“Other” Class Notes
Ralph Reiher (Educ ’06)
Ralph “Doctor” Reiher (Educ ’06) has joined the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission with a new reenacting impression of General William Rickman, who was in charge of Virginia’s hospitals during the Revolutionary War. Reiher will participate in reenactments commemorating the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in the Shenandoah Valley and elsewhere in 2026, portraying Rickman setting up field hospitals and advocating for improving pay for surgeons. Outside of American Revolution reenactments, he can be found as Ensign William Fleming, who was a surgeon with Mercer Company, First Virginia Regiment, which was Colonel George Washington’s French and Indian War command. He also reenacts Ralphus Britannus, a Roman Legion surgeon under Roman emperor Nero.
John Peebles (Col ’82 CM)
John Peebles (Col ’82 CM) has started an organization, food4nj.org, to provide groceries and grocery store gift cards to families visiting their loved ones detained at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. The organization welcomes donations as well as volunteers to help at Delaney Hall during weekends and Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Sheronda Dorsey (Col ’89 CM)
Charles Bryant (Col ’67 CM)
Charles M. Bryant (Col ’67 CM) co-founded Spangler Bryant, a company dedicated to originating and producing Broadway shows and movies. His co-founder, David Spangler, is a composer of Broadway musicals, including Hard Road to Heaven, which premiered at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Connecticut, in March to standing ovations. The new company has also optioned a book by Stefani Moore, Last Dance in Paradise, which is in pre-production for a shoot in New Hope in the late spring. Along with running Spangler Bryant, Bryant is a practicing interior designer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Will Overman (Col ’17)
Will Overman (Col ’17) releases his second record, Stranger, September 26, and will tour Virginia with the band Holy Roller in November, making stops in Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Norfolk and Charlottesville. Singles on the album include “Virginia is for Lovers,” “Held Up by a Woman” and “Landlocked Heart.” Much of his record was inspired by and written in Virginia during a tumultuous time in his life. Overman, a working singer-songwriter, is currently based in Nashville, but he grew up in Virginia Beach and spent many years in Charlottesville, giving him a lifelong love of both Virginia’s coastlines and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Jena Crisler (Col ’86)
Jena Crisler (Col ’86) is running for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 35. She is campaigning against assaults on civil rights, the repeals of women’s rights to bodily autonomy, the lack of due process, and budget cuts designed to eliminate basic health care. Crisler has a 25-year career as an internal medicine physician and seeks to use her experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the healthcare landscape to make a difference. She has been endorsed by the Virginia Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Democratic Party of Virginia Rural Caucus. Virginia District 35 includes large swaths of Augusta County and Rockingham County, as well as parts of Bath County and Highland County.
Valerie Page (Col ’88 CM)
Peter M. Page Jr. (Col ’88 CM) and his daughter, Anne Page (Col ’17, Darden ’23 CM) celebrated their 60th and 30th birthdays at Grand Teton summit August 10. Joining them were fellow ‘Hoos Lyons Brown (Col ’82, Darden ’87 CM), Kayde Schwabacher (Col ’19 CM), Emma Whelan Page (Grad ’22, ’26), John Hughes Page (Col ’20), Valerie Newton Page (Col ’88 CM) and Turner Bredrup (Col ’88, Darden ’94 CM).
Thornton Staples (Engr ’80)
Thornton Staples (Engr ’80) had his composition, “Symphony #1, in F major,” performed by the American Contemporary Classical Orchestra at the Miracle Theater in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2025.
Polina Chesnakova (Col ’14)
Polina Chesnakova (Col ’14) will publish her cookbook, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia on September. The book explores life and cooking in the Soviet diaspora through her family’s immigrant story and recipes. It can be found through several major online retailers. She will host a series of events in November to celebrate the book launch.
Chesnakova and her husband, Lee Eschenroeder (Col ’11, Med ’17 CM), recently moved from Seattle to Rhode Island. They are expecting their second child in July.
Andrew Arthur (Col ’88 CM)
Andrew Arthur (Col ’88 CM) was invited by The Oxford Union Society of Oxford University to participate in its June 5, 2025, debate on the topic “This House Believes No One Can Be Illegal on Stolen Land.” The Oxford Union, founded in 1823, has hosted a range of speakers from the Dalai Lama, to President Nixon and the late Queen Elizabeth II. Arthur partnered with David Seymour, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand.
David Doukas (Col ’79 CM)
David J. Doukas (Col ’79 CM) was awarded the title Professor Emeritus at Tulane University after a distinguished four-decade career in medical ethics and family medicine. His scholarship focuses on the areas of professionalism, primary care bioethics, genetics and end-of-life care decision-making. He is the originator of the concept termed the Family Covenant (1991) and the co-developer/author of Values History (1988). He held the James A. Knight Chair of Humanities and Ethics in Medicine at Tulane from 2017 to 2024 and was founding director of the Program in Medical Ethics and Human Values at Tulane University’s School of Medicine. Doukas was also the past executive director of the Master of Science in Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Tulane. He previously worked at the University of Louisville, serving as the William Ray Moore Endowed Chair of Family Medicine and Medical Humanism, the director of the Division of Medical Humanism and Ethics, and founding co-director of the Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Bioethics program from 2004 to 2013.
kari miller (Educ ’07)
Kari Miller (Educ ’07) was featured in an interview with CharlottesvilleFamily Magazine, in which she talks about International Neighbors, the Charlottesville-based non-profit she founded. International Neighbors works to help ease the transition to life in the Charlottesville community for immigrants and refugees.
Adam Olenn (Col ’95 CM)
Adam Olenn (Col ’95 CM) launched a special program for job seekers, StoryStrengths, through his business, Rustle & Spark. This online course, created in response to the mass layoffs of federal employees, combines resume polishing and specialized coaching to communicate career accomplishments through the power of business storytelling. He offers a discount for StoryStrengths to UVA alumni.
Suzanne Goldlust (Col ’90 CM)
Suzanne Goldlust (Col ’90 CM) competed on Jeopardy!, America’s Favorite Quiz Show, in June 2023. She won one game, winning $18,700. She also participated in the Champions Wildcard tournament in February 2024.
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01)
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) has co-authored a new book, Salem’s Lot: Studies in the Horror Film (2nd Edition), published by Centipede Press. The book includes interviews with major figures of the 1979 Salem’s Lot miniseries, dozens of rare photographs, and discussions of various unused script materials.
Andrew Wozniak (Col ’00)
Andrew Wozniak (Col ’00) just returned from leading a research expedition to the East Pacific Rise (EPR) deep ocean spreading center. Wozniak and two other passengers in the HOV Alvin—a deep-ocean submersible—had the tremendous fortune to be the first to ever witness a clearly active undersea volcanic eruption at a mid-ocean ridge.
Wozniak is an associate professor of chemical oceanography at the University of Delaware and lives in Lewes, Delaware with his wife and daughter. He and his team were at the EPR to study how the organic geochemistry of hydrothermal vent ecosystems influences ocean chemistry.
Cathy Delligatti (Nurs ’75)
Cathy Delligatti (Nurs ’75) is partially retired and working remotely. She spent her career as a chief nursing officer and an interim consultant in nursing and quality. She is using her retirement to quilt, garden, cook and visit her seven grandchildren. This year, she and her husband will celebrate 49 years of marriage.
Bruce Woodruff (Col ’64)
Bruce Woodruff (Col ’64) played with professional tennis players Kim Clijsters, Leylah Fernandez, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey in the Bea for Kids Champions Challenge in Orlando. The charity tennis tournament raises funds for children with complex medical issues.
Alvin Garcia Garcia (Nurs ’06, Col ’88 CM)
Alvin Garcia (Col ’88, Nurs ’06 CM) completed his Professional Master of Business Administration program from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California last December. He is currently stationed in Rota, Spain.
Adam J. Ruffin (Arch ’02)
Adam Ruffin (Arch ’02), Katie MacNelly (Arch ’02), and Danny MacNelly (Arch ’02) are proud to have their practice ARCHITECTUREFIRM featured in “A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South,” an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., which celebrates contemporary architectural practices in the American South. Featuring over forty architecture firms, the exhibition examines how southern architects are responding to a diverse set of challenges, including natural disasters, rapid urbanization and changing cultural landscapes. The exhibition showcases innovation and functionality with a respect for the region’s heritage. Ruffin considers his time at UVA as being crucial to his understanding and love of southern architecture. “A South Forty” will be open to the public through 2026.
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