Alumni News
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Alumni Updates
Ben Goodman ('96): is in New York City at a large law firm where he occasionally dazzles his colleagues by translating Latin legalese.
Stephen Santelli (Classical Civilization, '02): This fall (2009) he will be starting work on a PhD in History at West Virginia University. His major field will be modern British intellectual history. At least one of his minor fields will be in Classics.
Amelia Mathias ('08) is going to Belgium this summer to research organized crime and terrorism and how they relate (and how laws can work against them) at the Institute for European Studies.
Mary Addamiano Redline ('77): is teaching Latin part-time at Parkland High School and works for the Lutheran seminary, for which she was able to secure funding for historic preservation projects. She attended the Governor's Institute for World Language Teachers.
Julie Mills (Latin '05) writes: "This summer I had the opportunity to study with Latinist Reginald Foster in Rome. After returning to the States, I began my third year at Westminster in pursuit of the ever-elusive Master of Divinity degree (I hope to graduate in May 2010). I am also teaching an intensive Ecclesiastical Latin course to fellow seminary students as well as keeping up with my new husband Tim Ricci (May, 2007) and our "children" Jammy & Cringer. Life is good, but busy!"
Deborah Kory-Fabule ('01) writes: "We welcomed our second son, Jonathan Olubunmi Fabule on December 12, 2008 in Cape Town South Africa. I am continuing my Masters in Ancient Studies part time at the University of Stellenbosch."
Jessica Raskin ('05) writes: " I'm still living it up in sunny Los Angeles. While pursuing my career as an actress and screenwriter, I work as a Production Accountant for the show Robot Chicken, which airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I made four TV appearances this year, guest starring on CBS's hit show Criminal Minds, and I'm a 3-time winner of Trivial Pursuit: America Plays. I also wrote 5 feature-length screenplays, one of which placed in the quarterfinals of three screenwriting competitions, including the prestigious Nicholl's Fellowship. If that wasn't fun enough, I had a great time exploring abandoned gold mines in the California wilderness. For more info check out my website: www.JessicaRaskin.com
Ashley (aka "Miss Quarles") Tarter ('97) has settled in Williamsburg with her husband Sean '96 and their almost-4 year old son, Timothy.
Kendall Howes ('08): is teaching Latin and coaching softball at the Lovett School in Atlanta, GA.
Ariel Baska (Classical Civilization, '05): has her dream job - teaching both Latin and Drama in Fairfax County while pursuing her Master's in Gifted Education at George Mason University. She recently co-authored a chapter in the book, Social and Emotional Curriculum for Gifted Students (Prufrock Press), and more recently contributed to her mother's Festschrift.
Phil Walsh (Greek '99): finished his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Brown University in May 2008. His dissertation, "Comedy and Conflict: The Modern Reception of Aristophanes," was awarded the Marie J. Langlois Dissertation Prize (for outstanding work in the area of feminist studies). He is now teaching English and Latin at Washington College in Chestertown, MD.
Lisa Grigsby Kirkham (Ancient and Medieval Arts '63) writes: "I so fondly recall my various art classes while at W&M. A few years ago, in July - August, 2001, I had the opportunity to travel with two friends to both Belize and Guatemala for the express purpose of visiting some of the Mayan Temples. We visited Zunantunich, staying near by - as in right across the Mopan River, in the Zun Hotel, which was quite lovely. We also visited Cahal Pech, and wonderful, remote Caracol while in Belize. We spent a full day at Tikal, wandering over many acres and visiting a variety of Temples there. Each venue was quite awesome, and the atmosphere was different at each site. Zunantunich, the government center, had the "feel" of business, but also the spiritual peace of a priest's home. The Trading center Cahal Pech, while also busy, had a quiet sense of beauty and lovliness as well.There was a Royal residence still there that we were able to walk through, and has the vestiges of a painted frieze on one of the stone beds in a sleeping chamber. Caracol, the Spiritual center of the Mayan Empire, was just that - very remote, very spiritual, and awe inspiring.
Each temple complex, no matter where we were, had it's Ball Court, and the feeling at each of them was totally different from the rest of the complex.
Tikal is so vast, we could have spent several days there exploring. There were not only Mayan temples at Tikal, but also ones of other indiginous peoples, and one we saw was a small Aztec temple- simple but impressive.
On another note, I am and have been active in the Society for Creative Anachronism (see sca.org) since 1995, and play the role of a Viking lady, c.950. Both these interests were partially inspired by classes taken while at W&M - Ancient Art, and Medieval Art.
I know this is old news but wanted to share it with you. Of course I have many wonderful memories, as well as photos of our travels, and hope this may inspire others to visit some of these same places. I still hope to be able to go back, and see temples that we didn't get to visit the first time - someday."
Caroline Krivacka (nee Ferro, '90) writes: "I went to Law School at the University of Mississippi, received my JD in 1993, and married a fellow law student, Paul. For the last 13 years, I have lived in the Nashville area. I am an attorney with the IRS. After using my lexicon daily in college, I am completely comfortable with the tax code and transcript deciphering books. I have four sons, Paul (9), Xander (7), Peter (4) and David (10 months). Needless to say, things are a bit hectic around here. My spare time is spent taking boys to sports practices, primarily reading, occasionally writing, and lately, becoming extremely proficient in Webkinz computer games. I thought about Greek the other day because my little guy started pulling all the books off the shelves, starting with Menander's Dyskolos. Although I don't use my studies in any meaningful way, I can at least still translate the Benetton Odyssey t-shirt that I bought back in 1988 (which I still wear to the gym on occasion). I also still have the faux artifacts I bought on my trip to Greece in 1990 on my mantle and a Schliemann gold poster in my workout room. So, although classical studies are far in the past, they are not entirely forgotten. Every time I see a field of rubble, I am reminded of Professor Reilly's Greek Art and Archeology class. Most of my classes were taught by Prof. Ledbetter and Reilly. I'm looking forward to hearing about other alums. FYI...the only thing that results in a longer dead silence than "I am majoring in Ancient Greek" is the sentence "I am an attorney for the IRS."
Jennifer Schlegel ('90) earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA and is working as an adjunct professor of Anthropology at a host of colleges in southeastern Pennsylvania. She scratched the classical archaeology itch in 1994 with a month-long stint at a Hellenistic cite in southern Italy and is now most comfortable in a classroom as a linguistic anthropologist. Jen and Drew Geary, her William and Mary sweetheart, have been married for fourteen years and are the parents of two fantastically wonderful girls.
Matthew Hartnett ('88) has written a book for students and teachers of Latin. "By Roman Hands: Inscriptions and Graffiti for Students of Latin" (Focus Publishing, forthcoming) is a collection of over 100 short inscriptions and graffiti, organized by grammatical construction, that illustrates various aspects of Roman history, life, and thought. Matt, who still chairs the Classics Department at St. Mark's School in Southborough, MA, also reports that he was entertained grandly by John Oakley in Athens last March, when he stopped to visit him at the American School of Classical Studies.
Jason Swartwood (Classical Civilization minor, '06): is in the PhD program in Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, studying the role of Socrates' daimonion in his philosophizing. He married Ruth Stenson in May of 2007. They both miss Williamsburg, and hope to visit again someday.
Pete Kain ('00) writes: "after graduating in 2000, I immersed myself into the financial services word. Between Citigroup (my first employer) and Regulus Group (my current employer), I've had the opportunity to work as far afield as India and Ireland and as close to home as Delaware. At the moment I'm living in the suburbs of Chicago as the site manager for our payment processing facility here. On a more important topic, I married Nora Kain (née Clancy) in summer 2001. We have a beautiful (I might be slightly biased, but it's still true) 18 month-old girl and another girl who is expected to arrive in January 2008."
Sandra Smith (Classical Civilization, '94): has been with the National Trust for Historic Preservation for nearly 8 years, after having received an MA in Museum Studies. She is now the director of a National Trust Historic Site in San Antonio TX and is preparing for its opening to the public in 2008.
Lynnleigh Maloney (‘86): has been married to Michael Maloney for the past 19 years and they live in Richmond. He's a broker and team leader with Keller Williams and Lynnleigh is at Capital One. They have 3 children: Johanna (14), Helena (10), and John (2). They adopted John from Guatemala a year ago.
John Henkel (Latin, '02): got married to Frances Higgins on 9 Sept 2007. They are spending this year in Rome, where John is working in the library at the American Academy in Rome, supported by a Berthe Marti Affiliated fellowship from UNC/Bryn Mawr.
Julie (Pendleton) Moomaw ('68): is retiring at the end of this school year (May '08) after teaching Latin and German at Stillwater High School since 1974. After this, there will not be a Latin program at SHS. However, there is hope for the future since the University of Oklahoma is offering an MAT specifically for those who want to teach Latin.
Rachel Russo ('98): was married in May to Stephen Spence from Raleigh NC. They were brought together by a mutual interest in the classics - their first discussion was a debate over the nature of tyrants in Imperial Rome. They are currently living in Williamsburg and planning a trip to Italy, Greece, and Turkey this spring.
Kelly Brown Dunne (Classical Civilization, '91): is living in Arlington, VA with her husband Sebastian Dunne (‘91) and their son Emmett Brady, who is 5 and just began kindergarten. She teaches interdisciplinary courses at George Mason University, where she is the Director of Academic Affairs for New Century College. She also has the pleasure of taking students on study abroad trips to Ireland each year to study its history and culture.
Laura Landon (Classical Civilization, '02): is currently in her first year of doctoral studies at the University of London, Institute of Education and completed an MEd in Multilingual Education at GMU (2007) and an MSc Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics (2003). Prior to this she taught Latin, History, Spanish and ESOL in DC and Northern Virginia, and received a Fulbright Scholarship for research on multilingual education in Japan. She is currently living in London and was recently engaged to Dionisios Favatas ("Yes, he's Greek... can't get away from the Classics! We have a home in Greece as well, alum are always welcome to visit!"). They are planning to get married next spring in the UK.
William Naphy (Latin, '82): was promoted in July to a full professorship in History in the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) where he has been a lecturer and then a senior lecturer since 1996.
Doug Bunch (Latin, '02): recently graduated from William & Mary Law School (May 2006) and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll, P.L.L.C. He is still heavily involved in the nonprofit he founded as an undergraduate to teach Latin to elementary school students -- Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute (www.ascaniusyci.org) -- and serves on the Board of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Doug also recently created another nonprofit -- Global Playground (www.theglobalplayground.org) -- to fund school construction and other educational projects in developing countries.
Matt Cairo (Classical Civilization, '02): is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at the University of Miami School of Architecture. His major project for this degree is a design proposal for a new building to house a School of Classical Studies at the College of William and Mary, most likely on the site currently occupied by venerable Morton Hall. Matt describes his project as "wholly speculative." He is also a part time faculty member at the University of Miami, teaching mechanical and freehand drawing to undergraduate architecture students.
Robert Schwieger (Latin,'05): is currently in his second year as a graduate student in the Classics Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is working towards a Master's degree in Classics with an emphasis in ancient history. His main area of interest is the Roman Republic. In addition to his coursework, Robert is employed as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate course in Greek Mythology.
Rebecca Westgate (Classical Civilization, '04): is currently teaching Latin and Mythology at her alma mater, St. Vincent's Academy, in Savannah, GA. St. Vincent's is an all-girls Catholic high school, and she teaches four levels of Latin, including AP Vergil. Rebecca also started work in Summer 2006 on a Masters in Latin at the University of Georgia and will be returning there this summer to continue her studies.
In Memoriam
We are deeply saddened at the news of the death of Ross Scaife ('82) at age 47 after a brief battle with cancer. Our hearts go out to his wife, Cathy (nee Edwards, '82), and their three boys. After graduating from William & Mary, Ross went on to earn a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin (1990) and taught until his death at the University of Kentucky. He was a pioneer in encouraging Classicists to consider electronic venues for publication and in advocating the use of information technology for collaborative research and teaching. He was the founding editor of the Stoa Consortium for Electronic Publication in the Humanities. Read more...
Valerie Lambert, an alumna of the Class of 2000, died in a tragic accident in Williamsburg on December 8, 2006. Valerie was a Classical Civilization major and an officer of the Classics Club during her 4 years at the College, and she also worked as the student assistant in our department. After graduation she pursued graduate work at Florida International University in Miami, and earned her Master's in Comparative Sociology. She was particularly interested in the culture of Haiti. Valerie was a sweet and caring young woman, and all of us in the Department of Classical Studies are deeply saddened by her loss.
