Class Notes

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.