-known story about the launch of World War II when former friends—the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, architect of Germany’s atom bomb program, and Manhattan Project scientists Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Sam Goudsmit—squared off in a high-stakes race to build the atom bomb.  

Susan Seal writes: “On October 24, 2025, the government of France made me a Knight in the French Order of Merit. Deputy Consul General Myriam Gil gave me the medal in a beautiful event at Scarsdale Golf Club in Hartsdale, New York, where I live. This is in recognition for the many years I have spent saving a national register site near my home, Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters. It is on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. This house was the residence of the leader of the French forces in America, the Comte de Rochambeau, for six weeks in 1781 while he met with George Washington. There were 5,000 French soldiers and 4,000 Continental troops camped around the house (some on my front lawn). This has been my ‘retirement’ project since 2010. My husband, David, and I have been married for 55 years and have two daughters and four grandchildren. We have weathered major health crises and managed to have two successful careers. Now we work almost full-time to open the Odell Rochambeau Museum in time for the 250th commemoration of the American Revolution, in 2026.”

Dale Perelman has completed his eleventh book with The History Press, New Castle’s Las Vegas Guys: Gangsters, Gamblers & Dealers. Based on extensive interviews, the author unfolds a cavalier group’s frolicking adventures as they navigate their way from the belly of the downtown Golden Gate to some of the Vegas Strip’s premier casinos, all while teetering along the right side of the law.

Joseph Papa writes that two of his daughters, Giavanna Lau ’89, ’97 MD, and Marianna Krejci-Papa ’86, are Brown grads. He and his wife, Madeline, have been married 63 years and have four children, 18 grandchildren, and three great-grandkids so far. He remembers Theta Delta Chi and the baseball team. He hopes some of his grandsons keep the tradition.

Glenn Cashion’s latest literary effort is a heartfelt tribute to his family, faith, and the Irish spirit that flows through generations. My Irish Heart is the story of Irish immigrants who dared to cross an ocean and build new lives during the Great Famine. Glenn recounts how these struggles shaped his own life and struggles. The book is available by emailing Glenn at [email protected].

Gene Kopf writes: “Loving living in paradise, or Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. We are getting our 10,000 steps a day in, and regularly attend the theater and classes at FAU. Three other Brown alumni are living in this great retirement village, Devonshire, where we have regular entertainment, reading clubs, and education. At this point in our lives, we are very happy here.” Contact Gene at [email protected]. 

Joan Hoost McMaster writes: “Pembroke Hall was rededicated as the exclusive home of the Pembroke Center on October 17. The celebration began with a forum, Fashion as Armor, at which archivist Mary Murphy displayed five garments from the archived collection and described the significance of each. A panel discussion followed with a Q&A. The afternoon reception featured a toast by President Christina Paxson praising Pembroke College and was well attended by alumni, faculty, students, and the public. It was a wonderful and heartwarming occasion.”

At the time of publishing, John Willenbecher’s exhibition of his new work was scheduled to be at the Babst Gallery in Los Angeles,  Feb. 13 through April 18, 2026.

Jack Giddings retired from medical practice after 60 years. He says he has seen three generations of families grow up and flourish. “Giving up was very difficult,” he relates, “but there comes a time to turn things over to younger colleagues and look for new activities and challenges.” Jack and wife Sue have been in Jacksonville, Fla., for nearly all of that time and are fortunate to have their son, a college professor, nearby with his wife and young daughter. Contact Jack at [email protected].

Class Vice President Dean John Seibert writes from the small frontier city of Yoro, Honduras. “Four years ago, I established the Honduran Tolupán Education Program in order to build libraries in indigenous communities, where villagers forget how to read because there is nothing to read. For women of childbearing age, illiteracy can be more than a burden, it can be a death knell. I have been providing medical care, following and sometimes during wars or natural disasters, in Liberia, Indonesia, Haiti, Albania, Pakistan, Kosovo, the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, and, much closer to home, San Antonio following Katrina. At the grand opening of a Tolupán library in the community of El Salitre, about 300 people showed up to join the celebration. I brought my Brown cap. Wherever I go I am always proud to show our symbol of excellence and humanitarianism recognized around the world.”

Mariahadessa Tallie ’20 AM, ’25 PhD published We Go Slow, a picture book with Simon and Schuster in August. The book earned a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly and has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.

Ja-Nae Duane ’18 EMBA writes: “I wanted to share some exciting news: SuperShifts: Transforming How We Live, Learn, and Work in the Age of Intelligence, the book I coauthored with Steve Fisher ’16 EMBA, was recognized as a 2025 Distinguished Favorite by the NYC Big Book Award.

Sarah Rovang ’16 PhD published Through the Long Desert: Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright on Sept. 9 with Rizzoli Electa. Sarah writes: “Though the two heroes of 20th-century art and architecture never collaborated, they maintained a friendship and mutual admiration, exchanging roughly two dozen letters during their lifetimes. This unique meditation on American artistic expression explores the nature of intellectual kinship, as well as home, place and material.”At the time of this entry, Sarah was scheduled to speak at Brown on Nov. 11 as part of her book tour.

Catherine Simpson Bueker ’00 AM, ’03 PhD writes: “In September I published Beyond White Picket Fences: Evolution of an American Town with the Russell Sage Foundation. The book examines the changing demographics of Wellesley, Massachusetts, over the past 100+ years. Drawing on interviews, archival data, and participant observations, I examine how Italian, Jewish, and Chinese newcomers influenced and were influenced by the established community. I examine the ways in which immigrant groups assimilate, retain their cultural backgrounds, and respond to discrimination, sometimes simultaneously, and, in doing so, alter the mainstream.”

Class Co-Presidents Jacki Horn Laxon and Pat Gasbarro report that plans are underway for the 60th reunion scheduled for May 22-24, 2026. “Our reunion committee has planned the following on-campus activities: a reception on Friday night (May 22), a Saturday luncheon, and a class dinner on Saturday night (May 23). All are encouraged to stay for Commencement on Sunday morning (May 24) and march down College Hill with our class. Please join us for our 60th and remember to reserve your lodging early! All communications about the reunion and registration are electronic. Be sure that Brown has your current email address. To update your contact information, access your profile at alumni.brown.edu. As always, please be sure to make your 60th reunion gift to the Brown Annual Fund at gifts.brown.edu.”