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Cowell College
‘69 Nancy NAKANO Conner recently retired after 34 years at Indiana Humanities. She served as director of grants and Novel Conversations, a statewide program for book clubs.
‘86 Patrick SWEENEY completed his doctorate in Asian and Oriental medicine, and successfully passed his National Diplomate license and his California Acupuncture license. Herbalism will be his focus. It all began with his herb walks on campus.
Stevenson College
‘70 Jonathan GREEN recently completed a two-year term of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa, working in the Community HIV Outreach Program. He went to Liberia in August to serve a one-year term with the Peace Corps Response program, working as the national coordinator for all Peace Corps efforts to “Roll Back Malaria.”
’71 Robert M. MCCORMICK, a real estate attorney with of Downey Brand, was named a 2017 “Top Lawyer” by Sacramento Magazine. Downey Brand is a law firm with offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Stockton, and Reno.
‘79 Ray LAUNIER is author/inventor of EQ Tools for Emotional Life and Emotional Stress Balance: www.emotionsinc.org.
‘89 Dan BERMAN is the cofounder and chairman of WSHB, LLP, a national business litigation law firm that was recently ranked as one of the fastest-growing firms in the country. With over 225 lawyers, Berman is particularly proud to share that his firm jumped to the No. 2 spot nationwide in the recently published Women’s Scorecard for inclusiveness by the National Law Journal. WSHB has received many kudos for its efforts to increase diversity this past year. Law360 ranked WSHB 10th in its “100 Best Law Firms for Female Attorneys,” and the firm was also ranked No. 4 on The American Lawyer’s 2016 Diversity Scorecard. Geoff DI GIROLAMO, partner at Surfacedesign, was selected as a recipient of the 18th Annual National Design Award in Landscape Architecture.
’11 Brooke CASTRO participated in Miami University’s Earth Expeditions global field course in Australia in summer 2017, studying coral reef ecology and the conservation of marine systems along the Great Barrier Reef. Castro, an educator guide at San Diego Zoo Global in San Diego, took the graduate course in pursuit of her master’s degree from Miami University’s Advanced Inquiry Program. Shana BARNETT participated in Miami University’s Earth Expeditions global field course in India, studying the ecological, cultural, and spiritual landscapes of the Western Ghats, where the fates of people, wildlife, and deities meet in sacred groves and forest temples. Barnett, a history teacher at The Madeira School in McLean, Va., took the graduate course in pursuit of her master’s degree from Miami University’s Global Field Program.
Crown College
‘90 Alison GUENTHER-PAL, assistant professor of German and film studies who also teaches courses for the gender studies major at Lawrence University, received the Young Teacher Award in recognition of demonstrated excellence in the classroom and the promise of continued growth. She initially joined the faculty in 2007 as part of Lawrence’s postdoctoral fellowship program and was appointed assistant professor in 2012.
‘97 Laurel BRANDSTETTER of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP was named as chair of the firm’s Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations Practice Group. A trial lawyer and former prosecutor, Brandstetter focuses her practice in the areas of white collar criminal defense, government investigations and prosecutions, corporate compliance, and internal investigations for corporations, municipalities, universities, and other entities.
’05 Karla MOELLER earned her Ph.D. in biology at Arizona State University in 2016 and has been working in science communication and education for ASU since 2014. She just published her first fiction children’s book, Joryn Looked Up, and will be running a crowdfunding campaign for her next book in the fall of 2017.
Merrill College
‘69 R. Zachary WASSERMAN, a land use/zoning attorney with Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP, was named to the 2017 edition of Northern California Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters rating service and publication that selects outstanding attorneys from more than 70 practice areas. He also was elected chair of the Bay Area Regional Collaborative, a 20-member collaboration that helps coordinate the regional planning and implementation efforts of four regional agencies of the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area to better integrate transportation, land use, and air quality efforts.
‘91 Carl ZIMRING is a professor of sustainability studies at the Pratt Institute, where he teaches designers, architects, and artists about the waste stream. NYU Press published the paperback version of his book Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States in October 2017, and Johns Hopkins University Press published his book Aluminum Upcycled: Sustainable Design in Historical Perspective in March. Kevin NOLT, a director at employee benefits specialty law firm Trucker Huss, began serving a two-year term as president of the San Francisco Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Council on July 1, 2017.
‘95 Shani HECKMAN has been making films since 2005, completed her M.F.A. in cinema at San Francisco State University, and has won an Individual Artist Commission Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission for her new film, The House on Lucky Street, about a haunted house in the Mission District whose last two tenants face eviction. She has created the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Shanestar Productions, Inc., to produce this film and support emerging LGBTQ filmmakers and promote women in cinema. www.shanestar.org
Porter College
‘77 Laura MARELLO‘s sixth book and fourth novel, Gauguin’s Moon, is forthcoming from Guernica Editions, Toronto, in 2019.
‘15 Amelie (Amy) MELTZER was admitted to the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and began in August 2017.
Kresge College
‘76 Jonathan REDDING, an environmental attorney with Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP, was named to the 2017 edition of Northern California Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters rating service and publication that selects outstanding attorneys from more than 70 practice areas.
Oakes College
‘79 Tracy GREEN, a bankruptcy: business attorney with Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP, was named to the 2017 edition of Northern California Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters rating service and publication that selects outstanding attorneys from more than 70 practice areas.
‘90 Nancy LaRonda JOHNSON is a published author and is in her 16th year working as a probation officer for San Mateo County. She loves her church, family, and job, but “vacation” is her favorite word in the English vocabulary. Learn more on Facebook or at www.nancylarondajohnson.com.
Rachel Carson College
‘74 Beatrice VAN HORNE served as editor, along with Deanna H. Olson, of a new book, People, Forests, and Change: Lessons from the Pacific Northwest, which extracts key lessons from several decades of forest management and scientific advancement to lay the groundwork for a future where both humans and forests can thrive.
’92 Christian E. MARSH, an attorney who specializes in energy and natural resources and land use/zoning at Downey Brand, was named a 2017 “Top Lawyer” by Sacramento Magazine. Downey Brand is a law firm with offices in Sacramento, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Stockton, and Reno.
‘98 Carol HARPER is currently homesteading in the Santa Cruz Mountains … horses, fiddles, and travel. Professional career was in electronics working on telescope instrumentation for Lick and Keck Observatories, before that in Silicon Valley. Free at last!
‘05 Kiernan GORDON is an assistant professor of sport studies at the University of New Hampshire and was invited to serve as a guest lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in March. His primary research stream centers on the role that emotions play in people’s engagement with, and consequent consumption of, sport facilities, events, and related products.
‘11 Julie GAUTIER-DOWNES’s solo exhibition, Dislocated Memories, opened July 5 at the Chase Gallery in Spokane, Washington, and was featured in articles in both the Pacific Northwest Inlander and the Spokesman-Review. She also had an installation, Amour Perdu, in Hypothesis at the Richmond Gallery and several new photographs in the Reclaiming Show at Kolva-Sullivan, both in Spokane.
College Ten
‘15 Ada RECINOS, a 26-year-old advancement manager with Prospera Community Development, was appointed to the Richmond City Council in September. Council members noted that it was Ada’s passionate activism in the Latino community and her clear vision for Richmond’s 23rd Street corridor that impressed them. She is the second-youngest person to serve on the council.
Graduate Studies
‘69 Stephen KESSLER was the recipient of the 2017 Northern California Book Award in poetry translation for his version of Save Twilight: Selected Poems by Julio Cortázar. This is the fifth major honor Kessler has received for his work as a literary translator. His previous awards, all for his translations of the Spanish poet Luis Cernuda, include an NEA Fellowship, a Lambda Literary Award, the Academy of American Poets’ Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, and a PEN Center USA Literary Award.
‘93 Matt WINSLOW, an Eastern Kentucky University psychology professor, received the 2017 Acorn Award, the highest honor for teaching excellence presented by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and co-sponsored by Kentucky colleges and universities.
‘02 Preethy VAIDYANATHAN joined marketing technology company Tapad as senior vice president of product management in March. She has also been involved in helping pave the way for fellow female engineers through her involvement with the Society for Women Engineers.
‘04 Warren HOFFMAN was named in April as the next executive director of the board of the Association for Jewish Studies, the largest international society of students and scholars of Jewish studies. Hoffman’s background includes more than 13 years of experience in Jewish studies, Jewish education, and Jewish cultural programming.
‘13 Naomi GLENN-LEVIN RODRIGUEZ’s most recent book, Fragile Families: Foster Care, Immigration, and Citizenship, examines the precarious position of Latina/o families who are simultaneously caught up in systems of child welfare and immigration enforcement, focusing on the central role of child welfare decision-making in producing and maintaining boundaries of citizenship, race, and national belonging in the United States.
In Memoriam
‘09 Jonathan HARMS (Kresge) died on February 26, 2017, in Los Angeles, hours after being released from Marina Hospital ER. He was 29 and very healthy, but had suffered severe migraines all his life. He would say that any day he wasn’t sick in bed was a great day, and this positive attitude was inspirational. He cared greatly about social justice and protecting the environment. His love of the outdoors and nature, and his joy in enjoying our beautiful Earth, inspired all.