“Publication” Class Notes
John Guerard (Col ’76)
John Guerard (Grad ’76) published two articles, “A Low Country View” and “Information, Security Selection, Portfolio Construction, and Active Equity Management,” in Wilmott magazine and The Journal of Financial Data Science, respectively. “A Low Country View,” written with co-author Juan Chen, discusses the foundations of American capitalism, the economic success of the Huguenots of South Carolina during the Colonial period, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and UVA’s role in subsequent centuries in defending capitalism in the U.S.
Guerard has authored several books in the Library of Congress. His newest book, Financial Forecasting, is at press with Oxford University Press and Peking University Press. He edited a special issue of Annals of Operations Research to honor Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz, with whom he worked and published, during his 35 years on Wall Street. A third-generation Cavalier, he continues to enjoy visits to Charlottesville.
Pictured on left are Guerard and Kevin Mo (Engr ’09), and on right are Guerard, Harry Markowitz, and Ganlin Xu, a frequent co-author.
Jack Steinberg (Col ’84)
Jack Steinberg (Col ’84) produced his fourth feature film, The Cashier, which is slated to screen at the 39th Virginia Film Festival in October. Steinberg is an assistant director member of the Directors Guild of America, with production experience encompassing feature film, television, documentaries, industrials, web-based media, film festival management, corporate training, industry education and commercial shoots for Fortune 50 clients like Google, VISA, Lockheed Martin and Mercedes Benz. His feature film credits include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Planet of the Apes, Terminator 3, Serenity and The Last Samurai.
Atima Omara (Col ’03 CM)
Atima Omara (Col ’03 CM) published The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them) in May with HarperCollins. Her book explores the often-overlooked role Black women have played in shaping American political and social change and draws on Omara’s two decades of work in politics and the progressive movement. Omara is a nationally recognized political commentator who has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Boston Globe, and has appeared on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC and other major outlets. She was also named one of EBONY Magazine‘s list of 100 Most Influential Black Americans.
Thomas Mcgarrity (Col ’75, Med ’79 CM)
Tom McGarrity (Col ’75, Med ’79 CM) and Susan Jenkins McGarrity (Col ’75, Med ’79 CM) have retired to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Tom self-published Up on Ravens Roost, a fictionalized account of their meeting as premedical students at the university in the 1970’s. Their son Mick painted the front cover illustration. The book is available through Amazon.
Roger Catania (Educ ’12)
Roger Catania (Educ ’12) will publish his first book, Educating for Equality: A History of Two Progressive Schools Committed to Social Justice, with the State University of New York Press in November 2026. His work tells the history of two New York City schools that made social justice their highest priority, and examines issues of class, race, education, democracy and progressivism through a century of schooling.
Kat Custodio (Educ ’09)
Kat (Custodio) Martin (Col ’09, Educ ’09) and Rob Martin (Col ’08) published their new book, Raising the Remnant: Stories and Tools to Help Parents Share Jesus at Home, in August. Drawing on their experiences as church planters and children’s pastors, the book is designed to inspire and equip families to build a strong spiritual foundation at home.
Nathan Jennings (Grad ’04, Grad ’07)
Nathan Jennings (Grad ’04, ’07) and co-author Matthew S.C. Olver published Turning Points in Prayer Book History with Seabury Books on Aug. 4. Rowan D. Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, praised the book for providing a model to discuss liturgical development in the Anglican Church. Each chapter combines rigorous historical scholarship with lucid theological analysis, showing how moments of reform transformed not only worship but Anglican identity itself. At a time when questions of liturgy, identity and ecclesial renewal are shaping conversations across the Anglican world, Jennings and Olver offer a work of clarity, and authority for clergy, seminarians, scholars, liturgical leaders and engaged lay readers. Jennings is the J. Milton Richardson professor of liturgics and Anglican studies at the Seminary of the Southwest. He is the author of Theology as Ascetic Act: Disciplining Christian Discourse and Liturgy and Theology, Economy and Reality. He lives in Austin, Texas.
Siobhan Somerville (Col ’84)
Siobhan B. Somerville (Grad ’84) will publish Naturalization: A Queer Genealogy of US Citizenship, Race, and Sexuality with Duke University Press in September. In this wide-ranging analysis of the racial and sexual histories of citizen-making in the United States, Somerville shows how naturalization has long functioned as both a powerful metaphor and a contradictory state practice at the core of the U.S. settler colonial project. One critic calls it “a stunningly original work that radically alters our assumptions about the making of citizens.”
Tad Stoermer (Grad ’10)
Taylor “Tad” Stoermer (Grad ’10) published A Resistance History of the United States with Steerforth Press in June 2026. The book debuted on The New York Times bestseller list at number seven in nonfiction and reached number one on the American Booksellers Association Indie Bestseller List in the same category.
Jennifer Weiss (Law ’86)
Jennifer Weiss (Law ’86) authored her first book of poetry, How Should We Dress to Spread Ash? The poems explore caregiving, saying goodbye to aging parents, grief and resolution. The personal becomes universal in this narrative exploration of intertwined lives, love, loss and acceptance. The book can be ordered from Finishing Line Press and will be available for purchase in bookstores in November 2026.
Suzannah Evans Comfort (Col ’03)
Suzannah Evans Comfort (Col ’03) published The Environmental Beat: Inside the Struggle to Legitimize the Environment as News with the University of Missouri Press in June. The Environmental Beat is a groundbreaking sociology of environmental journalism in the U.S., tracing its origins to the sporting narratives of the 19th century and following the challenges to the beat since its formalization in the 1960s. Comfort is an associate professor of journalism at Indiana University.
John Chilton (Col ’75)
John Chilton (Col ’75) and his spouse, Carolyn Moomaw Chilton, have written Even the Stones Will Shout: Shrine Mont at 100, about the history of the titular open-air cathedral in Orkney Springs, Virginia. The couple celebrates their 52nd wedding anniversary in 2026. After living and working around the globe, the couple retired to Carolyn’s hometown of Orkney Springs.
Ebony Walden (Arch ’06)
Ebony Walden (Arch ’06) will publish her memoir, Where I’m From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents, with She Writes Press in September 2026. Walden is also the creator and host of Black Beyond Borders, a travel documentary series exploring Black identity, culture and belonging across the African diaspora. Season one premiered in fall 2025, and season two is slated to premiere in February 2027.
Derek Baxter (Col ’95)
Derek Baxter (Col ’95) published his second book, The Forgotten World War: Exploring the Secret History of the American Revolution, from Spain to India and Back Again.Baxter tells the story of the Revolutionary War not only as a colonial uprising, but as a vast war fought across four continents. He traveled to many of these places around the world where the war was fought, showing how deeply interconnected America’s story was with events unfolding across globe. His first book, In Pursuit of Jefferson: Traveling through Europe with the Most Perplexing Founding Father, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
Thomas Hauser (Col ’90)
Thomas Hauser (Col ’90) published Sentinels in the Sky: An Appraisal of the Aerial Exploitation Battalion with the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command. In the aftermath of Vietnam, the Army created the aerial exploitation battalion to exercise a new type of aerial-intelligence discipline under the rubric of special electronic mission aircraft, encompassing radio direction finding, signal collection and imagery. Five of these battalions kept a watchful eye on potential adversaries across the hostile borders of the Cold War and prepared for active conflict at any moment. Sentinels in the Sky is an assessment of their value to aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as an outline of their lineage. Hauser is also the author of Flying in the Shadows: Forging Aerial Intelligence for the United States Army and Seizing the Electronic High Ground: Transforming Aerial Intelligence for the United States Army. He currently works in the U.S. intelligence community. Previous career moves include service in the U.S. Army and on the faculty of Shenandoah University. In addition to an undergraduate degree from UVA, he holds a master’s degree from James Madison University and a Ph.D. from American University.
Suzette Bishop (Grad ’87)
Suzette Bishop (Grad ’87) recently published three poetry chapbooks, Eyes of Some Robbers, Unbecoming, and Were-Jag. Bishop has an MFA from UVA and a Doctor of Arts from the State University of Albany.
Ellen Prewitt (Col ’79 CM)
Ellen Morris Prewitt (Col ’79 CM) released When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women, a New Orleans-based fantasy whose protagonist, Etoile, inadvertently calls forth a prince, a saint and her three ancestral grannies. Etoile enlists her grannies to help return the prince to his own time, but turning to three murderous women might not be her best idea. Prewitt, who weaves her Southern life—and family secrets—into her writing, was named to Salvation South‘s “Best of 2025” list for an Honorable Mention on her essay “Granddaughter of the Instigator.”
Mimi Montgomery (Col ’14 CM)
Mimi Montgomery (Col ’14 CM) will publish her debut novel, Murder Bites, with Penguin Random House on August 4. Murder Bites is a charmingly quirky and clever murder mystery about a death that happens on the set of a reality TV show about dogs. It was named one of Lit Hub‘s most anticipated books of 2026, as well as one of GoodRead’s buzziest debut novels of 2026. Montgomery lives in Washington, D.C., where she’s a reporter at Axios.
Jim Thunder (Grad ’74)
James M. Thunder (Grad ’74) and co-author K. Chris Todd wrote United States Attorneys for the District of Columbia, 1801-2024, published by the Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit in April. The book is a compendium of 49 biographies, including Francis Scott Key, and UVA alumni Morgan H. Beach (Law 1884), David G. Bress (Col 1928), Stanley S. Harris (Com ’51, Law ’53), Roscoe C. Howard Jr. (Law ’77), Kenneth L. Wainstein (Col ’84), and Channing D. Phillips (Col ’80). Thunder and Todd thank Anne C. Causey, Randi Flaherty (Grad ’08, ’14), and Cecilia Brown of UVA Special Collections for their assistance in researching the book.
Brooke McIntyre (Com ’02)
Brooke McIntyre (Com ’02) published her nonfiction picture book, If You Went to the Bottom of the Ocean, n May with Chronicle Books for Young Readers. Written in second person, the reader becomes the explorer in this diving adventure, exploring the ocean’s sunlit surface, the twilight zone, and the pitch darkness seven miles to the bottom of the ocean. Along the way, readers will find sea turtles diving, a siphonophore slowly looping, and even a 400-year-old shark. The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Lara Gastinger (Col ’98 CM)
Lara Call Gastinger (Col ’98 CM) published her book, A Perpetual Journal Practice, with Timber Press in June. The book guides readers through the transformative practice of the perpetual journal—a forgiving, incremental, long-term approach to connecting with the natural world through drawing. It features introductory techniques and 52 spreads from Gastinger’s own perpetual journal. Some of Gastinger’s first botanical sketches were in the gardens at UVA. Gastinger gabe a book talk at the CODE Building in Charlottesville on June 27.
Larry Good (Col ’61)
Larry Good (Col ’61) has released a new children’s book, The Tree of Ticket Leaves, about the fantastical adventures of a girl, a “deputized question mark,” a tackling dummy and a buffalo unicorn. Good is a former high school teacher and school librarian.
Mary Ellen Estes (Nurs ’81, Nurs ’83, Nurs ’00 CM)
Mary Ellen Zator Estes (Nurs ’81, ’83 CM) released the 6th edition of her textbook, Health Assessment & Physical Examination. Published by F.A. Davis, this title is available as a hardback text as well as an eBook.
Virginia Barrett (Col ’85)
Mary Lisa Gavenas (Col ’78)
Mary Lisa Gavenas (Col ’78) published her biography, Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, with Viking Penguin in April. Tipped by Literary Hub as one of the “Most Anticipated Books of 2026,” the book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and is featured by The New York Times, Town & Country and other publications on their April reading lists. Gavenas is a former fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography.
Christopher Stanley (Com ’76)
Christopher D. Stanley (Com ’76) retired in 2022 after 30 years as a professor and author focusing on the social and religious world of early Christianity and Judaism. In addition to his academic publications, he recently released the final volume of his historical fiction trilogy, A Slave’s Story. He and his wife, Laurel Stanley (Nurs ’77), live in Southern California.
Page Nelson (Col ’76)
Page Nelson (Col ’76) and co-translator Leonid Gornik have published Osip Mandelstam: Selected Poems with Carrsbrook Press. Nelson and Gornik’s translation is one of the most comprehensive English-language translations of Mandelstam’s verse currently in print.
Tammy Priest (Col ’91)
Tammy Stempler Priest (Col ’91 CM) released her book, Jerusalem Calls, in August. Part memoir, part biblical history, Jerusalem Calls tells the story of her faith journey—which took an unexpected turn during her time at Virginia—with the rich tradition of Judaism and the Old Testament pilgrimage feasts, from Sinai to Jesus’ ministry to today.
Jennifer Soalt (Col ’89, Col ’10)
Jen Soalt (Grad ’93, ’10) and co-author Andrea Avery published Let’s Discuss: Practices for Equitable Student Participation in ELA Classrooms with Teachers College Press in April. The book covers a wide range of research-informed practices teachers can use to make class discussions more engaging, inclusive and meaningful. Originally aimed at K-12 educators, the practices highlighted in the book are also applicable in other content areas, as well as with college students and adults. The book is part of the Visions of Practice series at Teachers College Press, edited by University of Massachusetts, Amherst, professor Sonia Nieto, and contains a forward by Nieto.
James Currie (Grad ’69, Grad ’75 CM)
James Currie (Grad ’69, ’75) published his fifth book, Missouri Mule: How Harry Truman’s Stubbornness and Determination Helped Win World War II and Led Him to the Presidency, with Academica Press. It is primarily the story of how Harry Truman went from being in Franklin Roosevelt’s political doghouse to being Roosevelt’s running mate in 1944. Secondarily, it exposes the actions of some of our country’s largest corporations, notably US Steel and Standard Oil of New Jersey, who placed shareholder profits ahead of providing quality military equipment for the war effort.
Steve Huntoon (Col ’78, Law ’82 CM)
Steve Huntoon (Col ’78, Law ’82 CM) published his 100th trade press column on the electric power industry. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Wilmington, Delaware, and Boston, near their grandchildren, and in Miami Beach during the winter. He co-hosted a celebration of the Declaration’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026, at Jefferson Hall, West Range, on Grounds.
Scott Lambridis (Col ’99)
Scott Lambridis (Col ’99) published his debut novel, St. Ulphia’s Dead, with Regal House Publishing in July. A literary novel with a speculative edge, St. Ulphia’s Dead follows two researchers investigating an outbreak of apparent possession on a remote island, where the boundary between science and belief begins to erode. Lambridis, a former neurobiology student, lives in Washington state and earned his MFA from San Francisco State University.
Pamela Norsworthy (Col ’80 CM)
Pamela Norsworthy (Col ’80 CM) published her second historical fiction novel, The Florentine Entanglement, in January. The Florentine Entanglement is a thriller involving the U-2 incident during the Cold War. Norsworthy previously received a nomination for Georgia Author of the Year for her debut novel War Bonds. Both books earned “Get It” tags from Kirkus Reviews. Norsworthy turned to fiction writing after many years as a journalist, with stints at CNN, WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, and other outlets. She lives in Atlanta with her husband, Cameron Gray Norsworthy (Col ’79), a retired Presbyterian pastor, musician and poet.
L. Flick Hatcher (Col ’77)
L. Flick Hatcher (Col ’77 CM) has published his second novel, Romancing Normal, with Bookbaby Press. A work of fiction that is alternately light-hearted and heart-breaking, the story follows Drew Carter’s quest to “date the gay away” by finding the woman who so captivates his heart that his lust for men is obliterated, leaving him free to fulfill “The Plan”: a great job, beautiful wife, 2.5 kids, white picket fence and Ford Country Squire station wagon. Maybe a pony. Set primarily at a fictionalized University of Virginia, the story follows Drew from straight to gay to grey. He discovers the joy of living authentically, fulfilling a plan even greater than he’d hoped for—proving that nice guys don’t finish last.
Lynn Rivera (Engr ’83)
Lynn Rivera (Engr ’83) has written Love in the Time of Autism: A Memoir, a collection of haibun essays about raising her son who has been diagnosed with autism. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, her stories run the gamut of human emotion as she searches for answers to the questions of parenting a son on the autism spectrum. Though she offers little advice, she describes implicitly the transformation of her family, the growth of understanding and patience, and ultimately, the power of love.
Neil Liebowitz (Col ’78 CM)
Neil Liebowitz (Col ’78 CM) wrote his first novel, Deception: A Psychiatrist’s Stolen Journal, under the pseudonym Aaron Riley. It follows two early career psychiatrists in their journey to balance the needs of their patients with their own needs. Liebowitz is a retired psychiatrist and founder of the Connecticut Anxiety & Depression Treatment Center. He has also written a memoir, Psychiatry in Techno Colors: A Psychiatrist’s Memoir of Lessons Learned About the Diagnosis and Treatment of Anxiety and Depression.
Katherine Gekker (Col ’72, Grad ’73)
Katherine Gekker (Col ’72, Grad ’73) released her new poetry collection, O My Charmer, in March. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The Hopkins Review, Presence, CALYX, and Rappahannock Review.
Scott Gerber (Law ’86, Grad ’92)
Scott Douglas Gerber (Law ’86, Grad ’92) published his 11th book, The Trafficker: A Novel, in January. His book before that, Law and Religion in Colonial America: The Dissenting Colonies, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.
Stacy Hackney (Law ’01)
Stacy Landis Hackney (Law ’01) will publish her debut adult mystery, The Primrose Murder Society, with HarperCollins on March 3, 2026. Set in Richmond, Virginia, the novel follows Lila Shaw, a newly single mom who moves into a luxurious retirement building with her crime-obsessed daughter and reluctantly agrees to investigate a decades-old murder in the building. When another resident is killed and Lila becomes the prime suspect, she must team up with her elderly neighbors to catch a killer.
Nancy Hudgins (Law ’78 CM)
Nancy Hudgins (Law ’78 CM) will release a biography, Books Good Enough for You, the Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books, with Abrams Books on March 24, 2026. Nordstrom, the 20th century editor at Harper & Brothers, edited Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are and Harold and the Purple Crayon, among many other children’s classics. Books Good Enough for You, recommended for children ages 10-14, tells the story of Nordstrom’s life and her advocacy for children’s right to read.
Mills Kelly (Col ’82 CM)
Mills Kelly (Col ’81 CM) published his second book on the history of the Appalachian Trail, A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail. A Hiker’s History of Appalachian Trail tells the trail’s history from the ground up — or more accurately, from the boots up. Based on extensive research in archives up and down the trail, this new book hikes America’s most iconic trail from the late 1920s through the 2020s. Mills was also recently named professor emeritus at George Mason University, where he taught for 24 years before retiring in 2025.
Charles Garrettson (Col ’75, Grad ’86)
Charles Garrettson (Col ’75, Grad ’86) wrote A Stroke of Luck: an Exercise in Meaning, about his experience with a stroke. Garrettson wrote it on his iPhone, using the index finger on his non-dominant hand. A Stroke of Luck draws from the philosophy of Viktor Frankl, whose book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Garrettson credits with transforming his life from one of crisis to opportunity.
Mary-Collier Wilks (Col ’21)
Mary-Collier Wilks (Grad ’17, ’21) published her UVA dissertation research as her first academic book, Reimagining Aid: Foreign Donors, Women’s Health, and New Paths for Development in Cambodia, with Stanford University Press. Through a vivid, multi-sited ethnography, the book investigates the intricate interplay between aid donors from Japan and the United States, their competing priorities, and their impact on women’s health initiatives in Cambodia. A must-read for anyone invested in Southeast Asia’s role in global affairs and evolving definitions of gender in development, Reimagining Aid is a powerful reminder that the next chapter of global advancement is being written in unexpected places.
Ben Jacklet (Col ’87)
Ben Jacklet (Col ’87) has published a new book, Follow the Sun: Around the World in Search of Solar Solutions. The book chronicles the rise of solar energy as a reliable and affordable source of clean electricity and a leading solution to the climate crisis. Jacklet traveled to 15 countries for his research and conducted 50 interviews with a wide range of solar experts, from highly decorated professors and researchers to innovators and entrepreneurs from Baja California to Mumbai.
Tina Robinson (Col ’94 CM)
Allison LaMothe (Col ’12)
Allison Geller (LaMothe) (Col ’12) published her debut crime novel, Dirty Metal, with Flatiron Books in February. Dirty Metal, set in New York City in 1992, features crime reporter Parker Snow as she investigates the Russian mafia and a string of women’s murders. Kirkus Reviews called it “a bold debut befitting its bold heroine” in a starred review, while CrimeReads named her “a startling and original talent” in its 2026 “Most Anticipated” list.
Anna Kovatcheva (Col ’12)
Anna Kovatcheva (Col ’12) will publish her debut novel, She Made Herself a Monster, with HarperCollins Mariner on February 10, 2026. The novel, set in nineteenth-century Bulgaria, follows a self-proclaimed vampire slayer—in truth, a traveling con artist—who joins forces with a teenage girl to create a monster deadly enough to vanquish their own demons. The novel is a story of female community, fortitude, and rage set against a backdrop of Slavic vampire folklore, inspired in part by the course on Dracula and other representations of the vampire that Kovatcheva took in the Slavic studies department at UVA with Dr. Jan Perkowski in 2009.
Kovatcheva will appear in conversation with Professor John Casteen (Col ’93) at New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville on February 13, 2026, to discuss the book.
Mark Linder (Arch ’82 CM)
Mark Linder (Arch ’82 CM) published That’s Brutal, What’s Modern: The Smithsons, Banham, and the Mies-Image with Park Books. Linder is a professor of architecture at Syracuse University.
Jianyi Lee (Col ’07, Grad ’13 CM)
Jianyi Lee (Col ’08, Grad ’13 CM) and Kevin Mo (Engr ’09 CM),along with their two young sons, published Portugal: A Kid’s Travel Adventure through Kindle Direct Publishing in September. Inspired by exploring the world together as a family since the COVID-19 pandemic, the book is told from the perspective of their children and blends real-life travel experiences with history, geography, food and cultural discoveries. They are excited to share this first project with the alumni community and hope it inspires families and children to nurture curiosity and a strong sense of adventure. The family lives in Summit, New Jersey.
Jennifer Shoop (Col ’06 CM)
Jen Shoop (Col ’06 CM) will publish Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Small Joys, a collection of essays, musings and list poetry on the art of paying attention, on April 14. The book is an extension of the writing she has become known for on her daily blog, Magpie by Jen Shoop, and is organized around themes that include the dance of motherhood, inheritances and intimacies, the natural world and the wide world of language.
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