dean bragonier ’ie
PHYLLIS GRABER JENSEN
creative, but it will deepen my connections to Maine and also, hopefully, get us (to move there) permanently,” she said....Aaron Worth, assistant professor of rhetoric at Boston Univ., published a book, Imperial Media: Colonial Networks and Information Technologies in the British Literary Imagination, 1857–1918 (Ohio State Univ. Press).
1994
Making Waves Island swim raises $150,000 to create innovative curricula for dyslexia “I’m sort of going back to kindergarten right now, which is totally cool,” said Dean Bragonier ’95. A former Bates varsity swimmer, he was back on campus and back in the pool in May for a coaching session at Tarbell Pool with Bates swimming head coach Peter Casares. A social entrepreneur, Bragonier was getting in shape for his 27-leg, 50-mile summertime swim around Martha’s Vineyard to raise awareness and funds for the nonprofit NoticeAbility. He successfully completed the swim on Aug. 16, raising $150,414 along the way. NoticeAbility seeks to create curriculum for students with dyslexia and to capitalize on the neurological and cognitive strengths of students with dyslexia that are reflected in abilities in entrepreneurship, engineering, architecture, and the arts. Bragonier and his wife, Sally Taylor, both have dyslexia. Getting into shape meant a lot of work. But work is something he’s used to. “My dyslexia has enabled me to cultivate a work ethic that I would never have achieved without it because I had to work twice as hard as everybody else,” Bragonier says.
Fall 2015
1996
Reunion 2019, June 7–9
Reunion 2016, June 10–12
class secretary Jonathan Lilja jonathanlilja@gmail.com
class co-presidents Ayesha Farag-Davis faragdavis@aol.com James D. Lowe jameslowemaine@yahoo.com
class co-presidents Courtney L. Fleisher courtney.fleisher@gmail.com Jonathan M. Lewis jlewjlew@mac.com Writer Ru Seneviratne Freeman received the 2014 Janet Hedinger Kafka Prize for Fiction, presented by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies at the Univ. of Rochester. The award was given for her novel On Sal Mal Lane, about a Sri Lankan neighborhood in the years leading up to the country’s civil war. She returned to Bates in March to read from her work.... The Boston Globe interviewed John Morrissey for a story about Little League’s adaptive baseball program for children with cognitive and physical disabilities. John, director of alumni relations and head baseball coach at Middlesex School in Concord, Mass., has coached Challenger baseball for a decade. He uses the program to help challenged players — and his privileged students at the school where he works — to gain confidence and self-respect. “I think the game can teach kids a lot — about handling adversity, responding in a positive way,” he said....Craig Nussbaum has been promoted to senior vice president at Waramaug LS Hotels in Boca Raton, Fla.
1995 Reunion 2020, June 12–14 class co-secretaries Scott Marchildon smarchildon@une.edu Philip Pettis ppettis@nhlawfirm.com class co-presidents Jason Verner jcv@nbgroup.com Deborah Nowak Verner debverner@gmail.com Brian Eckblom, a 10-year veteran of the South Windsor (Conn.) Police Department, was promoted to agent. He is assigned as a school resource officer at South Windsor High School. He completed a master’s at Central Connecticut State Univ....Heather Josselyn-Cranson, an associate professor of music at Northwestern College
72
in Orange City, Iowa, won a hymn writing contest sponsored by Southern Methodist Univ.’s Perkins School of Theology. The contest sought hymns that focus on the struggles and hopes of working people. Heather’s hymn touched on seeking justice through neighborly love, living wages, fair working conditions, and speaking out against abuse.
Andrew Cyr returned to Bates to lead his Metropolis Ensemble chamber orchestra as they performed a world premiere by Bates composer William Matthews and other works....The Boston Globe and other media reported on singer-songwriter Mark Erelli’s homage to the late folksinger Bill Morrissey. Believing that Morrissey’s legacy isn’t as celebrated as it should be, Mark pays tribute on Milltowns, his ninth solo album, with 12 interpretations of Morrissey’s songs, plus an original that relays the story of their friendship. “You could look at this as ‘Mark Erelli Sings Bill Morrissey,’ but I came to think of it as personal of a project, or maybe more, than anything I’ve ever done,” Mark says....Tyler Fish, a wilderness expedition leader for Voyager Outward Bound in Ely, Minn., spoke at Bates as part of the Bates Outing Club’s 95th anniversary celebration....Boston-based documentary filmmakers Amy Geller and Allie Humenuk have nearly finished The Guys Next Door, their feature-length documentary that celebrates a new and inclusive family: Erik Mercer ’91 and Sandro Sechi, a married gay couple with two daughters birthed by their friend Rachel Segall ’91. Rachel and her husband, Tony Hurley ’91, have three biological children of their own and have been close friends with Erik since their Bates days. The film premieres in 2016. (See Bates Magazine online Winter 2011 issue.)....Joseph Kim appeared in the West Coast premiere of Takarazuka!!!, produced by the East West Players, an Asian American theater organization in Los Angeles.... Devens MacMillan Hamlen welcomed Noor Jahan Post Hamlen on Oct. 26, 2014....Colleen Matlen Ippolito and Jamie live in Cumberland, Maine, with their two children. She works as HR director at MaineToday and has taken up running, including two marathons. He’s a partner at Dirigo Design & Development, a web/ecommerce marketing and design firm....Jason Ryan was promoted to chief financial officer at Foundation Medicine