Barbara Veneri (COM’71) of Fairhaven, Mass., is entering her third year in the master’s in professional writing program at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and is teaching business communications there. This summer she directed the youth sailing program at the Edgewood Sailing School in Providence, R.I. E-mail Barbara at bveneri@umassd.edu.

Michael Franco (COM’72) of Santa Fe, N.M., was named vice chancellor for development and public relations at the North Carolina School of the Arts on June 7. He was previously the vice president of college advancement at St. John’s College in Santa Fe.

Craig Lucas (CFA’73) of Putnam Valley, N.Y., premiered his show The Singing Forest at Seattle’s Intiman Theater in July.

Ivan Schwartz (CFA’73) of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Studio EIS, his three-dimensional design and sculpture studio, created a life-sized bronze sculpture honoring Bob Newhart. Newhart was at the July 27 ceremony unveiling the sculpture, which was commissioned by the cable channel TV Land and the city of Chicago. It will temporarily be on the sidewalk in front of the building at 430 North Michigan Avenue seen in the opening credits of the classic series The Bob Newhart Show . In November it will be moved to Navy Pier. Studio EIS also created The Andy Griffith Show statue, unveiled in Raleigh, N.C., in October 2003.

David Garrison (CFA’74) of New York, N.Y., starred in the season finale of the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series, The Wit and Wisdom of Ira Gershwin, in June. He also performed in a 10-minute musical by his friend Norman Weiss at the Samuel French Film Festival. In July, he starred in the world premiere of The Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (CFA’73) at Seattle’s Intiman Theater.

F. Walt Bistline (LAW’75) of Houston, Tex., displayed his photographs of South Padre Island’s Laguna Madre at Michaeline’s Upstairs Gallery in Alabama. He also participated in the University of Houston’s 2004 master of fine arts thesis exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery in March and April. Write to him at wbistline@houston.rr.com.

Paul Backalenick (SED’76) of New York, N.Y., founded Nexxite, a Web site design company, when he left Wall Street following 9/11. His new business is growing steadily and serves consulting firms, artists, and fashion companies. Write to Paul at pback@nexxite.com.

Beth Levin (CFA’76) of Brooklyn, N.Y., is a professional pianist. She performed in the Balkans and in New York over the last year, including two recitals at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. E-mail her at beth.levin@worldnet.att.net.

Linda Amos (SED’77, SON’77) of Salt Lake City, Utah, was honored in May by Consociates, an auxiliary of the Salt Lake City Assistance League, for her work with the community. Linda currently is associate vice president for health sciences and a professor of nursing at the University of Utah. She has devoted more than 35 years to nursing education and was previously dean of the University of Utah’s College of Nursing.

Bruce Herman (CFA’77,’79) of Gloucester, Mass., received a $150,000 grant from two foundations for his project A Broken Beauty, a touring exhibition of 14 artists from the United States and Canada debuting in Orvieto, Italy, at the Palazzo dei Sette in May and June 2005. A book of the same title will be published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing in May 2005. The hardbound coffee-table art book features an essay by prominent art historian Timothy Verdon. For more information, visit Bruce’s two Web sites at www.abrokenbeauty.com and www.brucehermanonline.com.

Deborah Popkin Schuster (COM’77) of Agoura Hills, Calif., was elected first chairperson of the Accessible Media Industry Coalition executive committee. The coalition is a recently formed association of captioning companies throughout the United States. Deborah is the executive vice president and general manager of Closed Captioning Services. She lives with her husband, Robert, and their two children, Kaitlin and Cole.

Andrew Rader (SMG’78) of Randolph, N.J., has been elected president of the Union County Chapter of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA) for a one-year term that began June 1. Andrew, a partner at Summit CPA Group, joined the NJSCPA in 1983.

George Scontas (COM’78, CGS’76) of Nashua, N.H., is a producer and director with the video production company Jupiter Productions. Jupiter recently received eight industry awards for creative excellence, including four Telly Awards and four Communicator Awards for videos produced for Hewlett-Packard, BAE Systems, and MatrixOne.

Ryff Wolf (CFA’78) of Thousand Oaks, Calif., received a master of arts in management from the University of Redlands on May 29.

Scott Biron (SED’79) of Norfolk, Mass., was named Grassroots Champion of the Year by the U.S. Tennis Association. He is a full-time physical education instructor in the Acton, Mass., public schools and assists the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education lobbying Congress to make after-school physical activity a priority.

Kathleen Driscoll (CFA’79) of Medford, Mass., participated in the Forest Hills Educational Trust’s summer exhibition ReVisited, at historic Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain. She discussed her work, Blue River Rock 2 , during the artists’ talk on July 18. She has created previous site-specific installations and sculptures for the location. More information about her work can be found at www.foresthillstrust.org. E-mail Kathleen at kdriscoll@mountida.edu.

Donna Hogan-Kelley (SAR’79) of Omaha, Neb., published an article, “The Use of the Robnett Home Safety Assessment in Acute Care,” in the March 8 issue of OT Practice. Contact her at donnahkelley@att.net.

Andrea Taylor (COM’79) of Newton, Mass., left her position as president of the Benton Foundation in January to join the Education Development Center, where she is vice president and director of the new center for media and community. Andrea had been president of the Benton Foundation since October 2001 and is the founding partner of Davis Creek Capital, a private equity fund. She is a former journalist with the Boston Globe and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.