“Academic Accomplishment” Class Notes

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.