CLASS NOTES
doctoral degree in plant medicine at the University of Florida, and then worked for UF to help create a variety of training materials for beginning farmers and ranchers. Edon and Ezikai, both born while Jesse was at New College, are 13 and 11 respectively. They are now very tall, and enjoy robotics, BMX biking, traveling, and music. This past May was a busy month for Kati Baruja ‘96! She graduated from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign with a master’s in translation and interpreting on May 16 and then two days later checked into the hospital to give birth! She and Kati’s wife Esther welcomed their son Tekové Emet into the world on Wednesday, May 20: “He’s basically perfect.” Esther recently graduated with a master’s in divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary and they’re looking forward to whatever the next step is for their little family. In the meantime any alums in the Chicago area invited to say “hi!” Emily Saarinen ’97, professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, has now been part of the New College faculty for a year!
Kate Parr ‘97 and Pinray Huang ’00 welcomed their second son, Kai, on April 13, 2015. He joins Quinn (3 1/2 yrs) and Arrow (15 yrs, dachshund) in making the family more lively. Kerrick Goodman-Lucker ’98 was married in Pescadero in the summer of 2014 following Kerrick’s partner having a baby and Kerrick having a mild stroke. They continue to be an aggressively cuddly, queer family in public at every opportunity. Kerrick recently worked for the Exploratorium, starting a small community science center as a one-year experiment in hands-on community learning design. Now Kerrick works for the Museum of the African Diaspora as the school and community program manager. Mari McGrath ‘99 started a job with Ghirardelli Chocolate, working in product development for restaurants and retail outlets. “Finally! A job that combines my many hours studying the psychology of the college student with industrial design and business.” She is also a new mom to a mini-pinscher/ dachshund Torpedo J. Montleban. The “J” stands for justice. She expects him to ask to go to New College any day now.
2000s Justin Clarke-Doane ‘01 married Jennifer McDonald at a New York City courthouse in July 2014. They returned to NYC, after three years abroad, so that Justin could begin an assistant professorship at Columbia University and Jennifer could begin a Ph.D. at City University of New York (CUNY). This summer, they are visiting Beijing, where Justin is lecturing at Renmin University of China (RUC). Zeeshan J Hafeez ’01 just graduated with his master’s in business administration from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (class of 2015) and is joining Microsoft in Dallas as a cloud consultant and solutions professional.
Maya Lilly ’98 moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to infiltrate the “world’s megaphone” with an environmental and positive social message, continuing the work she did at New College with Theatre as Activism. She works both in front of and behind the camera as a director, producer and actor. She has produced for Elevate Films, “The Secret, Neurons to Nirvana” and worked with Josh Tickell ’93 on the gulf oil spill documentary, “The Big Fix.” Maya also produced multi-country shoots for Lauren Greenfield (Sundance award-winning Queen of Versailles), who recently went viral with the Superbowl commercial sensation “Like a Girl.” Maya is currently co-producing the film version of the beloved Starhawk eco-thriller, “The Fifth Sacred Thing.” (thefifthsacredthing.com) In Maya’s spare time, she also creates media for Greenpeace, 350.org and Vulcan Productions and records music with her world pop electronica band, Tryst.
30 New College of Florida | nimbus