“Other” Class Notes
Rukiya Johnson (Col ’96)
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)
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.
Nirav Desai (Engr ’99)
Nirav Desai (Engr ’99) has been elected director in the litigation group of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox, an intellectual property law firm. As a director in the firm’s litigation and electronics group, he focuses on patent litigation and general intellectual property strategy, representing clients in a wide range of technology in district courts, before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and at the federal circuit court level, and focuses his practice on cases involving computer hardware and software, semiconductors, networking devices, medical devices, power systems and more. Before his legal career, Mr. Desai worked in the private sector as a software engineer and systems analyst with a focus on developing biometric information systems for various government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI.
Jamie Weiss (Col ’02)
Jamie Weiss was named a partner at Ellis & Winters LLP in Raleigh, North Carolina. He focuses his litigation practice in the areas of higher education, complex business disputes, and departing employees.
Kevin Passerini (Col ’02)
Kevin Passerini (Col ’02) and Megan T. Cellucci were married on Dec. 20, 2014 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia. The couple currently resides outside of Philadelphia, where Mr. Passerini is an attorney at Blank Rome and Ms. Passerini works in digital advertising and sales for Audience Partners.
Reginald Benbow (Col ’11 CM)
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)
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 Alden (Com ’05)
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)
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 Jones (Engr ’03)
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)
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)
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.
Marcela Aguilar (Grad ’13 CM)
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
Beverly Carter (Col ’89 CM)
Beverly Carter (Col ’89 CM) is executive vice president of Media Predict Inc., a media and marketing research company based in New York City. Media Predict combines the concepts of a futures market and crowdsourcing to generate highly accurate and predictive research for major television advertisers and networks in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, including CBS, Univision and the BBC. Mr. Carter also serves as senior executive advisor to Brookside Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in Stamford, Connecticut; and is a board member of Mighty Squirrel, a craft brewer based in Boston. Mr. Carter; his wife, Viva; and their two children, Hill (13) and Henry (9), moved from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Hanover, New Hampshire, last summer.
Dennis Leyden (Col ’78 CM)
Dennis Leyden (Col ’78 CM) co-authored Public Sector Entrepreneurship: U.S. Technology and Innovation Policy with Albert N. Link; Oxford University Press published the book in February 2015. The authors put forth a new theory of entrepreneurship and apply that theory to the analysis of public sector entrepreneurship and U.S. innovation policy. Mr. Leyden is currently an associate professor in the department of economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Max Littlejohn (Educ ’63)
Max C Littlejohn passed away November 24,2014 after a brief illness. He graduated in 1963 with a Masters Degree in Education. He spent 34 years in public education.
Kimberly Banta (Col ’98)
Kimberly Banta (Col ’98) and her husband, Christopher, welcomed a daughter, Katherine Evangeline, “Kate,” on June 16, 2014. Kate joins big brother Kellen Christopher, 2. The family resides in Roanoke, Virginia.
Sander Dubovy (Col ’88 CM)
Sander Dubovy (Col ’88 CM) was named the Victor T. Curtin Chair in Ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he is a professor of ophthalmology and pathology. Dr. Dubovy also serves as the director of the Ocular Pathology Laboratory of the Florida Lions Eye Bank and as medical director of the Eye Bank while maintaining a clinical practice in the diseases of the macula, retina and vitreous. He lives in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami with his wife, Sarah, an attorney; and their three children, David, Chase and Hannah.
Paul Reinhardt (Col ’97 CM)
Commander Paul Reinhardt (CLAS ’97) relieved Commander Brad Terry as the Commanding Officer, USS ALABAMA BLUE (SSBN-731) on December 18th at a ceremony in Keyport, WA. USS ALABAMA is a ballistic submarine home ported in Bangor, WA. The Reinhardts reside in Keyport, WA.
NOTE: Fellow alumni and college roomate (Dr. Sam Luber) (CLAS ’97) attended the ceremony is on the right in the atttached picture. Person on the left is retired Navy Admiral David Duryea.
Matthew Sait (Law ’14)
From July to October 2014, Matthew Sait cycled 5,000 miles across America, from Astoria, Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River to Virginia Beach, passing through Charlottesville on the way.
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