“Academic Accomplishment” Class Notes
Katherine Bowers (Col ’02, Grad ’04)
Katherine Bowers (Col ’02, Grad ’04) was promoted to associate professor of Slavic studies with tenure at the University of British Columbia in summer 2020. Her first monograph is forthcoming from University of Toronto Press in 2021.
Robert Cottrell (Educ ’16 CM)
Jason Cottrell (Educ ’16) was selected to serve as the American College Personnel Association College Student Educators International 2022 Convention Chair. Chairing the ACPA Convention is a great feat, and often mentioned as one of the major highlights of one’s career. Approximately 3,500 members and guests attend the ACPA Annual Convention every year. Every Convention experience is different and the Convention Planning Team works hard to ensure a unique and personalized experience for every attendee. Dr. Cottrell works for the U.S. Department of Education as the Lead Research Analyst for the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Institutional Service. His research specialization focuses on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and low-income serving institutions as identified in Titles III, V, and VII of the Higher Education Act.
Eeric Truumees (Col ’89, Med ’93 CM)
Eeric Truumees (Col ’89, Med ’93 CM) was named president of the North American Spine Society. Dr. Truumees is an orthopedic spine surgeon with Ascension Texas Spine and Scoliosis, and professor of orthopedic
and neurological surgery at the University of Texas, Dell Medical School. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and his fellowship in spine surgery with Harry Herkowitz at Beaumont Hospital in Michigan. Dr. Truumees’ research and academic work has included more than 15 NIH and industry sponsored multi-center trials, which generated over 30 peer-reviewed publications of original research, 40 invited publications, 50 chapters and monographs and two books. Dr. Truumees has given more than 200 national and international presentations, lectureships and instructorships.
Jennifer Kim Penberthy (Res ’89)
Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy (Res ’89) published a new book, Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide. The book provides user-friendly, empirically supported information about and answers to some of the most frequently encountered questions and dilemmas of human living, interactions, and emotions. Find more information on the book and the link to pre-order it on Routledge’s website.
Chris Kelly (Col ’03)
Chris Kelly (Col ’03) received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Fordham University in August 2020. She is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Grace Gillen (Col ’18 CM)
Grace Gillen (Col ’18 CM) has completed her first year at VCU School of Dentistry in Richmond, Virginia. She expects to graduate as a doctor of dental surgery with the class of 2023.
Casey Chalk (Col ’07, Educ ’07)
Casey Chalk (Col ’07, Educ ’07) and his wife, Claire, welcomed a son, Lawrence Casimir, on Aug. 18, 2020. He joins siblings Annemarie, 7; Thomas, 5; and Elizabeth,3. Chalk lives in Fairfax, Virginia, and received a master’s in theology from Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia, in August 2020. He is a columnist for New Oxford Review and Crisis Magazine.
Nakita Reed (Arch ’06)
Nakita Reed (Arch ’06), an associate with Quinn Evans, has been selected as a member of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative Advisory Committee. The new program, led by a partnership of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the JPB Foundation, and The Executive Leadership Council, will provide technical assistance and fund preservation-based stewardship plans at up to eight HBCU campuses across the country.
Thomas Pettigrew (Col ’52)
Tom Pettigrew (Col ’52) published his fifth book, Contextual Social Psychology: Reanalyzing Prejudice, Voting and Intergroup Contact. The book reviews Pettigrew’s life’s work in social psychology and analyzes the 2016 vote for Donald Trump. Pettigrew is 89 years old and has been retired from the University of California, Santa Cruz for 26 years.
Mary Baldridge (Educ ’10)
Mary Caufield Baldridge (Educ ’10) was selected by the U.S. Department of State for a one-month English language specialist project focusing on production of an English writing textbook in Georgia at Tbilisi State University. Baldridge is part of a select group, as her project is one of 130 that the English Language Specialist Program supports each year. Baldridge was an English Language Fellow in Tbilisi, Georgia, during the 2019-20 academic year. During her fellowship, she conducted workshops for English instructors and K-12 teachers at Tbilisi State University, Kutaisi University, and Gori University for the English Teachers’ Association of Georgia. Dr. Baldridge recently retired from Fairfax County Public Schools where she taught secondary English, ESOL, and AP Psychology. She earned a doctorate in education from UVA and received her master’s degree in education from Harvard University.
Shawn Zamperini (Col ’16)
Shawn Zamperini (Col ’16) earned his master’s degree in May 2020 and is now working on his doctorate in nuclear engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He plans to finish in 2021.
Julia Sarris (Col ’81)
Juli Pappas Sarris (Col ’81) received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to teach at the University of Prishtina, Kosovo, for the spring semester of 2021. She will teach second-language acquisition theory, ESL/EFL methods, and an advanced EFL literacy class to in-service and pre-service teachers at the university. Sarris currently teaches in the education schools of multiple universities on the Front Range of Colorado. She, her husband, and their two adult children live in Boulder, Colorado.
Charles Ross (Engr ’80)
Charles Ross (Engr ’80, ’83, ’88), professor of physics at Longwood University, will publish his fourth book on the U.S. Civil War, Breaking the Blockade, later this year. Ross has made appearances on PBS, History Channel and National Geographic Channel.
Ross Gore (Engr ’12)
In response to the ongoing global pandemic, Ross Gore (Engr ’07, ’12) has co-published a model forecasting county level outcomes related to COVID-19 for Virginia. The model is available at here.
John Quale (Arch ’93 CM)
John Quale (Arch ’93), who served as a faculty member in the UVA School of Architecture from 2000 to 2014, has been named the guest editor for Sustainability, an open access journal published by Taylor and Francis. While at UVA, Quale received funding to study the environmental impacts of building modular verses conventional construction. The published paper, “Construction Matters: Comparing Environmental Impacts of Building Modular and Conventional Homes in the United States,” was originally published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. Since then it has been cited more than 110 times. As the lead author, Quale says he was able to recruit four other co-authors to work with him. He is currently the chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of New Mexico. In 2017, he coauthored and coedited a book, Offsite Architecture: Constructing the Future.
Marcia Anderson (Col ’76)
Marcia Anderson (Col ’76) received her master’s degree in communications and creative writing from American University, followed by a career as a corporate scriptwriter, advertising copywriter and print journalist. Today, she’s an Amazon bestselling romance author of nine e-books, writing under the pen name, Marcia James. Marcia and her husband, James Diebold, celebrate their 45th anniversary together in May 2020. Their 1989 wedding was covered by People Magazine because they asked guests to donate to charity in lieu of giving them presents. They live in Dublin, Ohio.
Derek Rosner (Col ’96)
Derek Rosner (Col ’96) was named chief of outpatient anesthesia at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. Rosner is an attending anesthesiologist, treasurer and partner with Springfield Anesthesia Services and is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine/Baystate. When not in the operating room, Rosner is father to Jett, 17 and Aspen, 14. He and his wife, Tara, enjoy ultra-marathon running, Otillio-style swimrun racing and beach home development on the Connecticut shoreline.
Alyson Steele (Arch ’94)
Alyson Steele (Arch ’94), executive vice president and chief design officer of Quinn Evans, has been elevated to the College of Fellows within the American Institute of Architects. Steele is known for her work in revitalizing cultural institutions and landmarks across the nation. She has published and presented extensively on a range of topics, including how to leverage technology for integrated stewardship.
Kurt Gilchrist (Col ’99 CM)
Kurt Gilchrist (Col ’99 L/M) recently completed his M.B.A. from Gosport University.
Joseph Gascho (Med ’73)
Joseph Gascho (Med ’73) has a photography exhibit, Diagnosis: Person, on display at Positiveexposure109, a gallery on the north end of Museum Mile, in New York City. This exhibit can be viewed by appointment through the month of February. Gascho is the author of a book of poetry, Cornfields, Cottonwoods, Seagulls and Sermons: Growing up in Nebraska.
Top