April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

to get back in touch with these
friends,” Ruko writes. Also, after
having three kids, Ruko plans to
pursue an MBA this year.
Mya Fisher is a wonderfully
thorough updater. She reports
that she is in her final year of
grad school at University of
Wisconsin-Madison and is
spending the year working in the
Office of International Education
at Beloit College while writing
her dissertation. She made
it back to NYC this fall after
a three-year absence to see the
production Step Show, written
and produced by our classmate
Maxine Lyle, at the New York
Musical Theater Festival. Over
Thanksgiving, she met up with
her former summer science tutor
Krystal Williams ’96 (who was
newly returned from hiking the
Appalachian Trail in its entirety)
for a 10-state, six-day road trip
beginning in the Quad Cities.
“A cell phone left in a Kentucky
hotel room, lots of songs from
musicals and favorite films,
winding roads of West Virginia,
the Bossypants audiobook read
by Tina Fey, driving by real cotton
fields in Georgia and random
stops in Veedersburg, Ind., made
for an adventure worthy of
Williams folks.”
Mya spent New Year’s Eve at
the home of Sam Reed, “who
hosted a celebration complete
with Sam’s original tasty food
creations and a music soundtrack
worthy of a Rice House party!”
Also in attendance were Maxine
Lyle, Susan Asiyambi ’01 and
Vanessa Alvarez. Sam is back
in the DC area after receiving
a fellowship to spend the
summer studying Spanish out
in California and taking a few
months off to work on various
writing projects. Maxine came
down from New Jersey, recently
returned from a three-week
collaborative choreography
and drill workshop in Ireland
with Soul Steps, the States’ first
professional Step company,
which she founded. Vanessa
was enjoying a holiday break
from her work as a medical
resident in New York. After the
New Year, Mya returned to the
Midwest and made her way up
to the Twin Cities, where she
took in the Japan Pop exhibit at
the Minneapolis Museum of Art
and spent a few days catching up
with Beth McCray ’98.
Taking us home this time is
Steve Roman, who, as you may
recall, only submits his updates
in bulleted lists. Since Williams
People does not, as far as I know,
print bulleted lists, this means
I typically have to turn Steve’s
PowerPoint-style “writing” into
actual prose. Not this time, however.
For your enjoyment, I leave
you with Steve’s list, edited only
to remove the bullets and add
periods: “Gearing up for another
marathon with Drew Sutton
(LA Marathon in March 2012).
Visited New York with Becky
Iwantsch. Spent New Year’s
Eve with great friends, Matt
and Anna, our esteemed class
secretary and Will and Tracy
(with their beautiful daughter
Autumn). I’m happily surprised
that I was able to get Autumn
to fall asleep. Visited with Brad
Geddes and other friends on
New Year’s Day. Brad is enjoying
his new home and had a very
good Christmas with the family.
Also, on this visit I realized how
much I missed DD. I made sure
I had enough Boston Creme
doughnuts to hold me for at least
half the year. Six, I think. MLE
planning is ongoing, and I find
myself looking for more tastings
to enjoy. Think I can extend the
final OK just to squeeze in a few
more?”
2001
Liana Thompson
135 Pleasant St.
Richmond, ME 04357
2001secretary@williams.edu
The lag between submitting
notes and reading them in
Williams People is striking to me
today. I’m sitting here in Maine
watching the snow fall as I write,
but I also know that by the time
this column is published there
will probably be crocuses coming
up. Happy spring!
Nifer (Knight) Hoehn wrote
in for the first time with news
of her marriage to Ramsey
Hoehn on May 14 of last year
in Waitsfield, Vt. Nifer’s sister
Heidi (Knight) Brackenridge ’86,
her brother Chip Knight ’08 and
her sister-in-law Marina (Gisquet)
Knight ’99 were all in the wedding
party. Also in attendance at
the wedding were her brother-inlaw
Alec Brackenridge ’85, Heidi
and Alec’s daughter Lexie, who’s
been accepted into Williams’
class of 2016, and Kate (Flynn)
Grant and Tom Grant, both ’00.
Erin Troy married Ming Tung
on Oct. 1 in Boston. Erin
reports that she brought Ming
up to Williams for the biology
research reunion, and everyone’s
first question was if he was a
Williams grad. (He’s not.)
n 2000–01
Moving from weddings to
babies, Mike Schloat and his wife
welcomed Macrae Ross Schloat
on Sept. 22. Mike reports that
Macrae had a great first three
months getting to know his older
brother Carter and hanging out
quite a bit with Katie (Bishop)
Calhoun’s ’00 three kids. (Mike
and Katie are both at Deerfield.)
In October Julia Goren
ventured from her home in
the Adirondacks, where she
coordinates an alpine stewardship
program, back to the Purple
Valley to visit Elena Traister, her
husband and the newest member
of Elena’s family, Solomon Davis
Buddington. Julia reports that
Sol is a beautiful, healthy boy
who is already showing his musical
inclination, and that Elena is
teaching environmental studies at
Mass College of Liberal Arts.
Allyson Rothberg and her husband
welcomed their first child,
Noa Abigail Gelbord, on Nov.
20. Just two days later, Sarah
Rutledge-Crump and her husband
had their second child, Louisa
Lucia Crump, on Nov. 22. Sarah
reports that newborns are significantly
easier than 2-year-olds,
but that their son Henry is being
an excellent big brother. Sarah
also shared the news that Kathryn
Dingman Boger welcomed a son,
Brady Dingman Boger, on Oct.
24.
Alana Belfield Levine and her
husband welcomed their second
child, son Noah Alexander, on
Dec. 19. Their daughter Hannah
is now 2. Noah (and family) have
had visits from Phoebe Geer,
Matt Speiser and Seth Earn as
well as lots of long-distance love
and support from Sara Richland,
Melissa (Vecchio) Wood and Don
Wood ’00, and Alana notes that
they are very, very happy.
We have several classmates
who have been moving around
for jobs recently. One is Elly
(Spensley) Moriarty, who also
wrote in for the first time. She
finished her PhD in archaeology
at Boston University in
December, and is now living in
Vermont, where she is coaching
high school Nordic skiing
and teaching a class at the local
community college this semester.
“Life is good!” Elly says.
Also in the academic realm,
Elizabeth Hoover recently
accepted a tenure track job at
Brown University. She has been
at Brown since last August as a
visiting assistant professor and
is excited about the switch to
tenure-track. Her appointment is
at Brown’s Center for the Study
aPril 2012 | Williams PeoPle | 95