Class Notes

Brandi Sharp (Col ’08, Grad ’13 CM) graduated with high honors from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business with an MBA in January 2026. She currently works in proposal development for clinical research programs, bringing together her scientific research background and business training to support new research opportunities.

Mark W. Dewalt (Educ ’86 CM) was named the Snowden Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for the 2026 fall semester. He will be studying various aspects of Amish culture and education. Fellows receive housing, office space, a stipend and travel funds.

Kelly Ogburn (Col ’14, Batten ’17) and more than a dozen ‘Hoos and their loved ones gathered in Charlottesville this summer to celebrate their friendship. Originally dubbed the “Batten Girls,” the group has expanded to include spouses and children. Along with Ogburn, the group includes Joshua Ogburn (Batten ’16), Christine Mihelcic (Batten ’17), John Marron (Com ’02 CM), Madeline Merrill (Batten ’17), Whitney Burkett (Col ’09, Batten ’17), Matt Burkett (Engr ’01, ’06, ’19), Ramsay Franck (Batten ’18, Darden ’18), Ali Barta (Batten ’18, Darden ’18), Cara Fogler (Col ’15, Batten ’17), Lauren Junior (Batten ’19, Law ’19), Parks Daniel (Batten ’18, Darden ’18 CM) and Caitlin McCue (Batten ’17, Med ’17). The group hopes that their young children follow in their footsteps to become ‘Hoos.

Kyle Adams (Engr ’07) was named Barnhart Crane & Rigging’s Innovator of the Year, an annual award recognizing a sales professional who demonstrates exceptional innovation and continuous improvement. Selected from approximately 275 sales professionals across the company, the award recognizes achievements in developing new accounts and markets, growing strategic business, and introducing innovative approaches that make the organization better.

During his career at Barnhart, Adams has also had three projects submitted to the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) Job of the Year competition, which recognizes outstanding crane and rigging projects from companies across the industry. Two of those projects received Job of the Year awards.

Adams has been with Barnhart since April 2012. He and his wife, Ashley, recently celebrated 15 years of marriage and live in Fairhope, Alabama, with their five children.

Clark Fownes MacKenzie (Com ’63 CM) was inducted into the Maryland State Golf Association Hall of Fame. MacKenzie is a lifelong steward of amateur golf who has held various leadership roles in the United States Seniors’ Golf Association. He has competed in numerous senior championships in the U.S. and internationally. In 2015, he received the USSGA’s William C. Campbell Award, the organization’s highest honor. During his days as a student at UVA, he played on the Varsity golf team for three years—including two years as captain—and was elected president of the V Club, among other honors and involvements.

Scott Douglas Gerber (Law ’86, Grad ’92) received a Florida Author and Publishers Association President’s Book Award in the thriller/horror category for his most recent novel, The Trafficker.

Jennifer B. Wieland (Col ’97, Law ’02 CM) was sworn in as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas, on July 17, 2026. Three of the five speakers at her investiture were UVA students or alumni: Maggie Wieland (Col ’29), Tom Schult (Col ’76, Law ’79 CM), and Nykia Jordan Wilson (Col ’97; Law ’02 CM). Other UVA students and alumni in attendance included Dan Hodes (Col ’98 CM), Francie Keithline (Nurs ’29), Ben Wieland (Col ’24), Lisa Bowen Heymann (Col ’01), Dan Nelson (Law ’02), Neely Fedde Salem (Law ’02), and Margo Soule (Law ’79 CM).

Tamara Myers Rogers (Engr ’88) and Jeff Lax (Engr ’88, Darden ’97 CM) co-founded Triumph Sports Travel, an active travel company specializing in international marathon experiences for runners and their supporters. Founded in 2024, the company creates curated travel programs that combine race participation with accommodations, transportation, cultural immersion and group support. Triumph Sports Travel is an official International Travel Partner for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and BMW Berlin-Marathon, with an extension trip to Munich for Oktoberfest, and hosts a trip to the Tokyo Marathon with a Kyoto extension. The company continues to expand its global marathon portfolio.

Elisabeth Polzin Long (Grad ’02, Law ’02) has been appointed as the chief staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit has jurisdiction over district courts in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Richard Yeager (Arch ’87 CM) was elected president of the Association of University Architects (AUA) in June. Yeager is the director of planning and facilities information systems at University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

Kat (Custodio) Martin (Col ’09, Educ ’09) and Rob Martin (Col ’08) published their new book, Raising the Remnant: Stories and Tools to Help Parents Share Jesus at Home, in August. Drawing on their experiences as church planters and children’s pastors, the book is designed to inspire and equip families to build a strong spiritual foundation at home.

John H. Armstrong (Med ’88 CM) has been reelected as vice speaker of the American Medical Association House of Delegates. He is one of two presiding officers for biannual meetings of 793 delegates and serves on the AMA Board of Trustees as well. He completed five years of service on the 18-member U.S. Defense Health Board and chaired its Trauma and Injury Subcommittee, which developed two seminal reports on military health system readiness for large scale combat operations.

Cheryl Reever Moore (Com ’85) has been named chief communications officer for BD Consulting Group, specializing in CEO and executive training and crisis and reputational-risk communications for the financial services, healthcare, engineering and technology sectors. Moore serves on the boards of several Virginia-based nonprofits: the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg, the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation, and Caritas, an organization that supports those struggling with addiction, housing insecurity and unemployment.

CJ Bowie (Com ’14) and Kathleen Judge Bowie (Col ’13, Nurs ’20 CM) welcomed a son, Henry William, on Feb. 23, 2026. He joins his big sister, Chloe, and the family cat, Honey. The family lives in Reston, Virginia.

Kyle Wingfield (Col ’98) recently joined Holland & Knight as a partner in its Richmond, Virginia, office, where he focuses his practice on state and local tax controversy matters. Wingfield is chair of the Virginia Bar Association’s Tax Section and is involved in the American Bar Association.

R. Lucas Hobbs (Law ’98 CM) serves as the chief judge of Virginia’s 28th Judicial District. The 28th Judicial District, located in southwest Virginia, includes Smyth County, Washington County, and Bristol.

Paulette Jones Morant (Col ’74 CM) was featured as artist of the month in a solo photography exhibition in March at the Nelson Gallery in Lexington, Virginia. The collection, Contemplation, included architectural designs, seascapes, skyscapes and portraits. One of the portraits, “Mamacita,” won second place in the Nelson Gallery’s 2026 Juneteenth show.

Gregory C. Harrell (Col ’95 CM) was sworn in as president of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers for 2026-2027 on June 24, 2026, at the association’s annual summer conference in Orlando, Florida.

Juliane Smith (Law ’12) was appointed to the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners. The committee oversees California’s attorney admissions process, including the bar exam, and accredited and unaccredited law schools in the state. She is a solo attorney representing small businesses in California and Virginia through her firm, Wordsmith Law, and also serves on the board of the Queen’s Bench Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Stephen Rademaker (Col ’81, Law ’84, Grad ’85 CM) has been elected chairman of the Board of Directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). RFE/RL is an international news organization based in Prague whose programs, including digital, television and radio, reach a weekly audience of more than 44 million people in 18 countries and 24 languages.

Jeanne M. (Lyons) Liedtka (Col ’91, Law ’94 CM) received Villanova University’s 2026 Lindback Award, which was presented at Villanova’s Commencement ceremony. Her husband, Stephen L. Liedtka (Com ’91, ’93 CM), was honored with the same award in 2022, making them the first Villanova couple to both receive this distinction. Jeanne and Stephen have also been selected by graduating seniors to deliver the university’s “Last Lecture,” in 2025 and 2022, respectively.

Justin Hicks (Darden ’21) exchanged his role as an equity and listed options trader at JPMorgan’s trading desk on Wall Street in New York City to the flight deck of an American Airlines Group jet as a first officer. Hicks now flies the skies based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Wahoo swag on his flight bag.

Lauren McQuistion (Arch ’11) has been awarded a 2026 Graham Foundation Grant to Individuals to support “Skyline: Rereading an Architectural Tabloid,” a collaborative research project with colleagues at the University of Minnesota and Texas Tech Univesrity. Their work examines the publication Skyline and the architectural culture it helped shape in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their project was selected from more than 600 applications. McQuistion has just completed her first year as a tenure-track assistant professor of architecture at the University of New Mexico.

Emma Radcliff (Col ’22) earned a Master of Philosophy in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Pete Fontaine (Grad ’90 CM) retired from working for Amazon at the Amazon Spheres in May 2026. Previously, he had taught high school Spanish for 22 years, and prior to teaching had served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador for two years. He and his husband Don will be leaving Seattle and moving to Ireland.

Heath Brockwell (Col ’89 CM) has moved his law practice to Woolsey Morcom in Ponte Vedra, Florida. He continues to practice as a personal injury trial attorney. Brockwell also serves as the president of the Jacksonville Beaches Bar Association and as an assistant district legal officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. He and his wife, Becky, live in Atlantic Beach, Florida; they have six kids together.

Suzannah Evans Comfort (Col ’03) published The Environmental Beat: Inside the Struggle to Legitimize the Environment as News with the University of Missouri Press in June. The Environmental Beat is a groundbreaking sociology of environmental journalism in the U.S., tracing its origins to the sporting narratives of the 19th century and following the challenges to the beat since its formalization in the 1960s. Comfort is an associate professor of journalism at Indiana University.

Katie Rogers (Col ’18) and Will Dozier (Col ’18) got married at St. Paul’s Memorial Church on the Corner in Charlottesville in October 2025. They celebrated their wedding with family, friends and many fellow ‘Hoos. Charlottesville-based band Kendall Street Company performed at their after-party at Live Arts Theater on the Downtown Mall. The couple met in a Shakespeare seminar as second-year students.

Hasan Ahmad (Col ’10 CM) serves as vice president and associate chief medical information officer at Parkview Health, a 15-hospital healthcare system spanning Indiana and Ohio. As a board-certified hospitalist physician and clinical informaticist, he leads enterprise efforts to improve how physicians use technology, including advancing the responsible adoption of AI across the health system. He has presented on clinical informatics and AI at national venues, including Epic user meetings and the Becker’s Healthcare conference.

Monroe Mills (Educ ’25) and Olivia Barnes were married on May 16, 2026, at Hazy Mountain Winery in Afton, Virginia. Mills and Barnes graduated from Texas Tech University. The bride is a graduate physician assistant student at Mary Baldwin University. The groom is completing graduate studies at UVA, where he is on the football team.

Shelley Burnside (Educ ’03) has completed her second full year as an instructional assessment and analysis specialist at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, Virginia. She has over 19 years of experience as a secondary-level math teacher.

Caroline Dundervill (Educ ’20 CM) graduated from West Virginia University School of Medicine in 2025. She is currently a second year OB-GYN resident at the University of Kentucky.

Jay Pendarvis Jr. (Col ’24) wrote and directed a short film, See You, Soon, starring Asante Blackk (When They See Us, Euphoria) and Isaiah John (Snowfall). The film premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival and has since been selected for Palm Springs International ShortFest, Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, and Five Film Fridays. The project serves as a proof of concept for Pendarvis’ first feature film, Brother’s Keeper, which is currently in the financing stage through Antigravity Academy with producers Carlos López Estrada and Valerie Bush. The feature has Asante Blackk attached to star and Isaiah John attached as both cast and executive producer. Now studying at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Pendarvis is a former competitor on the Virginia Track & Field team.

Thomas Gorman (Col ’82 CM) recently celebrated his 40th year of continuous, full-time employment.

Seth McElroy (Nurs ’17) appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy! on June 5, 2026, fulfilling his lifelong dream of competing on the show. A watch-party was held in Charlottesville.

Peter DiGiacinto (Engr ’81) retired as head of global research and development with a major chemical company after 45 years in the industry. Starting in process design with Ethyl Corporation, DiGiacinto went on to become a leading expert in Linear Alpha Olefin technology, helping design and commission several world scale units. During his career, he held several upper-level positions including technology manager, project general manager, and site manager with companies including Albemarle Corporation, Amoco, BP Chemicals, and Ineos. In retirement, DiGiacinto intends to pursue his love of mountain biking in northwestern Arkansas.

Teri Lovelace (Col ’82 CM) retired in 2020 as founder and president of Locus Impact Investing, a community-driven consulting and investment advising firm. Since then, she’s managed her father’s herd of 140 black angus cattle at Wallace Gap Farm in Madison, Virginia. The farm sells all-natural, pasture-raised beef direct to consumers.

John Chilton (Col ’75) and his spouse, Carolyn Moomaw Chilton, have written Even the Stones Will Shout: Shrine Mont at 100, about the history of the titular open-air cathedral in Orkney Springs, Virginia. The couple celebrates their 52nd wedding anniversary in 2026. After living and working around the globe, the couple retired to Carolyn’s hometown of Orkney Springs.