“Publication” Class Notes

Jason Sisney (Col ’95 CM) published his article, “California’s Olympic Financial Failure: The 1960 Winter Games,” in the Journal of Olympic History in May. Seven years of research went into his analysis. Sisney is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians and is a senior staffer for the California State Assembly. He advises elected assemblymembers on the state budget and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Kara O’Brien Cox (Col ’89 CM) published her debut novel, Another Summer, under her pen name Kara Kentley. A second chance contemporary romance, Another Summer follows Avery, who returns to the Maine lakeside resort where she worked in college and comes face to face with her first love, Miles, who ghosted her after breaking her heart a decade ago. As they work together to help a friend, Avery begins to question everything she thought she knew about Miles, their past, her future and herself.

Kara and her husband, James P. Cox III (Law ’83) reside in Charlottesville.

Clare Short (Educ ’12) released her debut children’s book, Bo the Boat, this spring. A pediatric speech-language pathologist and mother of three young children, Short wrote this lift-the-flap board book to support early speech and language skills for young children. Readers will join Bo and his trusty companion, Captain Mo, as they cruise through the sparkling waves, embarking on a bustling workday full of surprises and friendly faces. With charming illustrations by Paula Rodriguez and engaging rhymes, Bo the Boat is the perfect voyage for curious minds ages 0-3. Short lives with her husband, Chris Short (Engr ’08, ’12), in Atlanta, where they cheer on the Wahoos with their children.

Greg Hansard (Col ’03) published his second book, Virginia Cider: A Guide from Colonial Days to Craft’s Golden Age (University of Virginia Press, October 2024). The book looks at the history and techniques of making the iconic Virginia beverage from the colonial era to today. Included in the book are a guide and map of all the cideries in the state. Hansard says that inspiration for the book came from a work experience in 2014 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, where he worked in collaboration with breweries, meaderies and cideries to brew recipes from the museum archives.

Oneya Fennell Okuwobi (Col ’01 CM) released her first monograph, Who Pays for Diversity? Why Programs Fail at Racial Equity and What to Do about It with University of California Press, on March 18, 2025. Drawing on accounts of employees from across the workplace spectrum, from corporations to churches to universities, Who Pays for Diversity? details how the optics of diversity programs undermine the competence of employees while diminishing their well-being and workplace productivity. Okuwobi argues that diversity programs have been a costly detour on the path to racial justice, and getting back on track requires solutions that provide equity, dignity, and agency to all employees, instead of defending the status quo. Dr. Okuwobi is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati.

Corinna Barrett Lain (Law ’96) published Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (NYU Press 2025). Based on seven years of deep research, this exposé takes readers into the notoriously secretive world of American executions, using shocking revelations about lethal injection to shine a light on the American death penalty more broadly. The story of lethal injection is a story of state law-breaking and cover-ups, fake science and torturous drugs, gross incompetence by woefully inept executioners, and a stunning indifference to the way prisoners die at the hands of the state. She examines all the ways that the state cannot be trusted with the power to take life, and all the ways it has tried to cover that up.

Corinna is the S.D. Roberts & Sandra Moore professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Meena Khandelwal (Col ’85, Grad ’88, Grad ’95) has published her second ethnographic monograph, Cookstove Chronicles: Social Life of a Women’s Technology in India. It examines traditional, biomass-burning mud stoves, the women who build and use them, and the experts who have been trying to ‘improve’ them for decades. She answers the question of why so many Indian women continue to use wood-burning, smoke-spewing stoves when they have other options. Khandelwal, a professor of anthropology, recently won the 2025 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Iowa, her third teaching award.

Duncan Clarke (Grad ’70 CM) has published a new novel, Murder on the Appalachian Trail. The novel follows a criminal law professor who works with his beloved German Shepherd, a runaway teen and the FBI to solve a series of murders on the Appalachian Trail. Clarke, who has hiked the Appalachian Trail twice, draws on his experience and love of the trail in his writing. Murder on the Appalachian Trail can be found online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is published by Bell Isle Books. Clarke is a professor emeritus of international relations at American University and is a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Walter Lee Fanning (Med ’70) has published Microbial Mysteries: A Rocky Road, under the pseudonym Lee F. Walters MD. Microbial Mysteries is the third release in a trilogy of semiautobiographical medical thrillers published by Friesen Press in Vancouver. The novel follows the Walter couple, whose medical careers are caught between an unstable associate and a mafia boss. It is available at various online book sellers.

Daniel Frisch (Arch ’87 CM) has published Looking Forward to Monday Morning (ORO Editions 2025), a collection of essays. Frisch is an architect based in New York City and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Debbie Levy (Col ’78 CM) has published A Dangerous Idea: The Scopes Trial, the Original Fight Over Science in Schools, the first of three books she will publish in 2025. Levy will also publish Photo Ark 1-2-3: An Animal Counting Book in Poetry and Pictures and The Friendship Train: A True Story of Helping and Healing After World War II.

Levy’s previous books for children and young adults have put her on the New York Times bestseller lists and earned awards including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Virginia Library Association’s Jefferson Cup Award.

Cara Goodwin (Col ’07 CM) has recently been published in CharlottesvilleFamily magazine. Her article is about the science behind toilet training. After a deep dive into current medical research, she distilled the findings into easy-to-understand action items to help parents. This is part of an ongoing series for the publication and will include future articles on sleep in childhood, parenting styles, mother burnout, developmental milestones, childhood anxiety and more. A licensed psychologist, Goodwin is the founder of Parenting Translator and the mother of four young children.