Class Notes
Painting with bicycles, jumping out of planes, renovating Victorian homes, publishing memoirs, conducting field studies….See what’s happening in the lives of CGS alums, and submit your class note to cgsalum@bu.edu.
1960s
Arlyne Elliott (CGS’61, Wheelock’63) would like to say “thank you” for the tools and self-esteem CGS gave her. After seven years of teaching and graduate school, she is an interior designer and has her own business. She lives in Southern California and loves what she does. She has two daughters and two grandchildren, and says “life is good.”
Harmony Prives (CGS’63, CAS’65) decided to scale back after a long lifetime of working. She lives in Columbia, Md., and is a part-time substitute teacher in the Howard County School System.
Judith Sockloff (CGS’63, Wheelock’65) is an antique dealer and has been in the business for the past 11 years, renting space in the Antique Mall Y’All in Palmetto Bay (previously in Miami, Fla.). Her husband, Nicolas Villar del Saz, retired from importing and is doing professional gardening, his old hobby. They have been living in Miami for the past 32 years, after having lived in Milan, Italy, for 9 years.
Jim Green (CGS’65, COM’67) is the general counsel of Graduate School USA, one of the nation’s largest professional development and adult education institutions, headquartered in Washington, D.C. Jim, a 1970 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, was an attorney and a senior executive with the federal government for more than 38 years, having litigated cases in more than 40 states before his retirement in 2007.
Sue William Silverman (CGS’66, COM’68) has published her fifth book, a memoir, The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew (University of Nebraska Press, 2014). A previous memoir, Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction (Norton), was made into a Lifetime TV original movie, and another book, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, won the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction. More information is here.
Sherry Weinstein (CGS’66, COM’68) is programs director of the Peace Education Program, a 10-week multimedia educational program. The curriculum consists of 10 free interactive workshops, each on a particular theme, which are nonreligious and nonsectarian. The purpose is to help participants discover their inner resources—innate tools for living, such as inner strength, choice, and hope—and the possibility of personal peace. It is offered on seven continents and is expanding rapidly. More than 121,000 people participated in 2013. Sherry was part of the team that created the curriculum for the course.
David Wluka (CGS’66, CAS’68, GRS’70) is president of Wluka Real Estate Corp. in Sharon, Mass., and has been a planning consultant since 1968 and a Realtor since 1976. As a member of the executive committee of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), he represented NAR at the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, in April 2014. In his current position at NAR, David is liaison to the committees on state and local issues, housing opportunity, and smart growth, all of which he has chaired in the past. He is also liaison to the diversity committee, and is working through it with the Asian, Hispanic, and African American professional real estate organizations. He has also been working on the Nowy Dwor Maz Jewish Memorial in Poland since 2009 and traveled to Poland in June 2014 for the dedication of the next phase of the project, a memorial to the Jews of Nowy Dwor who died in the Holocaust and for whom there are no graves. The organization invited representatives from the United States embassy to Poland, the Israeli embassy to Poland, the office of the president of Poland, the mayor of Nowy Dwor, and Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the Grand Rabbi of Poland. The ceremonies drew people from the United States, Europe, Israel, and South Africa. The organization also conducted a tolerance essay contest among high school students.
Jack King (CGS’67) writes, “Boys…it’s been many years. Love to hear from you.” He can be reached at jfking55@verizon.net.
John Barry (CGS’68) created a genre of painting, trAction Painting, in which he transforms bicycles, skates, and scooters into “brushes.” More information is here.
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1970s
Austin A. Duvernoy (CGS’73) writes, “Does anyone remember the Utopia Project from our CBS days? I still have our group’s copy. It’s an interesting read after 40 years!” He invites old friends to get in touch at aduvernoy@twcny.rr.com.
Christina Sarlo (CGS’73), aka Tina Dolan, earned a master’s degree in acupuncture in 2007 from Tai Sophia Institute, now Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH), in Laurel, Md. Christina maintains a private practice out of her home office in Kensington, Md., where she lives with her husband of 22 years. She recently added an office at Relaxing Alternatives, a wellness center in Gaithersburg, Md. Christina is also a clinical supervisor at MUIH. In 1975, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from American University in Washington, D.C., which she says “was nowhere near as exciting as Boston in the ’70s. A big shout-out to all the crazies from Buswell Street in the ’70s!”
Steven M. Weisberg (CGS’75, MET’77) has lived in Fort Myers, Fla., since graduation. He has had a commercial real estate and development business, RARCO Investment Properties, for many years, and he sits on the judicial board for the city of Fort Myers and on a country club board. He plays golf and notes that he has “tried or been involved in about every fun active hobby. Only jumped out of a plane once!” He has been a pilot for the last 30 years and owns a few small planes, which he uses for business and travel. He “would love the opportunity to talk to anyone who remembers me from those days” and welcomes old friends to contact him at rarco@msn.com.
Jai Hudes (CGS’76) writes that he has experienced “a global search… for myself,” during which he traveled to Europe and then to California, where he has been living since 1983. He invented a game of life platform titled “eXperience—the GAME.” He notes that he and his wife, Shanti, “turned our house into a Be and Be Well Flotation Center, which is evolving into a sustainability center with the introduction of our Solar-Aquaponic Yoga Dance Studio that includes a self-regulating aquaponic system converted from our old hot tub.” Jai notes that the business is “one part B&B, one part wellness center, and now one part ‘thrival center,’” and they enjoy meeting the world travelers who stay with them.
Ginny Sandler Berg (CGS’76) credits CGS with teaching her the value of working with others as a team. She has been a speech language pathologist for 16 years at the same middle school and writes that she often reflects on the capstone project, “where our small group of individuals with different backgrounds worked together to develop a single culture that may improve our future society. This was only possible when we pulled together to create our group’s idea of a utopian society that could exist, one day.” She is reminded of capstone in her position at the middle school, where she “works within our single school culture to help students meet their goals” and serves as a resource for her colleagues.
1980s
Jeff Miller (CGS’81, Questrom’83) of Needham, Mass., has been an educational sales consultant at Houghton Mifflin for the last 10 years. He has been married for 25 years to Amy Pack (Questrom’86) and has two children, Dana, 19, a freshman at the University of Vermont, and Jason, 17, who will apply to CGS in 2015. Jeff would like to give a “shout-out to my former CGS classmate from Milton, Mass., and all-around superstar, Leigh Vaughn.”
Elissa Altman’s (CGS’83, CAS’85) new book, Treyf: A Love Story of Hunger and Transgression, will be published by Berkley, a division of Penguin Random House, in fall 2015. The paperback edition of her critically acclaimed first memoir, Poor Man’s Feast, will be released by Berkley at the same time. Altman is also a finalist for the James Beard Award.
Paula Bellavia Kinsey (CGS’83, Questrom’85) of Hamilton Square, N.J., is married with three daughters. She is an investment advisor representative with DFG Financial Group.
David Dorfman (CGS’86, CAS’88, LAW’91) and his wife, Tsui Chi Kao, are expecting a baby girl in September.
Martha Shaw (CGS’86, CAS’89) of Hartford, Conn., is a defense attorney for a midsize law firm specializing in employment and civil rights litigation. Martha notes that she and Dave are in the process of renovating a Victorian home in Hartford’s West End. They plan to sell the house one day and move closer to the shore. She writes, “Life is good!” Martha welcomes her long-lost friends to email her at marthashaw@hotmail.com.
Laura A. De Veau (CGS’87, COM’89, Wheelock’95) was appointed vice president for student affairs at Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass. She welcomes old friends to email her at deveautrain@mac.com.
Kiley (Swope) Ki (CGS’89, COM’91) is the advertising account manager at VC Life & Style magazine in Ventura, Calif., and will become head of advertising and director of marketing and events for the magazine in January 2015. She writes, “It’s great to be doing what I was originally educated to do at BU in COM.” Previously, she was assistant to the president of television and television animation at Disney and owner of a landscape design business in Los Angeles. She also wrote and recorded an album with Peter DiStefano of the band Porno for Pyros.
1990s
Michael Polin (CGS’90, COM’92) is the communications and marketing coordinator for the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Bradenton, Fla. Michael has been married for 17 years; he and his wife, Mary, have a 12-year-old son, Erik.
Tracy Paul (CGS’91, COM’93) is CEO of Tracy Paul & Company Inc., a brand development and public relations agency, which celebrates 18 years in business this year. Tracy lives in Tribeca, N.Y., and Litchfield, Conn., with her husband, John, and two sons, Maxwell and Henry. She writes that she “misses Boston and the University always.”
Kerrin (Rocha) Thompson (CGS’91, COM’93) married Academy Award–winning screenwriter Ernest Thompson on December 25, 2012. She is president of her husband’s business, managing his innumerable projects for theater, film, and music, and serves on the board of BER Inc., the corporate branding company she founded in 2004. Learn more here.
Kevin F. Sanderson (CGS’94, CAS’96) married the former Caitlyn Miller in their hometown of Sarasota, Fla., in December and honeymooned in the Caribbean. In 2011, Kevin formed Merritt & Sanderson, P.A., a full-service law firm in nearby Osprey, Fla.
Lucia Lee (CGS’95, COM’97) is the director of PR programs at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
Scott Neufville (CGS’95, COM’97) performed in Against the Jab, a film that premiered in Boston on April 11, 2014. Learn more here. Scott writes that he hopes all is well with his old friends.
Amanda Dubin (CGS’96, COM’98) published her first novel, Assassins Wall, a contemporary action adventure ride through Paris. Assassins Wall is available on Amazon. Learn more here.
2000s
Kerin (O’Reilly) Smith (CGS’00, COM’02) married Trevor Smith on December 14, 2013, in Los Angeles, Calif. Courtenay Hollington (CGS’00, COM’02) and Lolita Verny-Acosta (COM’02) were among the wedding guests.
Tristan Zimmerman (CGS’02, COM’04) of New York, N.Y., has been the senior digital producer at The Wendy Williams Show for the past five seasons.
Jo Anne Barrameda (CGS’05, COM’07) married Gareth McCusker at Capitale in New York, N.Y., on May 18, 2012. They recently celebrated the birth of their son, Tristan, on March 10, 2014. Jo Anne returns to PricewaterhouseCoopers from maternity leave this summer as a public relations executive with the firm’s US media relations team in the New York office.
Benjamin Bryant (CGS’05, CAS’07) and his wife, Anna (COM’08), moved to their new home in Alexandria, Va., last year, and have a Brittany spaniel named Fenway. Benjamin enjoys being close to his brother Will (CGS’03, COM’05) and Will’s wife, Debbie, who are only a quick drive away in New Castle, Del. Benjamin currently supports the Pentagon as a warranted DOD contracting officer.
Aliza Waxman (CGS’05, COM’07) relocated to Durban, South Africa, in September 2013. She is a Fogarty-Fulbright Public Health Fellow, working at the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) to understand the high rates of HIV infection in young women in KwaZulu-Natal. She works on the CAPRISA008 trial, which looks at the safety and acceptability of Tenofovir gel, a microbicide for preventing HIV in women, in family planning clinics in KwaZulu-Natal. Aliza is also conducting an ethnographic field study that examines the sexual life histories of young women ages 15 to 19 in KwaZulu-Natal in order to understand how these experiences can inform the introduction of microbicides and other female-controlled preventive measures in this population. After she completes her fellowship, Aliza plans to pursue a PhD in public health, with the goal of leading efforts to develop sustainable and equitable solutions for the delivery of critical health services to marginalized and vulnerable women. Previously, she worked in the National Institutes of Health’s office of AIDS research.
Nicole Falvey (CGS’06, COM’08) earned an MBA in supply chain management from Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School in May 2014. She works at Havas Media in Boston, Mass., and is pursuing her Project Management Professional Certification.
Barbara Rodriguez (CGS’06, COM’08) just completed her first year as a reporter in the Des Moines, Iowa, bureau of the Associated Press. She has worked for the company in various capacities and in multiple bureaus since graduating from BU. She can be reached at bcrodriguez@ap.org.
Tara Ruccolo (CGS’06, COM’08) married David Reardon (Questrom’07) on October 5, 2013, at St. Gertrude’s Catholic Parish in Chicago, Ill. They had been dating for eight and a half years at the time of their wedding. Tara writes that they met at BU in 2005 “at a frat party the first weekend back after winter break, when it snowed over three feet. It was fate that we met that snowy night, and we couldn’t be happier to marry each other.” The bridal party consisted of many BU alums, including Priya Gonsalves (SAR’07), who was the maid of honor, Adam Goldberg (Questrom’07), who was the best man, bridesmaids Margaret (Hartley) Miller (COM’08), Reena Dalal (CGS’06, COM’08), and Sarah Reardon (Wheelock’10), and groomsmen Amar Mehta (Questrom’07) and Mike Swofford (Questrom’07).
Shwetika Baijal (CGS’07, UNI’09) is campaign director for Pacific Resources Partnership, a labor advocacy consortium representing the carpenters’ union. She will be working on independent expenditure political campaigns in Honolulu, Hawaii, for the 2014 election cycle.
Elysse Magnotto-Cleary (CGS’07, CAS’09) and her husband, Sean Cleary, welcomed their first child, Andrew Herman Cleary, on March 19, 2014. Elysse is chief of staff for Massachusetts Senator Dan Wolf (Cape & Islands) and is finishing a master’s degree in conflict resolution at University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Ashley McKeone (CGS’08, COM’10) has accepted a position as interactive studio artist at The Agency Inside in Yardley, Pa.
Ian Clark (CGS’09, CAS’11) of Baltimore, Md., earned a master’s degree from Columbia University in May 2012. He recently celebrated his second anniversary working as a data scientist at the startup RedOwl Analytics based in Baltimore. In that time, RedOwl has grown from 8 employees to 26, won the 2013 Invest Maryland competition, and was named Most Innovative Company at the 2014 RSA Security Conference.
Carlos Rey (CGS’11, Questrom’13) recently moved to New York, N.Y., to work in the strategy and analysis department at DigitasLBi.
Gunita Singh (CGS’12, CAS’14) works for US Representative Anna Eshoo. She writes that the opportunity to “see firsthand the complexities of our political system has been nothing short of illuminating. I love being in a high-throughput, fast-paced environment where I’ve had the pleasure of learning so much.”