“Academic Accomplishment” Class Notes

Erin Anderson (Col ’00, Educ ’04, ’15 CM) was appointed the William and Sheila Konar Director of Urban Education Success at the University of Rochester. Previously, she was an associate professor at the University of Denver. She has authored 39 journal articles, book chapters, reports and books, including the book, Leading Continuous Improvement in Schools: Enacting Leadership Standards to Advance Educational Quality and Equity, co-authored with former UVA researcher Kathleen M.W. Cunningham and current UVA professor David Eddy-Spicer.

Sarah V. Schweig (Col ’07) completed her Ph.D. in philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her dissertation, “Measures of Disorder: Poetry and Aesthetic Corruption in the Age of AI,” engages with the work of Stanley Cavell, Richard Rorty and Charles Taylor, among other philosophers and writers.

Steven Gordon Krug (Com ’86 CM) was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in history from the University of Georgia. Krug specializes in colonial and early American history with an emphasis on the intellectual origins of republicanism and its influence on national economic development. His dissertation examined the evolution of the Virginia plantation economy during the Jeffersonian era.

Jason Jimerson (Grad ’90) has been selected to participate in Writing Vocation: A Colloquy for Future Contributors. This opportunity is offered by the Council of Independent Colleges through its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education. The colloquy will be held January 16–18, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jimerson is chair of the sociology department at Franklin College.

Amy Rector (Col ’00 CM) and her colleagues from the Ledi-Geraru Research Project in northeastern Ethiopia have discovered what could be a new species of Australopithecus, an early hominin species that lived alongside the early human ancestors of the Homo genus two to three million years ago. Rector, a paleontologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the other team members discovered and studied a large number of ancient fossilized teeth at the Ledi-Geraru research area, with their findings supporting a view of human evolution as a “tangled-up bush,” rather than a linear timeline. The Ledi-Geraru Research Project and their findings were featured in an article in the Washington Post.

Laura DeLuca (Col ’85 CM) was named the director of the University of Colorado, Boulder’s study abroad program, Global Seminar: Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship in Bali, Indonesia, for 2025 and 2026. Students in the program will learn about Bali’s native plants and their uses in traditional medicine and food; visit Tirta Empul, a Hindu temple; tour Mai Organic Farm, a community-led movement to preserve traditional agricultural village life; hear a presentation on coral reef growth from the Biorock Indonesia coral restoration project; and visit with social entrepreneurs at the Makadaya Social Impact Centre, a group that develops sustainable solutions to social and environmental challenges in Indonesia.

Kenneth Malcolm Holland (Grad ’71) was awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State. He will travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in fall 2025 to complete a four-week project at the Institute for Advanced International Studies, an institution that trains diplomats, supports curriculum development in American studies and fosters institutional partnerships. Holland is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Utah and previously served as president of the American University of Afghanistan. He had previous Fulbright Awards in Japan and Burma (Myanmar).

Patrick D. Melmer (Col ’12, Med ’17 CM), was promoted to associate program director of the General Surgery Residency at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is an assistant professor in the Division of Acute Care Surgical Services and also serves as the director of Surgical Simulation for VCU’s Center for Human Simulation and Patient Safety.

Rachel Boate (Col ’09 CM) was hired as an assistant professor of art history in the department of art at Colgate University. She researches and offers courses on transatlantic modernisms.

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) 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.

Eric Kalkhurst (Col ’68 CM) has been accepted into the M.A./Ph.D. psychology, religion and consciousness program of Pacifica Graduate Institute for fall 2025.

Nia Zalamea-Ducklo (Col ’98 CM) serves as an assistant professor of surgery and director of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Global Surgery Institute. In 2021 she was appointed assistant dean in the Office of Student Affairs at the UTHSC College of Medicine. She also maintains a global practice and serves as board chair, vice president and general surgeon with the Memphis Mission of Mercy, an NGO founded by her parents that provides medical and surgical care to the poor through annual or biannual trips to the Philippines. She is the mother of two boys, Thomas (5) and Noli (3). Her husband, Matt Ducklo, is founder and gallerist of TOPS Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee.

Richard E. McDorman (Col ’94, Educ ’24 CM)) was awarded the degree of Education Specialist (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in English as a Second Language from the UVA School of Education and Human Development on May 19, almost 30 years to the day after his first degree from the University, a B.A. in Linguistics, with Highest Distinction, awarded in May 1994. The Ed.S. is McDorman’s fourth academic degree, along with an M.A. in Linguistics (University of Chicago) and an M.L.S. in Ancient Studies (University of Miami) in addition to graduate certificates in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Penn State), Spanish to English Translation (New York University), and General Translation (New York University).

McDorman serves as the chief academic officer of Language On Schools, a position he has held since 2016. He also works as a specialized contractor for the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation and is an independent translator, certified by the American Translators Association for translation from Spanish into English. Originally from Beckley, West Virginia, McDorman has lived in Miami since 1999.

Elizabeth Larus (Grad ’89, ’94), Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, has been named Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub.

Mills Kelly (Col ’82 CM) will be a Fulbright Scholar at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany during 2024. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History.

Joe Essid (Col ’83) published “Writing Centers & the Dark Warehouse University: Generative AI, Three Human Advantages,” in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies: Vol. 2, 2023.

Jason F. Lovvorn (Grad ‘96) was promoted to professor of English at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Lovvorn has served as assistant director of the Teaching Center and as Writing Program director and currently serves as the English Department’s internship coordinator.

Lt. Col. Michael Trimble (Col ’04 CM) has earned a Ph.D. in military strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, the U.S. Air Force’s graduate-level strategy school. His dissertation focused on security cooperation and air advisers in the war on terror.

Amy Rosenberg Allshouse (Col ’95 CM) graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in May, 2023 with a J.D., CIPP/US certification and a High Tech Law Certificate with Honors.

Jessica Botta (Col ’96 CM) graduated this May from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development with a master of arts degree in food studies.  Jessica lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Zayde Antrim (Col ’95 CM), professor of history and international studies at Trinity College, has received a fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study. She will spend the spring and fall semesters of 2024 in residence as a member of the School of Historical Studies. 

Antrim’s UVA thesis was “Remything Africa: Perceptions of Precariousness and Illusions of Power in the Literature of Sarah Bowdich.”

Bhakti Patel (Col ’99) has been appointed as Managing Principal of the Austin, Texas office at CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, which is a top ten professional services firm offering assurance, tax, consulting and wealth advisory services.  

Jacob Hiram “Jake” Yost IV (Col ’10) founded PT Rehab Doc after graduating from UVA and, later, Virginia Commonwealth University at the Medical College of Virginia as a doctor of physical therapy. Jake’s company offers rehab videos for specific issues like knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain, total knee replacements, or even just a rough stay at the hospital.

The goal is to improve the quality of today’s physical therapy while at the same time helping to solve the problem of affordable healthcare for all people.

Mark Angle-Hobson (Educ ’98, ’02) has been appointed to serve on the board of directors of the Resolve Center in Medford, OR. Resolve seeks to transform the way the people and communities of Southern Oregon manage and resolve conflict and repair from harm.

Mark has also been invited to join the Region 16 Comprehensive Center (R16CC) Community of Stewards. A “network of networks,” R16CC seeks to improve the quality and equity of education for students in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. 

Neil Birkhoff (Col ’77 CM),principal and tax practice leader at Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, recently completed his 14-month term as visiting director of the Tax Clinic at the Washington & Lee University School of Law.  He has been an adjunct professor of law at Washington & Lee for fifteen years, teaching income taxation of corporations, trusts & estates, and non-profit organizations.

David Hamilton Golland (Grad ’02) has accepted appointment as dean of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monmouth University, where he has also been appointed professor of history.

Andrea Trank (Col ’80, Educ ’97, ’00 CM) has returned to working with teachers and students by helping them develop strategies to manage stress, stay resilient and maintain emotional self-regulation. She is about to launch a major project with the HeartMath Institute to develop an online series of training seminars for teachers all over the world to learn simple but highly researched and effective tools for staying physically, emotionally and mentally healthy in the classroom. These tools can be used by teachers to help develop more restorative and less punitive behavior management plans.

William Robert Oliver II (Educ ’11 CM) earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Integrative STEM Education from Virginia Tech in May 2022. He plans to continue serving as Professor of Information Systems Technology at Blue Ridge Community College.

Jeffrey Toney (Col ’81 CM) is currently Professor Emeritus at Kean University, where he previously served as the Senior Vice President for Research as well as Provost and Chief Academic Officer. He concurrently serves as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Toney is a Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, and has served on the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science and Human Rights Coalition since its founding in 2009. He has also published a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds six U.S. patents.

Katherine Read Knaus (Engr ’12, ’21 CM) began her post-doctoral research fellowship in the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego in 2021. She, her husband and their daughter are enjoying life in La Jolla, California.

Austin Randolph Palmore (Col ’15, Com ’16) graduated in May with a Juris Doctor degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law. After sitting for the July 2022 Virginia Bar Examination, he will begin a one-year clerkship for the Honorable Judges of the Henrico County Circuit Court in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, followed by a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Randolph A. Beales, Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals in Richmond.

Brian Madden (Col ’91 CM) and Colleen Madden are proud to share that their daughter Kathleen “Ann” Madden (Com ’22 CM) has graduated with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce.

J. Hagood Tighe (Col ’87 CM), a partner at the national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips based in Columbia, S.C., has been sworn in as president of the South Carolina Bar. The ceremony was presided over by U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs during the bar’s annual assembly May 12.

As president, Tighe will serve South Carolina’s expansive legal and business communities by working to uphold the integrity and honor of the legal profession, advance the science of jurisprudence, promote quality legal education and services to the public, and continually improve the administration of justice throughout the Palmetto State. He will serve a one-year term.

At Fisher Phillips, Hagood is co-chair of the firm’s wage and hour practice and an active member of the firm’s class and collective action practice. In recent years, he has handled over 40 class and collective actions throughout the country, many of which involve wage and hour issues. Hagood recently led a team that won one of the nation’s largest WARN Act class actions in recent history. He also has extensive experience defending single plaintiff lawsuits alleging wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. While Hagood maintains an active litigation practice, he also focuses on providing practical and proactive advice designed to minimize the risk of litigation. He enjoys working with companies to help them avoid problems before they arise. This takes many forms including advising on handbooks, policies, employment agreements, investigations, layoffs, and terminations. 

To learn more, click here.

L. Roger Boord (Col ’88) and Fran Gaddin Boord report that their daughter, Nina Marie Virginia Boord, is a freshman at Stanford University studying engineering.

Dr. Lealani Mae “Leah” Acosta (Med ’07, Res ’11) was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she serves as the behavioral neurology fellowship director. She also was awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology for contributions to the field, including serving as an editor for the Humanities section of the journal Neurology.

John “Rut” Rutkowski III (Com ’76) states that his design and commerce years at UVA have guided him through five businesses and a long career.
 

Amy Karofsky (Grad ’92, ’97) published A Case for Necessitarianism. The book provides a case for and explanation of necessitarianism—the view that absolutely nothing about the world could have been otherwise in any way whatsoever. As the first defense of necessitarianism in over 300 years, it provides the only contemporary account and support of the necessitarian position and its merits. The arguments aim towards a more realistic and scientific explanation of the universe and everything in it and have implications for many different philosophical issues and positions. She is also the primary co-author of Philosophy Through Film, 4th edition, a text book for introductory philosophy classes that uses recent, popular movies to explore philosophical problems and issues. She is in her 24th year as a philosophy professor at Hofstra University and expects to be promoted to full professor at the end of the Spring semester.

Monica Tucker-Schwartz (Nurs ’10) earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Health System Executive Leadership from the University of Pittsburgh in December 2021. Her project titled The Impact of a Professional Practice Model at a Large Academic Medical Center was presented on November 1, 2021. 

Monica lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband Jason Tucker-Schwartz (Engr ’08, ’10 CM) and children Isabel “Izzy” (3 1/2) and Scott Jefferson “SJ” (15 months). 

James “Jim” Kemp (Col ’58, Med ’62 CM) is retired and living in San Diego, but is active in his field as a consultant and Chief Medical Officer of a small start-up pharmaceutical company. After graduating from UVA Medical school in 1962, he completed a Pediatric internship at the University of Florida before going to Atlanta for a two-year Pediatric Residency at Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital. He then completed two years service as a Lieutenant Commander at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego. In 1965 he was accepted into the two-year Fellowship program at UC San Francisco, in Pediatric Allergy Asthma and Immunology, after which he returned to San Diego board-certified in both Pediatrics and Allergy/Immunology. He helped develop an training program at UC San Diego in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology and opened a private practice, seeing patients and doing over 400 clinical research studies with more than 200 published in peer-reviewed journals. He was President of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology in 2000. He has been an internationally-noted speaker in his field, at numerous national and more than 35 international conferences. In his community he was active in Rotary International and was on the board of directors of the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park, California. He has two daughters and five grandchildren—the oldest just accepted to the UVA School of Law.