Class Notes

Karen Michael Hofmann (Col ’90 L/M) is managing member and owner of a certified consultancy, KEMH LLC, which has launched a mobile Web site, www.kemhllc.mobi. KEMH advises clients how to merge business and technology to achieve strategic goals.

Jennifer Bednarsky Batts (Com ’90 L/M) and her husband, Dennis, welcomed their twin daughters, Lindsay Grace and Leah Elizabeth, on Oct. 1, 2008. Lindsay and Leah join their brothers: Alexander, 6; and Nicholas, 4. The family resides in Fairfax, Va.

Jennifer K. Wall Smetek (Col ’89 L/M) and her husband, Ronald, welcomed their fourth child and first daughter, Alexandra Gladwell Smetek, on Dec. 3, 2008. “Alexa” joins brothers Jack, 6; Owen, 5; and Connor, 1. She is also the granddaughter of John Russell Wall (Col ’68) and Brenda Gladwell Wall (Educ ’66), and the niece of Bruce R. Wall (Col ’93 L/M) and Timothy E. Smetek (Engr ’91). The family resides in Fairfax Station, Va.

Edward Rockwell (Col ’89 L/M) relocated from Milan, Italy, and is vice president and associate general counsel for Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto, Calif.

Karen Hancke Owens (Com ’89 L/M) and her husband, Mike, welcomed their second child and first son, Soren Canice, on Jan. 26, 2008. Soren joins a sister, Sonja, 4. The family resides in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.

Dodge N. McCord (Com ’89 L/M) and Wendy Rockafellow McCord (Com ’90, Law ’00 L/M) welcomed their third child and first daughter, Amelia Lindsey, on Feb. 13, 2009. Amelia joins brothers Maxwell Ryan, 6; and Lucas Elijah, 3. The McCord family lives in Evergreen, Colo., where Mr. McCord works in real estate finance for AIMCO and Ms. McCord is in-house counsel for Black Hills Corp.

William L. Glahn (Col ’89, GSBA ’95 L/M) was named by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as director of the state’s Office of Energy Security and a deputy commissioner of the state’s Department of Commerce. Mr. Glahn lives with his wife and daughter in Edina, Minn.

Beverly R. Carter IV (Col ’89 L/M) is executive vice president at Nielsen IAG, a division of The Nielsen Co., which provides audience ratings and advertising performance data to TV networks and advertisers.

Chris Bickford (Col ’89) is a photographer in New York City and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. His work on the Venetian Carnival was featured in the New York Times in February and in the December 2008 issue of China’s Vision magazine. His photo of hang gliders at Jockey’s Ridge ran as a double-page spread in National Geographic Traveler’s January 2009 “Then and Now” photo annual, along with a brief write-up. Mr. Bickford’s project “After the Storm: A Life of Surf on the Outer Banks” is featured in burn magazine, an online showcase for up-and-coming photographers curated by David Alan Harvey, and will also be featured this year at Charlottesville’s Look3 Festival of the Photograph in June. His project “In the Night,” a mood piece on hipster culture on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, was chosen last year as a finalist in the inaugural Emerging Photographer Fund, sponsored by the Magnum Foundation. Mr. Bickford’s project “Night Dance,” an abstract treatment of a modern dance performance, is on exhibit at the Outer Banks Forum and other venues. He will have a solo exhibition at Ferris State University in Michigan in November. Mr. Bickford’s photography is located at chrisbickford.com.

Douglas Milman (Col ’87 L/M) formed the partnership of Wexell Milman, a Fairfax, Va., firm specializing in family and matrimonial law. He is married to Natalie Bordelon Milman (Educ ’00 L/M), an associate professor at George Washington University. They reside in Northern Virginia with their two children.

Martha Carlstead (Nurs ’87 L/M) graduated in December from Northeastern University in Boston with a Master of Science degree. She passed the national certifying board exam and is now a certified registered nurse anesthetist. She has joined the anesthesia department at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle.

Jeff White (Col ’85 L/M) was named Virg-inia’s sportswriter of the year for 2008 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Assoc-iation. Mr. White, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, also won the award in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006. He and his wife, Beth Pearce White (Col ’89), live in Crozet, Va., with their children, Hannah and Zack.

Jeff Elgin (Com ’85, ’03 L/M) is vice president of customer marketing for the credit card infrastructure group of Capital One Financial Corp. Mr. Elgin lives in Richmond, Va., with his wife, Carolyn; and their sons, Matt and Andrew.

Christopher Peters Cole (Col ’83 L/M) is a supervisory special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and heads the FBI’s Madison, Wis., office. He was named to this position in May after completing an assignment to the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, where he was detailed to the staff of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Mr. Cole and his wife, Kerry Miller Cole (Col ’85 L/M), reside in Waunakee, Wis.

Laura A. Heim (Arch ’81 L/M) was elected president of the Queens, N.Y., chapter of the American Institute of Architects for a two-year term. The theme of her 2009 term will be “Connecting Queens: Fabric and Future,” highlighting innovative architecture and design in Queens and the greater metropolitan area. Her firm, Laura Heim Architect, received 2008 design awards from both the Queens Chamber of Commerce and the Queens & Bronx Building Association for a historic Astoria row house renovation.

Charles M. “Chip” English (Com ’81, Law ’84 L/M) practices law with the firm of Ober/Kaler in the commercial litigation and government relations practices in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. He has worked for more than 15 years in organic farming regulation and represents processor and producer groups in USDA hearings. He is active in the American Agricultural Law Association and the Administrative Law and Litigation sections of the American Bar Association. He lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Robert H. Melton (Col ’79) was inducted into the inaugural class of the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association Hall of Fame in February. He was honored for reporting on Virginia politics while he was at the Washington Post. He started working at the newspaper in 1982 and, for 20 years, served as a reporter and editor for the newspaper’s national and metro desks. His specialty was reporting on state and local government in Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and particularly Virginia. Mr. Melton retired after a brain injury in September 2003. He is married to Page Boinest Melton (Col ’83 L/M). They have two daughters and live in Richmond, Va.

John D. McGavin (Col ’79 L/M) is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers as of February. Mr. McGavin is a partner in the firm of Trichilo, Bancroft, McGavin, Horvath & Judkins in Fairfax, Va., where he has been practicing for 27 years.

John B. “Jack” Catlett (Col ’79 L/M) serves on the board of trustees of St. Joseph’s Villa, a nonprofit organization in Virginia serving the needs of children by providing educational, residential and day services to more than 600 children with special needs and their families. He is a shareholder/principal with the law firm of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller. 

Richard D. Bagnall (Col ’78 L/M) is the first full-time medical director of the Northern Neck Free Health Clinic in Kilmarnock, Va. Dr. Bagnall has served as a volunteer physician for the clinic since moving to the Northern Neck almost eight years ago and has been a member of its board of directors for the past two years. He has also served as assistant clinical professor of medicine at both Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia schools of medicine since 2004. He lives in White Stone, Va., with his wife, Sharon; and daughter, Christina.

Richard O. Mines Jr. (Engr ’77) is director of graduate programs and a professor of engineering at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. He is the primary author of Introduction to Environmental Engineering, a text published by Prentice Hall in 2009.

Edward B. Heyden III (Educ ’77) is associate professor and practicum coordinator at Carlos Albizu University in Miami. Mr. Heyden was named the president-elect of the Florida Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors for the 2009-10 term.

Stephen D. Busch (Col ’77 L/M) is president-elect of the Virginia Bar Association. He is a partner with McGuireWoods in Richmond, Va., and has chaired the VBA’s Young Lawyers Division and Civil Litigation Section. Mr. Busch is a former president of the United States Law Firm Group and is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys and American Bar Association.

John Valliere (Engr ’76 L/M) is the lead program analyst in the disaster recovery office of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Shirley Hottot, reside in Montclair, Va.

Jay H. Cookingham (Col ’75 L/M) received the ConocoPhillips Outstanding Service Award from Gulf Swimming, the USA Swimming unit governing competitive swimming in southeastern Texas. Mr. Cookingham is finishing his second two-year term as chairman of the board of Gulf Swimming.

James R. Chapman (Educ ’75 L/M) is campus college chair for the College of Arts and Sciences at the Dallas/Fort Worth campus of the University of Phoenix, where he has served as an associate faculty member and facilitator since 2000 and as area chair/lead faculty in math since 2003. Students recognized his contributions to the campus by naming him Faculty Member of the Year at the 2003 and 2007 graduation ceremonies.

Candace Cummings (Law ’72) received the Athena Award from the Greensboro (N.C.) Partnership in recognition of her professional excellence and commitment to the advancement of women. Ms. Cummings serves as vice president of administration, general counsel and secretary for VF Corp., a global apparel company. She has been an advocate for women interested in advancing their careers and a mentor for rising female executives since joining the company in 1995. She is a member of Greensboro’s Professional Women’s Forum, serves on the board of advisers for the North Carolina Conference for Women and volunteers at a number of Greensboro’s community organizations.

Richard V. Robilotti (Grad ’67 L/M) started his 37th year with the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, in New York. He is deputy commissioner/district director administering an international workers’ compensation program mainly for U.S. government contractors (American and non-American) who were injured or killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation Law Center cited Mr. Robilotti in the federal government category of “Workers’ Compensation Notable People in 2008.”

Calder Loth (Arch ’65, ’67 L/M) received the first annual Secretary of the Interior Historic Preservation Award from U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in December. Mr. Loth is a senior architectural historian with Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources, where he has worked since 1968. He is a member of the University of Virginia’s Historic Preservation Advisory Committee. As a longstanding member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Art & Architecture Review Board, Mr. Loth has served as an adviser in the restoration of the Virginia Governor’s Mansion, the Virginia State Capitol and James Madison’s Montpelier estate in Orange County. He is also the author, co-author or editor of many books, including The Virginia Landmarks Register, The Making of Virginia Architecture, Virginia Landmarks of Black History and Lost Virginia: Vanished Architecture of the Old Dominion.

Aubrey R. “Bunky” Bowles III (Col ’55, Law ’58) received the 2009 APVA Preservation Virginia’s “Outstanding Domestic Project” award for the renovation of the Hancock-Wirt-Caskie House. The award is presented to the owner, architect or contractor of a project that exemplifies a profound effort and sensitivity in preserving a domestic residence.

A. Robert Conant (Col ’53 L/M) received Man of the Year honors for his work in Honduras from Murphy and Others, Living Interdependently for Future Endeavors (M.O.,L.I.F.E.), a nonprofit organization in Massachusetts assisting people with disabilities. Since retiring from sales management at Dow Chemical Co., Mr. Conant has helped build BioSand filters to purify water in Honduras, where many people suffer from disease caused by impure drinking water.

Carl Hensley (Com ’50 L/M) was appointed to the City of Staunton Board of Zoning Appeals by the 25th Judicial Circuit of Virginia. Mr. Hensley is a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and served on the Student Union for four years while at the University.