Class Notes

Greg Coxson (Col ’80) has published his first book, Optimal-Peak-Sidelobe Polyphase Codes, co-authored with long-time collaborator Jon Russo, and published by ArTech House. Coxson is a research engineer at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), where he teaches electrical engineering courses. Prior to working at USNA, he worked as a radar systems engineer at Hughes Radar, Lockheed Martin and the Naval Research Laboratories in Washington, D.C.

Sara A. Austin (Col ’87 CM) was granted fellowship in the College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL), which provides a forum for the exchange of information among experienced legal professionals working for the advancement of community association governance. Austin, who is the founder of Austin Law Firm, earned this national recognition due to her outstanding leadership and commitment to the advancement of the legal principles and practical tools necessary for community associations to thrive. Among other professional positions, Austin is a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

David Powers (Law ’82) published his memoir, Power Lines: My American Story, recounting his youth in Washington, D.C. and his career which took him around the globe. The memoir started as a collection of light-hearted anecdotes shared with friends and evolved into an exploration of inherited personality traits based on over 200 years of family history, observations on America’s shifting political and social values, and a healthy dose of humor. Power Lines was edited by Dallas editor Nina Flournoy and published by NFES Publishing in Dallas.

Spencer Francis (Engr ’03 CM) celebrated 22 years with Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ: BWMN) and commemorated Bowman’s 30th anniversary by ringing the NASDAQ opening bell with other Bowman leaders. Francis has helped grow Bowman from a regional Washington, D.C.-based engineering firm into one of the top multidisciplinary design firms in the United States. Francis is currently executive vice president and division manager at Bowman. He and his wife, Kirsten (Dodd) Francis (Col ’03 CM) live in Richmond with their three daughters.

Austin Palmore (Col ’15, Com ’16 CM) recently completed a two-year clerkship at the Court of Appeals of Virginia, where he was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Randolph A. Beales (Law ’86 CM). Palmore is now a litigation associate with the broad-based civil practice law firm Christian & Barton, LLP in Richmond, Virginia.

Ted Weihe (Arch ’79) published his book, What Is Lost with the Demise of USAID: Personal Reflections. The book discusses what is lost with the demise of USAID, reflecting on its impact on American leadership, poor and rural communities and humanitarian relief efforts. It includes chapters covering the voter registration campaign in Chile that defeated Pinochet and the successful formation of cooperatives in Poland, Albania, Barbados, South Sudan and Uganda. Weihe has written 12 self-published books which cover ancestry, sailing, chocolate and cooperative development, among other topics.

Randy Stephens (Arch ’86 CM) retired from a fulfilling, 40-year career in architecture. His career began with WRT, a Philadelphia-based, multi-discipline firm responsible for the design of the Atlantic City Convention Center and Rail Terminal. After 15 years in private practice, he transitioned to higher education, serving as campus planner and project manager for Miami University, and then as university architect for Montana State University. Stephens concluded his career as planning manager for the state of Montana, preparing the portfolio of capital projects for the governor’s budget. Along the way, Stephens was a visiting instructor at Miami University, was named honorary Coach of the Week by the late football coach Terry Hoeppner, and presented at national and regional meetings for the American Institute of Architects and the Society for Collegiate and University Planning. His plans for retirement are to stay connected, to explore, to learn and to serve, including being an A-School alumni mentor this year! Stephens and his wife, Barb, live with their two dogs in Jefferson City, Montana, where he has spent much of his free time hiking and catch-and-release fishing for trout.

Nakita Reed (Arch ’06) and Ryan McEnroe (Arch ’09) have both been promoted to associate principal at Quinn Evans, an award-winning national design firm.

Reed’s past projects include the revitalization of Baltimore Penn Station. She is also the host of the Tangible Remnants podcast, which seeks to demystify the process of transforming historic buildings into thriving spaces that honor the past while serving the present. She is a member of the Association for Preservation Technology, a co-chair of the of the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings, and a past president of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.

McEnroe has contributed to the design of the Bird House at the National Zoological Park and the National Native American Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian, both in Washington, D.C., for the Smithsonian Institution. He was elevated to the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows in 2023, is a member of the National Architectural Accrediting Board and is a co-founder of AIA|DC’s Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program.

Will Overman (Col ’17) releases his second record, Stranger, September 26, and will tour Virginia with the band Holy Roller in November, making stops in Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Norfolk and Charlottesville. Singles on the album include “Virginia is for Lovers,” “Held Up by a Woman” and “Landlocked Heart.” Much of his record was inspired by and written in Virginia during a tumultuous time in his life. Overman, a working singer-songwriter, is currently based in Nashville, but he grew up in Virginia Beach and spent many years in Charlottesville, giving him a lifelong love of both Virginia’s coastlines and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jena Crisler (Col ’86) is running for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 35. She is campaigning against assaults on civil rights, the repeals of women’s rights to bodily autonomy, the lack of due process, and budget cuts designed to eliminate basic health care. Crisler has a 25-year career as an internal medicine physician and seeks to use her experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the healthcare landscape to make a difference. She has been endorsed by the Virginia Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Democratic Party of Virginia Rural Caucus. Virginia District 35 includes large swaths of Augusta County and Rockingham County, as well as parts of Bath County and Highland County.

Peter M. Page Jr. (Col ’88 CM) and his daughter, Anne Page (Col ’17, Darden ’23 CM) celebrated their 60th and 30th birthdays at Grand Teton summit August 10. Joining them were fellow ‘Hoos Lyons Brown (Col ’82, Darden ’87 CM), Kayde Schwabacher (Col ’19 CM), Emma Whelan Page (Grad ’22, ’26), John Hughes Page (Col ’20), Valerie Newton Page (Col ’88 CM) and Turner Bredrup (Col ’88, Darden ’94 CM).

Deborah E. Sheetenhelm Hammond (Arch ’82 CM) has been selected as the regent of the William Henshaw chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Hammond traces her ancestry to Peter Mantz of Frederick, who aided independence efforts in the Revolutionary War. She has also recently become a member of the Captain James Gibson chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812, being descended from soldiers who fought in the War of 1812.

Hammond continues her second career as a novelist, with a new novel, Death in a Perfect Village, due in the autumn. Her previous novel, Death in Lewes, is a murder mystery set in Lewes, Delaware. All of her novels are available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback versions.

Lewis “Sandy” Rock (Col ’66, Med ’70, Res ’72 CM) published a memoir, The ADHD MD — A 70’s Memoir. Written over a period of thirty or forty years, the book begins with the author’s honorable discharge from the Medical Corps of the U.S. Navy as a conscientious objector before covering his decade as a physician in a U.S. Navy hospital, a rural Virginia pediatric mobile clinic, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and ultimately the Appalachian portion of Southwest Virginia. Along the way, he built a house, raised two sons and twenty-two Great Danes, made house calls on horseback, got divorced, got married, got divorced again, and picked and grinned on guitar and banjo with a group of locals and “local outsiders.” Central to the book is the author’s experience with ADHD, as he gradually realizes how the disorder both benefitted and challenged him throughout his journey.

Daniel Cooper (Col ’00, Law ’05) has joined Sterlington as a partner and head of its private wealth practice. Cooper is known for his deep experience advising clients on wealth preservation, estate and gift tax planning, family business succession and philanthropy. He is recognized by the Chambers High Net Worth Guide for private wealth law in Pennsylvania.

Kenneth Malcolm Holland (Grad ’71) was awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State. He will travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in fall 2025 to complete a four-week project at the Institute for Advanced International Studies, an institution that trains diplomats, supports curriculum development in American studies and fosters institutional partnerships. Holland is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Utah and previously served as president of the American University of Afghanistan. He had previous Fulbright Awards in Japan and Burma (Myanmar).

Charlene Wang (Law ’15) will publish her debut novel, I’ll Follow You, in October through Mindy’s Book Studio, actress Mindy Kaling’s book and development imprint with Amazon Publishing. Wang’s psychological thriller explores the complex and dangerous friendship of two young women looking to escape their dead-end town.

Desmond Cormier (Col ’73) has retired from a 26-year career as an art teacher in Charlottesville City Schools. He and his wife are spending their retirement raising sheep, chickens and bees on their farm in Keswick, Virginia. Along with working on the farm, he is also working on a children’s book and teaching at the Center at Belvedere, a senior community in Charlottesville. Last year, he published a memoir, My Summer Vacation on the Cambodian Border, which explores his years as an adolescent in Vietnam.

Stephen C. Mercado (Col ’84 CM) recently published his second book, Japanese Spy Gear and Special Weapons: How Noborito’s Scientists and Technicians Served in the Second World War and the Cold War (Pen & Sword Military, 2025). He is also the author of The Shadow Warriors of Nakano: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Elite Intelligence School (Brassey’s, 2002), a dozen articles and several dozen book reviews on intelligence and other subjects.

Olyvia R. Christley (Col ’11, Grad ’17, ’22 CM) joined the faculty of Washington State University’s School of Politics, Philosophy, and Public Affairs as an assistant professor. She previously held a tenure-track line at Florida Atlantic University. Her research focuses on the intersection of nationalism, xenophobia and gendered attitudes and their influence on public opinion and political behavior across Europe and the United States.

Andrew Lee (Col ’85, Med ’89 CM) recently published his 14th textbook, Ophthalmology of Sports. Additionally, Lee’s daughter, Virginia Lee (Col ’26), an Echols Scholar, will be graduating next year.

Maxwell Greer (Darden ’21) joined the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) as a research staff member in the Science, Systems and Sustainment Division of IDA’s Systems and Analyses Center in Alexandria, Virginia. IDA is a nonprofit corporation that operates three federally funded research and development centers in the public interest to answer challenging U.S. security and science policy questions. Greer, before studying at UVA, earned his bachelor’s in computer science from James Madison University in 2011.

Trey Cox (Law ’95) has been named a finalist for Texas Lawyer’s Texas Lawyer of the Year. So far in 2025, he has helped secure over $3 billion in verdicts and dismissals on behalf of clients. On the plaintiff side, he led two high-profile trial wins: a $667 million jury verdict for Energy Transfer against Greenpeace and a $46 million compensatory award for Gala Capital Partners. On the defense side, Cox obtained two major summary judgment victories, defeating over $2 billion in securities claims against Energy Transfer and securing dismissal of $400 million in fraud claims against GE Vernova.

Daniel Barnes (Col ’92 CM) was nominated by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to serve as a judge of the New Jersey Superior Court. The New Jersey Senate confirmed the nomination on June 30, 2025. Barnes began judicial service on July 21, 2025. He is assigned to the Law Division, civil part, where he will hear primarily civil litigation matters.

Michael J. Hightower (Grad ’07) has written two biographies since 2021, both released to critical acclaim by the University of Oklahoma Press. At War with Corruption chronicles the career of former U.S. Attorney Bill Price, who spearheaded prosecutions of Oklahoma county commissioners in what became the most extensive case of public corruption in FBI history. Hightower’s subsequent book, Justice for All, tells the story of Dick T. Morgan, a frontier lawyer in Oklahoma Territory, six-term congressman (1909-20) and father of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who was ahead of his time in promoting fairness for all Americans. Hightower lives with his wife, Judy, in Charlottesville and Oklahoma City.

George M. Dougherty (Engr ’91, ’93 CM) wrote Beast in the Machine: How Robotics and AI Will Transform Warfare and the Future of Human Conflict, to be released by BenBella Books and distributed by Simon & Schuster in August. Booklist states that “Beast in the Machine is an incredible resource for raising public awareness and education around this revolution in warfare.” Dougherty is a senior military leader in U.S. Air Force science and technology and a consultant to companies facing disruptive change in their industries.

Adrian Talley (Educ ’86 CM) was named the 2025 DuPage County Regional Office of Education Educator of the Year and Administrator of the Year. Talley is currently in his sixth year as superintendent of Indian Prairie School District 204, the fourth largest school district in Illinois. He was recognized for his work in expanding mental health services, amplifying student voices and expanding STEM opportunities for students.

Patrick D. Melmer (Col ’12, Med ’17 CM), was promoted to associate program director of the General Surgery Residency at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is an assistant professor in the Division of Acute Care Surgical Services and also serves as the director of Surgical Simulation for VCU’s Center for Human Simulation and Patient Safety.

David Scott Thompson (Com ’01 CM) has joined the Atlanta office of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. as a partner in its litigation section. He will continue to represent corporate clients in all aspects of complex litigation, including trucking, premises liability and automobile accidents.

Justin Black (Col ’11), Will Gemma (Col ’11 CM) and Dietrich Teschner co-directed two documentary films about the James River in Virginia, Headwaters Down Part 1 and Part 2, which were recently picked up by Virginia Public Media and nationally by PBS. The two-part series follows their five-person crew as they paddle the entire 350 miles of the James River, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. The films highlight environmental disasters, lesser-taught history, camaraderie and misadventures along the way. Headwaters Down Part 1 screened during the Virginia Film Festival in 2023 to over 500 people in the Culbreth Theatre on Grounds. The series is now available to stream online via the PBS app and on the Headwaters Down website.

Sarah Rovang (Arch ’10 CM) wrote her book, Through the Long Desert: Georgia O’Keeffe and Frank Lloyd Wright, to be released by Rizzoli Electa in September. Though the two heroes of 20th-century art and architecture never collaborated, they maintained a friendship and mutual admiration, exchanging roughly two dozen letters during their lifetimes. This unique meditation on American artistic expression explores the nature of intellectual kinship, as well as home, place and material. Rovang includes a look at O’Keeffe’s time at UVA in the early 1910s, exploring the resonance of her campus watercolors with Wright’s renderings of the same period.

John M. Bowers (Grad ’73, ’78 CM) published his second novel, Legion of the Daggerstone, which follows a 21st-century analogue of J. R. R. Tolkien. His protagonist, an Iraq War combat veteran and UVA English professor, publishes a bestselling trilogy of fantasy novels, only in Charlottesville instead of Oxford. Bowers also published his most recent scholarly book, Tolkien on Chaucer, 1913-1959, with Oxford University Press.

Richard Chalkey (Darden ’24 CM) now serves as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs at the White House. He most recently worked on the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Chalkey had previously worked at the White House during President Donald Trump’s first term, first as the associate director of the National Economic Council, and later as the associate director of the Office of Legislative Affairs. Prior to his current role, he worked as the director of coalitions and policy for the Premium Cigar Association.

Peyton Hall (Arch ’74 CM) received the first Impact Award given by the University of Southern California Architectural Guild. He was honored for his four decades of dedication to the practice of historic architecture and enrichment of the cultural and civic fabric of Los Angeles. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a managing principal emeritus of Historic Resources Group in Pasadena, California, and an adjunct professor in the Heritage Conservation Program of the School of Architecture at USC.

Ross Micheletti (Col ’10) and Mary Wigge (Col ’10) celebrated their wedding with family and friends in Crozet, Virginia, on June 6. Wigge is the daughter of Maureen Aungier Wigge (Engr ’81 CM). The couple plans to travel to Japan in the fall for their honeymoon.

Eric Brown (Darden ’84) announced he is leaving his position as county manager in Washoe County, Nevada, which is the second-largest county in the state with a population of over 500k. He oversaw 3,100 employees and a $1 billion annual operating budget. He had been in the position since 2019. Brown plans to pursue other opportunities.

Latorial Faison (Col ’95 CM) will publish her poetry collection, Nursery Rhymes in Black, on July 15. Faison was awarded the 2023 Permafrost Poetry Book Prize, judged by renowned poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil, for the manuscript. Blending tradition, memory and resistance, Nursery Rhymes in Black reimagines familiar childhood rhymes through the lens of Black history and lived experience. The volume has received acclaim from some of the most esteemed voices in literature, including Joanne Gabbin, Judy Juanita, Glenis Redmond, Trudier Harris and Cedric Tillman, who praise Faison’s ability to transform the rhythmic echoes of youth into a resonant and necessary cultural reckoning.

Rachel Boate (Col ’09 CM) was hired as an assistant professor of art history in the department of art at Colgate University. She researches and offers courses on transatlantic modernisms.

Thornton Staples (Engr ’80) had his composition, “Symphony #1, in F major,” performed by the American Contemporary Classical Orchestra at the Miracle Theater in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2025.

Dan Reiter (Col ’00) published his debut collection of surf-themed non-fiction, On a Rising Swell, through the University Press of Florida in April. Kirkus Reviews awarded it a star, calling it “a surfing classic fit to sit beside John Long’s The Big Drop (1999) and William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days (2015).”

Christina Shawn (Educ ’08) published her children’s picture book: And Then Came You: When Families Grow Love Grows Too with Chronicle Books in April.

Families grow and change, but what if you like things just the way they are? What if you aren’t ready to welcome in a new parent, a messy pet, or a baby sister who cries a lot? Change can be scary, but even a full heart has room to grow.

Both hilarious and heartwarming, this endearing children’s book is a powerful tool for helping little ones understand that there are often silver linings to the changes life brings. Even when things are initially uncomfortable, an open heart paves the way and teaches us that a family can be full of love at any size.

Liz Garton Scanlon, author of Caldecott Honor winner All the World called Shawn’s book “A lyrical love letter, written to families of all shapes and sizes.”

Shawn received her master’s degree in reading education at UVA before becoming a reading specialist, literacy coach, and author. Originally from Long Island, New York, she now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, three kids, and two fuzzy bunnies.

For information about Shawn’s book tour and local events visit her website or follow her on Instagram.