Class Notes

Kristin Johnson (Com ’02, Law ’05 CM)
Kristin Johnson (Com ’02, Law ’05 CM) has joined Woods Rogers’ growing government and special investigations practice. At Woods Rogers, she guides her clients through changing government regulations and high-stakes investigations and legal issues. Johnson began her career in litigation at Woods Rogers, and then spent almost two decades in public practice. She served as an assistant United States attorney for the western district of Virginia, investigating and prosecuting white collar crimes including fraud, money laundering, and violations of the Controlled Substances Act, the National Firearms Act, and Food and Drug Administration regulations. She is a member of the Virginia Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association.

Justin G. Guthrie (Col ’12)
Justin Guthrie (Col ’12) has been named partner of HunterMaclean’s admiralty and maritime group. HunterMaclean, a business firm based in Savannah, Georgia and St. Simons Island, Georgia, represents clients across the United States, particularly in the southeast. Guthrie litigates marine insurance coverage and defense matters and advises his clients on issues concerning property damage, vessel finance, and commercial fishing and aquaculture. He is active in several professional organizations, and he remains involved with the UVA community in Savannah. HunterMaclean notes his dedication to both his clients and his community.
Tyler B. Tassone (Engr ’10 CM)
Tyler B. Tassone (Engr ’10 CM) has been named a director at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, a prominent intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C. As one of five new directors, his company commends him for his skill and excellence in strategic counseling, portfolio management and prosecution of patent applications. Though he primarily handles medical device patents, he also has experience with clean and renewable technologies, as well as consumer projects. He studied chemical engineering at UVA, during which time he worked in a graduate research lab, before receiving his law degree from Villanova University.
Valerie I. Uduji (Col ’20 CM)
Valerie I. Uduji (Col ’20 CM) has been admitted to the State Bar of Michigan. Uduji works for Warner Norcross + Judd, LLP., in their Detroit office. Her prior positions include internships with Justice Kyra Bolden in the Michigan Supreme Court and with a judge in Washtenaw County Trial Court in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received her law degree at Michigan State University after studying foreign affairs and anthropology at UVA.

Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones (Col ’05 CM)
Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones (Col ’05 CM) will release her first monograph, Immaculate Misconceptions: A Black Mariology with Oxford University Press, on April 17. The book provides a Protestant and womanist perspective toward the Black Madonna as a subject, thinking about religious notions of sexual assault, purity, and Blackness. The Reverend Adkins-Jones is a professor of theology and African and African diaspora studies at Boston College.
Adam J. Ruffin (Arch ’02)
Adam Ruffin (Arch ’02), Katie MacNelly (Arch ’02), and Danny MacNelly (Arch ’02) are proud to have their practice ARCHITECTUREFIRM featured in “A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South,” an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., which celebrates contemporary architectural practices in the American South. Featuring over forty architecture firms, the exhibition examines how southern architects are responding to a diverse set of challenges, including natural disasters, rapid urbanization and changing cultural landscapes. The exhibition showcases innovation and functionality with a respect for the region’s heritage. Ruffin considers his time at UVA as being crucial to his understanding and love of southern architecture. “A South Forty” will be open to the public through 2026.
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM)
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM) gave a presentation entitled “John Charles McNeill: Poet Laureate’s Home Songs” on Feb. 23, 2025, at the Scottish Heritage Center at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina. McNeill was the first recognized Poet Laureate in North Carolina and received the prestigious Patterson Cup for literature from President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. McNeill was Dr. Watson’s great uncle. The presentation can be found on YouTube.
William Cyrus Roger Clemo (Col ’14 CM)
William Cyrus Roger Clemo (Col ’14 CM) earned a Ph.D. in marine sciences on Dec. 15, 2024 from the University of South Alabama. Clemo is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.
Meena Khandelwal (Col ’85, Col ’88, Col ’95)


Meena Khandelwal (Col ’85, Grad ’88, Grad ’95) has published her second ethnographic monograph, Cookstove Chronicles: Social Life of a Women’s Technology in India. It examines traditional, biomass-burning mud stoves, the women who build and use them, and the experts who have been trying to ‘improve’ them for decades. She answers the question of why so many Indian women continue to use wood-burning, smoke-spewing stoves when they have other options. Khandelwal, a professor of anthropology, recently won the 2025 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Iowa, her third teaching award.
Duncan Clarke (Grad ’70 CM)


Duncan Clarke (Grad ’70 CM) has published a new novel, Murder on the Appalachian Trail. The novel follows a criminal law professor who works with his beloved German Shepherd, a runaway teen and the FBI to solve a series of murders on the Appalachian Trail. Clarke, who has hiked the Appalachian Trail twice, draws on his experience and love of the trail in his writing. Murder on the Appalachian Trail can be found online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is published by Bell Isle Books. Clarke is a professor emeritus of international relations at American University and is a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Ronnie Poff (SCPS ’12 CM)



Ronnie Poff (SCPS ’12 CM) was initiated as the national president of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE), a co-ed business fraternity focused on professional development in sales, marketing and management. Poff is an associate professor at Virginia Tech.

Laura Terry (Col ’06)
Laura Wells Terry (Col ’06) and Jonathan Terry (Col ’06, Law ’11) welcomed their fifth child, Fern Joanna Brooke, on Feb. 22, 2025. She joins big sisters Afton, Spring, and Kai, and big brother Thad. The Terrys reside in the Washington metro area, where Jonathan is employed as an in-house corporate counsel for Amazon and serves as a (recently promoted) lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
Julie Hummer (Col ’90 CM)
Julie Kleckley Hummer (Col ’90 CM) was elected chairman of the Anne Arundel County Council in Maryland in December 2024. She represents 85,000 residents of District 4.

Jason Baer (Col ’08)
Jason Baer (Col ’08) has published a short children’s book, Good Morning, Trash Truck. The book, loosely based on experiences from his time in Brooklyn, New York, follows a trash truck and crew as they drive to different parts of the city, collecting the neighborhood trash. The book can be found on Amazon.
Walter Lee Fanning (Med ’70, Intern ’71)



Walter Lee Fanning (Med ’70) has published Microbial Mysteries: A Rocky Road, under the pseudonym Lee F. Walters MD. Microbial Mysteries is the third release in a trilogy of semiautobiographical medical thrillers published by Friesen Press in Vancouver. The novel follows the Walter couple, whose medical careers are caught between an unstable associate and a mafia boss. It is available at various online book sellers.
Irwin Shur (Col ’80, Law ’83 CM)
Irwin Shur (Col ’80, Law ’83 CM) has just released his fourth solo album, “The Farther Away You Get, The Better I Look,” available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other music streaming services. He continues practicing law but focuses on his passion for music.

Bruce Dierenfield (Grad ’77, Grad ’81)
Bruce Dierenfield (Grad ’77, Grad ’81) has published his seventh book, Separating Church and State: How the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union Led the Nation in Religious Liberty (2024).
Richard Katholi (Med ’68 CM)
Dr. Richard Katholi (Med ’68 CM) has retired from the practice of medicine. Over 56 years he trained in internal medicine, took care of troops in Vietnam for a year when in the United States Air Force, and then trained in and practiced cardiology. Over those years he published 167 research and review articles.
Kim Gallagher (Col ’84 CM)
Kim Tuten Gallagher (Col ’84 CM) celebrates eight years of her Blue Book Essays national college coaching company. Her squad of five coaches includes two UVA grads, Kara Davis Cosby (Comm ’93 CM) and Nicole Borghard (Col ’11, Educ ’11). Blue Book Essays serves high school seniors at public and private schools nationwide, as well as applicants to law, medical, and business schools. A Blue Book student essay was featured on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast. Kim also serves as a source for media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal.

Victoria (Tori) DeJarnette (Col ’10 CM)
Victoria (Tori) DeJarnette (Col ’10 CM) received the KPMG 2024 Employee Award of Distinction for the Washington, D.C. and Tysons, Virginia office. DeJarnette received multiple nominations, attesting to her ability to innovate to uncover new insights and solutions, her impact among the firm and its clients, and her dedication to quality and excellence.
Top