Class Notes

Mackenzie Karnes Duncan (Col ’17 CM) and her husband, William Earnhardt Duncan, welcomed their first baby, William “Hales” Duncan on March 9, 2025, weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. and stretching 20.5 inches long. Mackenzie sings the “Good Old Song” to Baby Hales as his evening lullaby.

Joelle Jefcoat (Arch ’01) has been named chief legal officer of Perkins&Will, a global architecture and design firm. Jefcoat has spent over two decades with the company, first as an architect and then as a member of the legal team. Perkins&Will is recognized for its innovative and sustainable architecture practices.

Jason Sisney (Col ’95 CM) published his article, “California’s Olympic Financial Failure: The 1960 Winter Games,” in the Journal of Olympic History in May. Seven years of research went into his analysis. Sisney is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians and is a senior staffer for the California State Assembly. He advises elected assemblymembers on the state budget and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Michael Huffstetler (Arch ’87) was sworn in as the 106th national president of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). He will lead the National Leadership Team and the SAME Board of Direction in overseeing the governance and strategic efforts of the society, its 25,000 members and 1,500 member companies, and over 100 posts and field chapters around the world. The Society of American Military Engineers is dedicated to patriotism and national security, and seeks to connect engineering professionals from public and private sectors.

Cathy Delligatti (Nurs ’75) is partially retired and working remotely. She spent her career as a chief nursing officer and an interim consultant in nursing and quality. She is using her retirement to quilt, garden, cook and visit her seven grandchildren. This year, she and her husband will celebrate 49 years of marriage.

William Brockschmidt (Arch ’86 CM) is proud to announce that his design firm, Brockschmidt & Coleman, LLC was awarded the 2025 Arthur Ross Award for Interior Design given by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA). The Arthur Ross Awards were established in 1982 to recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition of art and architecture. The awards ceremony was held on May 12, 2025 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Brockschmidt & Coleman was established in 2001 and has offices in New York City and New Orleans.

Bruce Woodruff (Col ’64) played with professional tennis players Kim Clijsters, Leylah Fernandez, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey in the Bea for Kids Champions Challenge in Orlando. The charity tennis tournament raises funds for children with complex medical issues.

Kara O’Brien Cox (Col ’89 CM) published her debut novel, Another Summer, under her pen name Kara Kentley. A second chance contemporary romance, Another Summer follows Avery, who returns to the Maine lakeside resort where she worked in college and comes face to face with her first love, Miles, who ghosted her after breaking her heart a decade ago. As they work together to help a friend, Avery begins to question everything she thought she knew about Miles, their past, her future and herself.

Cox and her husband, James P. Cox III (Law ’83) reside in Charlottesville.

Clare Short (Educ ’12) released her debut children’s book, Bo the Boat, this spring. A pediatric speech-language pathologist and mother of three young children, Short wrote this lift-the-flap board book to support early speech and language skills for young children. Readers will join Bo and his trusty companion, Captain Mo, as they cruise through the sparkling waves, embarking on a bustling workday full of surprises and friendly faces. With charming illustrations by Paula Rodriguez and engaging rhymes, Bo the Boat is the perfect voyage for curious minds ages 0-3. Short lives with her husband, Chris Short (Engr ’08, ’12), in Atlanta, where they cheer on the Wahoos with their children.

Thomas Fraser Pettigrew (Col ’52) published his 11th book, Anti-Black Racism in America: Is it Declining? with Oxford University Press. The book examines the ways systemic racism is perpetuated in America, with a particular focus on housing segregation.

Pettigrew’s career in academia began under the mentorship of the late Professor Frank Finger of UVA. Pettigrew went on to attain his doctorate in social psychology at Harvard University. He later taught and researched at the University of California at Santa Cruz, with stints in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa.

Joel G. Weinberg (Col ’01) is pleased to announce the opening of Precision Counsel, APC, which focuses on real estate litigation and business litigation. With over 15 years of hands-on litigation experience, he has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in both jury and bench trials and has litigated a variety of claims including related to real property, business disputes, personal injury, and consumer law. Weinberg is admitted to practice law in the California state courts as well as the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Ashley Cinalli-Mathews (Col ’05) and Erin Campbell (Col ’05) are co-directors of Central Virginia Community Justice (CVCJ), a nonprofit in Charlottesville that offers restorative services to the community. The program started in 2022 as a pilot program, initiated by Shannon Pollock (Law ’14), in partnership with the County of Albemarle and City of Charlottesville. CVCJ is now a freestanding organization with a demonstrated history of success in promoting justice, healing, and safety. CVCJ diverts criminal cases in which the harmed person (victim) and responsible person (defendant) voluntarily choose restorative justice (RJ) over typical prosecution. CVCJ additionally provides restorative justice facilitation for non-criminal harms or harms that those involved prefer not to report to the police. CVCJ has recently expanded to offer restorative services in Charlottesville City Schools, which has been a fruitful and fulfilling partnership. Cinalli-Mathews, Campbell and their staff provide presentations and trainings about restorative practices to organizations.

Caroline Massie-DeJarnette (Col ’13 CM) and Richard DeJarnette (Com ’13 CM) welcomed their second child, Leon Henry DeJarnette, on March 1, 2025. Leon joins big brother Hugh, and is the grandson of William Elliott DeJarnette (Col ’73 CM) and Barbara Jeanne DeJarnette (Educ ’78, ’82 CM). The family lives in Richmond.

Scott Gleason (Col ’72 CM) was recently named to the Board of Directors of the Free Yezidi Foundation USA, a D.C.-based NGO promoting the human rights and well-being of Yezidis in Iraq and their diaspora in the aftermath of the 2014 genocide perpetuated by ISIS. Gleason recently retired after 27 years with Goldman Sachs & Co.

William Mell Griffin III (Col ’79 CM) has been named the 2025 Outstanding Lawyer of the Year by the Arkansas Bar Foundation and the Arkansas Bar Association. He is a partner at Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP, where he serves as vice chair of the firm’s management committee and leads the litigation practice group.

Lisa Filemyr (Engr ’02 CM) was honored as a Luminary award recipient by the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. The award recognizes senior-level women who serve as a role model in their company, actively mentor and sponsor others, help advance other women’s careers and exhibit dedication to the healthcare industry. Filemyr is the executive director of engineering at epocrates, a company under the athenahealth umbrella, that develops software to aid medical professionals. At athenahealth, she champions diversity, supports employee resource groups and advocates for women in STEM.

Greg Hansard (Col ’03) published his second book, Virginia Cider: A Guide from Colonial Days to Craft’s Golden Age (University of Virginia Press, October 2024). The book looks at the history and techniques of making the iconic Virginia beverage from the colonial era to today. Included in the book are a guide and map of all the cideries in the state. Hansard says that inspiration for the book came from a work experience in 2014 at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, where he worked in collaboration with breweries, meaderies and cideries to brew recipes from the museum archives.

Oneya Fennell Okuwobi (Col ’01 CM) released her first monograph, Who Pays for Diversity? Why Programs Fail at Racial Equity and What to Do about It with University of California Press, on March 18, 2025. Drawing on accounts of employees from across the workplace spectrum, from corporations to churches to universities, Who Pays for Diversity? details how the optics of diversity programs undermine the competence of employees while diminishing their well-being and workplace productivity. Okuwobi argues that diversity programs have been a costly detour on the path to racial justice, and getting back on track requires solutions that provide equity, dignity, and agency to all employees, instead of defending the status quo. Dr. Okuwobi is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati.

Corinna Barrett Lain (Law ’96) published Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection (NYU Press 2025). Based on seven years of deep research, this exposé takes readers into the notoriously secretive world of American executions, using shocking revelations about lethal injection to shine a light on the American death penalty more broadly. The story of lethal injection is a story of state law-breaking and cover-ups, fake science and torturous drugs, gross incompetence by woefully inept executioners, and a stunning indifference to the way prisoners die at the hands of the state. She examines all the ways that the state cannot be trusted with the power to take life, and all the ways it has tried to cover that up.

Lain is the S.D. Roberts & Sandra Moore professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Tyler B. Tassone (Engr ’10 CM) has been named a director at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, a prominent intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C. As one of five new directors, his company commends him for his skill and excellence in strategic counseling, portfolio management and prosecution of patent applications. Though he primarily handles medical device patents, he also has experience with clean and renewable technologies, as well as consumer projects. He studied chemical engineering at UVA, during which time he worked in a graduate research lab, before receiving his law degree from Villanova University.

Valerie I. Uduji (Col ’20 CM) has been admitted to the State Bar of Michigan. Uduji works for Warner Norcross + Judd, LLP., in their Detroit office. Her prior positions include internships with Justice Kyra Bolden in the Michigan Supreme Court and with a judge in Washtenaw County Trial Court in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received her law degree at Michigan State University after studying foreign affairs and anthropology at UVA.

Adam Ruffin (Arch ’02), Katie MacNelly (Arch ’02), and Danny MacNelly (Arch ’02) are proud to have their practice ARCHITECTUREFIRM featured in “A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South,” an exhibition at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., which celebrates contemporary architectural practices in the American South. Featuring over forty architecture firms, the exhibition examines how southern architects are responding to a diverse set of challenges, including natural disasters, rapid urbanization and changing cultural landscapes. The exhibition showcases innovation and functionality with a respect for the region’s heritage. Ruffin considers his time at UVA as being crucial to his understanding and love of southern architecture. “A South Forty” will be open to the public through 2026.

Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM) gave a presentation entitled “John Charles McNeill: Poet Laureate’s Home Songs” on Feb. 23, 2025, at the Scottish Heritage Center at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina. McNeill was the first recognized Poet Laureate in North Carolina and received the prestigious Patterson Cup for literature from President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. McNeill was Dr. Watson’s great uncle. The presentation can be found on YouTube.

William Cyrus Roger Clemo (Col ’14 CM) earned a Ph.D. in marine sciences on Dec. 15, 2024 from the University of South Alabama. Clemo is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.

Meena Khandelwal (Col ’85, Grad ’88, Grad ’95) has published her second ethnographic monograph, Cookstove Chronicles: Social Life of a Women’s Technology in India. It examines traditional, biomass-burning mud stoves, the women who build and use them, and the experts who have been trying to ‘improve’ them for decades. She answers the question of why so many Indian women continue to use wood-burning, smoke-spewing stoves when they have other options. Khandelwal, a professor of anthropology, recently won the 2025 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Iowa, her third teaching award.

Duncan Clarke (Grad ’70 CM) has published a new novel, Murder on the Appalachian Trail. The novel follows a criminal law professor who works with his beloved German Shepherd, a runaway teen and the FBI to solve a series of murders on the Appalachian Trail. Clarke, who has hiked the Appalachian Trail twice, draws on his experience and love of the trail in his writing. Murder on the Appalachian Trail can be found online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is published by Bell Isle Books. Clarke is a professor emeritus of international relations at American University and is a member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Ronnie Poff (SCPS ’12 CM) was initiated as the national president of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE), a co-ed business fraternity focused on professional development in sales, marketing and management. Poff is an associate professor at Virginia Tech.

Julie Kleckley Hummer (Col ’90 CM) was elected chairman of the Anne Arundel County Council in Maryland in December 2024. She represents 85,000 residents of District 4.

Walter Lee Fanning (Med ’70) has published Microbial Mysteries: A Rocky Road, under the pseudonym Lee F. Walters MD. Microbial Mysteries is the third release in a trilogy of semiautobiographical medical thrillers published by Friesen Press in Vancouver. The novel follows the Walter couple, whose medical careers are caught between an unstable associate and a mafia boss. It is available at various online book sellers.

Irwin Shur (Col ’80, Law ’83 CM) has just released his fourth solo album, “The Farther Away You Get, The Better I Look,” available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other music streaming services. He continues practicing law but focuses on his passion for music.

Dr. Richard Katholi (Med ’68 CM) has retired from the practice of medicine.  Over 56 years he trained in internal medicine, took care of troops in Vietnam for a year when in the United States Air Force, and then trained in and practiced cardiology. Over those years he published 167 research and review articles.

Kim Tuten Gallagher (Col ’84 CM) celebrates eight years of her Blue Book Essays national college coaching company. Her squad of five coaches includes two UVA grads, Kara Davis Cosby (Comm ’93 CM) and Nicole Borghard (Col ’11, Educ ’11). Blue Book Essays serves high school seniors at public and private schools nationwide, as well as applicants to law, medical, and business schools. A Blue Book student essay was featured on the Kelly Corrigan Wonders podcast. Kim also serves as a source for media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal.

Hayden Lee (Col ’04 CM) joined the Reston, Virginia, law firm of Hirsch & Ehlenberger as Of Counsel, where he will continue his Virginia and District of Columbia family law practice.

Rich Scher (Res ’90) will release his debut album, Mill Pond, in March. Scher transitioned into the world of music after a successful career as a physician to channel his passion for storytelling, using it as his new medium of healing. He crafts gritty folk and Americana songs inspired by his observations and connections with the many people and places he’s encountered throughout his life.

Scher is a former professor of surgery at Duke University and head and neck cancer surgeon who trained in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at UVA. He is based in North Carolina.

Daniel Frisch (Arch ’87 CM) has published Looking Forward to Monday Morning (ORO Editions 2025), a collection of essays. Frisch is an architect based in New York City and a member of the American Institute of Architects.