“Other” Class Notes
Doug Doughty (Col ’74)
Doug Doughty (Col ’74), a sports reporter in Roanoke, Virginia, has been named to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted in April.
Martha Elcan (Col ’78)
Martha “Marty” Elcan (Col ’78) worked as a first assistant director on an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” and was surprised to find two fellow UVA theater majors were actors on the show: Jason George (Col ’94 L/M), who plays Ben and will be headlining the new Shonda Rhimes firefighter spin-off series, and Sarah Drew (Col ’02), who plays April. Saying hi from the set!
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01)
Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) cataloged the original Robby the Robot prop from the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, which recently set a world record for the most expensive movie prop to ever sell at auction. The robot’s record-breaking sale for $5.3 million was covered by the New York Times, CBS News and other news outlets.
Eric Cunningham (Col ’06 CM)
Eric Cunningham (Col ’06 L/M) successfully voted in the 2017 election. He voted for mayor, city council and some New York state supreme court judges (though that seems like something we shouldn’t be voting on). Worth noting, all the candidates Mr. Cunningham picked were ultimately elected except for one Green Party candidate, proving that Mr. Cunningham is both a golden goose of voting and also that third parties don’t work.
Robert Light (Col ’76 CM)
Robert Chambliss “Cham” Light Jr. (Col ’76 L/M) was the lead panelist in a Virginia Law Foundation continuing legal education seminar on “Improving Your Results in Bodily Injury Claims” on Oct. 20, 2017. For his presentation, Mr. Light drew on more than 30 years as an assistant general counsel and claims director with Nationwide Insurance Company.
Abigail Spanberger (Col ’01)
Abigail Davis Spanberger (Col ’01) is running for Congress in Virginia’s seventh district, which includes the Richmond suburbs and stretches north to Culpeper and south to Nottoway. After a career of public service serving domestically and internationally, including as a CIA operations officer, Ms. Spanberger returned home to Virginia in 2014 to begin a career in the private sector. She launched her full-time campaign for the 2018 elections in July. She and her husband, Adam Spanberger (Engr ’02), live in Glen Allen, Virginia, with their children.
Steven Le (Col ’15)
Steven Le (Col ’15) has created MeeteR, a free app that provides a centralized platform through which college students can connect with friends and colleagues. First launching exclusively at UVA, MeeteR enhances opportunities for social connection, facilitates outreach, strengthens collegiate bonds, and fosters personal and professional relationships in campus communities across the country. More information is available here.
Randy Tinsley (Law ’87)
Randy Tinsley (Law ’87) was recognized in the 2018 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in the environmental law and litigation fields. Mr. Tinsley resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, and works at the law firm, Brooks Pierce.
Dennis Curran (Law ’77)
Dennis J. Curran (Law ’77), justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, received the William Whiting Award for Judicial Courage from the Massachusetts chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates “in recognition of his many years of honorable service to the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in appreciation for his determination to ‘watch and guard the liberties of the people.’”
Elizabeth Paul (Grad ’99)
Elizabeth Paul (Grad ’99) of Arlington, Virginia, published her debut chapbook, Reading Girl (Finishing Line Press). This collection of ekphrastic prose poems explores the paintings of French post-impressionist Henri Matisse. Elizabeth teaches writing and ESOL in the Washington, D.C. area. Learn more at elizabethsgpaul.com.
William Worsley (Col ’73, Darden ’85, Grad ’76 CM)
William Worsley (Col ’73, Grad ’76, Darden ’85 L/M) has published his first novel, Investing in Vain (Distinction Press, 2017). The novel, based on Mr. Worsley’s decades of experience overseeing money managers, is a satire about Vain Capital, an under-performing Washington firm that promotes socially responsible investing to a corrupt world. Mr. Worsley retired in 2016.
Sarah Puckett (Col ’09 CM)
Sarah Puckett (Col ’09 L/M) and her husband, Tim, keep a blog, www.our21stcenturyodyssey.com, as a way to document their travels around the world. In 2014, they took a year off of work and traveled to all seven continents in 11 months. They plan to visit 40 more countries on an 18-month trip in 2018-2019.
Hoping to dispel the myth that you have to 1) quit your career or 2) work while traveling in order to travel extensively, they embark on their travels with a five-part mission:
* Travel without working.
* Demonstrate that it is possible to take a year or more off without hurting your career.
* Rack up millions of hotel points and airline miles to make travel more cost effective.
* Immerse themselves in other places, other people, other cultures, and be an advocate for respectful travel.
* Pick up trash that is in their path, in their own city and any others they travel to, a small gesture to make the world an even more beautiful place as they go.
Media:
Facebook:
Instagram:
Pritom Das (Engr ’11 CM), Ashley Andersen (Arch ’11, Arch ’16 CM)
Pritom Das (Engr ’11 L/M) and Ashley Andersen (Arch ’11, Arch ’16) were engaged on December 17, 2016 in Charlottesville. The proposal was at the University of Virginia, where the couple met. They currently reside in Atlanta, GA and plan to get married in Charlottesville in the summer of 2018.
John Moreau (Grad ’64)
John Adam Moreau (Grad ’64), who worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post, has been featured on Newspaper Days, a blog about the newsrooms of the late twentieth century.
Jill Orlov (Arch ’91)
Jill Orlov (Arch ’91), an artist who specializes in miniatures, has an ongoing show called Those Were the Days, featuring “iconic television studio sets in metal miniature,” at D. Thomas Fine Miniatures in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Her work is also currently featured at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
She will be taking part in a group show Sunday, June 18.
Last year, she and several other artists were commissioned to contribute to a group exhibit called Dream Rooms in which artists, designers and architects were each provided an 18″ wood cube to design a dream room to accompany a historic dollhouse exhibit from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Her contribution was featured on MarthaStewart.com and can be seen here.
In 2014, she also won second place in a designer furniture company’s annual Champagne Chair Contest.
More about her work can be found at JillOrlov.com.
Adrian Holloway (Col ’02 CM)
Adrian Holloway (Col ’02 L/M) recently gave a talk to current and prospective students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine as part of the school’s Second Look program, which gives applicants who are members of underrepresented minorities the opportunity to explore the school’s programs in depth. Dr. Holloway, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has treated children fleeing terror in northern Iraq, malaria victims in Malawi and earthquake survivors in Haiti. In the talk, he discussed his experiences and the importance of giving back to communities.
Ariel Poliner (Arch ’09 CM), Sebastijan Jemec (Arch ’08), Michael Goldin (Arch ’09 CM), Victoria Hanabury (Col ’09), Mark Keller (Arch ’09), Camilo Kohn (Col ’09 CM), Gennifer Muñoz (Arch ’09), Kristin Simpson (Arch ’09), John Wolfe (Arch ’09)
Sebastijan Jemec (Arch ’08), Michael “Mike” Goldin (Arch ’09 L/M), Victoria J. “Tory” Hanabury (Col ’09), Mark Keller (Arch ’09), Camilo Kohn (Col ’09 L/M), Gennifer Muñoz (Arch ’09), Ariel Poliner (Arch ’09), Kristin E. “Kristy” Simpson (Arch ’09) and Jack Wolfe (Arch ’09) have begun an initiative to establish the Fanzone Fellowship for Traveling Craftivism Fund. The fund will support an annual travel fellowship for a rising fourth-year student in the School of Architecture. The fellowship honors the late Carmen Fanzone (Arch ’09), who passed away in 2016.
Toni McNaughton (Col ’78, Educ ’81 CM), Betsy Grindstaff (Col ’78 CM), Mary Blanton (Educ ’79), Pam Sprouse (Col ’78 CM), Kay Crnkovich (Educ ’78 CM), Mollie Quasebarth (Col ’78), Dottie Carter (Educ ’78), Betsy Horton-Coons (Col ’78 CM), Nadine Huffman (Col ’78 CM)
Nine of us UVA alums met last September, 2016 to celebrate our 60th birthdays in Colorado. We all had turned 60 in the past year or were to celebrate that milestone soon. Seven of us met first year on the first floor of Bonnycastle, in 1974. The other two were adopted into our group in the next year as apartment roommates. In essence, we have remained friends for more than 42 years and it started at UVA! We kept up through the years before there was email or social media! We have kept up by attending bridal showers, weddings and baby showers, UVA class reunions, as well as other life events! We have 22 children and 8 grandchildren among us. Our friendship is truly a tribute to the importance of the first year of college and how it can impact you for the rest of your life, as well as our love of the University of Virginia.
Pictured from left to right:
Betsy Merrifield Grindstaff (Col ’78 L/M, from New Mexico), Mary Blitchington Blanton (Col ’79, from Virginia), Pam Sprouse (Col ’78 L/M, from Virginia), Toni McNaughton (Col ’78, Educ ’81 L/M, from Texas), Kay Evans Crnkovich (Educ ’78 L/M, from New Jersey), Mollie Vaeth Quasebarth (Col ’78, from California), Dottie Holzgrefe Carter (Educ ’78, from Virginia), Betsy Horton-Coons (Col ’78 L/M, from Connecticut), Nadine Woodard Huffman (Col ’78 L/M, from Ohio)
Steve Odabashian (Col ’91)
Steve Odabashian (Col ’91) was fortunate enough to make a couple of fun TV appearances. In May 2016, he and his then 3 year (and 1 month) old son Arthur appeared on Philadelphia’s local Fox morning program, Good Day Philadelphia. Arthur dazzled the hosts with his uncanny knowledge of world capitals (he knew 56 of them at the time, and he now knows over 100.) His dialogue with Steve Harvey’s Little Big Shots has hit a bump in the road, but he hopes to make an appearance in an upcoming season!
In October 2016, Steve fulfilled a 15-year old goal by finally appearing on the syndicated game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He got within 4 questions of the million dollars, but had to settle for $50,000. In 2001, Steve set the speed record on VH1’s game show Name That Video and won a Toyota 4Runner for his efforts.
Caryn Wiseman (Col ’83 CM)
Caryn Wiseman (Com ’83, L/M) took what she calls a “circuitous route” to become a literary agent in children’s publishing. After years spent working in banking and consulting, “I wanted to do something that would make a positive difference in the world,” she says. The self-described voracious reader now represents authors a illustrators of children’s books, particularly books with social justice themes.
Ms. Wiseman, who works in Palo Alto, California, represents two Wahoo authors, Deborah “Debbie” Levy (Col ’78 L/M) and Tara Sullivan (Col ’04). Ms. Levy has written many children’s books. In 2016, she published I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark (Simon and Schuster), an acclaimed picture book about the Supreme Court justice and her lifetime of dissenting opinions. Ms. Sullivan is the author of Golden Boy (Puffin Books, 2014), a novel set in Tanzania about a boy who is outcast and hunted because of his albinism. Her 2016 book The Bitter Side of Sweet (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) is likewise about human rights struggles but set in the Ivory Coast, where the central characters work as forced laborers on a cacao plantation.
In the popular consciousness, a children’s story can be both a piece of entertainment and a tool for moral instruction, but is the social justice focus a new trend? Ms. Wiseman says it has gained strength and visibility in recent years, though it is not a new development. “There are quite a number of middle-grade and young-adult and even picture books that explore social justice themes, and the number grows every year,” she says, pointing to the We Need Diverse Books and Brown Bookshelf movements for greater diversity in children’s publishing. “There are quite a few authors, librarians, bloggers and editors who focus on social justice themes,” she says, “but there is still a long way to go.”
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