“Other” Class Notes

William Kline (Arch ’83 CM) has been named to the board of directors of SmithGroupJJR. An experienced architect and LEED-accredited professional with a special interest in project delivery methods, he leads the firm’s health studio in Washington, D.C., working with clients that include the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Genesis Health System, Kaiser Permanente and the University of Virginia. Mr. Kline currently serves as managing principal for two major hospital projects for Holy Cross Health and has led many of SmithGroupJJR’s Veterans Affairs and military projects, including the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, Md.

Lee Miller (Med ’82, Res ’86) received the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The award recognizes his outstanding contributions to academic medicine, his compassionate mentorship of students and practice of patient-centered care. Dr. Miller is vice chair for education in the department of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also a director of the school’s global health education program, which he co-founded in 2010.

Lynne Strang (Col ’81) published a book, Late-Blooming Entrepreneurs: Eight Principles for Starting a Business After Age 40. The book reveals eight effective principles used by entrepreneurs who launched and built profitable companies after turning 40. Ms. Strang is a writer and communications consultant based in Clifton, Va.

Jeffrey Purdy (Engr ’80) has been named associate vice president and operations manager of Intelligent Infrastructure Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennoni Associates, an engineering firm with 27 offices throughout the northeast United States. Mr. Purdy has more than three decades of experience in transportation and systems engineering, strategic planning and capital programming, and in his new role will be responsible for bringing innovation to the engineering and management of civil infrastructures, especially bridges.

T. Kelly (Engr ’79 CM) published a novel, Hill Country Greed: An Austin, Texas Mystery. The book centers on Joe Robbins, a CFO with a beautiful wife, a burning desire for wealth and a history with guns and boxing. Joe’s greed causes him to lose everything, and he becomes a suspect in a local murder case. Mr. Kelly is currently at work on his second novel, Hill Country Rage.

Thomas Stickney (Col ’78 CM) retired from the U.S. Army Reserve on May 2, 2014, after 30 years of service. Col. Stickney’s active-duty tours included seven mobilizations, involving extended military duty in Haiti (1994), Bosnia (2001), Afghanistan (2002), Qatar (2003), Iraq (2009-10) and Kuwait and Jordan (2012-13). His numerous awards include the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Action Badge for wartime service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Master Parachutist Badge for his 124 military static line parachute jumps completed over his 25 years on jump status for the Army.

William Weber (Grad ’75, Grad ’77) published “Strategic Surprise: The British Capture of Washington, DC, 1814” in the June 2014 issue of Studies in Intelligence. The article analyzes the historic event as a critical intelligence failure similar to those of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and on Sept. 11, 2001.

Alan Marscher (Grad ’74, Grad ’77) received the 2014 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching from Boston University. Students, alumni and fellow faculty nominated him for the award. An astronomy professor, he teaches a variety of courses, including core curriculum and cosmology courses for non-science majors. Mr. Marscher’s research explores high-energy astrophysics and the nature of extragalactic phenomena such as black holes and exploding stars.

Nancy Forbes (Col ’74) recently published Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics, co-authored with Basil Mahon. The book tells the story of two 19th-century scientists who together discovered the existence of the electromagnetic field and laid the groundwork for many of the technological and theoretical breakthroughs of 20th-century physics.

Randall Suslick (Col ’69 CM) received the 2014 Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award from the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine’s Brown Sequard Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha. The award recognizes a community physician who contributes with distinction to the education and training of medical students. In addition to bestowing the award on Dr. Suslick, Alpha Omega Alpha inducted him as a member.

George House (Law ’72) received a certificate of appreciation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for his role in the cleanup and redevelopment of the Landia Chemical Co. Superfund site in Lakeland, Fla., which had been contaminated by decades of on-site pesticide and fertilizer blending operations. Mr. House is a partner in the Greensboro, N.C., firm of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, where he practices environmental law and represents clients such as textile manufacturing companies, mining companies, real estate developers, oil products distribution companies and municipal governments on key environmental matters.

James Block (Col ’68 CM) retired in June 2014 after 43 years of teaching English at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Mass. Throughout his career, he taught on exchanges at Marlborough College in Wiltshire, England; and at Robert College in Istanbul. He and his wife, Penny, will reside in Chestertown, Md.

Howard Bonham (Col ’52 CM) published a book, The Turning of Waitey McColl: A Native American Young Adult Experiences a Life-altering Moment of Truth, available for Nook and Kindle. Set in the Cherokee Badlands of eastern Oklahoma in 1921, the book follows young Native American hotel clerk Waitey McColl as he becomes embroiled in a police manhunt for a gang of robbers and eventually has to make a decision that will either liberate or haunt him for the rest of his life.

Sarah Garceau (Com ’00 CM) and her husband, Michael, welcomed a son, Paul Samuel, on Feb. 28, 2014. Paul joins big sister Julia, 2. The family resides in Woodbury, Minn., where Ms. Garceau works in corporate strategy for 3M Co.

Peter Baker (Arch ’00) is a registered licensed architect in Washington, D.C., and a registered licensed landscape architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition to these professional accreditations, he holds a specialty in LEED AP building design and construction. Mr. Baker works for Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore and lives in nearby Silver Spring, Md., with his wife, Ana.

A note on the new class. Last Sunday I hosted the new student send-off (Lynchburg and surrounding counties) party at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, an event I have been doing for a number of years. I attach a photograph of the students on the front steps of Poplar Forest. There isn’t a better place for a new student launch!

Nancy Parr (Col ’80 CM) was elected on Aug. 5, 2014, to serve a one-year term as president of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys. She is commonwealth’s attorney for the city of Chesapeake.