Class Notes

College/Arts, Sciences & Engineering

1943

Dorothy Levy Gallant (see ’02).

1956

Arthur Miller has been named associate dean and director of the Tisch Institute for Sports Management, Media, and Business at New York University. Arthur is a legal scholar and holds the title of university professor at NYU.

1966

Ned Ferguson sends an update. He writes: “I tried to retire after almost 40 years practicing internal medicine and preventive cardiology in and around Madison, Wisconsin, in 2012. Despite developing a musical career in some rock, country, and now bluegrass ventures, I missed medicine and unretired, and am now working with Health Diagnostic Lab in Richmond, Virginia, on advanced cholesterol and insulin resistance testing, both in Richmond and from my home outside Madison. I’m also developing an online Internet medical consult service. A nice honor was being elected emeritus professor of medicine by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in 2012. I’m married with a 27-year-old son who is with a well-known ska band and a music producer, and have five grandkids, ages one to six, thanks to my wife’s two boys and their wives. I thank the U of R for my education that started me on my career path, and also for the Beatles tribute in a recent issue of Review.”

1969

Karen Thompson Greene has coauthored Art Deco Mailboxes: A Design History (W. W. Norton). The book presents a photographic survey of the Cutler mailbox and mailchute, developed and patented by architect James Cutler, who served as mayor of Rochester and as a trustee of the University.

1970

Joseph Adler writes that he’s retired as a professor of Asian studies and religious studies at Kenyon College, and has written Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi (SUNY Press). The book is a reassessment of the 12th-century Confucian scholar Zhu Xi.

1971

Patricia Gallant Wasserman (see ’02).

1973

Nina Ginsberg has been appointed parliamentarian of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. A partner at DiMuroGinsberg in Alexandria, Virginia, Nina was appointed by the organization’s president. She’s been a criminal defense attorney for more than 30 years and specializes in national security, white collar, and financial cases. . . . Larry Wilson writes: “After 25 years of an active urology practice and four years of ‘bored’ retirement, I completed a two-year fellowship in addiction medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine and am now clinical assistant professor in psychiatry, division of addiction medicine. I serve as medical director at the University of Florida campus in Tampa, home of the Florida Recovery Center, and treat patients at two other large substance abuse treatment centers in Tampa (DACCO and BoardPREP). To quote Jerry Garcia, ‘What a long, strange trip it’s been.’ ”

1975

Bob and Christy Zabel Masleid send an update. Bob had his 143rd patent issued this year and holds the position of distinguished engineer at Oracle. He specializes in SPARC server processor chip design. Christy retired this year as senior business leader of operations process management at Visa. She was the senior director of production operations at CyberSource before the company’s acquisition by Visa in 2010. She led the company’s worldwide production operations team as it made the transition from 100,000 to more than 20 million transactions per day.

1977

The peer-reviewed publication Best Lawyers in America has named James Holahan, an attorney in the Rochester office of Bond, Schoeneck & King, as Lawyer of the Year in the fields of employment law and labor law. The designation is awarded to only one attorney in each practice area in any single city. . . . Dan Kimmel has been named editor of the Jewish Advocate in Boston. “It is America’s oldest English language newspaper serving the Jewish community,” he writes. . . . David Kopitz (see ’79).

1978

Glenn Boreman has been elected as the 2015 vice president of SPIE, the International Society for Photonics and Optics (formerly the Society for Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers). Glenn is a professor and chairman of the department of physics and optical science and director of the Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Communications at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He’s also cofounder and chairman of the board of Plasmonics, an infrared technology research and development firm. . . . Laura Carstensen has been recognized by the Gerontological Society of America with two awards, one for her research and the other for mentorship. Laura is the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy at Stanford and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.

1979

Joseph Kubarek, an attorney at the Buffalo law firm Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel, has been named to the 2015 list of best lawyers in America by the peer-reviewed publication Best Lawyers in America. . . . Sharon Porcellio, an attorney in the Buffalo law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King, has been named to the Top 25 Female New York Super Lawyers and Top 50 New York Super Lawyers lists by Super Lawyers Magazine. . . . Vicki Unger sends an update. She writes: “David Kopitz ’77 and I (who met in the Reserve Reading Room in 1976 and went on our first date in Wilson Commons) just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary and eighth anniversary working together. We began working together when we combined our long-standing separate careers in financial services to create the Kopitz Unger Wealth Management Group, and we recently joined Wells Fargo Advisors in Century City (Los Angeles), California.” Vicki adds that she chairs two Los Angeles chapters of the Women Presidents’ Organization, an international organization for women presidents and CEOs, and David captains United States Tennis Association tennis teams. They have three sons: one in high school, one in college, and a graduate working in the travel industry.

1980

Linda Rosenthal was profiled in the New York Daily News in July. Linda is a New York state assemblywoman from Manhattan’s Upper West Side and a noted animal rights advocate. She’s authored more than a dozen animal protection bills that have become law, including laws to limit cosmetics testing on animals and giving cities powers to close puppy mills. . . . Lisa Swain was named Triathlete of the Year by the North Jersey Master’s Track and Field Club. A Fair Lawn, New Jersey, councilwoman, Lisa completed five triathlons in a single summer. She placed first in the women’s division of Paramus’s sprint triathlon, a race consisting of a 300-meter swim, 14-mile bike ride, and 5K run. . . . Mary Thomas Sweeney ’85W (MS) writes: “I was inducted into the Tau Kappa At-Large Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing in Saratoga Springs last April.” The society aims to advance world health and celebrate nursing excellence. Mary is retired from Eastman Kodak as a certified occupational health nurse, and teaches as an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Empire State College’s Center for Distance Learning.

1984

Mike (Finkelstein) Stein writes: “I have a new job. I just started as the deputy director for employee and labor relations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Hi to all my SAM brothers from the U of R.”

1985

Chris Nahil has been named director of marketing at the Boston-based company ezCater, a nationwide, online food ordering service for businesses. Previously, Chris was principal of the communications agency Message & Medium, which he founded.

1986

Dan Ollendorf writes: “I recently completed a mid-career PhD in clinical epidemiology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. While the defense ceremony was interesting and full of traditions dating back to 1632, the best part was getting a few days away with my wife, Carolyn Conte. I’m continuing as chief scientist for the nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, while Carolyn is entering her 15th year as research coordinator for Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study. Our sons, Alex, a college sophomore, Matthew, a high school freshman, and Jonathan, a fourth grader, continue in their quest to grow taller than their parents.”

1987

David Abrams (see ’89). . . . Amy Silbert Blake is an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. She was nominated by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick in June and confirmed by the Governor’s Council in July. Amy had been a judge in the Family and Probate Court of Essex County since 2008, and in 2013, received a Distinguished Jurist Award from the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers. . . . Vince Rocchi (see ’89). . . . Susan Schein has been named the first director of Connecticut College’s new Zachs Hillel House. Susan was ordained as a rabbi at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and has served as the St. Louis Hillel Foundation’s program director, Bucknell University’s Hillel director, and coordinator for spiritual development at Philadelphia University.

1988

Daniel Bennett (see ’89). . . . Jeffrey Gorsuch (see ’89). . . . Scott Rudder (see ’89). . . . Mark Snyder (see ’89). . . . Douglas Stiller writes that he was elected to the board of directors of the Erie County Bar Association in June.

1989

Mark Zaid writes that a group of the original Sigma Phi Epsilon founding brothers had a reunion last summer. Pictured from left to right are: Vince Rocchi ’87, David Abrams ’87, Scott Rudder ’88, Daniel Bennett ’88, Steven Sheldon, Ben Creighton, Mark, Mark Snyder ’88, and Jeffrey Gorsuch ’88.

1991

Elizabeth Dunn writes: “After 14 years at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I’ve left to become associate professor of geography and international studies at Indiana University in Bloomington.”

1993

Rob Aaron writes: “In early August, I accepted a position as executive director of the Center for the Study of Student Life at Ohio State University. I’m working with a talented team of researchers to support one of the country’s largest divisions of student affairs with its assessment, research, and planning needs. I completed my master’s degree at Ohio State in the mid-90s, so it’s good to be back in Columbus once again. I owe the start of my career in higher education to my time at Rochester when I served as an RA in Anderson Tower during the 1991–92 academic year.”

1995

Terri Camesano has been named dean of graduate studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. A professor of chemical engineering, Terri has been a member of the institute’s faculty since 2000. . . . Chris Sorrow appeared in the August issue of Texas Monthly magazine. Chris is vice president and senior portfolio manager at Probity Advisors in Dallas and was named a 2014 Five Star Wealth Manager. Chris also won the designation in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013.

1996

Elizabeth Woods Cooper has been named director of special education for the Pittsford, New York, Central School District. . . . Vanessa Hurlbut Paniccia has published Princess Bing Bong Hits the Beach and Princess Bing Bong Rides a Bike, the second and third books in her Princess Bing Bong children’s literature series. Both books are self-published through Authorhouse.

1997

John Conron is a Massachusetts State Police trooper. He writes: “I was recently awarded a Superintendent's Commendation from the colonel of the Massachusetts State Police for an investigation that spawned a worldwide Department of Homeland Security operation.” John began an investigation in 2010 that led to the discovery of an international child pornography ring and Homeland Security’s “Operation Holitna,” which led to 41 arrests in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Canada, and the rescue of 160 victims. John adds that he received an Investigative Achievement Award from the United States Attorney's Office in Massachusetts for a similar investigation.

1998

Bethany MacLennan Centrone has joined the Rochester office of Bond, Schoeneck & King. Previously, Bethany was chief labor negotiator for the Rochester City School District as well as the district’s chief of human capital initiatives. . . . Brian Hyland has taken a position at the education technology firm LearningMate Solutions. He’s the program director of the content services group, where he works directly with publishers to develop digital learning programs.

1999

Jana Behe writes that she and Josh Kinneston were married in August 2013 in Albany. Pictured from left to right are Michelle Koski, Josh Brady, Jennifer Ellis ’98, Rob Ellis, Valerie Plummer Olsson ’98, Johan Olsson, Jana, Josh, Jessica Anderson Hughes, Dan Hughes, Lynee Galley ’98, Todd Archer, and Craig Johnston ’98. . . . Joshua Boxer is a senior counsel in the Miami office of the Florida-based law firm Broad and Cassel. Last summer, he earned Florida Bar Association board certification in health law, joining just over 120 Florida attorneys, or five percent of the state’s bar membership, with board certification in health law.

2000

Kerri Cleghorn Lai writes that she and her husband, Peter, welcomed their first child, Josephine Grace, in August. Earlier in the summer, several U of R friends, including Lorye Wexler Peddie ’98, Amy DiVirgilio ’98, Christine Tebaldi ’96, ’96N, ’01N (MS), Lindsay Greene Koenig ’98, Krissy Grugan Donohue ’99, Cathy DeJesus Wong ’98, Margie Siegel Carmody ’99, Jill Sibley Lawson ’99, and Rebecca Hart Goldberg ’98, held a baby shower for Kerri. . . . Tim Pastore ’02 (MA) writes that he’s been named the National Geographic Channel’s president of original programming and production. . . . Justin White has been named partner in the Darien, Connecticut, management consulting firm Casey, Quirk & Associates.

2002

Elizabeth (Ela) Hakiel ’03S (MBA) has joined Tompkins Financial Advisors as vice president and senior wealth advisor. She works in the firm’s Pittsford, New York, office. . . . Sue Mayo writes that she married Joshua Hanson in June at Douglaston Manor in Pulaski, New York. Pictured from left to right are Laura Vivier Vaughn, Emily Berenson Steinman, Jennifer Brown Rutner, Josh Rutner ’03E, Sue, Josh, Nate Work, Rishi Mulgund, Michele Melnick, Rachel Heafitz King, and David King ’01, ’01 (MS). Also in attendance, but not pictured, were Anthony and Nellie Coats Yandek. Sue adds: “We live in Boston, with our lovable dog, Scotch the vizsla, where I work in marketing for a medical device company and Josh is an innovation manager for a large health care company.” . . . Leah Wasserman writes that she and her husband, David Schepard, welcomed a son, Theodore Nelson, last January. She adds: “Theodore is the grandson of Patricia Gallant Wasserman ’71 and is named after his great-grandmother Dorothy Levy Gallant ’43.”

2003

Tim Sweeney has been named head coach of the Hobart College basketball team. Tim succeeds Mike Neer ’88W (MS), who retired from the position after last season. Tim played all four years for the Yellowjackets under Mike, who coached the Rochester men’s team for 34 years. In addition, Tim served under Mike as assistant coach of the Yellowjackets from 2003 to 2006.

2004

Chris ’06S (MBA) and Grace Vangeison Johnston ’09M (PhD) welcomed a daughter, Flinn Renate, in April. Chris writes: “She’s already looking forward to attending UR!” Chris, Grace, and Flinn live in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

2005

Jonathan Vitale ’07W (MS) writes: “I graduated from the family medicine residency program at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago in June. I’m now a board-certified family physician and chief medical officer and partner of a telehealth chronic disease management startup company. I live in Chicago.”

2007

Sudesna (Sue) Ghosh has published a book, What Would I Tell Her @ 13 (Harlequin). She writes that it’s “a unique parenting book for the parents of teenaged girls” and covers “topics from teen tantrums to child sexual abuse.” She adds that she’s included interviews with prominent women from a variety of fields.

2008

Nicholas Stadnyk has been hired as an associate in the Hartford, Connecticut, intellectual property law firm Cantor Colburn. A chemical engineering major at Rochester, Nicholas will work in the firm’s chemical, material, and life sciences department.

2009

Emily Discenza has joined the Syracuse law firm Dermody, Burke & Brown as an associate. She’s also working to earn a CPA.

2010

Blake Hopiavuori won a Royal DSM Science and Technology Award for his research in the field of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The award, cosponsored by the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids, recognizes young researchers whose work is exceptionally innovative and has clear potential for applications. Blake, who was selected by a judging panel from among four nominees, won the award for his dissertation, which he recently completed at the University of Oklahoma, entitled “A Novel Role for Very Long Chain Fatty Acids in Brain Function.” Blake writes: “I owe so much to my University of Rochester education and the foundation I received continues to propel me toward new accomplishments. The neuroscience degree I completed has given me a significant edge in pursuing my PhD in neuroscience. Professor Greg DeAngelis was so supportive in my drive to pursue this career path, and I am so grateful for his mentorship and guidance. I will be forever grateful for all of my teachers and their unrelenting support in my development as a student and as a person.” . . . Cassandra Robinson has completed a master’s degree in physician assistant studies at Midwestern University, a graduate degree-granting institution specializing in health sciences. As a student at the Glendale, Arizona, campus, Cassandra provided health care to homeless people at clinics throughout Phoenix and performed physical examinations at high schools in underserved areas of the city. She plans to remain in the Phoenix area. . . . David Simpson and Nicole Telleri were married last July. Pictured are: (back row, left to right) Jeff Clark ’01, Kirsten Clark ’97, Eric Mason, Brian MacMillin ’14 (MS), Jackie Monaghan, Janaque Fernando, Tyler Stapleton ’08, Colleen Rosania, Gloria See ’09, Chris Roll ’12, Alyea Canada, Dan Rosenblum, Alyssa Berkowitz; (front row, left to right) Erin Partin ’12, Ellen Thomas, Nicole, David, Becca Hester, and Katie Lantuh ’12, ’13W (MS).

2012

Bradley Halpern has been named executive director of GlobeMed. Based in Evanston, Illinois, the nonprofit organization was founded by college students in 2007 and establishes partnerships between American college students and community-based organizations around the world to improve health. Rochester is among more than 50 GlobeMed college and university partners, and works with Kallpa Iquitos in Iquitos, Peru, to support health and education programs.