Class Notes
Marsha Taylor (Nurs ’77)
Marsha McElrath Taylor (Nurs ’77) has moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband, Brad, after completing a 30-plus-year career as a cardiac operating room and perioperative nurse. During her nursing career, Taylor enjoyed medical ICU experience at Georgetown University Hospital, and served as lead clinical instructor for INOVA Fairfax’s Cardiac Dome Observation Program. She was featured in this role in the Washington Post Magazine article “Hearts and Minds” by Paul Gustafson. Taylor also taught classes on hemodynamic monitoring, disseminated intravascular coagulation and diabetic ketoacidosis. She published several articles including “Atrial Septal Defect Repair” and “Job Satisfaction and Perioperative Nursing.” In retirement, Taylor plans to continue participation in BSF International, and volunteer services. She also hopes to “prepare all those recipes from all those cookbooks I’ve collected over the years!”
Robert Bove (Col ’74 CM)
Robert Bové (Col ’74 CM) has published his third full-length book of poems, Pandemic Poetry Reader, available on Amazon as Kindle and paperback. He and his wife live in Brooklyn Heights, New York.
Zachary Bessette (Col ’14)
Zach Bessette (Col ’14) married Ariana Mollers on Oct. 18, 2020. Zach and Ariana, a Virginia Tech alumna, have put aside a college rivalry to build a life together. They live in Newport, Rhode Island, where Zach is an officer in the U.S. Navy.
Michael Burger (Col ’90 CM)
Michael Adam Burger (Col ’90) is currently a partner in the law firm of Santiago Burger and a managing member in Neutral Mediation Group, both concentrating in the resolution of commercial and fiduciary relationship disputes. Mike is also a volunteer firefighter. He lives in Brighton, New York, with his wife, Anne, and their daughter, Jane. The family hopes to visit Grounds in 2021 for the 30th reunion, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
L. Flick Hatcher (Col ’77 CM)
L. Flick Hatcher (Col ’77 CM) has published his first novella, The Last Word, an uplifting book about betrayal, forgiveness, healing, hope, resilience, and the power of the human spirit. The Last Word is available in print and ebook versions on Amazon and BookBaby.com His second book, Telling Tales, will be released in spring 2021. Hatcher is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco, where he lives with his husband, Lou Marano.
Kevin Doyle (Educ ’99 CM)
Kevin Doyle (Educ ’99 CM), has been named the dean of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies outside Minneapolis and will begin in early 2021.
Robert Cottrell (Educ ’16 CM)
Jason Cottrell (Educ ’16) was selected to serve as the American College Personnel Association College Student Educators International 2022 Convention Chair. Chairing the ACPA Convention is a great feat, and often mentioned as one of the major highlights of one’s career. Approximately 3,500 members and guests attend the ACPA Annual Convention every year. Every Convention experience is different and the Convention Planning Team works hard to ensure a unique and personalized experience for every attendee. Dr. Cottrell works for the U.S. Department of Education as the Lead Research Analyst for the Office of Postsecondary Education’s Institutional Service. His research specialization focuses on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and low-income serving institutions as identified in Titles III, V, and VII of the Higher Education Act.
John Howard (Col ’83 CM)
John Howard (Col ’83 CM), professor emeritus of arts and humanities at King’s College London, has published his second documentary photobook with University of Valencia Press, Spain. Felling & Pining depicts life, death, faith and doubt in the poorest and most pious parts of the United States—the Deep South piney woods of Alabama and Mississippi.
James Erickson (Col ’08)
James Dean Erickson (Col ’08) and Jenna Brick Erickson (Nurs ’10) welcomed their sixth child, Jonathan Thaddeus, on July 8, 2020. They live on campus at Woodberry Forest School where James serves as chair of the visual arts department and coaches varsity wrestling and track.
Jimmie Crowder (Col ’58 CM)
Jimmie Crowder (Col ’58 CM) owns a funeral home in his hometown of South Hill, Virginia.
Steve Williams (Col ’86 CM)
Steve Williams (Col ’86) continues his work at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia as dean of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, the Jesse B. Michie Professor and Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Enterprise Senior Vice President for Post-Acute and Rehabilitation Services at Jefferson Health.
Mark Scharf (Col ’84 CM)
Mark Scharf (Grad ’84) won Best Play for The Monroe Doctrine in the 2020 Southwest Theater Production’s Male Lead Competition.
Noah Kaufman (Com ’99 CM)
Noah Kaufman (Com ’99 CM) and his wife, Rachelle Lasken Kaufman (Col ’02) a boy, Saul Robert. Saul joins big brother Benjamin. The Kaufmans live in Arlington, Virginia. Noah works as a systems accountant (project manager) at the Department of State, is an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, and coaches wrestling. He recently re-published a book Life Lessons from the Wrestling Mat: Successful Strategies Gleaned from Three Decades of Coaching and Competing, which includes lessons he learned from his time on the UVA wrestling team. He has published three other books. Rachelle is an author, and has written several books as part of the Kaufman Green Guide series.
Shannon Reaves (Col ’97)
Shannon Reaves (Col ’97) was promoted to partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan’s Washington, D.C., office.
Thomas Evans (Col ’53, Law ’56 CM)
Tom Evans (Col ’53, Law ’56 CM), former U.S. Congressman from Delaware, is the subject of a new book by Lois Hoffman, Barriers: The life and legacy of Tom Evans. With our nation divided between left and right, Barriers reflects on a time when politics worked in Washington. Evans represented Delaware in the 1970s and 80s and worked his way into the center of political power. He built coalitions of Democrats and Republicans, including President Reagan, to pass major environmental legislation despite opposition from big-money lobbyists. The Coastal Barrier Resources Act, touted by the New York Times as “the most important environmental legislation no one has ever heard of,” and the Alaska Lands Act are among his most significant achievements. He’s hopeful his neighbor, President-Elect Joe Biden, will also champion sound environmental policies. The book is available on Amazon.com.
[MORE INFO]
Although he ran with the biggest names in Republican circles while in Congress, his influence extended before and far after his time there. Evans gave hundreds of speeches at political and non-political venues to share wisdom and inspire his audiences. At 89, he continues to give interviews and pen op-eds to chastise politicians who are on the wrong path or tap the consciousness of the American people.
Barriers is a window into his life’s work. It speaks to a common-sense approach to legislation and consensus building in interactions with others that got lost in the last decades since he served.
Tom’s legacy is a message for those serving in political office and a call to citizens — use your voices before we cease to have them.
“Tom Evans worked tirelessly in Congress and afterwards as a lobbyist and advocate to protect wetlands essential to our coastline and wild lands in Alaska. Evans reminds us all of the proud conservationist tradition of the Republican Party who built our national park system and preserved large tracts of national forests and wilderness. Evans worked across the aisle to achieve great things in preserving America’s wild spaces and biodiversity, and his story is both important historically and an inspiration for our future.”
~ U.S. Senator, Chris Coons
Scott Baradell (Col ’87)
Scott Baradell (Col ’87), celebrated the 15th anniversary of his unified public relations and marketing agency, Idea Grove, by announcing plans for his first book, Trust Signals: The New PR, to be published by Lioncrest in 2021. The book outlines a new framework for PR centered on building and promoting trust. Idea Grove is ranked as one of the top 25 technology agencies in the United States by industry publication O’Dwyer’s.
Casey Rooney (Col ’10 CM)
Casey Stein Rooney (Col ’10) and Dan Rooney welcomed their daughter, Leigh Rooney, in February 2020. Her Hebrew name is Leah Esther Bat-Chaia (לאה אסתר בת חיה). She is named in memory of three amazing family members who are missed but never forgotten.
Kimberly Sine (Col ’10 CM)
Kimberly Sine (Col ’10 CM) married Anthony Jamison at a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia, on Oct. 24, 2020, surrounded by their immediate family. The couple lives in Washington, D.C.
Kate Thomas (Col ’02 CM)
Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas (Col ’02 CM) and Sarah Plummer Taylor (Col ’03) have released a new book about military health, Find Stopping Military Suicides: Veteran Voices to Help Prevent Deaths.
Khalil Simon Andraos (Com ’06)
Khalil S. Andraos (Com ’06) is an accomplished financial advisor for Bank of America Merrill in Reston, Virginia. In 2020, he was named a Top Retirement Consultant by the Financial Times magazine for the fourth consecutive year, adding to his previous professional honors from Forbes as a Top Next Generation Wealth Advisor and a Best-In-State Wealth Advisor. A native of Springfield, Virginia, Andraos holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor® designation among others, and is Senior Vice President of The Andraos Group. He specializes in consulting on defined contribution and corporate retirement plans.
Michael Ebner (Grad ’66, Grad ’74 CM)
Michael H. Ebner (Grad ’66, ’74) is the recent recipient of the Chicago History Museum’s J. Young Scammon Award for Exemplary Service. A museum trustee for 30 years, he has served on three presidential search committees and is the founder of the Chicago Urban History Seminar, sponsored by the museum since 1984. Ebner is the James D. Vail III professor of American history, emeritus, at Lake Forest College where he taught from 1974 until 2007 and served as senior adviser to the president. He previously taught at Herbert H. Lehman College and The City College, campuses of City University of New York.
David Landin (Col ’68, Law ’72 CM)
David Craig Landin (Col ’68, Law ’72 CM) has established the Landin Law Group, for which the primary office is in Richmond, Virginia.
Robert Schwab (Col ’79, Med ’83 CM)
Robert Schwab (Col ’79, Med ’83 CM) will publish his third novel, Eddie’s Boy, in February 2021. The novel is a sequel to his first, Holy Water. Dr. Schwab serves as chief medical officer for a hospital in the Texas Health Resources health system based in the Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex. He also teaches an undergraduate seminar on the healing power of stories at the University of Texas at Dallas. He returns to UVA regularly to serve as a guest lecturer in the post-baccalaureate premedical program in the School of Continuing Education and Professional Studies.
Brooke Stanton (Col ’95)
Brooke Westerlund Stanton (Col ’95) co-authored When You Became You, a recently published children’s science education book.
Karen Foley (Col ’87)
Jonathan Morgan (Col ’91 CM)
Jonathan Q. Morgan (Col ’91 CM) was recently promoted to full professor in the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has also been appointed to a two-year Albert and Gladys Coates Term Professorship in recognition of his accomplishments, contributions and service.
Virginia LeBaron (Nurs ’96 CM)
Virginia LeBaron (Nurs ’96 CM), an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Virginia, published her first collection of poems, Cardinal Marks.
Eeric Truumees (Col ’89, Med ’93 CM)
Eeric Truumees (Col ’89, Med ’93 CM) was named president of the North American Spine Society. Dr. Truumees is an orthopedic spine surgeon with Ascension Texas Spine and Scoliosis, and professor of orthopedic
and neurological surgery at the University of Texas, Dell Medical School. He completed his residency in orthopedic surgery at the Cleveland Clinic and his fellowship in spine surgery with Harry Herkowitz at Beaumont Hospital in Michigan. Dr. Truumees’ research and academic work has included more than 15 NIH and industry sponsored multi-center trials, which generated over 30 peer-reviewed publications of original research, 40 invited publications, 50 chapters and monographs and two books. Dr. Truumees has given more than 200 national and international presentations, lectureships and instructorships.
Marc Lefar (Com ’85 CM)
Marc Lefar (Com ’85 CM), McIntire Advisory Board member and CEO of RentPath, is the inaugural recipient of Atlanta-based non-profit Open Doors’ Threshold Award for his work fighting homelessness. Lefar envisioned an app that could match people who desperately need affordable homes with properties that are eager for new residents. Lefar recruited teams of volunteer software engineers and product experts to effectively build the digital marketplace, known as the Property Navigator App.
Katie White (Col ’07, Grad ’10, Grad ’14 CM)
Katie Bray White (Col ’07, Grad ’10, Grad ’14 CM) and her husband, Mark White (Batten ’16 CM), welcomed a son, Samuel Locher, on Aug. 3, 2020. Samuel joins big brother William. The family lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Mark works in the nonpartisan budget office of the North Carolina General Assembly and Katie is an editor for a test development company.
Emily Russell (Col ’08)
Emily Russell (Col ’08) was selected by Virginia Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer” for 2020, which recognizes the work and community engagement of attorneys in their first 10 years of practice. Emily is an assistant county attorney for Chesterfield County, Virginia, and a graduate of Tulane Law School.
Alexandra Smyre (Col ’14)
Alexandra Smyre (Col ’14) and Robert H. Roane (Com ’14 CM) married on Oct. 10, 2020 in front of friends and family, including the groom’s father, Robert C. Roane (Com ’78 CM), and sister, Caroline Roane (Col ’10 CM). The couple lives in Arlington, Virginia.
Jennifer Kim Penberthy (Res ’89)
Jennifer “Kim” Penberthy (Res ’89) published a new book, Living Mindfully Across the Lifespan: An Intergenerational Guide. The book provides user-friendly, empirically supported information about and answers to some of the most frequently encountered questions and dilemmas of human living, interactions, and emotions. Find more information on the book and the link to pre-order it on Routledge’s website.
Elliott Light (Engr ’70, Law ’73)
Elliott Light (Engr ’70, Law ’73) published his fourth book, Throwaways, which is available on Amazon and book sites.
“The body of a young girl drifts over a reef where Jake Savage is photographing lionfish, beautiful brown-striped creatures with feathery pectoral fins that could almost make one forget their venomous spines. For an instant, Jake thinks she might be watching him, but she has no snorkel or mask. She isn’t wearing a swimsuit, but rather is clad in only a shirt and panties. And she can’t have looked at him because she has no eyes. What has this child done to die so young, to be forgotten and left to drift until consumed by the creatures of the sea?
A voice whispers to let her go, but he can’t leave her to the whim of the wind and tide ….a simple decision with deadly consequences.”
Sheldon Zablow (Col ’73, Med ’77)
Sheldon Zablow (Col ’73, Med ’77), a psychiatrist, published a nutrition book, Your Vitamins Are Obsolete:The Vitamer Revolution—A Program for Healthy Living and Healthy Longevity. This book is about the disparity between what we expect of our vitamins and what they provide. Food often has its natural bioactive vitamins (vitamers) stripped out while the synthetic forms are substituted back in. This vitamer deficiency is exacerbating the universal illness of chronic inflammation which contributes to the onset of depression, dementia, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, etc. The book explains the newly understood mechanism by which this occurs by focusing on the two most essential vitamins—B12 and folate. Vitamers are the forms of vitamins that are used by cells and are critical to the functioning of biochemical activity from the expression of genes to the production of energy molecules to the cleansing of cellular waste. For example, if there is plenty of Vitamin D and calcium but a deficiency of B vitamers, osteoporosis still occurs. The unhealthy pro-inflammatory mechanism explored is the relationship between the deficiency of the vitamer forms of B12 and folate and reduced DNA epigenetic methylation. I call this process the Vitamer Revolution.
Brenton Sullivan (Grad ’13)
Brenton Sullivan (Grad ’13) published a new book, Building a Religious Empire: Tibetan Buddhism, Bureaucracy, and the Rise of the Gelukpa, this fall. Sullivan teaches religion at Colgate University.
William Purkey (Educ ’57 CM)
William W. Purkey (Educ ’57 CM), professor emeritus of counselor education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, co-published Developing Inviting Schools: A Beneficial Framework for Teachers and Leaders. Purkey developed an innovative approach to education called Invitational Education. He now lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his extended family.
Jordan Gruber (Law ’88)
David Williams (Col ’78, Darden ’82 CM)
David M. Williams (Col ’78, Darden ’82) joined Commonwealth Commercial Partners, a national commercial real estate and real estate private equity firm, as a senior vice president at the firm’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife live in Richmond, and their son, Preston Williams (Engr ’11), lives and works in Boston.
Bissell Roberts (Law ’71 CM)
Bissell Roberts (Law ’71 CM) of Prospect, Kentucky, was appointed to a four-year term on the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance by Gov. Andy Beshear (Law ’03). Roberts also serves as chair of the board of the Henry Clay High School Hall of Fame.
Elizabeth McNamara (Col ’01, Med ’07 CM)
Bette Kaufman McNamara (Col ’01, Med ’07 CM) and her husband, Robert, are thrilled to announce the arrival of William Brendan on Aug. 4, 2020. He joins siblings, Elizabeth Brynn and Robert John. William is the grandson of Linda G. Sargent (Met ’69) and John P. Kaufman (Med ’70).
Anant Das (Com ’19 CM)
Anant Das (Com ’19 CM) recently launched Broadway Boxed Up, a subscription box service bringing theater closer to homes of subscribers by mailing them merchandise, while elevating the voices of BIPOC and Deaf/HoH industry professionals through educational features, articles, and virtual events.
Dr. Charles Edwards (Col ’69 CM)
Charles Edwards (Col ’69 CM) published a book on aging, Much Abides: A Survival Guide for Aging Lives. He was a cardiovascular surgeon in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, for 29 years. After both of his parents died from dementia, he sought training at Johns Hopkins in dementia and returned to Charlotte to open a nonprofit center dedicated to the care of patients and families struggling with memory loss. His late-life experience with these patients and families inspired this book, which focuses on living the last years of your life with passion and purpose. It’s available at www.mmclt.org and on Amazon. Sales will support Memory & Movement Charlotte.
Gunes Hopson (Col ’97, Law ’01 CM)
Gunes Ozcan Hopson (Col ’97, Law ’01 CM) has joined My Path Unwinding Travel as an independent travel concierge and advisor, specializing in luxury and family travel. Gunes continues to enjoy writing for her travel blog, fotogenictravel.com, and offers photography services through fotogenicrichmond.com. Additionally, she still practices law full-time as associate general counsel at Automattic, Inc.
Lachlan McLean (Col ’89 CM)
Lachlan McLean (Col ’89 CM) is now the primary afternoon news anchor for Spectrum News 1, a cable news network serving the entire state of Kentucky. He previously hosted sports talk radio shows in Louisville for the last 16 years.
Ashley Bartley (Col ’06 CM)
Ashley Bristow Bartley (Col ’06) published her first children’s book, Diamond Rattle Loves to Tattle, in July 2020. Bartley is a school counselor whose writing has been published in The Joyful Life Magazine and on the Kindred Mom blog. Her second children’s book is currently under contract with Boys Town Press. She lives with her husband and three young boys in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Robert Hilliard (Col ’74 CM)
Rob Hilliard (Col ’74 CM) has published What Are The Odds? The Calculus of Coincidence and All In?… Beware the Cross Currents. The works of fiction, set in 1983, revolve around two prominent families, the Wellingtons of Lexington, Kentucky, and the Cutters of Leesburg, Virginia, and their thoroughbred breeding and racing enterprises. In connection with their introduction, Mr. Hilliard has also launched a blog, ThoroughbredRailbirds.Horse. A third novel in the Wellington/Cutter trilogy, Life’s Elusive Horizon, is planned for the winter of 2021-22. His first effort with Outskirts Press, The Circus Is In Town: A Baseball Odyssey, chronicled his real-life Field of Dreams story in which he was the central figure in bringing professional baseball back to New Jersey in the mid-’90s. A limited number of copies have been made available in the alumni author section of the UVA Bookstore.
Douglas Varley (Col ’83, Law ’94 CM)
Douglas Varley (Col ’83, Law ’94 CM) was named president of the law firm Caplin & Drysdale in September 2020.
Kyle Elliott (Col ’07)
Kyle Elliott (Col ’07) announced his candidacy for the democratic nomination for the Virginia House of Delegates 68th District. He writes: “I am excited for this next step in my public service and I welcome conversations, support, and enthusiasm, from the UVA community. People can find out more about my campaign from my website or email kyleelliott@kyle4va.com. I am on Twitter @Kyle4va.
Kyle Davis (Col ’12)
Meredith Loretta (Col ’12, Law ’17) and Kyle Davis (Col ’12) were married on Aug. 29, 2020, surrounded by their close family and wedding party in a micro-ceremony at the Carlyle House in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Meredith is a securities associate at WilmerHale in Washington, D.C., and Kyle is head of corporate development at a software company. They live in DuPont Circle with their rescue beagle-chihuahua mix, Beaux.
Top