“Other” Class Notes

Eston Melton and his wife, Rosalyn Metz, welcomed the birth of their daughter, Genevieve Simone Melton, in Mountain View, CA, on 10 Feb. Parents and Future Hoo are doing well.

April Keck DeGennaro (CLAS ’83; EDUC ’89) received (will receive) the Georgia State Gifted Teacher of the Year Award from the Georgia Association of Gifted Children on March 9, 2015.

James Canup (Col ’80 CM) recently joined the Richmond, Virginia, office of Hirschler Fleischer as a partner and chair of the firm’s tax group. He was also recently named to the Virginia Business “Legal Elite” list.

Marcia McCarthy (Col ’90) and Damon Dillon were married December 27, 2014 in Richmond, VA. The couples resides in Arlington, VA where Ms. Dillon is an attorney in the Washington, DC office of Mayer Brown LLP. MAJ Dillon (U.S. Army Reserve) received an M.B.A. from Hawaii Pacific University.

Rukiya Johnson (Col ’96) is the executive director of STEM and strategic initiatives for Chicago Public Schools. Ms. Curvey Johnson leads the development and execution of the district’s K-12 STEM strategy and the incubation of STEM-inclusive elementary schools and early-college STEM high schools.

Chris Morris (Arch ’75 CM) is a world-renowned architect who has designed various built works across the United States. His designs include Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers; the Dolby Theatre (formerly the Kodak Theatre) in Los Angeles; Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut; the Chandelier bar in the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel; Steelers Hall, now FedEx Great Hall, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh; and the Meadowlands Xanadu shopping complex, now the American Dream Meadowlands, in New Jersey. Mr. Morris, a 2013 architecture and environmental structures fellow for the New York Foundation for the Arts, also contributed designs to New York City for both ground zero’s early development and Mayor Bloomberg’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Reginald Benbow (Col ’11 CM) moved to Durham, North Carolina, in July 2014 to enroll in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He plans to graduate with a master of business administration degree in 2016.

Jennifer Dudderar (Col ’99 CM) and her husband, Jason, welcomed a daughter, Claire Bennett, on Aug. 10, 2014. Claire joins big sisters Caroline, 5, and Jane, 3.

Michael joined the executive team of Ascentria Care Alliance as Vice President of Business Development. Ascentria is one of the largest community service organizations in New England. Michael leads growth and restructuring initiatives.

Sharon Utz (Col ’94 CM) recently joined the staff of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging as an investigator. She previously served for four years as a majority professional staff member with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Susan Cheung Jones (Engr ’03 ) and her husband, Rick welcomed their son, Russell Alan Jones, on November 3, 2014. “Rusty” joins big sister, Natalie Mae, and their faithful mutt, Vegas. Susan is a civil engineer with FHWA and Rick is an engineering technician for VDOT. They reside in Alexandria, Virginia.

Mark Brazeal (Col ’90, Law ’93 CM) was named chief legal officer and senior vice president for intellectual property licensing at SanDisk Corp. on Dec. 1, 2014. Based in Milpitas, California, SanDisk is a Fortune 500 company and a global leader in flash storage solutions.

Robert Nix (Col ’85 CM) and his wife, Pebbles Glenn Nix, adopted their son, Guy Nelson Nix III, on Dec. 23, 2012. Guy was born in Las Vegas in March 2012. The family resides in Atlanta, where Mr. Nix serves as director of retirement plan services at Peachtree Wealth Strategies and Ms. Nix is owner and principal at Glenn Epting Interior Design.

My name is Marcela Aguilar a former UVA Alumni and I would like to share with you the amazing startup I’m part of, called SHEVA.

Specially because 3 current UVA students: Sofia Heineman, Cristina Castillo, Axelle Basso are SHEVA Ambassadors.

To begin, let me tell you a little bit more about SHEVA.

SHEVA is in the business of empowering women worldwide by providing you the opportunity to help other women through the GIVING CYCLE aided at SHEVA.com. Through collaborations, partnerships and retail of consumer goods, SHEVA helps provide tools and education to girls and women in need in Guatemala.

WHY? Guatemala has a 30% school dropout rate of girls at the age of 10-13 and the highest index of teen pregnancy in Latin America. With the right tools and education, these girls and women can achieve their goals and bring forth the economic index of Guatemala.

SHEVA intends to change the lives of 1 Million women by 2025.

We encourage you to visit our website www.sheva.com, to find out more on how you can help a girl break out of the poverty cycle by buying the products you already buy monthly. Thus, you’ll be part of a movement that’s Improving the World One Period at a Time.

As you can see, we believe that SHEVA is a great opportunity for all women and members of UVA to hop on the bandwagon and be part of this movement to empower girls while simultaneously accomplishing their fifteen hours of 2015. However, to make awareness, we need help from people like you, Part of the UVA Community, to share with all your friends, family and peers how they can all become involved and help girls in Guatemala.

We would really appreciate your support in sharing SHEVA’s mission and how the opportunity of joining a community of women helping women at UVA would benefit us all. We would be extremely grateful if you could share SHEVA’s story in any media or way throughout UVA. If there is anywhere else for students at UVA to read and have the opportunity to improve the life of girls in Guatemala please let us know.

Thank you so much. I hope to hear from you soon. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER IT’S AWESOME!!!!

Sincerely,

Marcela Aguilar