“Award/Recognition” Class Notes

Dr. Reginald J. Sanders (Col ’81 CM), was recently named President of the American Society of Retina Specialists. The ASRS is the world’s largest organization for retina specialists, and Dr. Sanders is the first African American to serve as President. His other achievements include being elected into the Retina Hall of Fame as a charter inductee in 2016.

Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) has been nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Book of the Year for his recent biography George Pal: Man of Tomorrow. 

Sarah V. Schweig (Col ’07) has won the 2023-24 Jake Adam York Prize for her second collection of poems, The Ocean in the Next Room. The collection will be published by Milkweed Editions in January 2025. Schweig’s first poetry collection, Take Nothing with You, was published by the University of Iowa Press in 2016. 

Charles Avery (Col ’72) has been leading The Nehemiah Project DC, a federally funded housing program which helps men transition to society following incarceration, while also consulting on other mental health matters. He also serves as the president of the Loudoun Douglass School Alumni Association and co-chaired the effort to preserve and restore the school, which has been designated as a historic landmark. Avery, who was valedictorian of the last class of the segregated school, received a 2023 Charles Hamilton Houston Equity and Justice award from Loudoun County NAACP in recognition of his work. 

Avery took on these projects after completing 11 years as the executive director of Veterans On the Rise, a non-profit dedicated to providing a holistic system of care to fight veteran homelessness in the Washington D.C. area.

Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) has been nominated for the Theatre Library Association’s Richard Wall Memorial Award for his book George Pal: Man of Tomorrow. The award recognizes performing arts scholarship with exemplary use and interpretation of library and archival collections. 

Byron Dickson (Arch ’63 CM), was inducted into the Salem (Virginia) Educational Foundation and Alumni Association Hall of Fame on April 26th, 2023. The five inductees were recognized for major achievements in their chosen fields of education and architecture.

Thaddeus Minshall (Col ’03) received a Design-Build Award from the New England chapter of the Design-Build Institute of America for Connolly Brothers Inc.’s design and construction management work on New England Academy’s new South Shore campus in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Minshall is vice president of real estate/development at Connolly.

Jim Chapman (Col ’89 CM)has been honored with the Lewis Cenker Award by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association (GAHBA). 

Named after an industry luminary and the only GAHBA member to serve as president of the National Association of Home Builders, this award is the GAHBA’s highest honor, given in recognition of lifelong contributions and achievements in the housing industry.

Chapman, president of the Jim Chapman Construction Group, served as the GAHBA president in 2018. He has been named builder of the year by numerous industry organizations.

Ross Perry (Col ’73 CM) was named a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur by the Republic of France for his work building French and American relationships during his tenure as president general of the Society of the Cincinnati.  The society was formed at the end of The Revolution in 1783 by George Washington’s officer corps, and the current members focus on the appreciation of the deeds, accomplishments, and relevance of the American Revolution.

Laura Rikard (Grad ’11) has been invited to speak at the Berlin Film Festival on intimacy coordination, the process of working with and advocating for actors to develop and choreograph intimate scenes in film, television and theater. Rikard is founder of an organization called Theatrical Intimacy Education and a leading voice in creating intimacy coordination. She is associate professor of Theatre at the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Pat Cuadros (Col ’09) was promoted to pop culture editor of Blogcritics magazine. In this new role, she will continue to cover TV, film, theater and books. Prior to that, she worked for 8 years as a contributing writer. 

Cuadros is also a senior writer-editor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Malerie Ma Roddy (Col ’10 CM) has been promoted to partner at the law firm ArentFox Schiff. Roddy concentrates her practice on civil litigation and class action defense, serving clients across industries such as juvenile products, food and beverage, automotive, and consumer home goods. Her experience extends to multidistrict civil litigation, governmental investigations, and advising clients through all stages of product development and sales. Roddy co-chairs ArentFox Schiff’s New Moms Group, ParentFox Midwest, and the Asian Attorneys Inclusion Group.

Allison (Powell) Leighton (Arch ’07) has been promoted to senior associate at Quinn Evans. Leighton has served as the project manager for Cristo Rey High School in Richmond, Virginia; the Acuff Center for Aquaculture at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point, Virginia; and the Advanced Career Education Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs for Henrico County Public Schools.

Ryan McEnroe (Arch ’09) has been promoted to senior associate in Quinn Evans’ Washington, D.C. office. He has contributed to the design of the recently reopened Bird House at the National Zoological Park and the award-winning National Native American Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian, both for the Smithsonian Institution. He is a co-founder of AIA|DC’s Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program.

Nakita Reed (Arch ’06) has been promoted to senior associate in Quinn Evans’ Baltimore office. Working at the intersection of historic preservation, sustainable design, and equity, she engages in transformative projects such as the redevelopment of the 800 block of Harlem and Edmondson in Baltimore, Maryland, and the restoration of Baltimore Penn Station. Reed currently serves as president of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.