Fall 2006 Quarterly Class Notes

These are the class notes that will be appearing in the Fall issue of the Quarterly, subject to editing by the Quarterly staff. If you want to submit notes for the Quarterly, please email Cherilyn at smithcollege1999@yahoo.com.

*****

Smith 99ers enter the blogosphere at http://smithcollege99.blogspot.com/. You can visit the site and post your comments or become a contributor. Now, let’s see what else you’ve been up to…

Success seems to come naturally for Smithies such as Monique King-Viehland ’99 who is Senior Director of Small/Women/Minority Business Programs & Urban Development within the New Jersey Governor's Office of Economic Growth. Monique oversees the implementation of the State Economic Growth Strategy to grow small businesses- especially those owned by women and minorities- and encourage urban development. The position requires that Monique and her husband relocate to NJ from Southwestern Pennsylvania, so things are busy exciting! Stacey Caulk ’99 is living in DC and just finished up her second year at Georgetown Law and is a Summer Associate in the area of Environmental Law with the prestigious law firm of Skadden Arps. Stacey reports that Erika Pont ’99 and Laura Flores ’99 are also in the DC area; Laura is an attorney and Erika is in law school.

Graduate schools and wedding chapels across the nation have been filled with 99ers broadening their education and tying the knot such as Cora Davidson (neé Milhollin) ’99 who received a Master’s of Public Administration with a focus on nonprofit management from Portland State University. Cora resides with her husband, Jason and their two cats in their first home in Portland where she works as a grant writer for Cascade AIDS Project. Sarah Tolch ’99 married Andrew Tolch on September 2, 2005 in St. Louis, Missouri. Amy Fiorentino '99 was her maid of honor and Kate Ambrosio Jancsics '99 was a bridesmaid. They had a really great time and couldn't have asked for better weather! Sarah is working on a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from St. Louis University, teaching during the academic year, and running a horseback riding camp in the summer.

Khady Diouf ’99 was a Fogarty International Fellow from1999-2001 at the Harvard School of Public Health doing research on HIV in collaboration with a public hospital in Senegal. Khady published an article linking certain HLA types to susceptibility to HIV among a cohorrt of commercial sex workers in Senegal. Following this research, she earned an MD at Columbia University in New York. Khady is in residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Christi Smith ’99 finished a MA in Education Policy in May 2005 and started working on a PhD in Sociology at Indiana University and owns her own home in Bloomington.

Siobhan Molyneaux '99 has switched careers from teaching to paralegal work. After teaching Reading to grade and middle school children and teaching at both Nassau and Queensborough Community Colleges, Siobhan entered the Day Accelerated Paralegal Studies program at Queens College, earned a paralegal certificate in March 2005, and landed a job with a law firm in Queens. Kayla Pelter '99 is completing her last year at Indiana University School of Law. Laura Nimchek (née Toce) '99 is a doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Hartford in Hartford, Connecticut. Thanks to Laura for completing a two year term as Vice President of the Hartford Smith College Club and for serving currently as their Membership Chair. Best wishes as she defends her dissertation and proceeds to the internship she has secured at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital.

Zlatka Shishkova’99 received her MBA from Simmons College in Boston, is contracting as a Market Developer for Tom Snyder Productions, and is looking for a permanent marketing position. Her son is almost 3 years old now! Zlatka is looking forward to seeing her sister, Stanka Fitneva '96, who will be coming from Canada for her 10-year reunion. Tamar Brown ’99 is pursuing a PhD in Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After receiving her Masters degree three years ago, she is now working on her dissertation, a critical history of portable media technologies. Ellen Zitani ’99 is finishing up her first year as a doctoral student studying modern Italian women's history at the City University of New York.

Smithies are teaching the leaders of the next generation, and having some fun on the side, like Dana Brown '99 who teaches middle school math and science at the Gordon School in East Providence, Rhode Island. Dana finished her MAT at Brown University in 2005 and enjoys getting together with the Smith young alums in Providence every Wednesday for happy hour. Sacha (Alexandra) Luria-Smith '99 just finished student teaching and a teaching credential program and has started a tutoring business. Robyn Marasco ’99 has finished her PhD from UC Berkeley and will join the faculty of Williams College in the fall of 2007 as an assistant professor of political theory. Melissa Eblen Zayas ’99 received her PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Minnesota last year, and is now an assistant professor of physics at Carleton College in Northfield, Minesota. Melissa loves being back in a liberal arts setting similar to Smith, but says she never appreciated how much work those profs had to do, until she became one!

99ers love their new spouses… and their furry and feathered pets! Katie Cissell (neé Gardner)’99 attended UPenn veterinary school, where she met her would-be husband, and graduated in 2004. Then it was down to Charlottesville, VA, where Katie worked at an equine veterinary practice for a year. Katie became certified in veterinary acupuncture as well as equine craniosacral therapy. Derek and Katie got married in October 2005 with many Smithies in attendance (including friends, her mother, aunts, grandmother, and great aunt!). The happy couple currently live in Logan, Utah and are enjoying the hiking, biking, paddling, and skiing that this beautiful area offers and would love to meet up with any local Smithies. Alicia DiPietro ’99 has worked for Carter and Burgess as their corporate recruiter since graduation. Alicia recently married Jessica Johnson "JJ" DiPietro on April 9 in Northampton with Jennifer Grady '99 and Faith Wiens '00 in attendance. Alicia and Jessica reside in West Springfield, MA with their five dogs and five parrots.

And just when you thought that our class was conquering the country, we realize that actually, we have been conquering the world! Mei Chee '99 writes that she has finally relocated to Asia. Along the way she got married, survived Harvard's MBA program, and switched from asset management to consulting. Mei has been in touch with Smith economics professors Nola Reinhardt and Roger Kaufman. At her wedding in Boston last June, Mei was flanked by Smithies including Sabrina Rahim ‘99, Ruth Gyuse '99, Debbie Tay '98, Hibiki Kawamata '99, and Hyo Jin Kim '99J. Classmate Chitra Somayaji ’99 is a financial news reporter for Bloomberg News. Chitra moved to India in April 2005 to open a news bureau in her hometown of Bangalore. Chitra is in touch with Aysha Fleyfel ‘98, who had a gorgeous baby girl in August and has moved to Bahrain.

Stacy Calvino (neé Woolston) ’99 reports that after graduation she lived in Geneva, Switzerland for 2 years and married a wonderful Swiss man, Stephane (and apparently some fellow JYAers might remember him). Stacy and her new husband moved back to the States in 2002 and have been living in Punta Gorda, Florida where Stacy manages her father's business, a full service boat yard marine facility. Yacine Jutta Ndao ‘99 who is living in London, attended the wedding of Tracy Garcia ‘98 longtime boyfriend Maximo in Buenos Aires on March 9. Yacine reports that Suk-Yin Chan ’99 married Olivier Pasquet in a lovely ceremony in France on May 6.

Kudos to all of you who have kept in touch with your classmates- you inspire the rest of us to pick up the phone and call our first-year roommates! A Hubbard House mini reunion was held in New York City on October 8, 2005. Lizi Berry ’96, Hannah Famiglietti ’97, Jess Rowe ’97, Megan Halpern ’97, and Leah A. Walker ’99 braved the stormy weather to catch up on each other’s lives. Many pitchers of beer were consumed and fun was had by all. Leah reports that Hannah is a resident at Columbia-Presbyterian hospital and hopes to practice pediatrics. She lives with her husband Rich a few doors away from Megan and her husband Max. They both work at the same company bringing arts into the classroom and also have their own company that helps bring science to the wider community. Jess has recently moved to Brooklyn with Jean Kahler ’00 and works at Columbia University while Jean is at Sarah Lawrence for a master’s in writing. Lizi was in the States visiting family in Maine and Mexico. She previously worked for the Kerry campaign in Michigan. She returned to London a few days after their night out and is job hunting. Leah resides in Washington, DC and received a promotion at her job at the Supreme Court. She recently returned from a conference in London on the new UK Supreme Court and a vacation in Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Ingrid A. Howard '99, currently lives in New York City and is thrilled to wave goodbye to her second year of law school. This spring, Ingrid interned with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and plans to continue on at the EEOC, this summer. Additionally, she is proud to report that she was recently selected as the sole Articles Editor of her law journal. Ingrid reports that in August 2005, Sophie Cantell '99, was married to Christopher Lambert in Bath, England. In attendance were Priya Thanik '99, maid of honor, and Sloane York '99, a bridesmaid, as well as Ingrid and Megan Hoover '99, both of whom were readers in the ceremony. Additionally, Gayatri Patel '00, was in attendance. After honeymooning in Portugal, Sophie and Chris returned to Washington, DC, where they now live. Sophie currently works as a Senior Associate for the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit research organization promoting responsible development, in Georgetown. Ingrid also reports that Priya Thanik '99, is working on an MBA at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, while concentrating in Marketing and Strategy.

Kate Crowe '99 moved from Seattle, where she lived for three years to New Mexico in 2002 for grad school and is on track to complete an interdisciplinary MFA in painting, electronic arts and Land Arts from UNM. Kate lives in Santa Fe where she is single, has a puppy, and is dating but wary of marriage. Kate keeps in touch with Aylin Koker ‘99 who lives in Austin, Texas, and was married in April, Sam Costanzo ‘98 who is at Rutgers in a PhD program in Italian, and Judith Hoffman ‘99 who just moved to Brooklyn to begin a Masters at Pratt.

Jaime Hart ‘99 is living in Boston, working for Brigham and Women's Hospital and is working on a master’s and doctorate degrees at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kristen Beth Shutts ‘99 is working on a PhD in developmental psychology at Harvard. Iris Pinlac ‘99 is working as a product specialist for Staples. Kristen and Iris are living in Cambridge. Jaime reports that Amy Miller ’99 is working as an assistant district attorney in New York.

Many Congratulations to the brave women who have brought new life into this world. Gina Calia-Lotz ’99 and her husband Andy welcomed the birth of their son, Tristan, in July 2004. Gina left her job at the Johns Hopkins University Press last spring to be home with her son. She now works part time nights and weekends as a reference librarian at the St. Mary's Seminary & University Library in Baltimore. Stephanie Myers ’99 welcomed her second child in September, John Aidan Emory Myers. He has a big sister, Jillian Alexandra Myers, who is almost 4!

And thanks so much to the wonderful women of Smith who continue to inspire us with their talents and creativity such as Abe Louise Young ‘99 who has edited a book of political and social essays by teenagers titled Hip Deep: Opinon, Essays, and Vision from American Teenagers (Next Generation Press, 2006), teaches a weekly writing class for women, works as a freelance journalist and oral historian, started a small non-profit to document the experiences of hurricane Katrina survivors, and won the Nell Altizer Award for Poetry from the Hawai'i Review in 2005. Abe ran into her first-year roommate from Lamont, Dia Sokol ‘99, in an Italian restaurant in Austin in March and is in frequent touch with Alisa Shor '99, and Brandi Daniels '99. Abe reports that Alisa Shor has been named Nursery Manager for the Native Plant Nursery on the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. This year she is growing 45,000 baby natives and they are damn cute. Abe tries to feed the goldfish, koi, and cat every day, is getting ready for another Texas summer and hopes that “blessings are raining down on all the goddesses we graduated with.” Lily Michaud ’99 is working part-time as a registered nurse in Iowa City and continues to make and exhibit her installation art.

After receiving her national certification as an American Sign Language/English Language Interpreter in 2004, Eliza Goodhue ’99 moved to Hawaii where she interprets for Deaf children and adults, studies Hula, and practices Tibetan Buddhism. Diana Calderazzo '99 reports that she toured the country for 15 months as a performer and director for the Missoula Children's Theatre. In 2005, Diana obtained an MA in Theatre and works currently in New York as a theatrical consultant and an adjunct professor at Fordham University. Check out Diana’s first publication (an article on changing audience perception of Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins) in this season's issue of Theatre Symposium.

Hillary Thomas Shaw ’99 recently finished a rigorous program through the Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore, a non-profit organization that trains entrepreneurs, which resulted in a complete business plan for Single Chair Creative Studio which helps small businesses to differentiate themselves through inventive, strategic, and consistent marketing. Devi O'Neill AC ‘99 and Belinda Darcey, AC ‘00 met up for Thanksgiving in Lake Isabella, CA where Devi is working as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Belinda's new design company, Dolce Design, is thriving.

Thanks to all who submitted their updates this time around including Jen Bayer ’99 who lives in the Southern Tier of NY where she just got a new job as a Nurse Practitioner at a nursing home. Jen summed up this column for our 99ers perfectly when she wrote “Life is good.”