Class Notes
Medallion Reunion
1941 John Manhold sends an update: His memoir, The End of an ERA: Diverse Thoughts from 100+ Years of Living (Newman Springs) has been published.
1951 Dave Ocorr (see ’64).
1956 Doug Hercher, the son of Sally Smith Emmel, writes that a memorial service was held at the Interfaith Chapel in October for Sally, who died in September. Doug notes that a 2021 reunion “would have been her 65th.”
1960 Carol Ruff, the wife of Bruce Ruff ’67 (MS), asks that Bruce be remembered in Class Notes. Bruce died in October at age 82. The Buffalo native “headed west after graduation and met his future wife [Carol] on a ski lift in Squaw Valley.” They were married in 1968. “During his career,” adds Carol, “Bruce worked at several semiconductor and tech companies, including Hewlett Packard and Ultratech Stepper, and was awarded patents for his work.” In addition to Carol, Bruce is survived by his two daughters and their husbands as well as four grandchildren.
1962 Ronald Forte belongs to a seniors (80+) softball team that won first place in its division in the world championship games in Las Vegas in 2021. Second-baseman Ron kneels in the front row of his team picture (page 52), second from left.
1963 Jerry Manioci (see ’64).
1964 Dick Cavagnol writes: “On a cold, rainy afternoon in November 2021, the Yellowjacket Geezers sat on the sidelines and cheered the overmatched Yellowjacket football team against our archrival, Hobart. The game was part of the Geezers’ minireunion, whose members spent the weekend eating, drinking, and sharing memories of 50-plus years ago. The Geezers are former football and basketball student-athletes who are close friends from the U of R classes of 1963–66 and who have stayed in contact with each other over the years. Some of our members were missing, but those attending the 2021 minireunion included Dave Wormuth ’65, Stu Levison, Charlie Rathbone, John Burchett ’65, Dave Noonan, Gary Tobey, me, and Jerry Manioci ’63. The Geezers were joined by wives Jan Ingalls Burchett ’66, ’69W (MA), and Carol Wormuth. One of the highlights of the gathering was having breakfast with Coach Dave Ocorr ’51 and his wife, June. Drawing on his phenomenal memory of the U of R, Coach Ocorr, a former student-athlete, journalist, coach, and athletic director, regaled us with vignettes about the rich history of sports at the U of R. It was a weekend for the memory books, and, as long as we are able, we—joined by the other Geezers—will make this an annual event. In the photograph (page 52), we Geezers become reacquainted with an old drink at the Genesee Brew House: left to right, front, Stu, me, Dave Wormuth, Dave Noonan, and Gary; back, Charlie, John, Carol, and Jan.” . . . Alice Parman writes that she has published a memoir, Trade Secrets: A Life in and around Museums (Blurb), detailing her “50 years as a museum educator, director, and exhibit planning consultant behind the scenes at the Field Museum; sparring with Muhammad Ali; and more.”
1965 John Burchett (see ’64). . . . John Hetsko died in October, writes his wife, Annette. “He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s several years ago. John played football for Rochester, where he graduated in 1966 with a degree in political science. After a short time as a Marine lieutenant, he worked for the New York State Department of Probation, where he spent 33 years. After his retirement and subsequent divorce, John moved to Nevada in 2004, where we met and married in 2006. John loved talking about his time at Rochester and enjoyed his monthly magazine. He also loved his books and read incessantly. He remained physically active all his life and spent a lot of time at the gym.” Annette adds: “We had just celebrated John’s 78th birthday.” . . . Henry Kesner sends an update: “Still enjoying traveling throughout the world and just visited my 110th country (Iceland) with my son David in September. My wife of 53 years, Karen, was killed in a hit-and-run auto accident about two years ago. So my son David is taking her place, and we are still exploring the world. I am still operating my concrete construction business here in South Florida (for 31 years now), and even during the pandemic we were extremely busy. So, my advice as we get older: Keep Working. Have a reason to get up in the morning, and life will be much better.” . . . Dave Wormuth (see ’64).
1966 Jan Ingalls Burchett ’69W (MA) (see ’64).
1968 Chuck Smith’s detective novel, Dial EM for Empath (self-published), is available on Amazon, he writes, and his one-act play, Tempting the Hand of Fate, appears on YouTube as a staged reading. Another play, Snack Machine Blues, can be heard in the Between Acts section of the Missing Link podcast as “an immersive audio theater podcast experience.”
1970 Nancy Heller Cohen ’70N has published the 17th book in her award-winning Bad Hair Day mystery series, Styled for Murder (Orange Grove Press). Life gets even more complicated for series protagonist, South Florida hairstylist and new mother Marla Vail, when her mother calls to say, “There’s a dead guy in our shower.”
1972
50th Reunion
John Kessel writes, “Having retired in 2019 from full-time teaching after 37 years at North Carolina State University, where I helped found the MFA program in creative writing, I’ve been concentrating on my fiction writing. My novels The Moon and the Other (2017) and Pride and Prometheus (2018) are available from Simon and Schuster, and I’ve got a career retrospective collection, The Dark Ride, including stories published from 1981 to 2021, due out in April from Subterranean Press.” . . . Linda Horvitz Post had a large-scale oil painting exhibited on the mezzanine of R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts. She shares a photo, taken by her husband, Geoffrey ’73, of herself with the painting, called The Procession of Hope and Feathers. A poem by Emily Dickinson, who spent her life in nearby Amherst, inspired the title of the work, writes Linda. “Each of the inhabitants of this painting has at least one winged companion,” she adds. “From a pink flamingo, a feathered mask, a seagull ruffled by the breeze, a landing parrot, and a racing raven to a majestic winged helmet and a beaked Venetian plague doctor’s mask, these avian avatars are all part of the narrative.”
1973 Len Joy ’74S (MBA) writes, “My award-winning novel Better Days has been rereleased with a new look. It was featured in a Crime Thriller promotion sponsored by Fiction Gateway during the month of November.” . . . Geoffrey Post (see ’72).
1977
45th Reunion
1979 Bob Bly, author of more than a hundred published articles, has written his 105th book, The Axioms of Marketing (Kallisti). He has also revised and updated his book How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit: Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Books, E-Books, Articles, Special Reports, Audios, Videos, Membership Sites, and Other How-To Content (Quill Driver Books), with a new second edition published last October. Bob writes that he has adapted his formulas for writing success—including best practices for monetizing podcasts, YouTube channels, webinars, Facebook groups, social media, and software—to the modern online content market.
1981 Jacqueline Blackett has been promoted to deputy director of intercollegiate athletics at Columbia University, where she has spent 32 years both as an administrator and as head coach of the women’s track and field and cross-country programs and part of the athletic department’s senior management team for more than 25 years. She is also involved in NCAA Division I governance, including as a member of the NCAA Division I Council, a member of the council’s coordination committee, and vice chair of its legislative committee. She holds membership in Women’s Leaders in College Sports and sits on the board of Community Impact at Columbia. . . . Patrick Simning ’82, a family medicine doctor in Bend, Oregon, for more than 20 years, has written a collection of stories, Hunting the Northwest: Stories with Family and Friends in the Outdoors (self-published). Writes Patrick, “[T]his book is much more than a retelling of hunting stories. It also conveys what it means to be outside pushing beyond self-imposed limits while respecting the land and animals. These stories honor the traditions of hunting and the camaraderie that develops when shared experiences test us as individuals and groups, making those adventures even more memorable.”
198240th Reunion
1983 Steve Silverman writes that last November, “I was reelected to a third four-year term as Mt. Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Commissioner. Our community of 33,000 residents is a suburb of Pittsburgh.” Steve is the vice president of purchasing and co-owner of General Wire Spring Co., which has manufactured custom industrial springs since 1930. . . Susan Johnston Spraragen writes, “We gathered in Vermont to have a Class of 1983 minireunion. Pictured from left are Linda Warshal, Peter Thompson, Lisa Hoyer, Matt Curtiss, me, and Fred Mueller. As Lisa summed it up: ‘It’s wonderful how you might not see people for years and can still easily fall right back into the friendship!’ Indeed, our dear friendships that started from our shared experiences in our dorms, calculus classes, and WRUR have endured!”
1984 Bruce Schneier has been named one of the world’s influential computer scientists by AcademicInfluence.com, an organization that uses machine-learning to rank academics and institutions based on influence in their fields. A fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, Bruce is also a lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School.
1987
35th Reunion
1990 Carolyn Haberek Blanco-Losada sends a photo from a minireunion. She writes: “The Ladies of Delta Gamma were back for a URDG summer camp hosted by Janice Gillman Greenberg in beautiful Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota.” Pictured, from left, are Maria Habbe Cosgrove, Carolyn, Eileen McCarthy Cakouros, Janice, Donna Schwind Border, and Nicole Kaplan. . . . Jennifer Saul has been featured among the world’s most influential philosophers by the ranking organization AcademicInfluence.com. A professor of philosophy at the University of Sheffield and the University of Waterloo in the UK, she specializes in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of feminism.
1992
30th Reunion
Guitarist and composer Jono Kornfeld writes that he has released a three-song EP, Freshies (self-published), with his funk/jazz group Hop Sauce. Jono teaches music theory at San Francisco State University. He also teaches theory, composition, piano, and guitar and is chair of the guitar department at the San Francisco Community Music Center.
1993 Jennifer Heller Frank’s debut picture book, The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken (Anne Schwartz Books/Random House), was released in May. Illustrated by Caldecott honoree David Ezra Stein, the book is a Junior Library Guild selection and has a starred Kirkus review. “I wrote this book with the hope that kids would be inspired to celebrate the beauty and differences within themselves and others,” writes Jennifer. “As the Worm family finds their own way to shine in their family portrait, it reinforces the idea that all families are unique and worth celebrating.” Jennifer adds, “In today’s world, parents and children alike could use the message to appreciate differences and as a reminder to take a step back and look beyond the surface to appreciate what makes each person and family special.”
1995 Ann-Marie Mason has been promoted to chief legal officer at the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, which she joined in 2019 as vice president and head of shared services for enterprise compliance. Ann-Marie is active with the Corporate Counsel Women of Color and is a member of the board of directors of Listen To Our Voices, a nonprofit organization advocating for children and young adults.
1997
25th Reunion
1999 Nancy D’Angelo Kusmaul, an associate professor of social work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has written Aging and Social Policy in the United States (Cognella). The book, writes Nancy, “examines the issues facing older adults and their families through local, state, federal, and international policy lenses.” In 2020, she was selected as a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging.
2000 Ebony Robinson Scott has been nominated by President Joe Biden to be a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where she has served as a magistrate judge since 2020. Ebony’s previous positions include deputy director in the District of Columbia mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel, general counsel for the District of Columbia’s Office of Human Rights, and assistant attorney general for the Office of the Attorney General. . . . Beth Meyers ’00E, ’02E (MM) (see ’00 Eastman).
2002
20th Reunion
Matthew Moffa, a registered patent attorney in the New York office of the law firm Perkins Coie, has been promoted to partner. He is a member of the firm’s patent litigation group, where he advises high-tech clients on patent prosecution, acquisition, and licensing.
2007
15th Reunion
Sara Ballance ’07E, ’09E (MA) (see ’99 Eastman).
2008 Curtis Stewart ’08E (see ’08 Eastman).
2011 Serene Habayeb and Owen Schochet ’12 send a photo from their September wedding. Pictured are, front row from left, Alex Nystedt, Donghyung (Donna) Ko, Serene, Owen, Nora Graham, Kevin Stiles; back row from left, Chris Young, Amanda Gurin ’10, Michael Israel ’12, Ben Wrobel ’10, Nikhil Chirunomula, and Aruna Cadambi. The non-alumni in the photo, writes Serene, are spouses. Owen is a researcher at Mathematica in Washington, DC, and Serene is a licensed psychologist at Children’s National Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
2012
10th reunion
Kayleigh Hogan was named a 2020 STEP Ahead Emerging Leader by the Manufacturing Institute. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, events held in Washington, DC, last November recognized both 2020 and 2021 honorees and emerging leaders. The awards and the leadership training program that precedes them are designed to acknowledge and advance women’s achievements in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and production. Kayleigh is an asset engineer with Covestro in Baytown, Texas, where she has worked since 2014. She has mentored other engineers both informally and formally during her time at Covestro and also has educated schoolchildren at a local wetlands center. . . . Elyse Nagler and Casey Storme were married in June in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. Elyse writes, “Somehow the day moved so quickly that we didn’t get our full U of R photo, but here’s our wedding party made up almost entirely of Rochester alumni. It was great getting everyone together, and I’m happy to report we’re all still very close.” Pictured are, from left, Katelyn Agan Liska, Alexis Castillo, Madeline Korber, Donald Schwartz, Casey, Elyse, Michelle Ketcham Wallace, Robert Barnard, Jodie Luther Reid, and Alex Caghan ’13S (MS). Other guests included Katie Kao, Brittany Hylen Schwartz ’11, and Myra Levine ’75. . . . In 2021 Andrew Polec performed back-to-back roles in two musicals at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. He played the lead roles of Berger in Hair and the Grinch in Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. . . . Owen Schochet (see ’11).
2015 Rachel Eskridge and Zachary Hession-Smith ’17 were married in a September wedding in Whately, Massachusetts. Attendees included Kristina Fricker and Beth Warnock ’17. After the wedding, writes Rachel, Zachary began a new position as development coordinator for Historic Deerfield. She is employed at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
2017
5th Reunion
Joe Clark (see ’16 Eastman). . . . Zachary Hession-Smith (see ’15).
2020 Gersandre Gonsalves-Domond sends a photo: “I came back for Meliora Weekend, and I was lucky enough to take a picture with President Mangelsdorf. Also pictured is Lilo Blank [far left] and my dog, Viking.”
2022 Senior Isabel Murphy, winner of a Suzanne J. O’Brien Book Award in 2019 and the Eli and Mildred Sokol Prize in 2020, has illustrated a children’s book, Alliterative Animals: A to Z (Dorrance), written by Virginia (Sandra) Gonsalves-Domond, a professor of psychology at Ramapo College of New Jersey and mother of Gersandre Gonsalves-Domond ’20.
1967 Bruce Ruff (MS) (see ’60 College).
1974 Steve McGuire (MS) sends an update: he has been named the James and Ruth Smith Endowed Professor of Physics Emeritus at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in recognition of his contributions to teaching, research, and service over two decades. Steve writes that over his career he has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions. For example, in 1998 while on the Cornell faculty, he was the guest of President Bill and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on the occasion of the Millennium Lecture given by the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. In the spring of 2008, having published extensively in nuclear physics and its applications, he lectured in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Colloquium Series on “LIGO: At the Forefront of Optical Materials Research.” Later that year he was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society “in recognition of outstanding contributions to physics by one’s peers.” Steve adds that in his role as a principal investigator to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory Scientific Collaboration, he “received the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics ‘for the observation of gravitational waves, opening new horizons in astronomy and physics.’ Led by laureates Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne, I was a member of the international team of LIGO scientists awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics ‘for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.’ ” Steve is a past president and a fellow of the National Society of Black Physicists, and in 2020 he was interviewed by the American Institute of Physics Center for the History of Physics. Most recently he has been named a 2022 “Louisiana Legend” by the board of directors of Friends of Louisiana Public Broadcasting System in recognition of distinguished achievements in the field of physics and service to the Louisiana community. Steve’s oral history has been made part of the Library of Congress HistoryMakers collection.
1986 Paul Vianco (PhD) sends an update: he has retired from a 35-year career with Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he went to work immediately upon graduating with a PhD from the mechanical engineering department. Paul adds that he and his wife, Karen, have three daughters and have relocated to Enfield, New Hampshire, where they will enjoy their retirement years.
1995 Kristen Kulinowski (PhD) has been named a fellow of the American Chemical Society in recognition of her achievements and contributions to science as well as to the ACS. She is the director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by the Institute for Defense Analyses, where she leads more than 40 researchers. IDA is a nonprofit corporation that provides objective analysis in the public interest of national and international science and technology issues for the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Previously, Kristen served as a board member and acting head of the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent, nonregulatory federal agency that investigates major chemical industrial accidents and makes recommendations for incident prevention.
1959 Ron Carter ’10 (Honorary) has published a new book, Chartography—Reinvented Transcriptions (Retrac Productions), which explores the factors that go into making a great bass line. QR codes enable readers to access recordings of performances and hear how the musicians reacted to changes in bass lines.
1960 Vince Lenti ’62 (MA), a professor emeritus of piano and the Eastman School’s historian, discussed the school’s history, including the content of his new, third volume of Eastman’s narrative, Nurturing the Love of Music: Robert Freeman and the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester Press), in recognition of the school’s centennial. Marie Rolf ’77E (PhD), senior associate dean of graduate studies and a professor of music theory, moderated the October virtual lecture and Q&A, which can be viewed on YouTube. Vince will sign copies of Nurturing the Love of Music in person at an event in March, when Eastman opens its doors to the community as part of the Centennial Celebration.
1962 Vince Lenti (MA) (see ’60).
1964 Patricia Dengler George’65 (MM) has published The Top Octave Book: Playing with Artistry for Flute or Piccolo (Theodore Presser). Patricia received the Chicago Flute Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 and currently writes the “Teacher’s Studio” column for The Instrumentalist.
1965 Patricia Dengler George (MM) (see ’64).
1967 Raymond Egan’s composition “In Memoriam 9/11” was performed in a live concert by the Harmonia Chamber Singers under the direction of Robert Duerr at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Buffalo on September 11. The concert is available on the cathedral’s YouTube channel. Raymond currently serves as organist for the First United Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, California.
1972 Pamela Poulin ’83 (PhD), a professor emeritus at the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Conservatory of Music, has published In the Footsteps of Mozart’s Clarinetist: Anton Stadler (1753–1812) (Pendragon Press), part of the publisher’s Early Music Series. Clarinetist and music historian Pamela continues a performing career as a soprano soloist and as an actress portraying women’s rights advocates.
1977 Marie Rolf (PhD) (see ’60).
1979 Diane Abrahamian ’86 (MM), a senior associate voice instructor at the Eastman Community Music School specializing in jazz and contemporary music, writes that she was the guest conductor for the 2021 New York State School Music Association Conference’s All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble. The ensemble performed under Diane’s direction in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre in December.
1982 Jeff Stockham (MM) (see ’16 Eastman). . . . Basil Vendryes, principal violist of the Colorado Symphony since 1993, released his first solo recording, Three Centuries of Russian Viola Sonatas (Toccata Next), in October. The project explores the sonatas of Glinka, Shebalin, Bunin, and Sokolov, spanning 1825 to 2006. Basil teaches at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music.
1983 Bill Eddins ’86 (MM) writes that he plans to open MetroNOME Brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota, with business partner Matt Engstrom sometime early this year. The startup brewery will sell craft beer, with all proceeds dedicated to providing music lessons and instruments for Minnesota children whose families couldn’t otherwise afford them. Bill has been a home brewer for several years while maintaining a busy career as a conductor, including international appearances as guest conductor. This new venture aims to address the critical funding gap for local arts and music organizations that need support in order to serve students and families in meaningful ways. . . . Pamela Poulin (PhD) (see ’72).
1984 William Nyaho (MM) has been appointed to the Music Teachers National Association as its first vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the newly created position, William will serve on the association’s board of directors as a key leader. He will also chair a new committee charged with advocating values of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the entire association—national, state, and local.
1986 Diane Abrahamian (MM) (see ’79). . . . Bill Eddins (MM) (see ’83). . . . Ted Gurch (see ’88).
1987 Gregg August (see ’88). . . . Todor Pelev (MM) (see ’99).
1988 Florida-based harpist Dawn Edwards writes that she received an arts project grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for her artistic and educational programming of South Dakota’s Chamber Music Festival of the Black Hills. She is the festival’s founder and has been the artistic and education director for the past 15 seasons. The grant supports more than 50 free educational programs each summer, serving the Native American children of the Lakota Sioux on and off the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as well as underserved children throughout the Black Hills. The award is also based on her collaborative efforts and the high artistic output of the chamber music festival series featuring musicians from the Atlanta Symphony and Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras. Eastman alumni who have been featured at the Black Hills festival include clarinetist Ted Gurch ’86 and flutist Aaron Goldman ’99. Dawn previously received an NEA award for her virtual choir community project “We Are One-Mitakuye Oyasin” sung in Lakota and English by more than 200 children. The project won second place in Europe’s largest Native American film festival. Dawn works to give all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, the benefits of arts education. She says her goal is “not working separate from the community but from within,” and she collaborates directly with community leaders to present local heritage in a positive manner. . . . Tom Nazziola has been nominated for a Grammy for best instrumental composition for “Cat and Mouse” from the album he released in August, Distant Places (Goju Records). Tom writes that the recording features a host of Eastman alumni, including Gregg August ’87, Terry Goss, Dan Willis (Daniel Wieloszynski) ’90, John Hollenbeck ’90, ’91 (MM), and Greg Chudzik ’06.
1990 John Hollenbeck ’91 (MM) (see ’88). . . . Brett Stemple (see ’99). . . . Dan Willis (Daniel Wieloszynski) (see ’88).
1991 Thomas Lanners (DMA), a professor of piano at Oklahoma State University, sends an update: “I was a member of only the second group of pianist-pedagogues inducted into the Steinway and Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in September 2021 [as well as] the 2021 recipient of the Wise-Diggs-Berry Endowed Award for excellence in the visual, performance, or written arts at Oklahoma State. I presented both an online lecture and master class for China’s Sichuan Conservatory and a video session for the Shanghai Conservatory of Music International Piano Pedagogy Festival (which had 600,000 registrants last year) in December, having traveled to teach a week of master classes in Zacatecas, Mexico, in October.” Thomas is pictured at the Steinway Hall of Fame induction banquet in Queens, New York, near the Steinway factory.
1992 Percussionist Ingrid Gordon presented a concert of traditional Mexican marimba music at Travers Park in Queens, New York, last October as part of a program launched in June 2021 and funded by a City Artist Corps recovery initiative. The grants aid New York City–based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and who may have been left out of other local and federal funding opportunities. Ingrid currently serves on the faculties of LaGuardia and Hostos Community Colleges in New York City and as teaching artist for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s DanceAfrica program. . . . Gaelen McCormick, an instructor of arts leadership at the Eastman School and program manager of Eastman Performing Arts Medicine, will serve as president-elect of the International Society of Bassists from 2023 to 2025. She will be the third woman in the organization’s history to serve as president.
1993 Violinist Marc Thayer ’95 (MM) has been named chief executive officer of the Elgin (Illinois) Symphony Orchestra after five years as the executive director of Symphony New Hampshire, where he had led the organization since 2016. He previously held leadership roles with the St. Louis Symphony and with Miami’s New World Symphony. Marc continues his role as executive director of the Monteux School and Music Festival, a summer training program for aspiring symphony conductors and orchestra musicians, in Hancock, Maine.
1994 Rosemary Doane Elliot (MM) (see ’08).
1995 Marc Thayer (MM) (see ’93). . . . Jeffrey Ziegler (see ’08).
1998 Adeline Wong (see ’99).
1999 Aaron Goldman (see ’88). . . . Three former Eastman students who teach at Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music performed in a live concert in October, one of the first since March 2020. Performers included Han Ling Oh, violinist for the T’ang Quartet; Brett Stemple ’90, tubist and acting dean of the conservatory; and Adeline Wong ’98, composer and theory faculty member. . . . Heather Netz ’03 (MM) has been promoted to chair of the music department at Idyllwild Arts Academy in Pine Gove, California. During her time at Idyllwild, she has had the opportunity to work with several Eastman alumni, including violin faculty member Todor Pelev ’87 (MM) and former piano faculty member Parvati Mani ’08. Most recently, Heather welcomed Eastman alumna Sara Ballance ’07, ’07RC, ’09 (MA), who teaches music theory, musicianship, performance, and music history.
2000 Beth Meyers ’00RC, ’02 (MM) and her band, Damsel, released their second album, New to You (Damsel), in October 2021. “We had already chosen a new direction in sound production for our second album, but when the pandemic hit the pause button on our recording schedule timeline we were forced (the whole world was!) to slow down and find new ways to be creative,” says Beth of the band’s process during 2020. “It was truly a gift to be able to focus on this project at a time when we didn’t know when we would play live again.”
2002 Mezzo-soprano Alta Boover Dantzler (MM) and pianist Tian Tian ’12 (DMA) released Life (and Love) (Centaur Records) in August. It includes two song cycles, Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben and Sara Carina Graef’s A Woman’s Life and Love. Alta and Tian made the recording during the summer of 2019. . . . The album Love the Color of Your Butterfly by Janinah Burnett (MM) was considered for Recording Academy Grammy voting in best classical compendium, best instrumental/vocal arrangement, best instrumental solo, and best American roots performance categories. Janinah is also a founder and performer in the musical and social justice tribute of I, Too, Sing America: A Lament for the Fallen, an effort to help create a healing environment while paying tribute to victims of violence. She also teaches at her vocal studio, La Janinah Voice Studio, in Manhattan. . . . Beth Meyers ’00RC, ’02 (MM) (see ’00).
2003 Heather Netz (MM) (see ’99).
2005 William Gregory (see ’16).
2006 Greg Chudzik (see ’88).
2007 Sara Ballance ’07RC, ’09 (MA) (see ’99).
2008 Parvati Mani (see ’99). . . . In celebration of Eastman’s Centennial, the Morning Chamber Music Series for the 2021–22 season presents three alumni performing alongside current faculty and students. In October, violinist Curtis Stewart ’08RC performed with members of the Ying Quartet and prize-winning students from the string department. A January 29 performance featured baritone Malcolm Merriweather ’10 (MM). In April, cellist Jeffrey Ziegler ’95 will perform a program that includes selections from his latest solo project, Houses of Zodiac: Poems for Cello (self-produced). The series is directed by Eastman assistant professor of violoncello Rosemary Doane Elliot ’94 (MM) and made possible through a gift from Shreedevi Pandya, an associate professor of neurology in the School of Medicine and Dentistry.
2009 Sara Ballance (MA), ’07, ’07RC (see ’99).
2010 Malcolm Merriweather (MM) (see ’08).
2011 Christina Xinxue Zhou was a featured guest during the SEA Music Academy’s children’s music festival in December. Christina is the owner and founder of 12Petals, a global music mentorship program based in Singapore.
2012 Matt Amedio ’16 (MM), Dannel Espinoza ’15 (DMA); Matt Evans ’15 (MA), ’15 (DMA), and Michael Sawzin ’13 (MM) constitute Project Fusion, an award-winning saxophone quartet. Project Fusion released a debut eponymous CD (Bridge Records) in October. . . . Doug O’Connor (DMA) (see ’13). . . . Tian Tian (DMA) (see ’02).
2013 Last October, composer Baljinder Sekhon (PhD), an assistant professor of composition at Penn State University, released Alchemy (innova Recordings), which comprises five works for saxophone. The project is the result of a decade-long collaboration between Baljinder and saxophonist Doug O’Connor ’12 (DMA), currently a ceremonial saxophonist with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own.” The Eastman Percussion Ensemble and the Eastman Saxophone Project also perform on the recording. . . . Michael Sawzin (MM) (see ’12).
2015 Tyler Bjerke (MM) joins the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, now in its 56th season, after having won the audition for fourth horn in August. . . . Dannel Espinoza (DMA) (see ’12). . . . Matt Evans (DMA) (see ’12). . . . Tenor Matthew Swensen performed Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli (Paukenmesse) with Zubin Mehta in Florence, Italy, in October. In November, Matthew made his debut in the role of Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, also in Florence.
2016 Matt Amedio (MM) (see ’12). . . . Joe Clark ’17RC, Dominic Giardino, William Gregory ’05, Jeff Stockham ’82 (MM), and Michael Tumiel are featured on The Gilded Age: Late 19th Century Music for American Wind Band (MSR Classics), a new recording by the Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band, a period-instrument wind ensemble.
2017 Last July, composer and educator Jon Lin Chua was featured in Singapore’s English-language daily newspaper the Straits Times in an article about her composing music throughout her cancer treatment while a student at Eastman. In September, a piece that she was commissioned to compose for Eastman’s centennial was premiered at a Faculty Artist Series concert in Kilbourn Hall by mezzo-soprano and voice professor Katherine Ciesinski and violin professor Renée Jolles.
2018 Zoë Merrill (MM) has been appointed a First-Year Violin Fellow with the New World Symphony, a postgraduate orchestral academy located in Miami Beach. . . . Jonathan (Blake) Pattengale (see ’19).
2019 Garrett Mader and Jonathan (Blake) Pattengale ’18 formed a Rochester-based band, Two Truths, during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Since last September they have released their first single, “Brushstrokes,” an accompanying music video, and their debut EP, Electric Campfire (self-produced).
1962 Gilbert Simon (MD), a primary care physician for more than 50 years, has published Ripped Off! Overtested, Overtreated, and Overcharged, the American Healthcare Mess (Value-Based Health Care). Gilbert says, “I wrote my book to help the layperson understand why their health costs are going through the roof and what can be done about it.”
1989 Charles Courtsal (MD), ’92M (Res), a professor of clinical medicine at the Medical Center and a practicing primary care physician, writes, “I have just had a book published. Not only that, both and the illustrator and I are current U of R employees and Rochester locals. The main character in the book is a relative of mine. Her story was carefully detailed in a diary (written in 1886) that I inherited about a decade ago. When I read the story for the first time, I thought, ‘This is too good to be gathering dust in my basement.’ So I got started on writing the book.” Based on the family’s diary, Revolutionary Girl (NFB Publishing) tells for the first time the true story of teenager Elizabeth Wilson who served as a spy for General George Washington at the start of the American Revolution.
1970 Nancy Heller Cohen ’70RC (see ’70 College).
2017 Rachelle Latona writes that she and her husband, Lawrence, “welcomed a son into the world in May. Big sister, London Rose, and Levi Theodore are adjusting well to being lifelong best friends. We are beyond blessed for what God has gifted to us!”
1974 Len Joy (MBA) (see ’73 College).
1989 W. E. (Bill) Wynne (MBA), a Rochester-area resident for many years, has turned his decades-long passion for racial and social justice concerns into a book detailing his journey of enlightenment regarding how and why systemic racism continues to exist in America as well as assisting others to see what he’s seen, learn from his journey, and act in a positive way to minimize it. Understanding and Combating Racism: My Path from Oblivious American to Evolving Activist (PathBinder Publishing), Bill’s first book, was released in November. Bill retired in 2014 from a more than 30-year career in telecommunications and now operates W. E. Wynne Consulting.
2019 Bryan Guzski (MS), ’21S (MBA), director of the orthopaedic residency program at UR Medicine’s Sports and Spine Rehabilitation Center in the Department of Orthopaedics and Physical Performance, has written Movers & Mentors: Leaders in Movement Science Share Tips, Tactics, and Stories (Independently published), a compilation of stories, thoughts, and advice from more than 75 leaders in the fields of physical therapy and movement science.
1964 Ron Iannone (MA), a professor emeritus at West Virginia University, writes that he has published his ninth book, Looking for Marianne (Destination Press), a psychological thriller set in Skaneateles, New York.
1969 Jan Ingalls Burchett (MA) (see ’64 College).
1994 Don Gala (Donney Drennon-Gala) (PhD) writes that he will present two research papers at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in March. His professional affiliations include the American Psychological Association, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, Society for Research on Adolescence, American Society of Criminology, and Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
2008 Tomicka Green Wagstaff (EdD) has been named vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Previously, as assistant vice president for student access and success at Rochester Institute of Technology, Tomicka created and implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion curricula and oversaw programs and initiatives focused on eliminating student achievement gaps, which led to a 15 percent jump in graduation rates among underrepresented students.
Rochester Review
Winter 2022
Vol. 84, No. 2
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