Class Notes

Don Slesnick (Col ’65 CM) delivered the graduation address for Florida International University in December 2023, when was also awarded the FIU Medallion For Outstanding Alumnus. Slesnick, the former mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, received the Excellence in Public Service Award from the Gables Good Government Committee in March 2024. His late wife, Jeannett, a former city commissioner, was also honored posthumously.

Kaitlyn (Houck) Witman (Col ’12 CM) has been named co-CEO at Rainfactory, the company she co-founded in 2014. Rainfactory is a marketing agency for new technology product launches, crowdfunding, and pre-sales. She lives in Vienna, Virginia with husband Ben Witman (Engr ’12) and their three children. 

Steven Fox (Engr ’81 CM) is co-founder and Luke Fox (Engr ’15 CM) manager of eViation and Drone Academy, which provides classroom, flight training, and hands-on experience focused on the emerging Unmanned Aviation Systems and electric “green technologies” aviation markets. Opened in January 2024, the Academy is located at Hampton Roads Executive Airport in Chesapeake, Virginia. Its mission is to prepare students for the FAA Part 107 UAS Operator examination and to also provide specialized drone training for select use cases.

The Academy has agreements in place with Old Dominion University, NASA, the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Virginia Tech, Hampton University,  Community College Workforce Alliance, school divisions in Virginia Beach and York County, Virginia, and New Horizons Regional Education Centers.

Kathleen Biggins (Col ’82 CM), founder of C-Change Conversations, a non-partisan group devoted to educating people about the science and risk of climate change, spoke on Capitol Hill as a keynote speaker at the National Affairs & Legislation Conference.

Biggins spoke alongside Sens. Kristen Gillibrand, Mazie Hirono, Edward Markey and Sheldon Whitehouse and Reps. Debbie Dingell, Garret Graves and Brian Mast. Approximately 400 delegates from around the country attended.

Justin Watkins (Col ’02 CM) has been promoted to major in the U.S. Army.  Maj. Watkins currently serves as an appellate defense attorney at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  He previously served in South Korea, Kentucky, Iraq, Germany, and Kuwait.  Next year, he will attend the Army’s Judge Advocate Officer’s Graduate Course in Charlottesville for a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Military Law.

Susan Martin (Educ ’99) has been selected as a finalist for the 2024 Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Leadership. The Golden Apple Foundation is the leading Illinois nonprofit committed to preparing, honoring and supporting great educators who advance educational opportunities for students. Five finalists were chosen from more than 100 nominations. Martin is principal of Reservoir Gifted Academy in Peoria, Ill.

Jennifer (Bogart) McDowell (Col ’87) has been promoted to interim academic dean of career and technical education at Hennepin Technical College, a member of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities.

Nicole Gates (Col ’09) has been promoted to Vice President, Legal, for Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Gates, who previously held the role of Senior Corporate Counsel, will manage the growing Dr. Seuss Enterprises legal team and, as a member of the executive leadership team, will provide strategic guidance on major corporate initiatives and a wide variety of operational matters.

Elizabeth Larus (Grad ’89, ’94), Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, has been named Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub.

Steve Silbiger (Darden ’90) has written the 5th edition of his book, The Ten-Day MBA, which will be available for purchase July 2024. The book distills lessons from the country’s top business schools, including Harvard, Stanford and UVA’s own Darden School of Business. Previous editions of the book have sold over 165,000 copies and been translated into 12 languages.

Robyn McCutcheon (Col ’76 CM) has published Queer Diplomacy:  A Transgender Journey in the Foreign Service, covering her career with the Department of State largely in the Soviet Union, Russia, and other post-Soviet countries.  The book also covers her transgender journey — including at the University in the 1970s — through gender transition while serving as a diplomat in Romania.  It is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637236395.

Robert Colby (Col ’09 CM) has published his first book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South, with Oxford University Press. The book explores the survival of the slave trade during the Civil War, its effects on the inhabitants of the wartime South, and its influence on the course of the conflict. Colby is an assistant professor of history at the University of Mississippi.

Elizabeth “Beth” Moore Chiusano (Educ ’77, ’79 CM) has retired after 44 years as an audiologist. Her career included service in the Army as one of the first female audiologists. Chiusano also worked for 10 years in an ENT practice in Lawton, Oklahoma. Upon moving to Sussex County New Jersey in 2002, she purchased a private practice which she ran successfully for 21 years. She sold Sussex Audiology Services & Hearing Aid Center, LLC in 2023. She and her husband Wayne live in Andover Township, New Jersey.

Michael Iademarco (Med ’86) has retired after 25 years of active duty as assistant surgeon general with the rank of Rear Admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. In his last role, as the deputy assistant secretary for science and medicine in the Department of Health and Human Services, he effected coordination for long COVID across the U.S. government. Iademarco also served at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, as the health attaché to the U.S. Mission to Vietnam in Hanoi, and on various medical and public health school faculties. He has published over 100 scientific articles and has received a Distinguished Service Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Assistant Secretary for Health’s Exceptional Service Medal, four Foreign Duty Service Awards, and the Thomas A. Bartenfeld III Excellence in Public Health Practice award. He and his family live in Washington, D.C.

Michael Palladino (Grad ’94) has been appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs at Stockton University in Galloway, New Jersey. Palladino currently serves as vice chancellor for academic affairs at Bloomfield College of Montclair State University. His appointment is effective May 6.

Stockton Announces Next Provost – News | Stockton University

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Nancy Colier (Col ’87) has published her fifth book, The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted and How to Get What You Need, a radically different self-care guide to help women find the courage to express their deepest needs, nurture self-awareness, and be themselves in a world that expects them to be everything to everyone.

Colier is a psychotherapist, interfaith minister and public speaker.