Class Notes

Charlotte Miller Russell (Col ’04 CM) opened Charlotte Russell Contemporary, a contemporary art gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 8, 2021 with a focus on underrepesented, emerging and mid-career artists. 

George Morrow (Engr ’83 CM) retired from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as acting center director in December 2019. He received NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, the same year. He joined ASRC Federal in January 2020 and is now vice president for robotic exploration and weather in the space operating group.

Yolanda Burrell Taylor (Col ’76) has published her seventh book of poetry; she writes as Y.B. Taylor. As an African American woman, her poetry provides insights, truths, history etc. of growing up and experiencing life in segregated and integrated America—the highs, the lows, the disparity the bias. She provides footnotes/endnotes to assist those who are unfamiliar with African American experiences, African American history and commonly used idioms in African American communities. Every poem is preceded by an epigraph, which provides insight into the focus of the poem. Taylor’s books of poetry are available through Amazon, her website, and the gift shop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. 

Victor Deupi (Arch ’86 CM) has published two new books. Cuban Modernism: Mid-Century Architecture 1940-1970, written with Jean-Francois Lejeune focuses on the modernist generation of Cuban architects active from 1940–70 and extols the national and international importance of their architecture and urban works. The second book, Stables: High Design for Horse and Home, produced with the publisher Oscar Riera Ojeda, and distributed by Rizzoli, showcases beautifully designed stables by contemporary architects and designers around the world.

Ben Mackovak (Darden ’07 CM) married to Catherine Banton on the shores of Lake Erie in September 2019. The couple celebrated with a wide cast of characters from the UVA classes of 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, who partied under the stars on a perfect summer night. The couple lives in Bratenahl, Ohio. 

Jack Sutor Jr. (Col ’69) has published a novel and a collection of short stories. Lovers in a Small Cafe is the second part of a novel about the hardships of living decently in a broken world surrounded by troubled people. Like Part I, The Ice Meadows, Lovers is published under the pen name Edmund Burwell. The short story collection, Thanksgiving, is published under his own name. All are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He can be reached at mattsdad284@gmail.com.

Robert A. Hilliard (Col ’74 CM) has published two novels, What Are The Odds? The Calculus of Coincidence and All In?…Beware the Cross Currents, as part of the Cutter/Wellington trilogy. The story centers around two rival families steeped in the rich tradition of thoroughbred racing—the Cutters of Leesburg, Virginia, and the Wellingtons of Lexington, Kentucky. Fellow UVA alums will gravitate toward TJ Cutter III, a 1974 graduate of Mr. Jefferson’s academical village. The third book in the series, Life’s Elusive Horizon, is slated for release in the first quarter of 2022. Mr. Hilliard’s first book was a memoir about bringing professional baseball back to NJ in the 1990s.

Anand Yang (Grad ’76) published a new book, Empire of Convicts. The book focuses on male and female Indians incarcerated in Southeast Asia for criminal and political offenses committed in colonial South Asia. A major contribution to histories of crime and punishment, prisons, law, labor, transportation, migration, colonialism, and the Indian Ocean World, the book narrates the experiences of Indian convicts, and shows how they exercised agency in difficult situations, fashioning their own worlds and even becoming “their own warders.” Yang brings long journeys across the ocean to life in a deeply researched and engrossing account that moves fluidly between local and global contexts.

Sharon Rubin Kressel (Col ’05, Med ’12 CM) is launching a new tech-enabled and patient experience-focused OB-GYN practice in Washington, D.C., Liv by Advantia Health, in March of 2021. She and her husband, Jason, live in Maryland with their two sons, Aaron, 2, and Max,1.  

John H. Zacharia (Col ’92, Law ’95 CM) founded Zacharia Law  in Washington, D.C., in June 2019. His practice centers on representing clients in matters involving intellectual property violations, cyber threats, domestic and international commercial litigation, and administrative law.  Before starting his firm, Zacharia spent more than 17 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, including 12 years as a federal prosecutor at the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Zacharia currently teaches intellectual property criminal law at the George Washington University School of Law.

Paul Hodskins (Col ’12 CM) earned a master’s degree with highest distinction in 2018 from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. That September, he married Katherine Jane Waro near Villanova University. Katie graduated from the Ithaca College Roy H. Park School of Communications and is a director of marketing at a global travel conglomerate. Paul and Kate now live in Leesburg, Virginia, where they recently purchased a home and hope to plant family roots. In 2021, Paul will mark ten years as a federal civil servant in foreign relations and national security.

Attison Barnes (Col ’15 CM) co-founded Captain Experiences, based out of Austin, Texas. The company aims to improve and streamline the booking process for outdoor sports guides, from fishing to rock climbing and more, to get “more people out of the office and off the couch and into the outdoors.” 

Catherine Donnellan Sanders (Col ’06 CM) and her husband, Kevin Sanders, welcomed their second child, Genevieve Rosemary, on Nov. 16, 2020. Genevieve joins big brother George. The family resides in Memphis, TN, where Dr. Sanders is a pediatric pulmonologist.