“Award/Recognition” Class Notes

Michael Scott Doyle (Col ’75, Grad ’81 CM) was received the highest award conferred by Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, and was inducted into the Order of Don Quijote. Doyle is a professor of Spanish in University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Languages and Culture Studies. The award is conferred annually upon only 1-3 people worldwide and past honorees include renowned literary figures such as Carlos Fuentes, Carmen Laforet Fernando Arrabal. 

Robert “Bob” Rose (Com ’60) received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 10,000 hours of volunteer and community service work through 2020. Approved by the White House and Florida governor’s office, he was recognized at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, in April 2021. After graduating from UVA, Rose continued his education with graduate work at George Washington University. He spent more than 33 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., in addition to positions in the steel and electronics industry. He has pursued a variety of public volunteer and community service activities over the years concerning the environment, animal welfare, education, and more. He has participated in numerous community board functions including county planning and town council positions. He has also established a Sustainable Environmental Grant Program through the Community Foundation of Sarasota, Florida, for the benefit of future generations.

Lily Hakim (Com ’08) was at the forefront of the finances for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Hakim led the financial management of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine research and development program, including clinical trials, for which emergency use authorization was received from the FDA. She worked alongside Pfizer’s senior leadership and scientists to provide for the allocation of funds necessary to meet rapidly changing estimates and needs.

As the COVID-19 vaccine R&D finance lead, Hakim monitored and facilitated rapid expenditure approvals for logistics, materials, and personnel around the world. Hakim believes that finance should be a partner to the business, not be a barrier. This included management of financial resources for the initial clinical trial of ~44,000 participants at several international sites and additional clinical trials that followed. She additionally managed the financial needs of Pfizer’s Pearl River R&D facility and related laboratories operating throughout the pandemic.

In December, Hakim was promoted and named director, executive operations working within Pfizer’s Office of the CEO. In this new role she works side-by-side Pfizer’s most senior leaders supporting strategic decisions.

Throughout her career, Hakim has deployed accounting implementations and held conversations on complex accounting matters while being commended for explaining these matters in a way that non-financial individuals can understand. She furthers her passion for the subject by teaching accounting, business writing, and public speaking in her spare time.

Hakim received her master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Virginia (COMM ’08), graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and management, and is a CPA licensed in New York.

Jordan Gilliam (Col ’16) was listed as a Top 40 Under 40  lawyer by National Black Lawyers. Gilliam is an attorney based in Stites & Harbison’s Lexington, Kentucky, office. He is a member of the real estate and banking service group. Gilliam assists clients with wide-ranging real estate needs, including land acquisition, zoning, development and leasing matters.

JoAnne Marie Mancini (Col ’90 CM) was awarded the 2020 Peggy O’Brien Book Prize for the best book in American Studies 2017-2019 for Art and War in the Pacific World: Making, Breaking and Taking from Anson’s Voyage to the Philippine-American War. Mancini is also the author of Pre-Modernism: Art-World Change and American Culture from the Civil War to the Armory Show and, with Keith Bresnahan, is the co-editor of Architecture and Armed Conflict: The Politics of Destruction. She lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Chris Conlan (Col ’20) founded Conlan Scientific, a fast-growing nationally recognized authority in delivering AI/ML-based financial data science solutions. The company was recognized by Clutch Research as the top artificial intelligence development services firm in the Washington D.C., region.

Diane Smith Wilkin (Col ’77) was named the 2021 Pennsylvania Art Educator from the National Art Education Association. This award, determined through a peer review of nominations, honors an outstanding member from each state or province association whose service and contribution to art education merits recognition and acclaim. Wilkin worked with the Bristol Township SD for 24 years as a high school art educator and also served her state organization in numerous positions, including president, and most recently completed three years representing 13 states as Eastern Region Vice President for NAEA. The award was presented during the [Virtual] NAEA 2021 National Convention.

Andrew G. Lee (Col ’85, Med ’89 CM)  was selected as a 2021 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Awards established by the University of Texas Medical Branch McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine. The awards recognize faculty who excel in teaching students and residents in clinical settings, modeling the ideals of compassionate, scientifically sound, patient centered care, exemplified by Sir William Osler.” He writes, “I am proud to receive this award and nothing has been more challenging as an educator than teaching during a quarantine, a lockdown and a global viral pandemic.”

Kim Curtis (Col ’00 CM) was appointed to the Virginia State Historical Records Advisory Board, a gubernatorially appointed board that serves as the central advisory body for historical records planning and related projects developed and carried out by the state. 

Andy Poarch (Col ’93, Law ’03 CM), chief operating officer of Alliance Group, was honored by Virginia Business Magazine on their list of “100 People to Meet in 2021,” a prestigious annual list of impact-makers in Virginia’s business community who are leaders in their respective industries helping to drive innovation and growth across the Commonwealth.

Mark Scharf (Grad ’84) won Best Play for The Monroe Doctrine in the 2020 Southwest Theater Production’s Male Lead Competition. 

Jonathan Q. Morgan (Col ’91 CM) was recently promoted to full professor in the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has also been appointed to a two-year Albert and Gladys Coates Term Professorship in recognition of his accomplishments, contributions and service.  

Emily Russell (Col ’08) was selected by Virginia Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” for 2020, which recognizes the work and community engagement of attorneys in their first 10 years of practice. Emily is an assistant county attorney for Chesterfield County, Virginia, and a graduate of Tulane Law School.

L. Michael Gracik (Com ’75 CM) was named the Virginia Society of CPAs’ outstanding member for 2020. Gracik is the second member of that class to receive the award. Harry D. Dickinson (Com ’75, Grad ’76) received the award in 2018.

Matthew Reames (Educ ’15) was awarded the Stewart Bell Jr. Excellence in Teaching Award by the Handley Board of Trustees in September, 2020. He is currently a math teacher at Daniel Morgan Intermediate School in Winchester, Virginia, and an adjunct associate professor at Shenandoah University.

Myron Steele (Col ’67, Law ’70 CM), a lawyer with Potter Anderson & Corroon, was recognized by the the Delaware State Bar Association with the organization’s First State Distinguished Service Award. He was also recognized in the summer 2020 edition of Senior Lawyer News, published by the Virginia State Bar, as a recipient of the organization’s Fifty Year Award. Steele is the former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Delaware. Previously, he served as a judge of the Superior Court and a vice chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery after 18 years in private litigation practice. 

Deniz Z. Ataman (Col ’09) scored the music for the film, Bottled, written, directed and starred by Christine Sloan Stoddard. Now available on Amazon Prime, the film has received press coverage from Broad Street and Shades of Long Island and was selected by the 2020 NYLIFF, SHIFT:ibpcpa/Scotland, and CelebrateWomxn845. 

Deniz and Christine also collaborated on the poetry film, Butterflies (2020) starring Disnie Sebastien, which was selected as a 2020 Visual Poetry Project. The film was scored by Deniz, directed and written by Christine and written by Teri Elam. 

Bruce H. Russell II (Col ’97 CM) has been named a Leader in Law for 2020 by Virginia Lawyers Weekly magazine. He is the current (and eight-term) president of the Russell County Bar Association, as well as the Washington County Defense Bar.  Russell practices throughout Southwest Virginia out of his firm’s offices in Abingdon, Lebanon, and Tazewell. He and his wife, Shannon, an elementary school special education teacher, live in Abingdon with their two sons, Clark, age 12, and Eamon, age 8, and their miniature dachshund Huckleberry and goldendoodle Luna.

Brett Herbert (Col ’10), an attorney with the firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, was recognized by his peers in the inaugural edition of Best Lawyers©: Ones to Watch 2021 in the practice area of commercial litigation. He practices out of the firm’s Williamsburg, Virginia, office.

Nancy Grace Parr (Col ’80 CM) was elected president of the National District Attorneys Association. The first Virginian to serve as president of the association, she has served as the commonwealth attorney for the city of Chesapeake, Virginia, since 2005. In January 2020, she was appointed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr to serve as a commissioner on the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice.

Col. John D. Pavlovsky (Engr ’69 CM) (ret) has been recognized by the American Volkssport Association for completing 10km walking events in each of 50 state capitals and Washington, D.C.  

Ameena Gill (Engr ’04) was promoted to senior director of quality and process excellence at Lyft. Ameena was previously the General Manager at Lyft, responsible for growing market share and profitability for the entire California region. She lives in San Francisco with her 3-year-old son, Gavin.  

Georgia Newell Merten (Col ’81) is a Florida state licensed interior designer with more than 23 years of experience providing both residential and commercial interior design. She opened her own boutique design firm, Georgia Merten interior Design, in 2011, and recently won an ASID South Florida Award for Residential Renovation. She has been published in Florida Design Magazine, SE Florida Style & Design and The Palm Beach Post.

Jason H. Silverman (Col ’74), the Ellison Capers Palmer Jr. Professor of History Emeritus at Winthrop University, has published his 12th book, When America Welcomed Immigrants: The Short and Tortured History of Abraham Lincoln’s Act to Encourage Immigration. Additionally, the Governor of South Carolina awarded him the Order of the Silver Crescent, “the state’s highest civilian award for significant contributions, leadership, volunteerism, and lifelong influence within a region or community.” Silverman retired in December 2017 after almost 40 years as a university professor. He lives with his family in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.  

Jenna Rinehart Rassif (Col ’92 L/M) was featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the U.S. Rassif is the managing principal of Jackson Lewis’ Miami office. She has extensive experience representing employers in virtually all areas of labor and employment law.

Marney White (Com ’91) received the 2020 Teacher of the Year award from the Yale School of Public Health. This is the second distinguished teacher award White has won since 2014. Since then, she has also launched a class through Coursera, been denied the role of “feminist Ivy League Professor” in a local community theater production, and been a back-row dancer in the viral “Fairfield Mombies” Thriller/Halloween flashmob sensation. 

Richard Margulies (Col ’76 L/M) was recently featured in the Chambers USA 2020 Guide, a publication ranking the leading lawyers and law firms across the U.S. Margulies is office managing principal of the Jacksonville, Florida, office of Jackson Lewis. He has more than 30 years of experience in counseling and representing employers in litigation matters.

Steve McLaughlin (Arch ’85 L/M) has served for more than five years as staff landscape architect for the Architectural Design Division at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, as a third party contractor, currently employed by MicroSystems Automation Group, and in that capacity was recognized during an OBO Bureau awards ceremony at the close of Fiscal Year 2019 for his contributions to the success of the U.S. Embassy campus redevelopment project at New Delhi, India, which is now under construction. The architecture and engineering team for this project was headed by the New York City-based design firm WEISS/MANFREDI, and on 13 April, 2020, the UVA School of Architecture awarded the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture to the firm’s co-founders, Marion Weiss (Arch ’79) and Michael Manfredi. 

Kathryn Blair Moore (Col ’03), an assistant professor of art at Texas State University, won Western Michigan University’s Otto Gründler Book Prize for her book The Architecture of the Christian Holy Land: Reception from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance. The prize, which comes with a $1,000 cash award, was announced at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies—one of the largest annual gatherings of scholars of the Middle Ages, which is held on the WMU campus.

Christopher Payne (Col ’81 L/M) was recognized as the 2019 Distinguished Philanthropist by the American College of Surgeons. The award honored Payne for his philanthropic endeavors, service to the surgical profession and long-lasting contributions to the medical community and the ACS.

David Black (Educ ’65 L/M) won first place in the 2019 Writers’ Club of Virginia annual poetry contest for his poem “On Studying an Old Photograph.”

Chris Morris (Arch ’75 L/M), who was named to Architectural Digest’s 1991 “AD–100″ list, has designed various built works across the United States, including Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers; the Dolby Theater (formerly the Kodak Theater), home of the Oscars in Hollywood; Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut; the Chandelier Bar in the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Hotel; Steelers Hall at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh; and the Meadowlands “Xanadu” shopping/entertainment complex, now the American Dream Meadowlands in New Jersey. In 2013, Morris, having contributed designs to NYC for both Ground Zero’s early development and Mayor Bloomberg’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, became the New York Foundation of the Arts’ first-ever Architecture/Environmental Structures Fellow.    

Alexander H. Margulies (Col ’80, Law ’84) was a member of the team that received the Transparency Team of the Year Award from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He worked on the U.S. Declassification Project on Argentina that provided the government of Argentina with 7,035 records totaling 48,379 pages of material shedding light on human rights abuses in Argentina between 1975 and 1984. This was the largest government-to-government declassification and release of records in U.S. history.