The Classes

Robert G. Goodby ’88 AM, ’94 PhD published A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History, in which he tells the 13,000-year story of Native Americans in the Monadnock Region. 

Phillip S. Kott ’76 AM, ’79 PhD has been inducted into the National Agricultural Statistics Services Hall of Fame.

R. Baxter Miller ’72 AM, ’74 PhD, professor emeritus of English and African American Studies at the University of Georgia, is a leading cultural critic. He is the author or editor of more than 100 publications, including 11 books and two new pamphlets on contemporary subjects. His work, The Art and Imagination of Langston Hughes, won the American Book Award in 1991.

Anna Lenaker ’20 MPA published her memoir Able to Be Otherwise, an intimate account of her experiences and encounters with poverty, addiction, and climate change. In her book she writes about her time at Brown as a first generation low-income student. She was interviewed by Trending Globally, a podcast by the Watson Institute, and Congressman David Cicilline ’83 of Rhode Island wrote a praise quote for her book cover. 

Marcia Chatelain ’03 AM, ’08 PhD is the recipient of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in the history category for her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. The board called Chatelain’s book “a nuanced account of the complicated role the fast-food industry plays in African American communities [and] a portrait of race and capitalism that masterfully illustrates how the fight for civil rights has been intertwined with the fate of Black businesses.”  In her book Marcia reveals that for African Americans, fast food is a source of both despair and power—and a battlefield on which the fight for racial justice has been waged since the 1960s.  Marcia is currently a professor of history and African American studies at Georgtown University. 

Bee Vang published an op-ed on NBC News THINK about the recent spike in anti-Asian hate attacks and his experience as a child playing the lead role in Gran Torino, a film directed by Clint Eastwood that featured copious anti-Asian slurs. He has since been interviewed by Ana Cabrera on CNN Newsroom and given an interview on CBC and the University of Michigan. He also spoke at Harvard University and at the Commonwealth Club in California in which he was joined by CNN journalist Soledad O’Brien, physicist Michio Kaku, and former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner. 

 Yeshimabeit Milner ’12, cofounder of Data4Black Lives, was honored by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum with a John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award for her efforts using data analysis to expose systemic racism faced by Black Americans in their daily lives. With cofounder Lucas Mason-Brown and three other executive team members at D4BL, Milner illuminates systemic discrimination by using concrete data, statistical modeling, and data visualization.

Priya Parrotta released an album dedicated to the world’s oceans called Wayfinder and an e-book titled To Dream Again: Imagining Island Solidarity Through Music. Both projects are part of an initiative named Music & the Earth International, which produces resources to support multicultural and decolonial forms of environmental consciousness-raising. Priya can be reached at priya.parrotta@gmail.com.

Dr. Sara D’Apolito-Dworkin and Harrison Avart are engaged to be married September 2021. Harrison and Sara met during freshman year orientation in their dorm, West Andrews Hall. They now live together in Philadelphia.

M.P. Carver directed the 2021 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, which featured more than 50 events and headliners such as Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess and renowned poet and former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets Naomi Shihab Nye. Mass Poetry, the nonprofit organization that ran the festival, focuses on growing the audience for poetry and bringing poetry into schools and public art projects. Carver, also a poet herself, began as director of the Festival last November, but has been a friend of the organization for many years. 

On May 14, Mikel D. Brown graduated with a master of public health from the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California and was inducted into the Beta Lambda Chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. 

Paisid Aramphongphan published Horizontal Together: Art, Dance, and Queer Embodiment in 1960s New York with Manchester University Press. Bridging art history, dance studies, and queer theory, the book tells the story of 1960s art and queer culture in New York through the overlapping circles of Andy Warhol, underground filmmaker Jack Smith, and experimental dance star Fred Herko. Paisid’s website is paisid.net. 

Adam Stern published his memoir Committed: Dispatches from a Psychiatrist in Training with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It is his story of training as a psychiatry resident and pulling back the curtain on the intense, emotionally challenging lessons he learned about the human condition, overcoming imposter syndrome, and learning about love and loss. 

Jessica Pesce and Daniel Ullucci ’04 AM, ’09 PhD announce the June 22, 2020, birth of their son Antonio Julian Pesce Ullucci in Cambridge, Mass. Jessica writes: “He has been wearing lots of Brown gear and enjoying being a quarantine baby.”

Ted Lee writes: “I spent the winter at South Pole Station, where I managed the medical clinic. It’s currently -95°F, dark all day, and the auroras are beautiful.”

Clare L. Frost launched a post-production campaign for her production company’s feature film The Sisters Karras on Kickstarter. The film is about two estranged half-sisters who meet for the first time at the reading of their father’s will. There, they learn they have inherited a rare, antique textile—a family heirloom worth a lot of money—but that they have to share it with each other and their father’s old friend Marco, a man they’ve never met. The film’s Kickstarter page reached its $50,000 goal. 

Though Kate Papp and Bill Rice met in Em-Wool (the first-year dorm Emery-Woolley) in 2001, it wasn’t until 2019 that they really connected. They married Oct. 30, 2020, near Brown’s campus with immediate family in attendance. Krissy Loening MacArthur and Ann Murray watched the couple take their wedding pictures on the Quiet Green from a COVID-safe distance. 

Meredith Jones and Keith Law were married in January in a micro-wedding in Wilmington, Del., with their three daughters filling out the wedding party. Meredith was promoted to associate professor and granted tenure in the department of psychology at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. 

Hentyle Yapp published Minor China: Method, Materialisms, and the Aesthetic with Duke University Press. A professor of art and public policy at New York University, Hentyle analyzes contemporary Chinese art as it circulates on the global art market to outline the limitations of the predominant narratives that currently frame understandings of non-Western art.

Lillie Marshall writes: “For those who enjoyed my daily cartoon in the Brown Daily Herald from 1999 to 2003, you can now follow my artwork online at drawingsof.com, an educational cartoon site. Stop by for creative inspiration, illustrated lessons on common English typos, and fun kids’ stories. I’ve really enjoyed connecting with readers over the years, and just as I did during my Brown days, I still take drawing requests… so be in touch.”

Nora Oberfield and Mike Fruchter announce the Sept. 25, 2020, birth of their second daughter, Adeline “Addie” Bea Fruchter. “Addie is a bright spot during this pandemic and only has eyes for big sister Sasha Dylan Fruchter.”

David Flink has been named one of the 2021 CNN Heroes in recognition of his efforts to empower students who learn differently, including those with a specific learning disability or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He is CEO of Eye to Eye, a national nonprofit mentoring program for students with learning differences, which was founded at Brown 20 years ago. The CNN piece also details the innovations Eye to Eye executed while the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools and isolated students nationwide, including virtual workshops for students and educators.

Lauren Hale Biniaris created and launched a three-week online course called “The 21-Day Calm Your Mind Challenge.” It is a daily program of basic yoga, breathing techniques, mindfulness, and self-reflection that empowers participants with concrete tools for managing anxiety and creating more calm in their lives. Recent participants have called the challenge “an incredible journey” and have reported feeling “calmer, but also stronger and more in-tune with myself.” The program is inclusive of all bodies, ages, levels, and abilities and offers a full refund for anyone less than satisfied with its results. More information is at www.21DayCalmYourMindChallenge.com and Lauren@21DayCalmYourMindChallenge.com.”

Cathryn Cluver Ashbrook wrote to the BAM in May: “After 12 years in the U.S. we are moving ‘back’ to Germany in July 2021. I will become the director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in June, proving that college dreams do come true (thank you, Watson!), and my husband and son will join me later in the summer. Jonathan’s younger sister will be born in Berlin in late September. Once travel is again widely available, we welcome classmates to Germany’s capital.”

Michael J. Hsu ’97 has been appointed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ’67 as the first deputy comptroller of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and will assume the role of acting comptroller. He joins the OCC from the Federal Reserve, where he was associate director in the division of supervision and regulation.

Rebecca Witonsky writes: “I work for disability policy consultancy Griffin-Hammis Associates as a disability policy researcher. My work involves collecting and creating policy summaries for the vocational rehabilitation and blind vocational rehabilitation agencies. I also work on social media projects for employment seekers with disabilities and develop a database of small business development centers.”

Page Sargisson writes: “I opened a jewelry store/studio on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. It seems crazy to open during a pandemic but I think people are craving handmade pieces made locally. We’re also selling pottery made by Dave Herbstman ’90 and my husband Peter Robbins ’92. Please stop by and say hello if you are in the neighborhood.”

Karen Leitner started a coaching business for female physicians to help them lessen burnout and better their lives. She can be reached at karenleitnermd@gmail.com. 

Daisy Wademan Dowling published Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids, a complete how to guide to working parenthood. As a long-time executive coach and full-time working parent herself, Daisy became frustrated that she couldn’t find that one, covers-it-all, nonjudgmental handbook on managing kids and a career, so she decided to write it. The book includes working parents, moms, dads, and gay, straight, biological, and adoptive parents in all careers with children of differing ages. It also addresses what working parenthood can and should look like in a post-pandemic “new normal.”

Jocelyn Strauber ’95, a partner of the law firm Skadden, has joined the steering committee of the When There Are Nine Scholarship Project. The When There Are Nine Scholarship Project was created by a group of women lawyers who served as assistant attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in partnership with the Federal Bar Foundation following the death of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The program will provide financial assistance and mentoring support to women law students.   

Katie Crouch published Embassy Wife with Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. The novel follows two women in Namibia in search of the truth about their husbands and their country.

Ian Chan is leading his biotech company, Abpro, to the front lines of the global race to develop new antibody treatments against the increasing number of COVID-19 variants. With many vaccines’ effectiveness against COVID variants in question, these antibody treatments will be key in fighting the variants. Abpro is conducting a clinical trial for its drug, which is considered the most advanced COVID antibody treatment being developed behind those of Big Pharma giants Regeneron and Eli Lilly. Though the current vaccines in the market and those being developed give the body the blueprint for fighting the common COVID virus, antibody treatments are administered to find and kill the virus and its various strains. These treatments will be used for people who don’t respond to the vaccines and might appeal to vaccine non-adopters. Recent preclinical data published in Nature Communications show Abpro’s drug binds to various COVID variants with high effectiveness, and it may even be effective in people who are infected with strains from the U.K. and South Africa, as well as new strains that have recently appeared in Boston and in New York.

Abby Rosin McCreath writes: “When I graduated from Brown my passion was preventing domestic abuse, gang involvement, pimping, depression, and other women’s issues. I started Groove With Me in 1996, a free dance school and youth development organization. Amazingly, it is celebrating 25 years in June.”

Ian Reifowitz was promoted to the academic rank of State University of New York (SUNY) distinguished professor. This is a SUNY-wide rank to which a handful of faculty across all disciplines and SUNY campuses get promoted each year, and the members form the SUNY Distinguished Academy. Ian has been a member of the historical studies department at SUNY Empire State College since 2002. He writes: “The best thing about the promotion was that my daughter was so excited she baked us a little chocolate peanut butter cake to celebrate.”

Daniel Newman launched Decode Democracy (decode.org), a nonpartisan campaign to fight online political deception, protect democracy, and hold social media companies accountable.

Ainissa Ramirez is the author of The Alchemy of Us. Her book was selected as a finalist by the L.A. Times Book Festival in the category of science and technology and was highlighted in BAM’s October issue (https://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/articles/2020-10-23/the-feedback-loop). It was also selected by the Brown University bookstore for the 2021 Brown University Book Award. 

Mark Hellendrung opened a taproom and brewery at India Point Park across from the Brown boathouse. As CEO of the Narragansett Brewing Company, he has been working on bringing back the famous Narragansett Beer for 16 years and the company has climbed the ranks of more than 8,000 U.S. craft breweries to the 30th largest by volume. 

Beth Wishnie writes: “Lisa Loeb ’90 and I were on a Brown theater reunion several months ago, which inspired her to want to write a musical about the pandemic experience with all the amazing Brown grads we were reconnecting with after all these years. A bunch of the other people in the reunion agreed it was a great idea and so we did it. In the spirit of Once Upon A Weekend, a playwriting festival that Paula Vogel created at Brown years ago, we got 10 different playwrights, matched them with composers and directors, all from Brown, and created 10 seven-minute complete musicals, all taking place from March to November 2020, all on Zoom, and all about finding connection with other people while isolated because of the pandemic. The actors are also all from Brown and include Lisa Loeb, Julie Bowen ’91, JoBeth Williams ’70, Josh Hamilton ’91, Ann Harada ’85, and Rhonda Ross ’93 among many other talented folks. They streamed the musical starting May 20 for four days as a fundraiser for the Actors Fund.” 

Lee Newman was appointed Dean of IE Business School in Madrid. Lee writes: “The world of work is changing so fast and I’m excited to help define the future of business education. I am particularly happy to re-engage with Brown, which is our partner in the IE-Brown Executive MBA.”

In March, Derek Livingston was named the director of new play development/artistic associate at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. In this newly created position he will be responsible for reenvisioning and overseeing the Festival’s new play program, Words Cubed, as well as other artistic and senior staff duties. For the past few years his primary artistic work has been as an actor. Las Vegas audiences have seen his work in Thurgood, The Pillowman, and The Whipping Man. Prior to that, he was primarily a theater director, producer, and new play developer, having served for more than four years as the managing artistic director of Los Angeles’s Celebration Theatre (the country’s second oldest, continuously operating LGBT focused theatre).

In February, Robin Lenhardt was tapped to colead Georgetown University’s new Racial Justice Institute. It will serve as a hub where scholars, activists, and thought leaders may work across the academic, policy, and advocacy spaces and serve as a place to seed and inspire the next generation of scholars and leaders addressing the vestiges of enslavement and well-being of Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Monica Brady-Myerov writes: “I am honored to be working with two fellow grads at my ed tech startup Listenwise. Dr. Marielle Palombo is our director of curriculum and Vicki Levy Krupp ’86 is our curriculum writer. We curate podcasts and create lessons for K-12 teachers. My book, Listen Wise: Teach Students to be Better Listeners, was published in April. It brings together my experiences as a reporter and entrepreneur with research and advice to help teachers improve their students’ listening skills.”

Class Vice President for Communications Vinny Egizi writes: “If you are not a member of our Brown University Class of 1988 Facebook group, please join. In the group we now have albums set up for each of our four years and would love to see yours. So dust off those photos from your Brown days and upload them to these albums. Memories are priceless so stop being selfish and share them with us.”

Tina Patterson was selected as one of 15 appointed and elected public leaders from nine states and Washington, D.C., to participate in the Public Leaders for Inclusion Council (PLC) 2021 Cohort sponsored by America Indivisible. The Public Leaders for Inclusion Council is a leadership development program that convenes civil servants from across the country who have shown a consistent commitment to addressing bigotry and building inclusive communities. The program equips participants to explore practices and policies that challenge anti-Muslim bigotry and other forms of hate while building inclusion and social resilience in their communities. The program includes briefings on the religious and cultural landscape of their communities as well as on local incidents of hate and discrimination primarily targeting Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim from Arab, South Asian, Black, and Sikh communities as well as other groups.

Bob Katz writes: “Bob Katz aka The Mangfather Bob Katz here. I just released my third album Six Cans of Olives in the U.S. The music is already in regular rotation on radio stations throughout Canada and is getting great reviews from music magazines throughout the world. You can check it out on my website (http://www.themangfather.com) or on all the major streaming sites (Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Deezer, etc.) under my artist name, The Mangfather Bob Katz. Wishing you all peace and safety at this difficult time.”

David Jones writes: “I have been appointed U.S. bankruptcy judge for the southern district of New York in Manhattan. Before that, I was an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan for 24 years, and for the last 11 serving as deputy chief of the civil division. I live in Brooklyn and I am married to Marta Nelson ’86. Our kids, Alec and Lian, are 24 and 19 respectively so we naturally have a new rambunctious puppy to go with an elderly rescue dog. I would love to hear from old friends.”

Amy Hummerstone received her master’s of arts in Architectural History from Columbia University in May 2020. 

NASA announced funding for two missions to Venus. Both are headed by Brown alums. The orbiter, VERITAS, is led by Dr. Sue Smrekar  ’84 and the probe, Davinci+, is led by James Garvin ’84 PhD. Each team will get about $500 million, and launch is expected between 2028 and 2030.

David B. Whitacre’s debut novel The Seven Gifts was published with HenschelHAUS Publishing. The book argues that all of humanity can be explained through the lens of the Seven Gifts and includes fun stories from his days at Brown. 

Gary Ginsberg published First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents. The book takes a look at White House history through the eyes of the best friends and closest confidants of American presidents. 

George Deckey writes: “I’d like to belatedly report my son Ben’s graduation from Brown last year. Alas, we were hoping to doubly congratulate him this year on both his bachelor’s and master’s in CS from Brown but COVID unfortunately had other plans. So congrats Ben! He is the seventh Deckey in three generations to attend Brown and there are more Deckeys in the Brown pipeline, including Isabella Deckey ’22. Go Bruno!”

Anne Beal writes: “I am happy to share the news that I am joining the GSK board. I will also become a member of the corporate responsibility committee, which provides oversight of the company’s policies for access to medicines, global health, inclusion and diversity, and environmental sustainability. Given my decades-long focus on health disparities and elevating the voice of the patient and public health, this is an exciting professional fit. I’ve enjoyed meeting the members of the board and GSK leadership and look forward to working with these thoughtful and committed professionals.”

Frederick Thurber writes: “The Big Sky Journal published an article I wrote about a retreat I went on in Montana for men with cancer. Subsequently, Health Union hired me to be an advocate for ProstateCancer.net. In December, audible.com published my first audio book In the Wake of the Willows. It was narrated by Madeline Barker ’21 MFA (while in her closet) as detailed in the January BAM: https://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/articles/2021-01-11/the-actress-the-mic-and-the-wardrobe.” 

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that Peter Case ’83 and Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert ’03, great-great-grandchildren of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller Sr., have created the Equation Campaign and pledged a combined $30 million of their personal wealth to the effort aimed at supporting people on the front lines fighting new oil and gas development. The campaign, which is looking to raise $100 million, will fund all aspects of blocking new development, including lawsuits, protest activities, public relations, social-media campaigns, and legal support when people are arrested or blocked from exercising their First Amendment rights of speech and assembly. 

Andrea Manzi Frank retired as the curator of visual resources at Boston College in January 2019. Since then, she and her husband Steven Frank ’83 have been pursuing a project combining Andrea’s background in art history and Steve’s experience in computer science. The tool they developed, which uses artificial intelligence to assist in the authentication of artworks, can distinguish different artists’ contributions to a particular work. The project has received attention in international art and news outlets, including articles in the Art Newspaper and the Telegraph. Andrea and Steve have published articles about their work in peer-review journals, including Neural Computation and Leonardo. More information can be found at www.art-eye-d.com.

David Torrence writes: “I am finishing my second year as a high school principal in Xenia, Ohio. I am a ‘war principal’ who was booted out of my building two-thirds of the way through my first year, having only about 70 percent of my students in the building this year. Through it all, my students and staff have been nothing less than amazing. Not a single case of COVID was transmitted in our building and the XHS community has been very supportive of each other as we have worked together to get through this year. I’m looking forward to the ’21-’22 school year, when, with luck, we can operate for a full year without having to wear masks. Anyone wishing to touch base can find me at d_e_torrence@yahoo.com. And if anyone can convince Brad Stevens to leave the Celtics to come coach the Hoosiers, I’d greatly appreciate the favor.”

Tom Ratcliffe directed The Stand: How One Gesture Shook the World, a film about circumstances that led runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos to raise their fists in protest of racial inequality at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the great personal risks they took, and the subsequent fallout they endured. Through intimate interviews with the participants and witnesses involved in that moment, along with compelling images and archives, the film explores the runners’ historic stand in the context of a critically important and volatile time for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Brown professors Brian Meeks and Françoise Hamlin appear in the film. 

Dean Herrin writes: “I recently retired as chief historian of the National Capital Region of the National Park Service, in Washington, D.C. I live in Frederick, Maryland, with my wife Sarah Heald, and we have a daughter, Emma, who lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. I’m looking forward to working on my own research projects, and I have to say I’m a little shocked at how quickly we’re moving toward the front of the alumni pages.”

Scott Daube believes he has changed little since graduating from Brown, neither good nor bad, but is not sure if that is really true. He drinks tea at least twice a day, as always, but it is nowhere near as boring as it sounds. He has had the same job for the past 25 years, still finding it stimulating and challenging, sometimes too much so. He says a big hello to anyone who used to know him at Brown who cares to listen, and perhaps even to those who don’t, and wishes them well. He can be reached at scdaube@icloud.com.

Karen Ticktin writes: “I moved back to my old stomping grounds on the Upper East Side with my newish husband Doug. When I’m not providing personal and corporate branding services, I’m listening to my daughter Lacie’s radio show (Northeastern ’23) or FaceTiming with our grandkids in Florida and Los Angeles. I would love to reconnect with any and all classmates.” 

Robert Pfeffer writes: “I am still living in New York City while practicing medicine at NYU and on the faculty at the NYU School of Medicine. With the deepest pride imaginable, I want to congratulate my son Matthew Pfeffer ’21 on his graduation from Brown this spring. Way to go Matt! Both of us are ever true.”

Penny Dinneen Hillemann is executive director of Rice County United Way in Northfield, Minn. Previously, she was vice president and senior communications counselor at Neuger, a strategic communications agency. She and David Keyes ’78 were married in 2008. She writes that the children she shares with former husband Eric Hillemann, Phoebe (Kenyon ’11), Hallie (Lawrence ’16), and Henry (St. Olaf ’23)—are “launched, or nearly so.” Penny has served on many boards and is learning to play bluegrass banjo.

Deborah Heiligman published her 33rd book for children and teens, She Persisted: Clara Lemlich. The book is about a Ukranian immigrant who rose to a position of power in the women’s labor movement and incited the famous Uprising of the 20,000 in 1909. She writes: “I was so inspired writing about one badass Jewish woman that I’m now tackling another, Emma Goldman. This one will be for young adults (and older adults).” Find her work at deborahheiligman.com. 

Brown’s Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Barbara D. Chernow ’79 retired at the end of summer 2021. Among her many accomplishments in her six years in the role was partnering with Provost Richard M. Locke to implement a zero-based budgeting process, helping create Brown’s net-zero sustainability plan, and, on another note,  breaking a Guinness World Record in 2018, when she directed staff teams that stuffed 3,000 backpacks with school supplies for Rhode Island children. Chernow’s six years at Brown follow more than 30 years in educational administration. At the NYC Board of Education in the early 1980s, she supervised a system of school buses serving more than half a million students daily. She served as vice president of the NYC School Construction Authority before transitioning to higher education in 1998, when she joined Stony Brook University. She left the role of senior vice president for administration there to come to Brown in 2015. “Leaving the University twice—once after being a student, and now again after serving as an administrator—will truly be bittersweet,” Chernow said. “Barbara’s last day will be in September, but her impact at Brown will be felt for generations,” President Christina Paxson said. 

David Shields cowrote I’ll Show You Mine, produced by Mark and Jay Duplass and starring Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown. 

Donna Gordon writes: “My novel What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me is due out from Regal House in June 2022. While at Brown, I received the Kim Ann Arstark Award in creative writing. Afterwards, I was a Stegner Fellow in creative writing at Stanford. I’ve since published several short stories and have received literary awards. I was a PEN Discovery in New England and a Ploughshares Discovery over the years. BAM published my photo essay about my documentary photography project, “Putting Faces on the Unimaginable,” in October 1989. At the time, I had been interviewing and photographing former prisoners of conscience from all over the world. My novel was inspired by that experience. I was grateful to be able to translate so much of what I learned about oppression, torture, and imprisonment into my fictional story. The essay and photos from that project were shown at Harvard’s Fogg Museum, Boston’s French Library, and Tufts. Part of my story is that it took me until the age of 64 (65 when my book comes out) to publish my first novel. Life has taken me in many directions since graduating from Brown, but my days studying creative writing with Michael Harper, Jack Hawkes, and Edwin Honig were the beginnings of something that has never lost its hold. There was a power to the experience of being in those classrooms. There was a power to exploring the special collections at the John Hay Library, where I often went just to sit and be in that space where rare books were kept.” 

Class president Barbara Sunderland Manousso received recognition as the recipient of the Adams Award as the top mediator in Texas through the Texas Association of Mediators, and the Houston Lifetime Achievement Award through the Association of Conflict Resolution Houston Chapter, as well as being recognized by the Houston Business Journal as “A Woman Who Means Business” for professional services.

John Lantos coauthored Kidney to Share with Martha Gershun. The book describes Martha’s experience donating a kidney to a stranger at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester in 2018. It uses the case as a jumping off point to explore the medical, financial, and psychosocial barriers that make it difficult to donate organs and may exacerbate health disparities. 

Linda Jaivin’s 12th book, The Shortest History of China: From the Ancient Dynasties to a Modern Superpower—A Retelling for Our Times, was published with the Experiment in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. The book will also be translated into Greek, Russian, Japanese, and other languages. In it, Linda acknowledges Brown Professor Emeritus of History Lea Williams for introducing her to Chinese history and insisting she study the language as well, for which she is incredibly thankful. 

Wendy Rowden was recognized by Crain’s New York Business as a 2021 “Notable in Nonprofits and Philanthropy.” She took the helm of nonprofit Building for the Arts in 2015 and has focused on deepening the organization’s impact in the communities it serves. Its two signature projects are Theatre Row and Music and the Brain. She writes: “I couldn’t have done this heavy lift without the support of my life partner (and college sweetheart), John Carton.”

Emerson Coleman continues to develop and launch new media projects in his role as senior vice president of programming for Hearst Television, where he created the weekly national political show Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien and the Matter of Fact Listening Tour digital series The Hard Truth About Bias: Images and Reality and To Be an American: Identity, Race and Justice, streaming at matteroffact.tv.

William Marks writes: “It’s been a busy, rewarding, and too often heartbreaking few years as the CMO of Ben Crump Law, where we’ve represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Jacob Blake, and the poisoned children of Flint, Mich. Ben and I have traveled the country, where he continues to rail against environmental racism, police misconduct, and all that society has brought down upon the voiceless, marginalized, and disadvantaged. But we are a hopeful crew and dream of the day when much of what has happened can be behind us.”

Clifford P. Kubiak was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2020. A distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego, he holds the title of Harold C. Urey Chair in chemistry and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Chemical Society. 

Crawford B. Bunkley III narrated the audiobook for When We’re Home In Africa by Themba Umbalisi on Audible. Crawford writes: “When the Union Army frees the slaves from a Southern plantation, one man sets out on an amazing series of adventures. From an infantry soldier at the Battle of the Crater, he joins the 9th U.S. Cavalry and becomes a Buffalo Soldier. Stationed in West Texas, he makes powerful friends—and enemies. Soon, his life takes an unexpected, dangerous turn. Will he ever achieve his dream of finding a home in Africa?”

Timothy Runkel published The Warrior Surprises Gog and Magog, an imaginative novel that focuses on God’s fulfilling the prophecies of Ezekiel. 

Ed Murphy and Patrice moved to Virginia Beach from St. Louis (after 40+ years) to be near their daughter and two grandchildren. 

Scott Harris writes: “Pandemic zooms with classmates were fun; however having those conversations over pitchers at the GCB would have been icing on the cake.” 

Candy Doehlert Lingl retired in 2017 after 18 years with the J. Paul Getty Museum and Getty Publications. She writes: “We spent most of the first year living in an RV while gutting and remodeling our home in Camarillo, California (halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara) and installing a small vineyard. Look for our Casa Estaban label soon at Topa Mountain Winery, Ojai CA!”

Judith Foster writes: “I retired 10 years ago as principal of the Neighborhood School, a small progressive public school started by six teachers, including myself. Since then, I have been making pottery, traveling, working part-time for the Studio in a School association and playing with my grandchildren, along with my husband, Mark Andres ’74.”

Elie Hirschfeld writes: “I seem to like sports a lot, still. During the pandemic I ran the New York City Marathon, 50th Anniversary, virtually. I started out my front door opposite Central Park, ran four loops around the park and ended up at home. My wife, Sarah, was there all along with water and supplies. I biked 85 miles from New York City to my home in the Hamptons arriving before noon. And in March, I ran the New York City Half-Marathon, again in Central Park, virtually. I am registered for the New York City Triathlon and a couple other tri’s. Let’s see if I can do it.”

Caroline Gates Anderson, founder and president of BloomAgainBklyn, has been named to Crain’s New York Business “Notables in Nonprofits and Philanthropy” for 2021. Caroline was celebrated alongside other nonprofit and philanthropy executives for coming to the “rescue of a city gripped by disaster.” Caroline was previously highlighted in BAM; see https://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/articles/2020-10-23/flower-power.

Class President Elie Hirschfeld reports: “Our 50th Reunion is now history. And, we also made history as the first virtual class reunions at Brown ever. Many classmates participated and all reports were good. But we all know, there is nothing like “in person.” Poet and author Anne Michaels famously wrote; ‘Reading a poem in translation… is like kissing a woman through a veil.’ I would add, but kissing through a veil is better than no kissing at all. With that in mind, we had a great reunion. The main event of the reunion was the panel discussion ‘My Life/My Brown,’ moderated by classmate Ralph Begleiter, former CNN world affairs correspondent. Panelists from the class included consultant Tom Acosta, voice of Siri and performance artist Susan Bennett, media executive Christy Carpenter, executive director of the National Center for Children and Families Sheryl Brissett Chapman, director of the National Museum of American History Spencer Crew, chair of Lincoln Center and director of Tishman Speyer Real Estate Kathy Farley, NASA astrophysicist Malcolm Niedner, affordable housing developer Josh Posner, executive director of the Schumann Fund Barbara Reisman, and trustee of Asia Foundation Ruby Shang. Following the panel discussion were breakout rooms where panelists continued discussions with classmates. The subjects of each breakout room were public interest institutions, student activism for life, eyes on the stars and earth, and media earthquakes. Rabbi Laura Geller led the memorial service to remember departed classmates. I was also invited to come to Brown during commencement to represent the class of 1971. I was interviewed for the welcome video that kicked off commencement weekend and walked through the Gates. Everything was so special for me this reunion, except I missed being with you. I missed seeing you, celebrating with you, and marching with you. Perhaps we can get together in person somehow, somewhere, soon. I am thinking about this a lot.”

Ross Fenton writes: “While at Brown, Vietnam veterans Edward Cundy ’68, Richard Gerace, Kenneth Kugel ’68, and I formed a Rhode Island chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Elise Lemire published a book with the University of Pennsylvania Press recounting our efforts over Memorial Day Weekend in 1971 to show the people of New England why the American War in Southeast Asia needed to end, and end immediately. Battle Green Vietnam: The 1971 March on Concord, Lexington, and Boston tells the story of how we walked Paul Revere’s route in reverse over three days. When we tried to stay on the Lexington Battle Green, we were rounded up in what remains the largest mass arrest in Massachusetts history. Lemire has made her book highly readable by recounting the march through the eyes of six of the march participants, me being one of them. It includes several photos of the other
Brown participants.”

Joe Haletky writes: “It’s been years since I’ve sent anything in, but I thought I’d try to catch people up. I’ve been in Palo Alto, California, for the last 48-1/2 years after four years in Ithaca, New York. I have enjoyed four different careers, three of which began at Brown. For more than 30 years I continued my financial aid job as a gifts assistant at the Rockefeller Library at both Cornell and Stanford after dropping out of both graduate programs. As a music major, I’ve sung in numerous groups since high school (sometimes even getting paid for it), and conducted a number of choirs and musical theatre and opera companies since my Ithaca days (again sometimes getting paid for it). Having turned anti-war in my last months at Brown, I became an activist, refusing induction while at Cornell, and since moving to California, became an advocacy and social ministry person through my church, where I conducted, and actually became cofounder, treasurer, and associate director of a major nonprofit homeless program (finally getting paid for it). That led to career #4, accountancy, at which I’m still working (now for a property management company for the last 20 years). My activism also continues as a volunteer as global missions chair for our regional Lutheran Synod. I’ve even gotten to travel internationally to El Salvador and Peru due to the latter involvement. In the meanwhile, I’ve been married twice with three grown kids, three stepkids, nine grandkids, and 14 great-grands. It’s been a full and rich life, and I’m thankful every day for it and for the education I got at Brown that helped me become who I am.”

Joel Bennett writes: “Fortunate to survive a bout with COVID in 2020, including three weeks in the hospital, but all better now.”

Martie Barylick ’69 MAT directed and produced Ballerina Boys, a portrait of the men of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, a company of dancers who challenge the traditions of ballet art. Martie and her Emmy winning producing and directing partner, Chana Gazit, worked on the documentary for six years. It premiered on PBS’s American Masters in June. The website for the film is ballerinaboysfilm.com. 

Raoul Smith ’64 AM, ’68 PhD, former professor of Slavic Language and Literatures at Northwestern University, gave four lectures to the Beacon Hill Seminars in Boston on Orthodox Iconography. He is the former research fellow and editor of the Journal of Icon Studies at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Mass.  

Ned Clayton writes: “For my 80th birthday last year, my wife Stephanie and my daughters used the Tribute Program and asked family, friends, business associates, and Delta Phi Fraternity brothers to provide a video response. They sent out 130 invitations and received 115 responses. The videos were wonderful and the contributions contained many stories from the past. Whenever the shutdown got me down, I had these memories to bring sunshine into our home.”

John Andes published Tail Whip of the Black Dragon with Havah Publishing. John writes: “In the book, David Drummer, senior analyst in charge of interagency communications in the FBI’s Kansas City office, is planning his upcoming retirement with his lover Rachel. Instead of enjoying his last few months at the bureau, he comes face-to-face with several powerfully evil scenarios: a scandal of far-reaching consequences within the bureau, two apparently unrelated police killings three thousand miles apart, and grassroots rallies designed to rile the voting populace against foreigners.”

Arthur L. Levin ’62 AM spent the pandemic transferring last year’s booked Portugal and Paris trip to this year, apparently so he could now transfer it to 2022. But, more promisingly, he completed both vaccine shots and his first book, the latter published at COVID’s peak in 2020 via Amazon. He describes the book as “a happenstantial array of poetry and aphorisms, Mined Over Matters: Random Thoughts Reformed.”

Norman Bolotow writes: “After 49 years of living on the Warren River in Barrington, Rhode Island, I have relocated to Laurelmead, an adult cooperative community on Blackstone Boulevard in Providence, which is very close to where I grew up and my family lived until 1963.”

Class copresident Paul Lipsitt writes: “The Brown and Pembroke classes of 1950 met on April 30 to celebrate their 70th reunion, due to unforeseen circumstances held on our 71st year since graduation. A small but intrepid and enthusiastic group of classmates ventured into cyberspace to get together. In attendance were class copresidents Caroline Decatur Chick and Paul Lipsitt, class vice-president Russ Kinne, Shirley Lechtman Sallet, and Barry Schwartz. Guests included Brooke Kruger Lipsitt ’63 and Caroline’s granddaughter Melissa. The “cocktail party” included beer, wine, and Grey Goose vodka martinis in honor of  Sidney Frank ’42, whose sale of this brand enabled Brown’s then-largest donation to support need-blind admissions. A toast was given to the Brown and Pembroke classes of 1950. Caroline presented a slide show of earlier reunions accompanied by Brown students singing the alma mater. A proposal was presented by Paul and Caroline to gift the class treasury to Brown’s new Alzheimer’s Research Project. Last, but not least, in attendance was Jill Stange, our Alumni Relations liaison, without whom this event would not have happened.”

M.B. Bennett McLatchey ’83 MAT published Beginner’s Mind, an educational memoir that celebrates the teaching methods and philosophy of a remarkable teacher she had in a shipyard town in New England. The book was birthed during her graduate years at Brown while engaging with the scholarship of her professors in the MAT program. She is a widely published poet and author and has received numerous awards for her poetry, including the 2011 American Poet Prize from the American Poetry Journal and the 2012 Robert Frost Award. She is also an award-winning teacher at the college level, both from Harvard and Brown, as well as at her current university, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. 

Ned Polan ’75 PhD coauthored a chapter in the book Animal-Assisted Crisis Response, published in 2020 by NASW Press, a department of the National Association of Social Workers. His golden retrievers, Brinkley and Meg, have received national exposure for their work providing comfort and encouragement to people affected by crises and disasters. 

Philip Falcone ’19 EMHL writes: “I completed preliminary general surgery training, a surgical research fellowship, and finished my plastic surgery residency in 1990 at the Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University Program in Medicine. I subsequently was in plastic surgery private practice in Syracuse, New York, retiring in 2018 after a 28-year career. Prior to finishing my clinical practice, I enrolled in the Brown University Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership program and graduated in 2019. After graduation I became the medical director of quality at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. During that time, I was presented with the Excellence in Healthcare-Innovator Award for my work using hydrogen peroxide vapor to reprocess and thus extend our scarce supply of N95 masks. I was appointed as chief medical officer of St. Joseph’s in October 2020. As part of my duties, I am asked to give press interviews to provide commentary and expert opinion on health related issues including the current pandemic. I still wear my Brown University tie. In many ways I owe the success of my professional careers to Brown and wanted to thank all those who trained and taught me over the years.

Olivia Mansion ’16 AM is one of the founding team and the director of communications and artist relations of Fairgrounds St. Pete, a 15,000 square-foot immersive arts exhibit based in St. Petersburg, Fla. Through a range of exhibits, events, and workshops, Fairgrounds St. Pete showcases the creative innovations of artists and makers working in all mediums.

Rebecca Fundis ’04 AM writes: “My husband and I purchased an independent cinema in Newburyport, Massachusetts, to help it survive the pandemic and we got a wonderful write-up in the Boston Globe. We’re excited to be back in New England and a bit closer to Providence, where we can pop down for an occasional nostalgic visit.”

Troy Baker ’04 MAT (see Bobby Kaufman ’08).

Jessica Levai ’03 AM, ’07 PhD writes: “My first novella was published in April 2021 from Lanternfish Press. It’s called The Night Library of Sternendach: A Vampire Opera in Verse, and it’s what it says on the tin: a story of family, first love, and vampires told in 253 Pushkin sonnets. Here’s a link for more information: https://lanternfishpress.com/catalog/sternendach.” 

Jack Brook moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to work as a Henry Luce Scholar at the Bophana Audiovisual Resources Center, which trains Cambodian youth to be filmmakers. The Center’s focus on conservation filmmaking led him to the forests of the Mondulkiri province where he got to spend some time with rescue elephants in a nature preserve managed by the local Bunong community. When out of the jungle, he’s been slowly learning to read, write, and speak the Khmer language.

Anant Ambani ’17 and the Ambani family are planning to build a zoo and animal sanctuary called Green Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Kingdom in Jamnagar city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, the Week Magazine reported. The zoo will house nearly 100 species of animals, birds, and reptiles from India and around the world and is scheduled to open in 2023.

Ariana Gunderson will begin her PhD in anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington in the fall of 2021. She will be studying food, performance, and inequality in San Francisco and spending quite a bit of time in the library.

Edward Tremel writes: “Despite the incredible disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 my wife and I both finished our PhDs at Cornell, hers in English and mine in computer science. In an interesting coincidence, my friend Matthew Milano finished his computer science PhD at Cornell at the same time, making us once again members of the same graduating class (although none of us got to celebrate with a graduation ceremony). In August, I moved to Augusta, Georgia, to start a job as assistant professor of computer science at Augusta University and since then I have been hard at work trying to keep up my research program while designing ways to teach computer science classes with a hybrid of in-person and online instruction. Although I’m happy to have finished my PhD, I will miss the friendly community in the Cornell computer science department, especially the group of other Brown alumni and our monthly Brunonian lunches.”

Graciela Kincaid and Jeremy Jacob married on Oct. 20. They met on their first day at Brown while moving into the Wayland dorm. Their backyard ceremony was officiated by Andrew Nizamian and included two Brown grads in the groom’s family, Thomas Jacob ’73 and Timothy Jacob ’15. They hope to celebrate with many more Brown grads in the near future.

Blair Station Hirst launched a new age wellness marketplace called Digital Health Review (www.digitalhealthreview.com). The platform is an all-in-one place to shop for healthcare and helps consumers discover key information about digital health products that can improve their health and wellness. It also helps small to large size businesses augment their wellness offerings by providing a way for their employees to shop for health tech covered by their health plans. The site offers snapshots of a wide range of apps, wearables, and subscription services related to health and wellness—everything from Peloton to an ovulation-tracking bracelet to mental health to pediatric care telehealth. Digital Health Review’s mission is to break down the barriers of access to quality healthcare through the use of technology, and the company has been accepted into a Black & Latinx Founders program that supports women founders of color. Contact Blair at: blair.hirst@digitalhealthreview.com.

Eric Johnson, a podcast consultant in San Francisco, is hosting a new podcast called Follow Friday. The podcast is a weekly interview show about the Internet creators he admires and why you should follow them. Guests include comedians, writers, musicians, and other digital creators. Details at FollowFridayPodcast.com.  

Kaileigh Callender, an associate in the Litigation Group at Goulston & Storrs in Boston, has been named to the National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40. The list recognizes Black attorneys from each state who are rising stars in their respective areas of the law. Kaileigh handles disputes related to the firm’s employment, business, and retail clients. She is also deeply committed to pro bono work, handling projects for many of the firm’s pro bono clients, including Haley House, International Refugee Assistance Project, Kids in Need of Defense, and the Lawyers Clearing House. She serves on the board of directors of Boston Youth Sanctuary, which is an innovative after-school support program in Dorchester, Mass., for youth who have experienced trauma. She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 2016, where she was a Martin Luther King Jr. Fellow.

Bobby Kaufman and Michael Fu ’25 co-organized and hosted the inaugural TEDx event at Pace Academy in Atlanta. Five students and three professionals delivered speeches addressing the theme “Challenging the Status Quo.” Speeches included Kristina Smith-Newton advocating for STEM careers for women of color; Carlos Andrés Gómez’s eight lessons from fatherhood; Troy Baker ’04 MAT unpacking the intersection of athletics, academics, and race; a student discussing coming out in the heteronormative hallways of high school; and a video presentation by two students on gender inequity featuring Pace Academy history teacher Arminda Smith Lawrence ’07. 

Jen Silverman published her debut novel We Play Ourselves (Random House). The book is about a New York City based playwright who suffers a humiliating public scandal and goes to Los Angeles to reinvent herself; she starts work with an ambitious yet monstrous filmmaker on a documentary about a group of young girls in an all-girl fight club. 

George Schwartz published Collecting the Globe: The Salem East India Marine Society Museum with University of Massachusetts Press. The book is an in-depth look at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., America’s oldest continually operating museum. 

Rajiv Raman is happy to announce the publication of his second children’s book The Last Stop: A Story of Transit Equality. It serves as an opportunity for parents to talk about prejudice with their young readers through the lens of transit equality and equity. You can learn more at: https://arrtworks.com/laststop/.

Meredith Ainbinder has been promoted to vice president and general counsel of Emerson College in Boston. 

Muffy Morris Marracco appears on the Game Show Network’s TV program Master Minds regularly as a trivia expert. She also wrote the Lifetime movie Girl’s Best Friend and tutors test prep in Los Angeles and online. 

Tyler Denmead launched a virtual book tour for his book The Creative Underclass: Youth, Race, and the Gentrifying City. It critically examines how arts and humanities programs can become enmeshed in circumstances where young people, including himself, become visible once the city can leverage their creativity to benefit urban economic revitalization and gentrification. 

Julia Zarankin writes: “I have published a book about my (mis)adventures in birdwatching called Field Notes From an Unintentional Birder. It was favorably reviewed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Kirkus and was enthusiastically recommended by Margaret Atwood on Twitter. Here in Canada, the book was a bestseller and was recommended by the Globe and Mail as one of their Top 100 books of 2020. Birdwatching is very much in the news these days as one of the few activities that we can practice safely during the pandemic. I wrote a piece for Audubon about how birds make us happier (and there’s now science to prove the main thesis of my book).”

Jon Fasman published We See It All: Liberty and Justice in an Age of Perpetual Surveillance with PublicAffairs. Currently U.S. digital editor of the Economist, Jon examines the legal, political, and moral issues surrounding how the police and justice system use surveillance technology. 

Gillian Epstein Baudo and her 10-person book club set up a fully volunteer COVID-19 vaccine clinic in rural New Mexico. Together they vaccinated approximately 2,000 residents in 10 days with the goal of reaching 70 percent immunity in their hard-hit county. This feel-good story grabbed the attention of national and state news, including the Washington Post and CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell. 

Betsy Gilliland coedited Empowering the Community College First-Year Composition Teacher: Pedagogies and Policies with University of Michigan Press. The book brings together 16 chapters of research and practice in American community college writing classrooms and programs, giving voice to teachers whose work is often taken for granted. 

Isheeta Ganguly writes: “One of my Mumbai-born theatrical productions (Shakuntala Awaits) has just gone off-Broadway in New York City, which has been covered by a number of prestigious publications in India. The HERE theatre in New York City ran the play virtually until April 3. My two brilliant and widely known actors, Purva Bedi and Samrat Chakrabarty, both Hollywood and theatrical talents, showcased in diasporic American mainstream shows and films, give the show its power. I have rewritten the play to include a COVID thread in one of the lead character’s narratives and audiences in New York City thus far have found that very moving. The piece is a dram-com love story set within the backdrop of love and loss all too present for all of us in varied shades amidst this pandemic.”

Naomi Sachs coauthored Dior in Bloom, a dive into the influence of gardens and flowers on designer Christian Dior, with Alain Stella and Justine Picardie. She is an assistant professor in the department of plant science and landscape architecture at the University of Maryland. 

Sangeeta Bhatia ’90, professor of health sciences and technology and electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and Susan Hockfield, MIT president emerita, along with members of the MIT faculty, launched the Future Founders Initiative in 2020 to increase the number of female MIT faculty members who start biotechnology companies. The initiative will kick off with the Future Founders Boot Camp series, with interviewers and speakers including Theresia Gouw ’90, founder of Acrew Capital.

Nick Jones writes: “I am working as legal counsel for the Fairtrade Foundation, based in London. I’m still involved with my passion to play tennis (when my left ankle permits) and managed to play on Wimbledon Centre Court last year, as the Championships in 2020 got cancelled for the first time since World War II.”

Robin Lenhardt ’89 has joined Georgetown Law to colead its new interdisciplinary Racial Justice Institute. Robin recently served as faculty director of Fordham Law’s Center on Race, Law, and Justice. The Racial Justice Institute will serve as a hub where scholars, activists, and thought leaders may work across the academic, policy, and advocacy spaces as well as a place to seed the next generation of scholars and leaders addressing the vestiges of enslavement and the well-being of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people(s) of color).

Ian Todreas is among the first transportation professionals in the nation to be recognized as a “Transportation Demand Management Certified Professional” by the U.S. Association for Commuter Transportation. The registered trademark may only be used by professionals who pass a rigorous national exam developed to recognize experts in the field and incentivize individuals to continually improve their knowledge of industry concepts, policies, and practices. Ian also won a grant to undertake his first public art project. His project “Dogs of Belmont” depicts local canines on a utility box, delighting many four-year-olds who can view it at eye level.

Lisa Krohn was interviewed by USC Iovine and Young Academy for her work as a designer and creative director and strategist. She currently teaches at the academy as an assistant professor of practice and product design.

Joe King writes: “I started as chief product officer at TuneIn building a next generation of radio and audio experiences everywhere people want to listen. My wife, Andrea Linsky, and I live in Berkeley Hills, our empty nest now mussed by a pandemic-puppy Lab. We still keep a toehold in Seattle as well. Please do reach out anytime. I welcome the chance to say hi.” 

Jodi Levine Avergun (see Jerry Levine ’58). 

Thomas Hatch published The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict with Corwin. The book draws on 30 years of work learning from school reform efforts in the U.S. and in education systems around the world. It also describes the work of a number of organizations that are creating powerful educational experiences inside and outside schools. Thomas is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as director of Columbia’s National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching. He welcomes hearing from Brown alums, particularly the many working in education. 

Carolyn Davis published her book Eban and the Dolphins on Blurb.com. The young adult environmental fantasy centers on a boy genius who feels alienated from humans. With permission from a dolphin community, he elects to live in their pod. 

Amanda Freeman Jonas writes: “I’ve retired from teaching upper school history at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. My Brown history degree was certainly handy in my career. I’m helping to take care of my mom, who has dementia. I’m also reading and doing some antiracism work. I’d love to hear from classmates. Come to D.C. once we can all travel again. I can be reached at afreeman@mfreeman.info.”

Amanda Freeman Jonas writes: “I’ve retired from teaching upper school history at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. My Brown history degree was certainly handy in my career. I’m helping to take care of my mom, who has dementia. I’m also reading and doing some antiracism work. I’d love to hear from classmates. Come to D.C. once we can all travel again. I can be reached at afreeman@mfreeman.info.”

Stephen Beck writes: “I recently left Oracle Customer Success to become FinancialForce’s new VP of Global Professional Services. We provide the fastest growing ERP and PSA solution on the Salesforce.com platform. If you know anyone who is interested in a rewarding role at an exciting, growth company in high tech, or if you’d just like to write and say ‘hello,’ please contact me at sbeck@financialforce.com.” 

Doug Riley writes: “I continue to practice intellectual property and community association law at Lisman Leckerling PC in Burlington, Vermont. Side Hustle #1 is teaching sailing and skippering sailing cruises on Lake Champlain, Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic coast.Side Hustle #2 is playing Celtic music. In January I released a solo CD, Nostalgia Café, reuniting with musical friends from the last 30 years. Brown acquaintances are most welcome to get in touch at driley@lisman.com.” 

Richard Gagnon writes: “I have retired from active orthopaedic practice in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. I have practiced in rural Vermont for 39 years. I expect to do more golfing and when the pandemic abates, more traveling. I still play basketball and can’t wait to start playing again when COVID restrictions are lifted. My wife and I plan to celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary in July. Our three children reside in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont, respectively, with two grandchildren in Massachusetts. So, we have no plans to leave Vermont in the foreseeable future. If you’re passing through Saint Johnsbury, stop by to reminisce.” 

Barry Heller is the principal investigator at Long Beach Clinical Trials in Long Beach, Calif. He administered the first-in-the-U.S. doses of monoclonal antibodies to patients with COVID-19 infections. He was a lead author in the October 28, 2020 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine article “SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibody LY-CoV555 in Outpatients with Covid-19.”  

Lawrence Moss is representing Amnesty International at the United Nations, returning to active advocacy there after previous roles representing Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, and the NYC Bar Association at the UN, and five years in academia directing the human rights program at Roosevelt House, Hunter College CUNY. He continues to live in Manhattan and the upstate village of Ancramdale, and hopes to soon resume international travels.

Thomas Jacob (see Graciela Kincaid ’12 and Jeremy Jacob ’12).

Henry Farah writes: “I’ve had an exciting couple of years with a new approach to painting. If interested, go to artworkhenryfarah.com or henryscottfarahart on Instagram. Best wishes to all.” 

Mary Bennett of Charlottesville, Va., retired from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s research division last October. She writes that she and her partner, Andrew Hershey, celebrated her 70th birthday in January with a Zoom birthday gathering complete with candle blowing-out and shared by longtime friends that included former residents of 382 Brook Street in Providence: Dr. Joel Betesh, whose medical career in Philadelphia has included internal medicine, geriatrics, informatics, online medical records rollout, and lately Zoom appointments with people just after they test positive for COVID-19; his wife, Joan Katz Betesh, poked her head in but was busy with one of her many retirement activities; Jane Desmond, poet and professor of anthropology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose specializations include animal-human studies; Susan Hansen-Flaschen, who retired a few years ago from a career in Philadelphia as a high level nurse managing treatment of HIV/AIDS patients in very vulnerable populations; her 382-visiting husband, Dr. John Hansen-Flaschen ’72, a pulmonologist and emergency medicine specialist, was not present, probably being on a frontline for COVID-19 treatment planning; Lucy Harris, who retired not long ago from a career in hospital management with Kaiser Permanente in the San Francisco/Oakland area; M. Carol Millican ’72 of Los Angeles, who has retired from a prolific career in animation; and Barbara Streeter, a child therapist and education manager who is starting to wind down her career at the Hanna Perkins Center for Child Development. Lucy Winner was not able to attend as she’s super busy as a professor and mentor in arts and media at Empire State College in New York City. For my birthday, I bought six dozen cupcakes (70 plus 2 to grow on) and passed them out to friends around Charlottesville, including Robert Hueckstedt ’77 (started as class of ’73, finished later due to a trip to India where he learned to play the tabla), Sanskrit professor at the University of Virginia, and his wife Nazen Merjiam, who was a librarian at the Rock when he met her in the ’70s. I was inspired by Joan Katz Betesh, who brought cupcakes to Joel’s local friends pre-Zoom party when he turned 69 in October 2020.”

Lise Pothin O’Farrell writes: “Dear classmates, my novels Happiness is a Lost Island and The Tears of God draw on my pre-Brown/Pembroke life in Seychelles, my years in the U.S., and my subsequent experience in Ireland. See https://www.logicpress.ie/authors/liseofarrell/.”

Roy Pedersen writes: “I have been an art dealer for 35 years, first in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where I wrote and curated The New Hope Modernists for the Michener Museum in Doylestown. Although I was born at the Jersey Shore, I had never been aware until 15 years ago that everyone from Winslow Homer to Thomas Eakins had produced important art there. In 2014, I put my attention on an uncelebrated group of wonderful New Jersey artists which culminated in the groundbreaking exhibition, Jersey Shore Impressionists at Morven Museum in Princeton. It attracted over 10,000 visitors. The accompanying book was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Prize by the Independent Publishers Association. On May 1, my new exhibition, Thomas Eakins in New Jersey and The Boys, opened at the Peto Museum in Island Heights, New Jersey. It focuses upon the mostly overlooked camera and brush works done by Eakins at the Jersey Shore.”

Bob Gaudreau was elected to the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame. As last year’s class inductions were postponed due to the pandemic, he was inducted alongside the 2020 class. 

Gene Kopf and his wife Linda have been residents of Jupiter Island, Fla., for almost 30 years, while also having a residence in the North Carolina mountains until 2020. He writes: “Enjoying 26 years of retirement with five grandkids, four in college, fifth a Navy Seal. This is paradise. Magnificent weather, gym, outdoors every day.” 

John Andes signed a 10-book contract with Danish publisher Mellemgaard. 

Caryl-Ann Miller Nieforth reports: “Our current Class of 1959 National Scholar is Ulysses Chevez ’23, an engineering major. Remember to help keep our class scholarship funded.”

Copresident Sandy McFarland Taylor has left her Manhattan co-op for the quieter joys of Tuxedo Park, N.Y., living with one of her daughters. Since Sandy had visited there for many summers and throughout the year, she was already well acquainted with Tuxedo Park. She remains very engaged with the local Episcopal parish, having at one time served on its vestry.

Hays Rockwell has put the quieter time caused by the pandemic to good use. He has written two memoirs. One is focused upon persons who influenced his life and the second recounts all the places he and his wife lived throughout their lives. He’s also written about the year of the pandemic so that future generations may have a “real time” accounting of what it was like. The father of four and the grandfather of eight, his family is far flung: from California to Switzerland, from Boston to London, and various spots in between. Each summer the Rockwell clan normally has a grand reunion at their coastal Rhode Island home; although this was an impossibility during 2020, he does look forward to a time when they can all reassemble.

Jerry Levine’s daughter, Jodi Levine Avergun ’84, has been named one of the 500 leading lawyers in America by Lawdragon. She is the chair of White Collar Defense and Investigations at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft LLP, where she is a partner.

Peter Hornbostel published his second book, Come On In, I’ll Tell You A Story. He writes: “You can get it from Amazon for about $16. Classmates can get it from me at a $1 discount. So far, it’s pretty successful and lots of fun.”

Since 2005, Adrienne Arabian Baksa and her husband Richard have been running a free Buddhist correspondence course for prison inmates. Each student inmate is provided with course books, assignments, and an experienced mentor. The curriculum is designed to acquaint students not only with Buddhist theory but, more importantly, with the practices of meditation and mindfulness. These practices are considered essential in changing “unskillful” mind states (greed, anger, ignorance) into “skillful” ones (generosity, compassion, wisdom). The program has grown significantly and they now have nearly 600 students from 46 states and several foreign countries. If you are interested in learning more about their work, contact Adrienne at adriennebaksa@me.com.

Joe Gerstein writes: “Although well on the way to my 85th birthday, I have enough energy to remain deeply involved with my favorite charity: SMART (Self-Management and Recovery Training). At the onslaught of the pandemic we had to move rapidly from 27 online meetings to 800 in order to provide forums for the participants in our 3,500 global free, weekly mutual-aid meetings. In the course of this development, we added Zoom meetings in Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. The SMART Recovery Handbook has been published in 16 languages with four more in preparation (Japanese, Haitian Creole, Punjabi, and Hebrew, with a grant from the Israeli Government). Smartrecovery.org receives almost 2,000,000 unique visitors annually.”

Jenifer Morgan Massey writes: “I will look forward to seeing you all at our 70th when we’ll all be only 91! We should have a prize for who guesses the correct number of attendees. You can submit your guess for this at our Zoom 65th reunion. Winners to be announced May 2026. Love you ALL!”

Joan Bliss Wilson writes: “As everyone else is doing, we are essentially confined to our campus here at Kendal at Hanover in New Hampshire. Only recently have we had any virus cases and they are in the dementia section. But life goes on. This past year we had two great-granddaughters born and one granddaughter got married. Our son had the virus early on, but is entirely well now and never stopped working. He’s an employment lawyer. Stay well and wear a mask.

Mary O’Neil Ward writes: “In order to escape the unbearable summer heat in Florida, my daughter and I have ordered a camping trailer and plan to revisit favorite spots in New England, especially my son’s gallery of his copper sculptures in Georgetown, Maine (Ledge Island Gallery, mainecoppersmith@yahoo.com, interesting work from scrap copper salvaged from his construction jobs). I also have 16 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren to visit. I am on oxygen 24/7 to assist my compromised heart and lungs—all those cigarettes had an impact!”

Bruce Mansfield was the grand marshal at the annual Veterans Day Parade in Wellesley, Mass., which honored veterans of the Korean War. Bruce, who lives in Wellesley, heads the Americans For Action nonprofit foundation. Bruce adds that he is the author of the fictional novella The Chameleon and the nonfictional Sides of Life. He expresses his gratitude to Brown for lifelong memories and insights that enabled him to survive all the cycles of life that he and his classmates faced since graduation.

Devra Miller Breslow writes: “Living in Los Angeles has meant serious shutdowns more than once. I keep busy chiefly by Netflix, Acorn, online concerts, opera, and a good deal of reading. My trainer comes twice a week and I have family Zoom calls twice a week.” Contact Devra at breslow@ucla.edu. 

Roger Smith’s book Guppy Pilot was first published privately in 1998 and then published again through Authorhouse in 2011. It is now available on Alibris, American Book Exchange (AbeBooks), and Amazon.

Richard Grout recounted his experiences on D-Day for the International Affairs Forum, the World Affairs Councils of America affiliate in Traverse City, Michigan (https://youtu.be/av7f6uVQtv0).