Class Notes
Chanlee Luu (Engr ’17 CM)
Chanlee Luu (Engr ’17 CM) has published her debut poetry collection, The Machine Autocorrects Code to I, coming out on October 8, 2024. It won the Washington Writers’ Publishing House’s 2024 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize. The book launch will be held at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. on October 13.
Nerissa Rouzer (Col ’06 CM)
Nerissa Neal Rouzer (Col ’06 CM) and Garett Michael Rouzer (Arch ’05 CM) welcomed a daughter, Alexandra Elise, on April 10, 2024. She joins big brothers Ethan and Owen. The family lives in Charlottesville.
Julie Dauksys (Educ ’99, Educ ’10)
Julie Dauksys (Educ ’99, ’10) has retired after 33 years in public education in both Hopewell city and Hanover County, Virginia. Dauksys served as a literacy specialist and coach in grades K-8 for 27 years. In 2022 she completed her Ph.D. in curriculum, culture, and change at VCU. In retirement, Dauksys will continue as a part-time associate professor of literacy at Randolph-Macon College and serve as co-president of the Virginia Literacy Educators Association.
David Meredith (Com ’03)
David Meredith (Com ’03) has been appointed to the board of directors of Riskified, a New York Stock Exchange public company that is a leader in ecommerce fraud management and risk intelligence.
Meredith has spent three decades serving in senior executive leadership and board director roles across both multi-billion-dollar public companies and private equity backed technology-focused firms.
As CEO of Everbridge, the global leader in software to provide resilience to organizations, Meredith led a period of rapid growth which moved the company into the large-cap Russell 1000® Index and earned him the award for Top 50 “Best CEO 2020” in the largest company category by Comparably. Prior to Everbridge, Meredith held leadership positions at Rackspace, CenturyLink, VeriSign, CGI, and Capital One Financial Corporation. In his role as CEO at integration-software leader Boomi, Meredith was also named as a “Best CEO 2022” for his work related to the spin-out of Boomi from Dell to become a stand-alone global company. Most recently he served as Board Director and Committee Chair for digital transformation leader SADA (an Insight company).
Meredith serves on the advisory board of the McIntire School of Commerce, where he earned his master’s degree. He graduated with honors from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in in finance.
Dorothy Shea (Col ’88 CM)
Dorothy Shea (Col ’88 CM) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. She was pleased to have several close friends from the UVA class of 1988 in attendance at her August 16 swearing-in ceremony, which U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield officiated. She took up her new duties in New York on August 19.
Steve Odabashian (Col ’91)
Steve Odabashian (Col ’91) was recently honored by two Philadelphia-area publications for his work in the test prep industry. He was named “Best SAT Coach” by Philadelphia Magazine in its August 2024 “Best of Philly – 50th anniversary edition.” In addition, his test prep company Main Line Test Prep and Tutoring was named “Best College Prep Service” by Main Line Today Magazine in its July 2024 issue.
Richard Miller (Col ’75 CM)
Richard B. Miller (Col ’75, CM) retired on July 1, 2024, and is now the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Emeritus Professor at the University of Chicago. Before coming to Chicago in 2014, Miller taught and served in several administrative roles at Indiana University, starting in 1985. On May 7 he welcomed his grandson, Declan Ian Miller-Mulcahy, into the world. Miller is currently finishing a book tentatively entitled, A Simple Twist of Fate: Religion, Moral Luck, and Social Criticism. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, film scholar Barbara Klinger. He can be reached at richardbmiller824@gmail.com.
James & Julie Garner (Engr ’15, Com ’15 CM)
Jimmy Garner (Eng ’15 CM) and Julie Garner (Com ‘15) welcomed their first child, Mason James Garner, on August 28, 2024. The family lives in Williamsburg, Virginia while Jimmy pursues his J.D. at William & Mary.
Luba Shur (Col ’93, Law ’96 CM)
Luba Shur (Col ’93, Law ’96 CM) has authored a new novel, RULE 23, available for preorder on Amazon and Audible. Liar’s Poker meets Legally Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada in this buzzy satire that tells the tale of one of the greatest grifts enshrined as law. There’s a striving, young associate who’s the book’s antiheroine, a ruthless senior partner eager to exploit her ambition, and a legal system that enables their diabolical schemes like tracks enable a runaway train. Kiiri Sandy—who brought to brilliant life recent hits by David Baldacci, Ruth Reichl, and Maud Ventura—shines as the narrator.
Shur received a B.A. in economics and international relations from UVA and a J.D. from its School of Law, where she served on the Law Review and earned Order of the Coif honors. She launched her career as a two-time federal judicial law clerk and built her career in private practice, at two preeminent BigLaw firms, including tenure as an associate, a counsel, and an equity partner specializing in complex litigation and other dispute resolution. Following these positions, Luba worked as a media law attorney at a government agency and currently works as a broad-based in-house general counsel. She lives in the Washington, D.C. area along with two children, one husband, and zero dogs.
STEPHEN RADEMAKER (Col ’81, Law ’84, Grad ’85 CM)
Stephen Rademaker (Col ’81, Law ’84, Grad ’85 CM) is a finalist for The American Lawyer magazine’s “Attorney of the Year” award for work he did on behalf of Radio Free Europe reporter Alsu Kurmasheva to win her freedom from arbitrary detainment in Russia.
Robert Lufkin (Med ’79)
Robert Lufkin (Med ’79) has published Lies I Taught in Medical School, a New York Times Bestseller based on his experience as a full professor at UCLA and USC medical schools. The book has been described as a riveting, cautionary tale of how medicine has gotten things so wrong (and continues to) in the area of metabolic health.
A free sample chapter is available at https://www.robertlufkinmd.com/lies/
June Bartley (Nurs ’49)
June P. Bartley (Nurs ’49) celebrated her 100th birthday on June 16, 2024. She started at UVA on March 11, 1946, and graduated on March 10, 1949. She met her husband, John A. Bartley, who was attending UVA in the School of Architecture, in 1947. They were married March 11, 1949, the day after her graduation.
Charles Blair (Col ’87, Law ’91 CM)
Charles (Tom) Blair (Col ’87, Law ’90 CM) is a contributing author in the volume of essays Lynching in Virginia: Racial Terror and Its Legacy. Growing up in Rockingham County, Blair, who is an attorney in private practice in Washington, D.C., developed an abiding interest in Civil War and Reconstruction-era history. Although not as associated with lynching as other southern states, Virginia has a tragically extensive history with these horrific crimes. This important volume examines the more than one hundred people who were lynched in Virginia between 1866 and 1932. Its diverse set of contributors—including scholars, journalists, activists, and students—recover this wider history of lynching in Virginia, interrogate its legacy, and spotlight contemporary efforts to commemorate the victims of racial terror across the commonwealth. Together, their essays represent a small part of the growing effort to come to terms with the role Virginia played in perpetuating America’s national shame.
Josh Pons (Col ’76)
Josh Pons (Col ’76 CM) has published his third book, Letters from Country Life: Adolphe Pons, Man o’ War, and the Founding of Maryland’s Oldest Thoroughbred Farm, a recounting of his grandfather’s role as personal secretary to New York financier August Belmont II, breeder of the greatest racehorse of the 20th-century, Man o’ War.
The narrative follows Pons’ grandfather from New York to Maryland in 1933 to establish Country Life Farm, which at nine decades old is the oldest thoroughbred farm in Maryland.
In writing the book, Pons took to heart the words of former professor John Coleman, a member of the UVA Department of English faculty from 1946 to 1981, who taught students that “unless something is written down, there is no proof that it existed.”
Pons’ book is available in bookstores, at rowmanlittlefield.com, or by contacting him at josh@countrylifefarm.com.
Amanda Smith (Col ’10)
Amanda Smith (Col ’10) has joined the health care practice of law firm K&L Gates LLP as counsel in its Washington, D.C. office. She joins the firm from 340B Health, a nonprofit organization comprising more than 1,500 hospitals and health systems participating in the federal 340B drug pricing program.
Smith has advised on regulatory, legislative, and legal matters related to the 340B program. She has worked directly with member hospitals on 340B compliance and policy issues, prepared legal analyses and advocacy documents on various 340B issues, and has played a key role in the development of state level policy and advocacy resources. Prior to her role at 340B Health, Smith served as a health care law clerk for the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
Lara Gastinger (Col ’98 CM)
Lara Gastinger (Col ’98 CM) will be featured in Charlottesville’s first Botanical Art Festival, to be held Sept. 7-12 at the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont. Gastinger will kick off the festival with “Introduction to Nature Journaling,” an introduction to a technique known as the perpetual journal. Attendees will learn strategies to observe and document the natural world around them. Gastinger will demonstrate her drawing and painting techniques and will provide opportunities for the attendees to draw along with her.
The festival will offer free art programming for all ages, botanically-themed workshops, and collaborations with regional artists and organizations, culminating in a ticketed botanical art show supporting local artists and the garden. It is the first of its kind for the region and is intended to bring the garden to the attention of many Virginians.
Dr. Luis G. Pedraja (Grad ’94)
Luis G. Pedraja (Grad ’94) has been appointed as a delegate to the New England Board of Higher Education by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. The appointment highlights Pedraja’s leadership in higher education and his dedication to expanding educational opportunities in Central Massachusetts.
Pedraja has served as president of Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts for seven years and has more than 30 years of experience in higher education. During his tenure, QCC has increased enrollment, launched student success initiatives, developed a strategic plan, expanded community partnerships, enhanced workforce development programs, and achieved reaccreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education.
https://theworcesterguardian.org/f/qccs-president-named-to-ne-board-of-higher-ed-by-gov-healey
Jonathan McCullers (Col ’89 CM)
Dr. Jon McCullers (Col ’89 CM) has been named dean of the College of Medicine and vice president of health affairs at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. He previously served 13 years as chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
Brian Cafferty (Grad ’90)
Brian G. Cafferty (Grad ’90) has joined the boutique law firm GoldMark Partners LLP as a partner. Cafferty brings an extensive background in real estate, corporate governance, and finance to the firm, which is located in Needham, Massachusetts and is focused on commercial real estate and corporate law His expertise spans corporate creation, governance, acquisitions, zoning, commercial leasing, and environmental compliance. He has successfully represented clients in various courts and provided strategic counsel on operational and compliance matters. He has handled the development, financing, and leasing of industrial, suburban office, retail, and multi-family projects, including brownfield sites. Cafferty is also experienced with Chapter 91 filled tidelands and Chapter 21E hazardous waste sites.
Before joining GoldMark, Cafferty served as vice president of legal affairs at Combined Properties, a full-service real estate investment and development firm, specializing in the development and acquisition of high-quality office, residential, industrial, and retail properties in the Boston area. Cafferty received his J.D. from Boston College School of Law.
Jason Nadolinski (SCPS ’22 CM)
Jason S. Nadolinski (SPCS ’22 CM) has been selected to serve as the director of the student affairs division of the Military and Veterans Student Success Center at Florida Atlantic University.
In this role, he will lead a professional staff dedicated to serving and supporting over 1,700 military and veteran students, their dependents, and the U.S. Army ROTC battalion at six campus locations across south Florida. He will create and sustain meaningful education pathways and a sense of special membership for the entire service member community across FAU, which has earned the Military Friendly School designation for twelve straight years and the Military Spouse Friendly School recognition for 2022-2023.
Nadolinski accepted this position upon retirement as a senior special agent/ team leader with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he served from 2001-2023. He also retired from the U.S. Navy as a master chief petty officer after combined active duty and reserve component service of over 26-years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the Naval War College – Senior Enlisted Academy.
He was a member of the second group of public safety leaders to earn the UVA Master of Public Safety degree and credential in 2022.
Top