“Award/Recognition” Class Notes

Linda Fisher Thornton (Col ’83 CM) was awarded the Itzkowitz Family Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award by The University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and was the faculty speaker at the 2022 SPCS Commencement. 

Chris Stanley (Com ’76) was recently named Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theology and Franciscan Studies at St. Bonaventure University in western New York. He retired from the university in 2021 after 22 years as a professor at St. Bonaventure. Dr. Stanley has authored or edited seven academic books and two historical novels, together with dozens of professional articles and papers, in his 31 years in academia. He is looking forward to continuing his writing in retirement. He lives in Allegany, New York, but plans to move to southern California in the next year.

Dr. Richard O. Mines Jr. (Engr ’77), Mercer University School of Engineering professor, was named Engineer of the Year by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia.

The Georgia Society of Professional Engineers coordinates the Engineer of the Year awards, which are judged by the Engineering Council of Birmingham. The purpose of the awards is to honor licensed engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession, public welfare and/or humankind.

Dr. Mines received the Engineer of the Year Award as the overall highest scoring nominee from the categories of Engineer of the Year in Construction, Education, Government, Industry and Private Practice. He received the honor during the 2022 Georgia Engineering Awards held Mar. 19 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

Dr. Mines is a professor of environmental and civil engineering at Mercer. He has served in academia for 34 years and consulting for seven years, specializing in the design of water and wastewater treatment facilities. He also serves as startup coordinator for the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in civil engineering degrees at Mercer, where he has taught since 1998. He was previously on the faculty of the University of South Florida, where he was twice named Civil Engineering Professor of the Year.

Tonya N. Jefferson (Col ’93 CM) co-founded the non-profit Virginia Africa Partnership during late summer of 2021, and is currently the Vice President, Government Liaison and Resource Mobilization. The Virginia Africa Partnership (VAP) strives to boost trade and investment opportunities between Virginia and Africa by providing market research; helping companies identify new markets via trade mission; connecting them to potential business partners, customers, or distributers; fostering minority and women-owned small business; and facilitating the transfer of technology for the transformation of natural resources designed to increase trade and spur growth. The collaboration of higher educational institutions and the promotion of siter-cities initiatives will cement that long-term partnership.

Jefferson applied to the Clinton Global Initiative University as a George Washington University doctoral student on the due date, Jan. 26, 2022, which was exactly two days after she learned of the opportunity, and was accepted into the 2022 cohort as a result of her thoughtful, thorough and compelling application. Her Commitment to Action plan included all four of VAP’s current projects: Leadership and STEM Awards Ceremony to be held on June 11, 2022; Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Exchange to be held from July 10 through Aug. 10, 2022; Higher Education Leadership Conference to be held from Oct. 5 through Oct. 7, 2022; and Entrepreneurship Academy, in addition to a few new projects and partnerships.

Erin Mattingly (Educ ’03 CM) was awarded the Department of the Army’s Public Service Commendation Medal for her leadership of medical operations at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Camp Atterbury was one of eight Operation Allies Welcome sites supporting Afghan evacuees following the Taliban assuming control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021 and became the interim home for 7,201 guests.

The Jung Center of Houston has selected Frances Carter Stephens (Col ’74 CM) as one of the artists on their 2022 exhibition schedule. Titled Beautiful the Wild, the exhibition will present more than a dozen of her recent abstract oil paintings and one conceptual three dimensional work.  The works express untamed nature–vivid and sometimes unpredictable–as experienced along Texas’s Gulf Coast.  They explore elements of earth, sky, and weather as aspects of the abstract landscape and their dynamic impact on our world.  References to gardens and the changing seasons evoke the life cycle–birth, growth, decline, and death, and all of its fierce emotions.  Beautiful the Wild will be on view at The Jung Center of Houston, 5200 Montrose Boulevard, from February 16 through March 31, 2022.  The exhibition is free and open to the public during the Jung Center’s normal business hours.  A public reception with the artist is scheduled for Saturday, March 19 from 5 to 7 pm.

Michael Lee “Mike” Bentley (Educ ’85) received the award for Outstanding Science Teaching and Contributions to Science Education by the Virginia Association of Science Teachers at their annual meeting in November 2021. At that meeting, he delivered a paper for the first time via YouTube video because the conference went virtual due to the pandemic. In 2021, he presented programs on the climate crisis to community groups and to his city council and continued volunteer work on Plowshare Peace and Justice Center’s board, as secretary of the regional Sierra Club, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, and Virginia’s Interfaith Power and Light. At 75, he is well and doing what good he can.

Herbert H. Slatery III (Col ’74 CM), the current attorney general for the State of Tennessee, was presented with the Kelley-Wyman Award at the recent National Association of Attorneys General Capital Forum in Washington, D.C. The Kelley-Wyman Award is an annual award given to the attorney general who has done the most to advance the objectives of the Association, and the honoree is selected by fellow attorneys general. General Slatery was completely surprised and was quick to give credit to the cooperation among the many attorneys general and to his own dedicated, hardworking staff in Tennessee.

H. MacNeil “Mac” Dobbins (Col ’16 CM) has joined the Bridge Investment Group as Vice President of its Industrial Net Lease Group. He is responsible for acquisitions and asset management for the division’s Private Equity Funds. He previously served as Principal, and earlier as Senior Associate at Gladstone Commercial Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust. He began his financial career and served as a Senior Credit Analyst at United Bank after graduating from UVA in 2016. His office is in Arlington, Virginia.

Mike Smith (Arch ’05) was honored in Mass Transit magazine as a member of the 2021 class of the publication’s “40 Under 40.” The annual feature recognizes 40 up-and-comers in the public transportation industry for their contributions, innovation, leadership, and community impact. Currently serving as Chief of Safety for the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, Mike was selected out of over 150 nominations representing a cross-section of disciplines from across the U.S. in both the public and private sectors. He is proud of his humble beginnings as a student driver at UVA’s University Transit Service, a position he held both through all four years of study as an urban and environmental planning major in the School of Architecture, and also after graduating, on a part-time basis limited to late nights and weekends. He has worked in a variety of roles in a 20-year career, in operations, safety, regulatory compliance, and project management.

Steve Nesbit (Engr ’80, ’82 CM) is serving as the 67th President of the American Nuclear Society, the organization for nuclear science and technology professionals.  ANS works to advance, foster, and spur the development and application of nuclear science, engineering, and technology to benefit society.  Elected by the society in 2020, his term of office runs through June 2022.

Kevin Martingayle (Law ’91), a past president of the Virginia State Bar, was recently elected to the governing council of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. He has also held a number of other legal organization leadership positions, including his current service as a member of the executive committee of the Board of Directors of the Virginia Judges & Lawyers Assistance Program, which supports judges, lawyers, law students and legal staff in handling mental health and substance abuse challenges. Kevin resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Lizzie, and has a trial and appellate law practice.

Walter Calvert (Com ’80 CM) was elected a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel.  The American College of Tax Counsel is a professional association of tax attorneys with fellows limited to a maximum of 700 across the United States.  Fellows must be nominated for membership and must then undergo a rigorous screening process prior to being elected.  Walt is a partner in the transactional Tax practice of the Venable LLP law firm.

Byron Dickson (Arch ’63 CM), lead practitioner at Dickson Architects & Associates, has been appointed to a four-year term on the City of Roanoke Architectural Review Board. Dickson Architects, which serves Southwest Virginia and adjoining states, celebrated its 50th anniversary June 7.

Ralph Aronberg (Engr ’78 CM) was recently awarded Engineer of the Year by the Broward County (Fla.) chapter of The American Society of Civil Engineers.  Ralph has been a member of ASCE for over 40 years, and is now a life member. His specialty is traffic and transportation. He began his career with the Florida Department Of Transportation, then worked for the Broward County traffic engineering division. He opened his own firm in 1983, where his work evolved into forensics.  He has been published in his field on a number of occasions, and is a fellow member of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers.

Mark G. Haley (Col ’78), co-founder and partner at Prism Hospitality Consulting, LLC, was inducted into the Hospitality Finance & Technology Professionals International Hospitality Technology Hall of Fame, the highest level of recognition in the area of technology. Since 1989, 49 individuals have received this award as a reflection of their contributions to the hospitality industry.

Classmates Alan MacKenzie (Col ’88 CM), Steve Furr (Col ’88 CM), Jim Wolfe (Com ’88 CM) and Avron Stoloff (Com ’88 CM) completed the August 2021 Triple Bypass bicycle event in Colorado. The grueling event covers 110 miles and over 10,000 vertical feet in one day.

Hedieh Fakhriyazdi (Arch ’09) Director of Social Responsibility and the Weil Foundation, has been awarded a 2021 Innovation Award by the New York Law Journal for her leadership in making our communities more equitable, inclusive, just and sustainable through philanthropy and social impact initiatives.

Hedieh was recognized as one of the legal industry’s innovative individuals and honored for her achievements leading Weil’s Social Responsibility department and charitable foundation. Her recent accomplishments include the launch in 2019 of the Weil Legal Innovators program, a groundbreaking philanthropic initiative that partners with top law schools and nonprofit organizations to provide annual public service fellowships for rising law students. Hedieh has also launched Community@Weil, enhancing the Firm’s community service platform to help attorneys and staff give back in meaningful ways.

The winners of the Innovation Awards will be recognized in the New York Law Journal’s upcoming Professional Excellence magazine and honored at the New York Legal Awards in New York City on October 13, 2021.

In August 2021, Steven Bingler (Arch ’72) AIA will celebrate the 38th anniversary of Concordia, an Architecture, Planning, and Community Engagement Firm headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that he founded in 1983.  Bingler is a leading advocate for innovative, equitable, and community-centered architectural, urban design, and stakeholder engagement solutions. His work has received support from Ford, Rockefeller, Bill and Melinda Gates, and other foundations. His research papers have been widely published and his op-eds have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Most recently, he was the principal investigator for the Global Transformation Roundtable, a Rockefeller Foundation-funded initiative that produced “Sea Changes,” a document outlining planning principles for communities to address climate change.  Bingler is included in Wikipedia’s roster of internationally acclaimed urban planners.  A native of Charlottesville, he is a member of The Raven Society.

Sarah Yancey (Educ ’66) was elected chair of the board of directors of AFS-USA, the largest partner in a worldwide network of non-profit, volunteer-based international education organizations. A former teacher and assistant principal at Parkway South High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Sarah has been an AFS-USA volunteer for nearly 50 years. 

David Meredith (Com ’03), CEO and Board Director of Everbridge, ranked among Comparably’s “2021 Best CEOs for Diversity” in the largest companies category. Meredith ranked alongside peers from industry leaders including Zoom, Adobe, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Uber and Ford Motor Company.  Comparably, a leading workplace culture site measuring employee sentiment, compiled its annual Best CEOs for Diversity to shine a spotlight on leaders who create inclusive cultures for all.  

Paul A. Lombardo (Grad ’82, Law ’85), Regents Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law, was chosen as the 2021 Jay Healy Health Law Teacher of the Year by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

J. Kevin Moore (Col ’83 CM) has been named to the 2021 Northern California Super Lawyers list for construction litigation.  He is an attorney at Bold Polisner Maddow Nelson & Judson in Walnut Creek, California.

Anna Burnley (Grad ’89 CM) was recently promoted to associate professor of education and also serves as ESOL Specialist at Flagler College in Tallahassee, Florida. She has presented at conferences in the U.S., Canada, England, Germany and Scotland.

Tony Medley (Law ’65 CM), a member of MENSA, was recently admitted as a member of the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry, or The Thousand®. The society is the third oldest high IQ society in the world and, with 600 members worldwide, is more exclusive than MENSA. Here’s how the society describes itself:

ISPE is the oldest 99.9% Society in the world. ISPE is the third oldest high IQ society in the world after Mensa (98%) and Intertel (99%). The only criterion for admission is a score on any standard psychometric test of intelligence reflecting ability at the 99.9th percentile.

So while MENSA members are comprised of people in the top 2% of IQ, ISPE is comprised of people in the top one-tenth of one percent.

Leigh Carter Cockram (Col ’02 CM) was named the the 2021 North Carolina Economic Developer of the Year by the North Carolina Economic Development Association. 

Cassandra L. Hill (Col ’94 CM), who has served as dean of Northern Illinois University College of Law since July 2019, received the 2021 Association of American Law Schools Section Award for the Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research. The award, sometimes described as a lifetime achievement award for legal writing education, recognizes Hill for her significant contributions to the field of legal writing and research. Prior to joining NIU Law, Hill served as an administrator and faculty member at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. Most recently, she served as the associate dean for academic affairs. She also was appointed by the then-university president to serve on a three-member leadership team with the law school’s acting dean. In addition, she held positions as associate dean for research and faculty development and director of legal writing.

Richard “Shark” Forsten (Com ’85, Law ’88 CM) began his third five-year term on the Appoquinimink School District School Board where he has served as board president for the last six years. Shark is a partner in the Wilmington, Delaware, office of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, where he practices in land use, commercial real estate and litigation. He and his wife live in a 182-year old historic farmhouse south of Middletown, Delaware, and his golf handicap remains much too high.

David Meredith (Com ’03), CEO and board director of Everbridge, was awarded Best CEO by the 2020 Comparably Awards for large companies. Everbridge, Inc., the global leader in critical event management, was awarded Best Company Culture.

Everbridge CEO David Meredith was listed in the Best CEO category including honorees such as Zoom’s Eric Yuan, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Timothy Cook, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.  Everbridge received exceptionally high ratings from its employees including an overall A Rating for Company Culture and a CEO Rating of A+.  The awards reflect sentiment ratings of employees based on 20 core metrics (e.g., leadership, environment, compensation, team, outlook, career growth, work-life balance, and benefits.) View the full list here.  Everbridge ranked top 50 in the largest company category, including Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Zoom, for Best Company Culture.

Michael D. Huffstetler (Arch ’87) was invested in the 2021 class of the Society of American Military Engineers Academy of Fellows. The academy recognizes members who have rendered dedicated and outstanding service to the society, military engineering and the architecture, engineering and construction professions. 

J. Hagood Tighe (Col ’87 CM) was named president-elect of the South Carolina Bar. Based in Columbia, South Carolina, Tighe is a partner at Fisher Phillips and co-chair of the firm’s wage and hour practice group, In this role, Hagood will further the bar’s mission to serve more than 17,000 members and the public by advancing the legal profession through high quality education, continuous innovation and facilitating improvements in the administration of justice. He will assume the role of President of the South Carolina Bar in May 2022.