Kyle Smith Takes the Helm in Levien Gym - Columbia College ...

Columbia CollEgE Today CLAss NOTEs
Neustein Professor at The Rockefeller
University in New York this
spring. Her research laboratory
studies the sense of smell in insects
and humans. You can see more at
benchmarks.rockefeller.edu/view
Article.php?id=292&issue_id=99.
On a sad note, I must report the
passing of albert J. weisel, who
had been a freelance writer in New
York City, on February 27.
88
abha Jain sinha
9633 Eagle Ridge Dr.
Bethesda, MD 20817
abhasinha@comcast.net
September has long passed: The
kids are back to school, vacations
are lamentably over and football
season has been preoccupying my
husband for two months. Summer
went by too fast. And as I
dropped off my eldest child for
her freshman year at college, I am
feeling that the years are also going
by too fast! But at least we have
a chance to reconnect here, and I
was delighted to hear from several
classmates.
Jesse greenberg updates us, “I
work at IBM (13 years now) and
am happily married to my wife
of 20 years, Karen. Our kids are
doing great: Daniel (17) recently
earned his Eagle rank in the Boy
Scouts and attended Boys State this
summer as a delegate, Hannah (15)
wants to go to Columbia College
(Class of 2017?) and Sophie (13)
recently had her bat mitzvah.”
stephen t. briones writes from
Thailand: “I’ve been in Bangkok
with my wonderful kids, Natalia
(12) and Nicholas (9). Despite the
political demonstrations and violence,
we are all fine, and Bangkok
is starting to recover. I’ve been in
Bangkok for more than 10 years,
and I could never have foreseen
the craziness that occurred in May.
It will take a while, but I hope
Thailand will return to live up to
its slogan as the Land of Smiles.”
william (bill) seeley writes, “I
was inspired by Jamie friedman
and patrick crawford to send in an
update. After graduation, I stuck
around for a couple of years and
received an M.F.A. in sculpture in
1992 from the (now defunct) Division
of Painting and Sculpture in
the School of the Arts. I was head
assistant for sculptor Ursula Von
Rydingsvard ’75 Arts for several
years. I then followed henry Jackman
and neil feit into philosophy
(I usually see Henry a couple of
times a year). I received a Ph.D.
from CUNY’s Graduate Center in
2006. My research on the ways that
we engage and experience artworks
lies at the confluence of philosophy
of art and cognitive neuroscience.
We are still in Maine at Bates Col-
lege (although this past spring, I
was commuting to New Haven,
where I was visiting at Yale). My
wife, Christine Donis-Keller ’91
Barnard, and I have two children,
Parker (9) and Raines (7). Other
than the usual fare of an academic
vagabond, I have no adventures to
report, although I have taken up ice
hockey, which it turns out is a fourseason
sport again.”
Joe wanner provided us with a
snapshot of the significant events in
life since graduation: “1991: moved
back to Chicago, 1994: married
Kathy, 1996: Kellogg M.B.A., 1997:
daughter Natalie born; moved to
suburban Riverside, Ill., 1999: CFA
Distinction, 2000: private pilot’s
license, 2001: daughter Haley born,
2004: started company Vesta Property
Development for real estate
investing, 2005: son Joe born.”
david putelo sends greetings
from Syracuse, N.Y.: “I love the life
my wife, Susan (we recently celebrated
our 20th anniversary), and
our three daughters (insert ironic
comment here), Anna (15), Audrey
(12), and Lizzie (6), have forged.
Our lives consist of school, sports
and enjoying the great outdoors:
running, skiing, golfing and the
many activities that Central New
York offers. I look to get together
with other graduates at a dinner,
golf outing or a road race such
as running marathons with nick
leone.
“After graduation, I went to
NYU, where I earned an M.B.A. I
have worked in the pharmaceutical
industry for different companies
holding various positions. I’m now
a manager for GSK.”
donna schober tells us, “Since
leaving Columbia, I have followed
a circuitous path through the culinary
world, first apprenticing in a
fabulous (now closed) New York
restaurant, then heading to Cornell
to complete my M.B.A. with a
concentration in hospitality management.
It’s been restaurants ever
since. I’m now in Orlando, having
moved south many years ago, and
am a proud mom to a high school
freshman. During the summer, I
took my daughter for her first trip to
NYC, and we took in a show, a Yankees
game and the museums. We
also toured Columbia and Barnard
because college is right around the
corner, though sometimes I feel like a
kid who just graduated myself.”
Khalid wasti writes, “I am
happily married to Joanne (who,
although not an alum, I met on the
Columbia campus) and have two
sons (14 and 16) whom I hope will
someday be part of the Columbia
family, too. We live in Forest Hills,
N.Y., and I am a director in the
Enterprise Risk Services practice
at Deloitte & Touche. I recently became
an active part of Columbia’s
Alumni Representative Committee
and interviewed several potential
dan Max ’90 joined the law firm of Apatoff Peters
Ebersohl as a partner and chair of the business
department.
students, which not only gave me
a sense of how strong the incoming
classes will be but also was a great
way to reconnect (and gave me an
interesting perspective on life in
general: ‘Wow, you graduated before
I was even born!’). I definitely
have not done a good job staying
in touch with classmates, but now
have a Facebook account, so look
me up.”
I hope to hear from the rest of
you soon. Don’t make me beg!
89
NOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
61
Emily Miles terry
45 Clarence St.
Brookline, MA 02446
eterry32@comcast.net
This summer, I heard from brian
o’connell, who is married to Jean
Marie and has two kids, Shane
(4) and Shannon (5) (Irish twins).
Brian writes, “This is my 20th year
as an educator. I have been an administrator
for 10 years, a teacher
prior to that.”
Brian is the founding principal
of the Scholars’ Academy, a middle
school and high school that Brian
started as a gifted program while
principal of The Belle Harbor School,
a kindergarten–grade 6 school, in
2004. In 2005, the program Brian
began was expanded to a standalone
school and then each year thereafter
a grade was added. Today Scholars’
Academy, in Rockaway Park in
Queens, N.Y., is an established and
highly regarded school for gifted
children from grades 6–12.
In June, Scholars’ Academy will
graduate its first class of high school
students. Scholars’ Academy offers
an accelerated academic program
including foreign language and the
arts, and has a sports program that
includes basketball, golf, baseball
and softball. According to Brian,
a current student is a stellar golfer
who is being aggressively recruited
by many Ivy League schools. Brian
also wrote, “The school is exceptional
in many ways. We began
replacing a failing middle school
that had a 1-in-10 passing rate and
voluminous disciplinary/safety issues
in 2005. We are now one of the
best schools in New York City and
New York State by many metrics.
Our school had the highest Quality
Review (an audit of all things in
a school) three years in a row. We
earned a Progress Report Grade of
A in 2009 as well as a No. 1 ranking
for both middle school and high
school levels in New York State
according to Schooldigger.com metrics.
Who knows, perhaps there are
fellow alumni who are looking to
make a difference in children’s lives
and our nation’s future through
monetary support and high school
student internships or who may be
interested in applying for teaching
jobs at our school?”
For more information on Scholars’
Academy go to schools.nyc.gov/
SchoolPortals/27/Q323/default.
htm.
Brian keeps in touch with
classmates and added, “I recently
saw Jon dwyer, who has a tribe
of great kids and a pretty wife.
Jon is doing phenomenally with
fatTail.com. I also linked up with
bennie seybold, Matt Engels and
paul childers. Not too long ago, I
touched base with bob giannini
and duane bartsch. Bob is livin’
the single life to my knowledge,
and Duane and his wife, Donya,
recently had child No. 2! A few
more Columbia cubs in the litter.”
I also had some happy news
from dan corcoran, who sent
in a birth announcement: “My
husband, Augusto Lima, and I are
thrilled and proud to announce the
births of our children, Lucas and
Maria. They were born on July 26
in Overland Park, Kan. We are all
happy to be back home in New
York.” Congratulations!
90
rachel cowan Jacobs
313 Lexington Dr.
Silver Spring, MD 20901
cowan@jhu.edu
I’m taking this opportunity to
thank not only our classmates who
send me news “unsolicited” but
also all of you who have thanked
me over the years for writing this
column. I’ve enjoyed every moment
of it — except for when I
issue threats and act like a bully
— and really appreciate your kind
words. Now, on to business!
There’s a lot of movement in
professional arenas this issue. liz
(lang) poston moved back to
Washington, D.C., in June, after
almost six years in Florida, to take
a position as e.v.p. at Prism Public
Affairs, a policy-oriented strategic
communications firm. Her daughter,
Ava (4), is turning into quite the
city kid, taking Metro around town