class notes
sota, and, for 10 years prior, he handled policy communications for the American Soybean Association and the United Fresh Produce Association.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANEES MOKHIBER
Jona Colson, MA English ’08, co-edited the anthology This Is What America Looks Like, which was published in February 2021 by Washington Writers’ Publishing House.
On April 10, during an Instagram Live from his Ford Focus, the up-and-coming rapper Anees Mokhiber, BA Philosophy and Sociology ’14, JD ’17, sang his latest single, “Slip,” and was surprised when Justin Bieber joined the livestream to jam along. The Grammy-winning pop star complimented Mokhiber on his musical talent in front of an audience of more than 60,000 people. Since then, the Northern Virginia native has seen a major uptick in his followers and been featured in numerous media outlets. 50 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
Ryan Milligan, BS Geography ’08, MS Geographic and Cartographic Science ’12, received the 2021 Lambda Alumni Chapter Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s 2021 Celebration of Distinction. He is a geography and geoinformation science professional within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Milligan is a champion for diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace. He served as a co-chair for a DoD LGBTQA+ affinity network working group, organized under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reviewing policies and practices that may present barriers to the recruitment, advancement, or retention of employees. Rima Nasser, BA Integrative Studies ’08, was recently profiled and named to the 2020 40 Under 40 Awards list by the Triangle Business Journal. Tiffany Reaves, BS Health, Fitness, and Recreation Resources ’09, was the recipient of the College of Education and Human
Development Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s 2021 Celebration of Distinction. She is the senior director of social impact and fan engagement for the New York Knicks. In this role, she sets the strategy and runs operations for the department responsible for all community activities, youth basketball programming, and fan engagement platforms for the brand.
2010s
Aaron M. Honsowetz, MA Economics ’10, PhD ’15, is releasing the board game Robotech: Reconstruction by Strange Machine Games in late 2021. The game is based on the Robotech anime series and was designed with Austin Smokowicz under their pseudonym Dr. Wictz. Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, BA Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’10, MS ’14, received the 2021 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s 2021 Celebration of Distinction. She is a conflict and development practitioner focused on ethnic and identity conflict, humanitarian access, and civil wars, and has studied and worked in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. Khonikboyeva is currently part of the Biden-Harris administration as a senior advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development Bureau for Policy,