Class Notes

Christina Polenta (Com ’09 CM) and Eric Magenheimer (Com ’09 CM) welcomed their first child, Grace Elizabeth Magenheimer, in February 2023. The family lives in Oakton, Virginia.

Carl Markowitz (Com ’67 CM) has published two novels. Churching Carla Carson is a story about religious zealotry and small-town corruption.  Let Them Die at West Point is the story of an assassination attempt on the U.S. President and a group of NATO officials who are attending a summer seminar at the United States Military Academy. His third novel, Here Lies Greasy D ,will be published in late June. It is the story of four generations of a family-owned farm in North Carolina, struggling to prevent an organized crime family’s efforts to take their property.

Before retiring in 2015, Markowitz practiced law in Virginia Beach, Virginia for forty-five years.

Sarah Elaine Hart (Col ’10 CM) and Patrick Higgins (Col ’10, Darden ’16 CM) joyfully welcomed their second child, Celeste Hart Higgins, in September 2022. The couple hopes their first child, Orion, will forgive them for neglecting to announce his birth in April 2020.

Abby Armistead (Col ’14, Law ’18 CM) recently covered two equestrian stories that beautifully document the horse life in Virginia hunt country: the Upperville Colt & Horse Show, the oldest event of its kind in the United States; and the national champion UVA Polo Teams. An equestrian and artist, Armistead regularly contributes to the magazines Virginia Wine & Country Life and Virginia Wine & Country Weddings. She has also founded an inspirational bespoke stationery company.

Kent Bennett (Engr ’00) has been included in The Boston Globe’s second annual list of the most influential people in the New England tech sector.

The leaders spotlighted in the selective Globe Tech Power Players 50 List have demonstrated innovation and resourcefulness and have contributed heartily to keeping their sector thriving during challenging economic times.

Boston Tech Leaders: Kent Bennett, Bessemer Venture Partners – The Boston Globe

Eric Solomon (Law ’78) former assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Treasury, has joined Ivins, Phillips & Barker (IPB) firm as a partner in its Washington, DC office.

Solomon brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to IPB, having most recently served as a partner and then senior counsel at Steptoe & Johnson, where he focused on transactional tax, tax policy, and tax controversy issues. Previously, Solomon held the position of co-director of Ernst & Young’s national tax department. He also served in the Office of Tax Policy at the Treasury from 1999 to 2009 and at the IRS from 1990 to 1996.

He was assistant secretary for tax policy, the highest tax policy position in the Treasury, from 2006 to 2009. At the IRS, he headed the corporate tax division in the Office of Chief Counsel.

Bryan McGrath (Col ’87 CM) has been nominated to serve on the National Commission on the Future of the Navy. The Commission is tasked with providing recommendations to Congress on force structure and shipbuilding no later than July 1, 2024. McGrath is a retired naval officer, commissioned through the UVA Naval ROTC program. He commanded the destroyer USS BULKELEY (DDG 84) on active duty and retired in 2008. 

Courtney Jones Hamlett (Col ’12 CM) and Christian Hamlett welcomed their son, Campbell Edward, on March 28, 2023. Campbell is the couple’s first child. The family lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Kim Curtis (Col ’00 CM) has accepted a position as director of communications & outreach at Rare Book School at UVA. Rare Book School provides continuing education opportunities for students from all disciplines and skill levels to study the history of written, printed, and digital materials with leading scholars and professionals in the field.

Winkfield F. “Wink” Twyman, Jr. (Col ’83 CM) has published Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America. The book, co-authored with Jennifer Richmond, chronicles Twyman’s experiences as a child of the New South in the 1970s suburbs, a place and time all but forgotten in modern discourse.

Born in Richmond, Virginia, Twyman lived on Twyman Road in then-Chesterfield County until the age of eight. Everyone living on Twyman Road was a Twyman. He writes of a time in a southern suburb when the things people shared in common mattered more than racial differences.

An Echols Scholar driven by the goal of attending Harvard Law School, Twyman also writes about what happened to his American dream 40 years later. 

A former law professor, Twyman lives in San Diego with his wife. They have three children – a first-year student at Stanford Business School, an entering graduate student at San Diego State University, and a sophomore at Yale. 

Coleman Bigelow (Col ’97, Darden ’05 CM) has published In Rare Cases and Other Unfortunate Circumstances, his first collection of flash fiction, with Alien Buddha Press.

Divided into four parts: (Siblings, Lovers, Parents and Mourners) these stories take us on a journey through the formative stages of life’s relationships. With a keen eye for detail and a sharp sense of humor, Bigelow captures the nuances of human experience in all its messy, complicated glory.

Adam Titrington (Arch ’06) became a partner at Estes Twombly + Titrington Architects in Newport, Rhode Island. Since joining the firm in 2015, Titrington has designed contemporary homes across New England and Long Island, with an emphasis on simple, innovative design­­­ that integrates healthier, low-energy, fossil-fuel free solutions. His work has received awards from the American Institute of Architects AIA Rhode Island & New England. The Quahaug Point home was recognized by Residential Design Magazine with a 2023 citation award.  The Cape Cod Hemp House, completed this year, was built with hempcrete insulation in the roof and walls, drastically lowering embodied carbon. Titrington lives in South Kingstown, Rhode Island with wife Laura Erban (Col ’06) and their two children.

Zayde Antrim (Col ’95 CM), professor of history and international studies at Trinity College, has received a fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study. She will spend the spring and fall semesters of 2024 in residence as a member of the School of Historical Studies. 

Antrim’s UVA thesis was “Remything Africa: Perceptions of Precariousness and Illusions of Power in the Literature of Sarah Bowdich.”

John M. Stewart (Col ’65 CM) enjoyed celebrating his 80th birthday with family and friends, including daughters Jennifer Crone (Col ’94) and Catherine Lochead (Col ’97 CM); Goddaughter Kendra Lee Carberry (Col ’91 CM), Phi Gamma Delta brother Thomas Nardi (Educ ’65, ’66) and his daughter, Chris Nardi; and Jennifer Murray Moskowitz (Com ’88).  An impressive gathering of Wahoos in Naples, Florida.