Class Notes

Christopher S. Lee (Com ’05) published his first novel, Between the Shimmer & the Blinding, which debuted at No. 1 in Genetics on Amazon. A multi-generational family drama, the book centers on a young couple grappling with the decision of editing their embryos to reduce disease risks, inviting readers to probe the meaning of parenthood and legacy in our era of profound biotechnological change. Find more information at www.chrisleeauthor.com

Melody Robertson Weigel (Col ’06 CM) won the Ben Fry Service to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock award for her dedication to promoting and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Her passion is increasing the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community.  She also serves as the adviser for the OutLaw Legal Society at the university’s William H. Bowen School of Law and works in the admissions office.

Judith Hermis (Com ’09 CM) joined the faculty of Saint Mary’s College of California in January as an assistant professor of accounting in the School of Economics and Business Administration. She was previously on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her research examines how accounting information enhances decision-making at the intersection of the public and private sectors.

John Markowitz (Col ’05) was appointed Deputy Secretary of Finance for the Commonwealth of Virginia by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Eric Gyauch (Engr ’82 CM) has retired from Michelin Tire Corp. after 35 years. He joined the company after five years of service as an officer in the U.S. Army. Gyauch and his wife of 36 years, Alisa, live in Greenville, S.C. 

Andrea Trank (Col ’80, Educ ’97, ’00 CM) has returned to working with teachers and students by helping them develop strategies to manage stress, stay resilient and maintain emotional self-regulation. She is about to launch a major project with the HeartMath Institute to develop an online series of training seminars for teachers all over the world to learn simple but highly researched and effective tools for staying physically, emotionally and mentally healthy in the classroom. These tools can be used by teachers to help develop more restorative and less punitive behavior management plans.

William Robert Oliver II (Educ ’11 CM) earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Integrative STEM Education from Virginia Tech in May 2022. He plans to continue serving as Professor of Information Systems Technology at Blue Ridge Community College.

Emily Longenecker Andrews (Col ’06 CM) was selected as Newport News Division Teacher of the Year, 2022-2023. Andrews has been the lead social studies teacher at Hines Middle School in Newport News, Virginia, since 2018. She previously taught at Riverbend High School in Spotsylvania, Virginia, after a career in international development.

Jeffrey Toney (Col ’81 CM) is currently Professor Emeritus at Kean University, where he previously served as the Senior Vice President for Research as well as Provost and Chief Academic Officer. He concurrently serves as a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Toney is a Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, and has served on the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science and Human Rights Coalition since its founding in 2009. He has also published a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds six U.S. patents.

Brandon Possin (Col ’05 CM) moved to Tokyo, Japan, in 2021 to serve at the U.S. Embassy. Possin will lead the mission’s health, biotechnology, space, science and computing diplomacy initiatives. Among his goals are developing plans for U.S.-Japan lunar surface exploration missions, tightening cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, finalizing civil space negotiations, advancing U.S.-Japan cooperation in Latin America and Africa, boosting U.S.-Japan research collaboration in quantum computing, attracting venture capital to fuel the growth of Japanese startups and advancing bilateral cancer research programs. He will also serve as the post representative for the White House-led Joint High-Level Science and Technology Committee.

Katherine Read Knaus (Engr ’12, ’21 CM) began her post-doctoral research fellowship in the Cardiac Mechanics Research Group of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego in 2021. She, her husband and their daughter are enjoying life in La Jolla, California.

Austin Randolph Palmore (Col ’15, Com ’16) graduated in May with a Juris Doctor degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law. After sitting for the July 2022 Virginia Bar Examination, he will begin a one-year clerkship for the Honorable Judges of the Henrico County Circuit Court in the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, followed by a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Randolph A. Beales, Judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals in Richmond.

JoAnne Mancini (Col ’90 CM) was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy on May 20, 2022. Chartered in 1785, the RIA is Ireland’s leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities. Membership is by election and is considered the highest academic honor in Ireland. Mancini lives in Dublin and Berlin, and is the 2021-2022 Terra Visiting Professor at the Department of Culture, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin. https://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/en/faculty/culture/persons/index.html.

David Logan (Law ’77 CM), a professor at Roger Williams University School of Law, debated leading first amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams and Professor Mary-Rose Papandrea of the University of North Carolina School of Law on whether the Supreme Court of the United States should revisit the iconic decision New York Times v. Sullivan. The program was a part of the annual meeting of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section.

Brian Madden (Col ’91 CM) and Colleen Madden are proud to share that their daughter Kathleen “Ann” Madden (Com ’22 CM) has graduated with distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce.

J. Hagood Tighe (Col ’87 CM), a partner at the national labor and employment law firm Fisher Phillips based in Columbia, S.C., has been sworn in as president of the South Carolina Bar. The ceremony was presided over by U.S. District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs during the bar’s annual assembly May 12.

As president, Tighe will serve South Carolina’s expansive legal and business communities by working to uphold the integrity and honor of the legal profession, advance the science of jurisprudence, promote quality legal education and services to the public, and continually improve the administration of justice throughout the Palmetto State. He will serve a one-year term.

At Fisher Phillips, Hagood is co-chair of the firm’s wage and hour practice and an active member of the firm’s class and collective action practice. In recent years, he has handled over 40 class and collective actions throughout the country, many of which involve wage and hour issues. Hagood recently led a team that won one of the nation’s largest WARN Act class actions in recent history. He also has extensive experience defending single plaintiff lawsuits alleging wrongful discharge, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. While Hagood maintains an active litigation practice, he also focuses on providing practical and proactive advice designed to minimize the risk of litigation. He enjoys working with companies to help them avoid problems before they arise. This takes many forms including advising on handbooks, policies, employment agreements, investigations, layoffs, and terminations. 

To learn more, click here.

L. Roger Boord (Col ’88) and Fran Gaddin Boord report that their daughter, Nina Marie Virginia Boord, is a freshman at Stanford University studying engineering.

Linda Fisher Thornton (Col ’83 CM) was awarded the Itzkowitz Family Distinguished Adjunct Faculty award by The University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and was the faculty speaker at the 2022 SPCS Commencement. 

Daniel J. Hoffheimer (Law ’76 CM) had the privilege of commissioning a new work by renowned American composer and violist, Nokuthula Ngwenyama. Her Piano Quartet for violin, viola, cello, and piano received its world premiere at Linton Chamber Music in Cincinnati on April 3, 2022. The composition, entitled “Elegy,” in twelve minutes tells the story of African-Americans from their first arrival as slaves in 1619, through slavery, Civil War, emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and into the present backlash against Critical Race Studies. Dan is board chair of Linton Chamber Music, now in its 41st season. He practices law in Cincinnati.

Suzannah Evans Comfort (Col ’03 CM) was promoted to associate professor in the Journalism unit of the Media School at Indiana University.

J. Dapray Muir (Law ’64) has more than 35 years of experience in corporate and securities law. His practice included counseling a wide range of commercial enterprises with respect to securities law, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investment transactions, contracts and litigation. He has served as lead counsel in numerous public and private offerings of securities.

Mr. Muir served one year as law clerk to a federal trial judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and two years as Assistant Legal Adviser for Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. From 1981 to 1985, he was chairman of the D.C. Securities Advisory Committee. He was a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Panel of Commercial Arbitrators from 1995 to 2015, serving as sole arbitrator or panel member in more than 40 proceedings.

John G. Wilder (Col ’62 CM) published Wagons, Gold and Conflict, a chronicle of the adventures of Captain Alfred Davenport in the Trans-Mississippi West from the 1840s through the 1860s. The book will appeal to lovers of history, travel and adventure, especially those interested in California from 1846 to 1861 and the western theater of the American Civil War.

Paola A. Castillo (Com ’13 CM) and Matthew T. Gregus (Com ’13, ’14) celebrated their one year wedding anniversary on May 21, 2022. They were married at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Washington D.C. The couple will be moving to Tampa, Florida with their one-year-old pug, Gnocchi, and continue to work for the federal Risk and Financial Advisory practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. 

Kevin C. Kelley (Col ’73 CM) retired on May 1 from his position as Managing Director and Associate General Counsel after 39 years with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and its predecessors.  Kevin’s practice as an insolvency attorney with JPMorgan included working on most of the major corporate insolvency matters over that time in the financial, automotive, retail, oil and gas and real estate industries to which JPMorgan was a lender.  

Kendall Jones (Col ’89 CM) has been named the General Counsel of California Pizza Kitchen, Inc., and all of its affiliated companies.

Marc Heisel (Engr ’07) and Brianne (King) Heisel (Engr ’13 CM) welcomed a son, Aiden, in May 2021. The family lives in Charlottesville where Marc is an engineering and quality manager, and Brianne is a senior program manager.

Wilson Weber (Engr ’13 CM) and his wife Ani McDowell celebrated their Feb 2020 California wedding with a belated East Coast reception at Charlottesville’s The Space Downtown on Oct 16, 2021. Fellow Wahoos in attendance included John Weber (Com ’84 CM), Joey Murphy (Engr ’12 CM), Kyle Brew (Engr ’13 CM), Kylene Brew (Engr ’13 CM), Patrick Brown (Engr ’13), Chris Curtin (Com ’13), Chris Millisits (Col ’13 CM), Andrew Noh (Engr ’13 CM), Jared Arrington (Col ’14 CM), Heidi Trott (Col ’14 CM), Will Vieth (Engr ’14, Law ’19 CM), Carter King (Engr ’15 CM), Taylor Chamness (Col ’17 CM), Zoe Grippo (Col ’18 CM), Jake Weber (Engr ’18 CM), Eileen Cowdery (Darden ’19) and Hank Weber (Engr ’20 CM). Will and Ani reside in Denver, Colorado, where Ani is a senior product manager at Split and Will is a consulting and engineering lead at Google.

Dr. Lealani Mae “Leah” Acosta (Med ’07, Res ’11) was recently promoted to Associate Professor of Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she serves as the behavioral neurology fellowship director. She also was awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology for contributions to the field, including serving as an editor for the Humanities section of the journal Neurology.

On Apr. 19, 2022, UVA Air Force ROTC alumni from the classes of 1973, 1974 and 1976, along with one of their professors from that time, met on Grounds for a reunion and to speak to current Air Force ROTC cadets from both UVA and James Madison University. Major J. David Carroll, USAF, Ret. (Col ’73, Darden ’85, Law ’85), Lt. General David A. Deptula, USAF, Ret. (Col ’74, Engr ’76 CM), Colonel Richard T. Kingman, USAF, Ret. (Col ’74 CM), Bruce L. Webster (Engr ’74 CM), Michael W. Skojec (Col ’76 CM) and Lt. Colonel John E. Valliere, USAF, Ret. (Engr ’76 CM) participated in this reunion along with their UVA Air Force ROTC Air Science Professor, Colonel James A. Ball, USAF, Ret. They met for lunch in the historic Varsity Hall before being escorted by officers and cadets of the current Air Force ROTC unit to O’Hill Forum, where they spoke to some 100 cadets of the James Wing of the current Air Force ROTC Detachment 890.

Shannon (Casey) Donohue (Arch ’12 CM) and husband Kevin Donohue welcomed their first child, Madeline Grace, on Mar. 15, 2022. The couple resides in Alexandria, Virginia, where Shannon works in fundraising at George Mason University and Kevin is in cybersecurity with Amazon Web Services. They are excited to show their daughter around Charlottesville and the UVA campus this fall.

Dr. Dan Vick (Col ’84 CM) assumed the role of Chief Medical Officer of MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, Maine, effective Mar. 28, 2022. MaineGeneral Medical Center is a 198-bed community hospital with 4,000 employees and over 600 medical staff members. Most recently, Dr. Vick was on the Graduate Teaching Faculty in the Master of Health Administration program at Central Michigan University.

Robert Burton Scearce II (Engr ’13 CM) was recently promoted to Plant Manager of Monogram Foods in Martinsville, Virginia.

Sharon Kressel (Col ’05, Med ’12 CM) and her husband Jason welcomed their daughter Nora Irene in October 2021. Nora joins her older brothers, Aaron and Max. The family resides in Bethesda, Maryland.

Paul A. Lombardo (Grad ’82, Law ’85) of Georgia State University College of Law has published a new edition of Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Ashley Bartley (Col ’06 CM) has released her third children’s book in a social emotional learning series published by Boys Town Press. Remi in Overdrive offers children struggling with ADHD, hyperactivity, impulsivity and/or inattentiveness ideas and strategies they can implement both at home and at school. Remi in Overdrive is available on Amazon, Boys Town Press, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, along with her other two books, Diamond Rattle Loves to Tattle and Opal Octopus is Overwhelmed. Ashley is a school counselor, author and curriculum writer who now lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and three young boys.

Chris Stanley (Com ’76) was recently named Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theology and Franciscan Studies at St. Bonaventure University in western New York. He retired from the university in 2021 after 22 years as a professor at St. Bonaventure. Dr. Stanley has authored or edited seven academic books and two historical novels, together with dozens of professional articles and papers, in his 31 years in academia. He is looking forward to continuing his writing in retirement. He lives in Allegany, New York, but plans to move to southern California in the next year.