“Other” Class Notes

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.

Ronnie Poff (SCPS ’12 CM) was initiated as the national president of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE), a co-ed business fraternity focused on professional development in sales, marketing and management. Poff is an associate professor at Virginia Tech.

Irwin Shur (Col ’80, Law ’83 CM) has just released his fourth solo album, “The Farther Away You Get, The Better I Look,” available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other music streaming services. He continues practicing law but focuses on his passion for music.

Rich Scher (Res ’90) will release his debut album, Mill Pond, in March. Scher transitioned into the world of music after a successful career as a physician to channel his passion for storytelling, using it as his new medium of healing. He crafts gritty folk and Americana songs inspired by his observations and connections with the many people and places he’s encountered throughout his life.

Scher is a former professor of surgery at Duke University and head and neck cancer surgeon who trained in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at UVA. He is based in North Carolina.

Justin Ruth (Col ’97 CM) has been appointed as associate circuit judge in St. Louis County, Missouri, by Gov. Mike Kehoe.

Philip Whitman (Col ’04 CM) was raised to the sublime degree of master mason on Sept. 21, 2024 and currently is serving as junior deacon of Bremond Lodge #241 in Newport News, Virginia.

Ross Rommel (Col ’69 CM) is enjoying retirement in the Texas Hill Country after 30 years as a partner with the law firm Hunton Andrew Kurth in Houston. Rommel and his wife Deborah live on seven acres in Hunt, Texas, with 13 chickens, 70 peach trees, and an abundance of vegetables.

Rommel served as general counsel at Hunton Andrew Kurth for 12 years and as head of its trial division for seven years. In 2019, he received the University of Houston Law Center’s Lifetime Achievement in Advocacy Award, which honors an individual who contributed significantly to teaching the art of advocacy to law students.

Rommel was a prosecutor with the Harris County (Texas) District Attorney’s Office for seven years before joining Hunter Andrews Kirth. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a platoon sergeant before attending law school at the University of Houston Law Center.

Rommel wrote a book, Of Tight Lines and Cupped Wings, which recounts his adventures in the outdoors with family and friends. He’s currently taking voice and cello lessons at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.

More than 50 years after they won their race at the Head of the Charles Regatta, David Critchfield (Col ’74 CM), Sandy Harris (Col ’74, Darden ’76 CM), Lindsay Stewart (Col ’74), Thor Strong (Col ’74), and Trennie Walker (Col ’74 CM) competed again in the prestigious event in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In October 1972, the UVA rowers won the intermediate four-oared shells with coxswain division, beating second-place Harvard University by eight seconds. They returned in October 2024, rowing in the grand master fours division in a shell that their class donated to the Virginia Rowing Association, named in honor of a deceased member of their crew, Todd Tisdale (Col ’74 CM).

Anant Das (Com ’19 CM) is a co-producer of the U.S. national tour of the Broadway musical “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.” Das is also producing two shows on Broadway this season: “Gypsy”, with Audra McDonald; and Steven Spielberg’s “Smash.” Das recently celebrated the four-year anniversary of his theatre subscription box company, Broadway Boxed Up.

Stefan Sittig (Col ’94 CM) was recently nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for outstanding choreography for In The Heights at NextStop Theatre Company in Herndon, Virginia and a Broadway World Award for best direction and best choreography for Xanadu at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia.

Sittig is a director, choreographer, fight director, intimacy and movement coordinator, educator, performer and podcast host who has been involved in more than 125 productions in New York (off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway), internationally in Brazil, Uruguay and Canada, and at various regional theaters across the U.S. He has also worked in most of the major theaters in the Washington, D.C. area including The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre, 1st Stage, The Washington Savoyards, The Atlas Performing Arts Center, Adventure Theatre, Creative Cauldron, Open Circle Theatre, The American Century Theatre and many more.

He recently completed 30 years of teaching at the college/university level and is honored to have trained hundreds of theater students at various institutions including George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Washington University, James Madison University and Georgetown University. He is currently writing a book titled Latinidad in Musical Theatre: From Carmen to Lin Manuel Miranda, to be published by Bloomsbury UK/Methuen Drama in August 2025.

Tomer Vandsburger (Col ’08) has been promoted to partner at Perkins Coie, a global law firm headquartered in Seattle. Vandsburger is a member of the business practice, with a focus on employee benefits and executive compensation. He advises clients with Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Internal Revenue Code, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, COBRA, and Affordable Care Act issues. He also counsels on employee benefits issues arising in mergers, acquisitions, and other corporate transactions.

Jack Totty (Col ’17 CM) is founder and CEO of Antigua Threads, a company on a mission to bring high quality, artisan-made belts to market while supporting local communities in Guatemala with fair wages and skilled jobs.

The company’s belts are handcrafted using traditional Mayan weaving techniques and finished with premium materials, a process that produces meaningful, sustainable fashion and empowers artisans.

More information is available at https://antiguathreads.com.

Chuck Ross (Engr ’80, ’83, ’88 CM) recently had the honor of officiating the wedding of his former research student and close friend Garrett Josemans. The wedding of Josemans and his bride Taylor Krause was televised on Season 7 of the popular Netflix show “Love is Blind.” Ross is professor of physics and dean emeritus at Longwood University.

Capt. Marvin Heinze (Arch ’79 CM) has been selected to serve as first vice chairman of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). The association is an independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan organization with 360,000 members from every branch of uniformed service — active duty, National Guard, Reserve, retired, former officers, and surviving spouses. MOAA advocates for a strong national defense, plays an active role in military personnel matters and proposes legislation affecting the career force, the retired community, and veterans of the uniformed services.  It also provides career transition assistance, military benefits counseling, and educational assistance to children of military families through its charities. Heinze is serving a six-year term, from 2020 to 2026.

Dorothy Shea (Col ’88 CM) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations with the rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary.  She was pleased to have several close friends from the UVA class of 1988 in attendance at her Aug. 16 swearing-in ceremony, which U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield officiated.  She took up her new duties in New York on Aug. 19.

June P. Bartley (Nurs ’49) celebrated her 100th birthday on June 16, 2024. She started at UVA on March 11, 1946, and graduated on March 10, 1949. She met her husband, John A. Bartley, who was attending UVA in the School of Architecture, in 1947. They were married March 11, 1949, the day after her graduation.

Luis G. Pedraja (Grad ’94) has been appointed as a delegate to the New England Board of Higher Education by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. The appointment highlights Pedraja’s leadership in higher education and his dedication to expanding educational opportunities in Central Massachusetts.

Pedraja has served as president of Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts for seven years and has more than 30 years of experience in higher education. During his tenure, QCC has increased enrollment, launched student success initiatives, developed a strategic plan, expanded community partnerships, enhanced workforce development programs, and achieved reaccreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education.

https://theworcesterguardian.org/f/qccs-president-named-to-ne-board-of-higher-ed-by-gov-healey