Class Notes

Kamran Kowsari (Engr ’20) and Masoud Bashiri (Engr ’20) have founded UniversityCube, a social network platform for students and faculty designed to prioritize educational content and foster a supportive online environment conducive to learning and scholarly engagement. Unlike entertainment-focused social networks that can detract from academic focus, UniversityCube is a dedicated space for academic peers to connect, collaborate, and share knowledge. Created by students, for students, it aims to bridge gaps in academic connectivity and empower users to make informed decisions about their educational paths.

Key features include:

• Comprehensive university and course discovery worldwide.
• AI-powered tools like Ash, an assistant for writing assistance.
• Robust collaboration tools for students and educators.
• Opportunities to publish and share academic articles.
• Access to a global network of over 350,000 faculty and educators.

By leveraging AI and behavior analysis, UniversityCube helps prospective students connect with peers and professionals in their desired fields, ensuring they have the insights needed to choose their majors wisely and minimize regrets later on. It offers a unique platform where students, educators, and creators can thrive together, sharing knowledge and building meaningful connections that enrich their academic and creative pursuits.

Oscar R. Aylor (Col ‘62 CM) was honored by Appalachian State University in April with a lecture hall named in his honor in the ASU College of Health Sciences.  His career in health services management and policy included several senior hospital executive positions and university faculty appointments, including App State where he was the inaugural director of an undergraduate major in healthcare management from 1972 to 1981 in the university’s college of business.  This major has more than 1,500 alumni since its beginning, many of whom have had very successful careers of their own.  Aylor retired in 2018 and lives near Charlottesville, where he continues to serve as a member of the Hospital Ethics Committee at UVA Health. 

Susan Shapiro (Col ’10 CM) and husband Zach Shapiro (Eng ’09 CM) welcomed their second child and first baby girl Selma Finette on March 28, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Ed Offley (Col ’69) has been named Naval History magazine’s “2023 Author of the Year” by the U.S. Naval Institute for a series of articles on the Battle of the Atlantic, the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada, and a profile of a 100-year-old World War II battleship sailor.

Harry L. Thomas (Col ’76 CM) was inducted into the Arlington (Virginia) County Sports Hall of Fame in October 2022. He was inducted into the Washington-Liberty High School Sports Hall of Fame in January 2019. Thomas was co-captain of the UVA baseball team in 1976, was a second-team All-ACC pitcher in 1974, and made the All-ACC Academic team in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Thomas is still co-holder of the ACC record for strikeouts in a game, with 19 in 1974.

For the past 48 years, Thomas has been an agent and wealth management advisor for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. His son John Thomas (Col ’00) also pitched for the UVA baseball team.

John Warley (Law ’70 CM) was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by The Citadel on May 4, 2024, in recognition of his contribution to The Citadel War Memorial. Warley composed both the inscription that greets visitors to the Memorial as well as the narrative history of the college etched into the walls. He is also the author of a history of the school, Stand Forever, Yielding Never, The Citadel in the 21st Century.

Hayden Saunier (Col ’79 CM) has published her sixth collection of poetry, Wheel, out June 12 from Terrapin Books. Saunier’s work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, Pablo Neruda Prize, and has been published in journals such as Beloit Poetry Journal, diode, Pedestal, Plume, RHR, Thrush, and VQR, and featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writers Almanac. 

About Wheel, John Timpane writes,

“It’s a tight collection governed by theme and voice, but also by powerful formal means, especially repeated music and imagery, marked out in something like sonata form by those four “Wheels,” as sameness, otherness, repetition, singularity, and how and why whirl and interequilibrate. Gorgeous. This is the work of a poet at full throttle, full voice, persuading us to join her, farmer, actress, wife, child, adult, past, present, desirer/desired, wonderer, as she stands in winter suit of hand-me-downs amid a storm of beauty, loss, and bright abundance, feet in rubber boots, wheeled round, firmly grounded in chastening, gladdening splendor.”

Patricia A. Steenberg Leonard (Col ’88 CM) has been elected to the executive committee of the board of directors for the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.  The Armory Art Center provides art classes for artists of all ages and abilities, and is a premier space for exhibitions, art salons, lectures, and special events.  The Armory also provides healing arts programs, such as BraveHeARTS, which promotes the rehabilitation of military service veterans through the visual arts, and the Art of the Phoenix, which serves teens and young adults who have experienced past trauma by encouraging creative expression paired with arts therapy.  The board of directors is an all-volunteer board that supports and advances the mission of the Armory Art Center. Leonard has served on the board since 2021.

Lori Spiller (Educ ’99, ’20) has retired after 35 years of teaching in Hanover County, Virginia. Spiller served as a special education teacher for 14 years and, after completing her master’s degree in reading education at UVA, as a reading specialist for the past 21 years. She’s thankful to UVA for the program that guided the majority of her teaching career. Her plans for retirement include a beach home and a part-time job in a library or bookstore.

Sara Shukla (Col ’02, Educ ’06) has published her debut novel, Pink Whales, a story about marriage, secrets, escape, and deceptively tidy little lives. Sharp-witted and funny, it explores the complexities of a marriage amidst change, modern parenting, and the desire to fit in, no matter how old you are, and sometimes, no matter the cost.

Charlie is already feeling adrift when she relocates to an exclusive town in coastal New England with her mysteriously distant husband, Dev, and their young twins in tow. She hopes the move will recharge her stalled marriage, and she wants her kids to feel like they belong, even if she’s clearly a fish out of water herself. In a strange new world where summer is a verb and both the harbor and the partygoers are awash in a dizzying constellation of pinks and pastels, she’s never felt so confounded or alone. She’ll need more than a preppy handbook to find her way.

Then a trio of power moms―imposing, beautiful, and monogrammed―comes to the rescue, and Charlie clings to their attention like a life raft. As Dev pulls further away, Charlie dives into her newfound friends’ circle of yacht clubs, rivalries, and bizarre theme parties, hoping to find her sea legs. She even dares to cozy up to a hot, barefoot, and aggressively flirty local. But if she’s running from her problems at home, where exactly is she escaping to? Charlie is beginning to wonder. This ridiculous new normal―and her desire to be part of it―might just eat her alive.

Shukla is an editor for WBUR’s Cognoscenti, in Boston. You can find her writing at WBUR as well as the Los Angeles Review of Books, McSweeneys, and elsewhere. An alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, she lives in Massachusetts with her family.

Published by Little A, Pink Whales is on sale June 4.

“A satisfying romp through a New England enclave that’s not nearly as idyllic as it seems.”

―Kirkus Reviews

 “My house is a mess and my laundry piled to the ceiling, and it’s all Sara Shukla’s fault! I couldn’t put it down. PINK WHALES lets you go places you’re not invited, drink more than you should, and escape to the beach on nearly every page—what’s not to like?”

―Christine Simon, author of Patron Saint of Second Chances

“Pink Whales is a deep and delightful modern rom-com full of meaningful twists on love, redemption, family, and the meaning of home. A perfect read for the beach…or the yacht club.”

―Byron Lane, author of A Star Is Bored and Big Gay Wedding

“Pink Whales is a can’t-miss coastal romp where Charlie navigates the choppy waters of her new preppy town on a quest to save her marriage and bring her family together. I loved every page. Shukla has a gift for writing humor that hits deep while also exposing truth and the raw emotion that makes the story both relatable and unforgettable.”

―Rachel Barenbaum, author of Atomic Anna and A Bend in the Stars

“Sara Shukla’s Pink Whales is an equal parts hilarious and heartfelt portrait of class anxiety and late coming of age. With her irresistible dialogue and perfectly skewered characters, Shukla swept me into the seaside town of Rumford and all its preppy, pesky privilege. I loved reading this utterly delightful debut!” ―Liv Stratman, author of Cheat Day

Richard E. McDorman (Col ’94, Educ ’24 CM)) was awarded the degree of Education Specialist (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in English as a Second Language from the UVA School of Education and Human Development on May 19, almost 30 years to the day after his first degree from the University, a B.A. in Linguistics, with Highest Distinction, awarded in May 1994. The Ed.S. is McDorman’s fourth academic degree, along with an M.A. in Linguistics (University of Chicago) and an M.L.S. in Ancient Studies (University of Miami) in addition to graduate certificates in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Penn State), Spanish to English Translation (New York University), and General Translation (New York University).

McDorman serves as the chief academic officer of Language On Schools, a position he has held since 2016. He also works as a specialized contractor for the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation and is an independent translator, certified by the American Translators Association for translation from Spanish into English. Originally from Beckley, West Virginia, McDorman has lived in Miami since 1999.

Ginny Bowen Olson (Col ’98), president and founder of Brand Elements Coaching, has published her first book, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofits. Based on her role as adjunct professor of marketing for nonprofits in the Master of Public Affairs department at UNC-Greensboro for over a decade and from working with organizations in the civil society sector, this actionable guide is filled with tips and tricks to implement marketing strategy and grow brand awareness. It is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback and eBook.

Justin Humphreys (Col ’01) has won a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Book of the Year for his recent biography George Pal: Man of Tomorrow.

Natalie Morris (Col ’08, Law ’12 CM) and her husband Christopher Hanway welcomed identical twin girls, Kathryn and Clara Hanway, to the world on June 30, 2023. The family (including two greyhounds) lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Lois Waybill Alderfer (Nurs ’90, ’91) received the Founder’s Award from the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners. The award honors a member who has founded, pioneered, or made significant historical contributions to the shaping of the organization of the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners.

Alderfer is a family nurse practitioner who has practiced at the Blue Ridge Medical Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, since 1991. For the past seven years she has also served as chief medical officer. Alderfer is one of a few nurse practioners who have held the role of CMO within a FQHC. She was named Provider of the Year in 1995 by the Virginia Primary Care Association and Provider of the Year by the Virginia Community Healthcare Association in 2019.

Ashleigh J. Owens (Col ’06 CM) was named chief assistant district attorney of Richmond County, New York (Staten Island). She is the first woman to hold the position in the history of the county.