Class Notes
John Catlett (Col ’79 CM)
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.
Mark Knudson (Col ’78, Med ’82 CM)
Mark P. Knudson (Col ’78, Med ’82 L/M) is associate professor of family and community medicine and has been appointed associate dean for student services at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, effective June 2009. Dr. Knudson has been involved in the Medical School’s educational mission for 21 years, currently serving on the core teaching faculty and the curriculum steering group. He is also vice chair for education in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and is the department’s former director of residency training.
Richard Bagnall (Col ’78 CM)
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 Mines (Engr ’77)
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 Heyden (Educ ’77)
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 Busch (Col ’77 CM)
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 CM)
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.
Peter Broadbent (Law ’76 CM)
Peter E. Broadbent Jr. (Law ’76 L/M) was recognized by Virginia Business Magazine in its annual survey as one of the Virginia “Legal Elite” in the field of intellectual property law. Mr. Broadbent practices business, intellectual property, governmental and communications law as a partner with Christian & Barton in Richmond, Va.
John Epps (Col ’75 CM)
John D. Epps (Col ’75 L/M) is the 109th president of the Virginia Bar Association. Mr. Epps is a partner in the litigation and intellectual property practice at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Va. He is a past president of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys and is a fellow of the VBA’s Young Lawyers Division. He was appointed by the governor to a blue ribbon commission charged with studying the future of the Commonwealth, including state and local taxation, economic development, transportation and race relations.
Jay Cookingham (Col ’75 CM)
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 Chapman (Educ ’75 CM)
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.
Bob Witeck (Col ’74 CM)
Bob Witeck (Col ’74 L/M) is chief executive officer of Witeck-Combs Communications and has been named one of Equality Virginia’s 20 “OUTstanding Virginians,” marking the organization’s 20th anniversary by honoring gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians who have made a mark in their field. Also recognized in the list of 20 were the late Clarence Cain (Col ’74, Law ’77 L/M) and the late Charles Whitebread (law professor at the University from 1968 to 1981 and visiting professor until last year). Before co-founding Witeck-Combs Communications in 1993, Mr. Witeck was senior vice president for Hill & Knowlton Public Affairs and worked on Capitol Hill for more than a decade. Mr. Witeck co-authored Business Inside Out (Kaplan Publishing), considered the first book on marketing insights, practical tips and strategies targeting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender market. He was an Echols Scholar and received the Bernard D. Mayes Award from the Serpentine Society at the University.
Robert Topping (Col ’74 CM)
Robert G. Topping (Col ’74 L/M) is president of Covenant Wealth Advisors in Williamsburg, Va., and was listed in the 2009 “Guide to America’s Top Financial Planners.” He has also been listed in Washingtonian Magazine as one of the “Experts Who Can Put Your House in Order” and as one of the “Top Independent Wealth Managers” by Wealth Magazine for the past three years.
Candace Cummings (Law ’72)
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.
M. Rucker (Col ’71 CM)
M. Pierce Rucker (Col ’71 L/M) is president of the law firm of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, having been re-elected by the board of directors. Rucker practices principally in the health care group at the firm, where he represents physicians and other health care professionals and entities in administrative and legal actions. His entire legal career has been spent at Sands Anderson, where he has served a number of terms on the board of directors and in various other leadership roles.
James Bean (Col ’70 CM)
James R. Bean (Col ’70 L/M) is president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and presided over the AANS Annual Meeting in San Diego May 4-6. Following the meeting, he became past president of AANS, a group of which he has been a member since 1988. Dr. Bean is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American College of Surgeons, the American Medical Association and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Richard Robilotti (Grad ’67 CM)
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, Arch ’67 CM)
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.
Gary Alexander (Col ’64 CM)
Gary R. Alexander (Col ’64 L/M) was included in the 2009 Maryland Super Lawyers publication as the only attorney listed in the field of energy and natural resources law. His firm, Alexander & Cleaver, is also a lobbying and government relations firm in Maryland, practicing out of Annapolis.
Marshall Brannon (Col ’62 CM)
Marshall Brannon (Col ’62 L/M) presented the first annual Marshall Brannon FLAVA Excellence in Teaching Award, Post-Secondary, on Nov. 1, 2008, at the Foreign Language Association of Virginia’s annual conference in Richmond, Va. The group renamed the award for Mr. Brannon last year in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of foreign language education. He served nine years as a high school French teacher in Chesapeake, 20 years as supervisor of foreign language education with the Virginia Department of Education and 29 years as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University. In the mid-1980s, Mr. Brannon co-founded Virginia’s Governor’s Foreign Language Academies. In 1999, he was a recipient of the FLAVA Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife of 46 years, Ann, have two sons, David and Stephen Brannon (Col ’89).
Aubrey Bowles (Col ’55, Law ’58)
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. Conant (Col ’53 CM)
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 CM)
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.
Charles Crump (Law ’37)
Charles M. Crump (Law ’37) retired from the practice of law after 71 years on Oct. 9, 2008, his 95th birthday. The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis, Tenn., newspaper, profiled him on his retirement in its Oct. 14, 2008, issue. He practiced law with Apperson Crump, a firm founded by his grandfather, where his legal career focused on trusts and estates. He received many awards and helped establish Memphis Area Legal Services.
Mortimer Caplin (Col ’37, Law ’40 CM)
Mortimer Caplin (Col ’37, Law ’40 L/M), founder of the law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, became a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, awarded by the president of France, for his contributions to the United States’ role in the liberation of France during World War II. During the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, Mr. Caplin was a member of the initial landing force on Omaha Beach, and served as a U.S. Navy beachmaster. For his service, he also received the Jubilee of Liberty Medal. Mr. Caplin also received the University of Virginia’s 2009 Brennan Award. A former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Caplin’s contributions to public service, teaching and the educational process have been recognized by numerous organizations. He resides in Chevy Chase, Md., with his wife, Ruth. They have four children.
Allie Schieble (Arch ’08 CM)
Allie Schieble (Arch ’08 L/M) is an architect intern in the government studio at HBA Architecture & Interior Design in Virginia Beach.
Amol Patel (Educ ’08)
Amol Patel (Educ ’08) was among 33 future teachers from across the country who received a fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation, a national advocate for improving the quality of science and mathematics education. Mr. Patel teaches high school biology at Heritage High School in Leesburg, Va.
Ashley Milton (Col ’06, Educ ’11 CM)
Ashley Milton (Col ’06, Educ ’11 L/M) married Benjamin Cullop (Col ’05 L/M) on Dec. 27, 2008. They reside in Charlottesville.
Sarah Kleinfeld (Col ’08 CM)
Sarah Kleinfeld (Col ’08 L/M) teaches fourth grade at Esperanza Charter School in New Orleans through the teachNOLA program, an organization that recruits dedicated educators to teach in high-needs New Orleans public schools through its alternative route, the Teaching Fellows program.
Srinivas Parinandi (Col ’06)
Srinivas C. “Chinnu” Parinandi (Col ’06) received a Master of Science degree with merit in comparative politics from the London School of Economics. Mr. Parinandi currently resides in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he is a pre-doctoral student in the doctorate program in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan.
Angela Littlejohn (Col ’06 CM)
Angela Frances Littlejohn (Col ’06 L/M) is a third-year law student at Washington and Lee University School of Law and was included in the 2009 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Students were nominated by members of the university community based on their academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success.
Katherine Mahan (Col ’06)
Katherine Mahan (Col ’06) and Jorge Andrés Barrett (Com ’06 L/M) were married June 7, 2008 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The couple resides in Austin, Texas.
Grace Deng (Com ’06 CM)
Grace Deng (Com ’06 L/M) and Edward Benson (Engr ’05 L/M) were married on June 14, 2008. The couple resides in Cambridge, Mass., where Mr. Benson is a graduate student in computer science at MIT. Ms. Deng works on the donor relations and global engagement team at MIT Sloan and has established her own photography business, Grace Benson Photography.
Lacey Wolf (Arch ’05)
Lacey D. Wolf (Arch ’05) is an architect intern with HBA Architecture & Interior Design, assigned to its government studio.
Kristen McElligott (Col ’05, Law ’08 CM)
Kristen Josephine McElligott (Col ’05, Law ’08 L/M) and Randall Warden (Col ’03, Law ’06 L/M) were married on Sept. 20, 2008. The couple resides in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Mr. Warden is an attorney at Vinson & Elkins, and Ms. Warden is an attorney at Paul Hastings; both firms are in Washington, D.C.
Courtney Prior (Col ’03 CM)
Courtney Prior (Col ’03 L/M) and Jay Rosenberger (Com ’03 L/M) were married in Richmond, Va., on June 21, 2008. The couple resides in Philadelphia, where Ms. Prior is a manager at Ann Taylor LOFT and Mr. Rosenberger is a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Mr. Rosenberger is a student at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Ronda Rennick (Col ’04)
Ronda Rennick (Col ’04 A/M) married Brian Stephens McCauley on Aug. 2, 2008. They both work as realtors for Montague Miller & Co. in Charlottesville.
Margaret Kramer (Engr ’03, Engr ’04 CM)
Margaret Darden Kramer (Engr ’03, ’04 L/M) and Tyler Leif Sande (Col ’01 L/M) were married on May 31, 2008. The couple resides in Denver, where Dr. Sande is a resident physician in emergency medicine at the Denver Health Medical Center and Mr. Sande is a litigation associate with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
Susan Cheung (Engr ’03)
Susan Cheung (Engr ’03) married Richard A. Jones on Oct. 11, 2008. They reside in Alexandria, Va. They both work for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Claire Shean (Col ’02)
Claire Shean (Col ’02) was married to Christopher Allred (Engr ’02, ’03) on Oct. 4, 2008. The couple resides in New York City, where Ms. Allred expects to complete her doctorate in atomic physics early this year.
Craig Orenstein (Com ’02 CM)
Craig Orenstein (Com ’02 L/M) married Jacqueline Green on Nov. 3, 2007. The couple resides in Toronto, Ontario, where Mr. Orenstein is a private equity associate with Genuity Capital Partners.
Devon Hahn (Engr ’02 CM)
Devon Cordle Hahn (Engr ’02 L/M) and Daniel Hahn welcomed their first child and daughter, Raegan Eleanor, on Oct. 28, 2008. The family lives in Woodbine, Md.
Bridget Byrnes (Com ’02)
Bridget Meegan Byrnes (Com ’02) married Michael Peter Geiser on July 12, 2008. The couple resides in Manhattan, where Ms. Geiser is a securities trader with JPMorgan.
Jason Bias (Engr ’02 CM)
Jason Bias (Engr ’02 L/M) received a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering leadership from Northeastern University in August 2008, and received a graduate certificate in engineering leadership from the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program. In October, he purchased his first house on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with his girlfriend, Amanda.
Travis Wheeler (Col ’01)
Travis Wheeler (Col ’01) works in both the insurance and the products liability practice groups in the Phoenix office of the law firm of Lewis and Roca.
Tom O’Halloran (Col ’01, Grad ’04, Grad ’08 CM)
Tom O’Halloran (Col ’01, Grad ’04, ’08 L/M) received a doctorate in environmental sciences from U.Va. in August. He is a research associate at Oregon State University, where he studies the uptake of carbon dioxide by forests.
Kristi Komelasky (Col ’01 CM)
Kristi Grubbs Komelasky (Col ’01 L/M) and Chris Komelasky (Engr ’00 L/M) welcomed their first child, Sydney McKenna, on Sept. 3, 2008.
Zachary Myles (Col ’01 CM)
Zachary Myles (Col ’01 L/M) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in September. He is beginning his career as a small animal practitioner at Green Valley Animal Hospital in Hyattstown, Md., where he is serving as associate veterinarian.
Lisa Heymann (Col ’01)
Lisa Bowen Heymann (Col ’01) and her husband, Robert Heymann, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Noah Bowen, born Sept. 20, 2008. The family lives in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Noah is the nephew of Jennifer Bowen Wieland (Col ’97, Law ’02 L/M).
Puja Seam (Col ’00 CM)
Puja Seam (Col ’00 L/M) is a member of the board of directors of the Juvenile Protective Association, an organization that provides prevention strategies, personalized treatment, counseling and advocacy in the field of child welfare, early child development and family counseling. Ms. Seam is an associate at the law firm of Latham & Watkins.
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