Surrounded by early 20th-century buildings, Spiders kick off the semester in 21st-century style. The highlight of the massive dance party called Spider Drop, which was launched two years ago, is an illuminated Spider that falls like the Times Square ball on New Year's Eve. The countdown symbolically kicks off the new academic year.
Photograph by Jamie Betts
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Longtime and emerging traditions connect generations of Spiders in old and new ways — from Proclamation and Investiture ceremonies for Westhampton and Richmond colleges to the new Spider Walk for first-years (a reverse of the route they will take for commencement) and the signing of class banners. Shortly, the wreaths will go up on Boatwright Tower to mark the holidays and signal (alas) that finals are upon us.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Prized teaching
Professor Kelly Lambert definitely is not a zombie, but she shares one of zombies’ defining characteristics: She’s always thinking about brains.
During a lecture in October, she had a roomful of us thinking about them with her as she walked us through her research in behavioral neuroscience. She’s a great storyteller. After briefly showing the not-suitable-for-work acronym WTF, she clicked to the next slide with a wink and a nod, promising something “more sanitized.” We saw the letters STF. “Stranger than fiction,” she explained. What followed were astounding true tales about mammal brains. You might recognize Lambert’s name because she leads a lab that made headlines for teaching rats to drive cars. In her lecture, she homed in on what she called “the brain’s superpower” — its ability to change throughout our lives.
One of the strangest STF tales she told was about an Austin, Texas, plumber who has raised multiple cats that have lived into their 30s. The phenomenon was clearly catnip for Lambert as she described the cats’ lives. In addition to commercial food, they ate scrambled eggs and broccoli, and the owner also regularly gave them coffee and a bit of red wine. He set up walkways around his home, created a mini movie theater where he showed — of course — nature documentaries, and had a protected outdoor space.
Those last details really caught Lambert’s eye. One thread run-
ning through her research is that how we engage with our environment has an enormous effect on our brains’ capacity to change. That’s what her rat-driving research is ultimately about. The environment in which the rats live, she consistently finds, influences how quickly they can learn and cope with setbacks. The rats who live in spaces filled with engaging natural materials like dirt, sticks, and pine cones are her star drivers; the ones in standard lab homes never quite catch on.
STF, right? Her lecture got more serious when she talked about what we might learn from this. For example, life expectancy for people in the U.S. with Down syndrome has more than doubled from the 1980s to today. One big change in that period is that people with Down syndrome became much more likely to live at home rather than in institutions. Over the same decades, we have made comparatively little progress on depression and what are being called “deaths of despair,” such as suicide and addiction. Lambert wonders if, in tandem with pharmaceutical therapies, we also ought to be looking at interventions derived from the knowledge she is developing about the neuroplasticity — or capacity for continuous alteration — of her research subjects’ brains.
It is to Lambert’s credit as a teacher that I can use and roughly define the term neuroplasticity, the key word around which her research revolves. Lambert delivered her October lecture to the campus community in her capacity as one of three finalists for the Cherry Award. This national award for exceptional teaching, sponsored by Baylor University, offers the single largest monetary prize presented by a college or university, and its recipient will be announced in the spring.
As I sat there listening to Lambert talking about what makes rats and other mammals better learners, I knew I was also witnessing a moment of masterful teaching. More evidence of this was in the row right in front of me, where 10 or so undergraduates from her lab sat. Their names and images popped up on slides throughout her lecture as she showcased their contributions. Whenever one of their faces appeared, there was often a discreet high-five or gentle shoulder punch. I could see that they liked each other and loved being part of Lambert’s lab. She clearly offers them every day something only her luckiest would-be rat drivers get — a highly enriched, engaging environment for learning.
University of Richmond Magazine is produced by the Division of University Communications. The publication was launched in 1936 as The Alumni Bulletin and is currently published three times a year. Diverse views are presented and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or official policies of the university.
Two Spiders living very different lives both call themselves Russell Nance, L’97. What’s going on?
26 ‘We weren’t invisible anymore’
Fifty years ago, the first generation of Black undergraduates at Richmond organized UR’s first Black History Week.
32 A study in catastrophe
Memories of the Kennedy assassination as seen by two alumni in Richmond’s CBS newsroom.
40 100 years of women at Richmond Law
A century after Jane Brown Ranson became Richmond’s first female law graduate, another alumna is at the heart of a milestone.
8
An anonymus alumnus has made a major gift supporting scholarships for business students.
Portrait
Meet Kate Amabile, ’23, who leads Relay for Life at UR
Voices
Learning about leadership by studying killers and cults
Perspective
Why would someone live near a volcano?
16 SPORTS Women’s bball has big aspirations this season
Portrait
Building a better catcher
44 ALUMNI
Spider lives
Profile
These Baltimore Spiders created the city’s diaper bank
48 NOTES
Your latest news
Moments After senate confirmation, Kelly Hodge, L’96, joins the federal bench
Postscript Who lives in Westhampton Lake? We turned to biology faculty for answers.
Photograph by Jamie Betts
Photograph
Spider Drop 2021. The emerging tradition, which kicks of the fall semester, is now in its third year.
YOUR MAGAZINE, YOUR VOICE
Let us know what you think about what you read in this issue. Email your thoughts to magazine @richmond.edu or send us a letter (our postal address is on Page 5).
Please include your class year, city, state, and name you were known by as a student, if applicable. All letters to the editor may be edited for clarity or brevity and should not exceed 200 words. We also welcome your story tips at magazine @richmond.edu.
MARCH ON
I just finished reading the nice article in the Summer 2023 University of Richmond Magazine [“When the Spiders Went Marching In”].
My roommate and best friend, David Alan Jones, R’78, played French horn in the marching band. I’d be curious if his name was the one in the uniform you resurrected.
After majoring in political science, Dave went to law school at George Mason, graduating in its first class after its accreditation. Sadly, he passed away in June 1990. Our University of Richmond days were always special to us, and I miss him terribly.
Seeing the article, including the uniform, has been a lovely walk down memory lane. Thanks for the meaningful tidbit of U of R history.
—David E. Sutton Jr., R’78 St. Stephens Church, Virginia
[Editor’s note: Dave’s name wasn’t on the uniform. We have been unable to reach the alum whose name is on it.]
I was a freshman in Richmond College in 1969–70, and I was in the “marching” band. I can’t say that we marched much. At football games, we marched out onto the field, but all we did was stand there.
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We played at basketball games, and that leads to a very amusing story. The Richmond basketball team was not very good that year. Still, the Southern Conference tournament included all eight teams. Richmond was seeded No. 7.
The band went to the tournament knowing that Richmond played the second seed in the first round. We logically took enough money and clothes for one night. Richmond beat East Carolina. Oh, my. We had to stay an extra night. Exciting, but challenging in terms of the necessities for that extra night.
The next night, Richmond played George Washington, the No. 3 seed. The team won again! Now we were in real trouble. No money and no change of clothes.
In the end, Richmond lost in the final to Davidson, which was nationally ranked. We could finally go home. Let’s just say that by then we were very hungry, and our hours on
the bus home had a certain “tangy odor.”
It was a great experience. Thank you for bringing back those memories.
—Alvin Stenzel, R’73 The Villages, Florida
I was in the marching band as a majorette. That was the first time I ever twirled fire at one of the night games. I also remember the Richmond vs. William and Mary game. The majorettes were on the 45-yard line on one side of the field, and the W&M majorettes were on the other 45-yard line. I looked across the field, and there stood a friend that I had taken dancing with back in the day. It was good catching up with her after the national anthem.
When the Westhampton College Ring Dance needed a band, several of the marching band members formed one. They called themselves GRTC. After that, they worked at Kings Dominion and became the Kings of Swing.
Those are [some of] my memories. It was a good time, and I enjoyed it all.
—Beth Wheeler Nelson, W’73 Chesterfield, Virginia
I was in the UR marching/pep band when the new uniforms were purchased in 1969–70.My time in the band was one of excitement and enjoyment, not only because I got to play with so many talented musicians, but also because I got to go to so many fun events, such as football and basketball games, parades, and concert tours.
The attached photo (above) was taken in 1973 (I think) during a concert tour. I’m at the end of the middle row.
—Damon
Doumlele, R’73 Estero, Florida
YES, those band uniforms were very heavy and hot during the early weeks of football season.
Several memories come to mind. Standing behind the end zone waiting to do a victory march down the field after beating William & Mary, only to have them score in the closing seconds to pull off the upset. We didn’t know what to do!
Or traveling to Fort Myers, Florida, for the Edison Light Parade, encountering a snowstorm near the North Carolina and South Carolina border, being directed off Interstate 95 as we hit South Carolina and seeing National Guard troops on the roadway with snow shovels trying to clear the road.
Lastly, we were invited to march in one of the Disney World parades (I believe during its first year of operations). We were led through the underground maze of tunnels to the starting point for the parade to avoid the crowds on the main street waiting to watch.
Many fond memories of being a U of R band member (and pep band) during those four years at Richmond.
—Bob Allensworth, R’72 Sound Beach, New York
I don’t have a printable story, but I can fill in gaps. In the 1968–69 school year, I was in the band, and James Larkin was the new band director. That year we marched in blazers. In the 1969–70 school year, the uniforms pictured in the article arrived, and we proudly marched in those uniforms with the hope that the marching band would be an enduring entity.
—Les Lilley, B’71 and L’79 Virginia Beach, Virginia
FREAKY FUN
Particularly interesting in the Summer 2023 issue was the article titled “Disappearing Freaks of Nature — And the Secrets Going With Them.” The title piqued my interest, and the article was fascinating. Angler fish — bizarre and ugly. No wonder they live deep in the ocean. A creature with a charming name, velvet worm, that paralyzes and liquefies its victims. Brutal little creature. And sadly, many of these unusual creatures are becoming extinct. A most enjoyable and interesting article.
I also enjoy the Eye section. There are so many architecturally unique structures and items on campus that most of us don’t notice. Thanks for photographing and sharing.
—Becky Grandstaff Clarke, W’76 Richmond
‘A
scale-tipping impact’
At an event called Colloquy at the start of each academic year, we recognize outstanding faculty achievement in teaching and scholarship. We also honor esteemed faculty with named, endowed appointments. And we welcome new and visiting faculty into our vibrant intellectual community. Elevating and expanding our faculty enhances our university’s academic expertise; increases opportunities for Spiders to learn, collaborate, and explore; and creates additional pathways for future careers. This year, after hearing the reflections of our distinguished educators and scholars, recognizing those at the top of their fields, and engaging with our newest colleagues, I’ve found myself even more confident about UR’s trajectory. During her reflection for the Distinguished Educator Award, Cassandra Marshall, associate professor of finance, said that she strives “to make topics interesting and relevant to everyone in the room” and “to teach with an optimal amount of rigor that encourages growth with some level of discomfort and plenty of room for students to learn from their mistakes.” Fellow
awardee Meredith J. Harbach, a professor of law, said she loves watching students grow “over the journeys of a semester, the spans of their law school experience, and the arcs of their careers.” Each of these statements highlights a critical strength that drew me here and, I believe, draws many to Richmond. Total commitment to our students is a hallmark of the UR educational experience.
Eight Richmond faculty in various disciplines — from cosmology to corporate governance to Near Eastern studies — were also recognized for recent promotions to named positions with endowed chairs and professorships. These faculty have significantly impacted their fields while innovating in the classroom, mentoring students, serving in leadership roles, publishing research, and receiving millions of dollars in external grant funding. A named position is a big deal in higher education and is among the highest academic honors a university can bestow. I am delighted and grateful we have had so much philanthropic support to fund these positions at Richmond.
Meanwhile, infusions of expertise positively impact UR’s growing and emergent disciplines. This fall, we welcomed 34 new and visiting faculty to expand teaching and research opportunities. Two of these faculty, Courtney Blondino and Margaret Tait, joined our burgeoning health studies department. As a discipline, health studies equips students with frameworks for understanding the cultural, economic, legal, and other contexts that shape individual and population health. Increased access to these offerings will strengthen pathways to careers in medicine, public health, and healthcare management.
As we strive to make our university even more remarkable, we will continue doing all of this and more. Guided by our strategic plan, we will increase our capacity to support and recognize outstanding faculty achievements, honor world-class faculty at the top of their fields, and identify academic areas where an infusion of new expertise can have a scale-tipping impact on the intellectual vibrancy of our community and the educational experience of our students. I am grateful for your partnership as we continue this journey, and I have so much confidence in what we can achieve together.
HIGH HONOR
At Colloquy, English professor Elizabeth Outka was recognized for her appointment as UR’s new TuckerBoatwright Professor of Humanities. She is one of eight faculty who were recently appointed to named positions. Outka co-organized the university’s inaugural Faculty & Staff Research Symposium in September, which drew more than 140 staff and faculty presenters sharing stories and research during interdisciplinary sessions.
Photograph by Mollie McClure
By Kevin F. Hallock, president
A named chair or professorship is a major honor for faculty — and an example of how philanthropic support makes a big impact on students.
MORE INFO
“Access and affordability” is one of five guiding lights of the university’s strategic plan. For more information, go to strategicplan. richmond.edu.
Strong investment
A $10 million gift to the University of Richmond will support scholarships for Robins School of Business students.
The donation from a Robins School alumnus, who prefers to remain anonymous, will establish an endowed scholarship fund.
“This generous gift will support students pursuing careers in finance, management, economics, marketing, analytics, accounting, and more,” said Mickey Quiñones, dean of the Robins School of Business. “Many of our students receive scholarship support to attend Richmond, and I’m grateful this alum was inspired by his own experiences to help make that possible for even more students.”
The alum, who studied accounting and finance, worked his way through college, stocking groceries to fund
ACCOLADES
High marks
The Princeton Review placed the university on several best-of lists this year. Among the highlights were placements in multiple top 10 categories — including No. 3 rankings for Best Classroom Experience and BestRun College — and the No. 1 ranking for the Most Beautiful Campus. The guide also recognized the university at No. 5 for Most Accessible Professors.
Richmond was named a top performer for its commitment to diversity and affordability on the 2023 Sustainable Campus Index, which is compiled by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Richmond was the only primarily undergraduate institution on AASHE’s Diversity and Affordability list, placing No. 9. Other institutions on the list included Stanford, Yale, Cornell, and Santa Clara University.
INTERNSHIP
his tuition and other expenses. He says he established this scholarship to help make a Richmond education accessible for other ambitious students like himself. He hopes that the scholarship recipients will one day add to the fund as well, to pay it forward to future generations of Spiders.
“Access and affordability are among our highest priorities at the University of Richmond. We offer an exceptional educational experience for outstanding students from all over the country and world,” said President Kevin F. Hallock. “This gift will have an incredible impact on our ability to enhance financial support for remarkable students, and it is an inspiring example of Spiders helping Spiders. I am profoundly grateful to this alumnus for his commitment.”
Go Team USA
Some Americans who compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris might have a Spider to thank for making their road there easier.
During a summer internship with USA Track & Field, Richmond cross-country runner Stuart Terrill, ’24, collaborated on the development of a document aimed at demystifying the arcane point system used by World Athletics. “Many, many athletes have been hurt by the system and failed to qualify for this year’s world championships because they didn’t understand how it works,” he said. “Our goal was to create a way to help USATF athletes better understand it so that they can compete at a higher level.”
His summer internship was supported by Richmond Guarantee funding. guarantee. richmond.edu
A bold new gift is enhancing support for students pursuing majors in the Robins School of Business.
Top left photograph by Jamie Betts; opposite page by Dave Green
Seeing stars — and more
Astrophysicist and professor Jack Singal received a National Science Foundation grant of nearly $600,000 for a research project that will result in a new map focused on sky brightness in radio waves. Astronomers study radio waves and other light to better understand the universe.
Singal and his research partner, Richard Bradley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, will use the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia — the world’s largest steerable, clear-aperture telescope — along with custom instrumentation they are developing. The result will be an absolutely calibrated map of the diffuse radio emission over nearly the entire sky.
“This project will use the defining features of the Green Bank Tele -
scope, which is unique in the world, along with our custom radio receiver and feed antenna, so it is a beautiful marriage of big-facility and smallgroup research,” Singal said.
The map will be the first largescale measurement of the actual absolute brightness level of diffuse radio emission in more than 40 years, rather than a comparison of brightness in different regions of the sky, as has been typical.
Experts expect the map will be a transformative tool for investigating phenomena within and beyond the Milky Way that depend on an understanding of diffuse radio emission. It will aid in an array of future astrophysics investigations and have applications in projects rooted in radio astronomy.
COMMITMENT TO MENTORING
Singal and his undergraduate students work in astrophysics across the electromagnetic spectrum. They study active galaxies and how they have changed. Singal received UR’s outstanding mentor award in 2018.
When media outlets cover news and events, they come to Richmond for perspective and expertise. Here’s a sample of recent stories that put the university in the news:
In an article picked up by multiple outlets, marketing professor SARA HANSON wrote with a co-author how expectations about tipping are in flux. “Our research suggests that asking for tips before service and suggesting tip amounts that are too high can frustrate customers and be bad for business,” they wrote.
Marketing lecturer BILL BERGMAN
commented on how changes at X, formerly Twitter, affect everyday users. “I get the impression [owner Elon] Musk, with the direction it’s going, doesn’t care what Bill Bergman, who has 400 followers, thinks,” he said.
Professor KRISTIN BEZIO in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies commented on video games as tools for teaching ethics. “Video games are just as capable of exerting influence as other media, such as novels or films — in fact, they may even be more capable of doing so by virtue of their immersive interactivity,” she said.
“I never want to forget the feeling of being totally confused by what a teacher is trying to explain,” accounting professor JOE HOYLE said in an article about his commitment to be a continuous learner by signing up for classes in subjects he knows little about.
Education professor KATE CASSADA wrote about issues facing K-12 educators with the development of generative AI. “Schools will have to embrace generative AI, learn to harness its value, and teach students how to navigate its potential dangers,” she wrote.
Singal will use the massive radio telescope photographed here from a mile away. It has a diameter of more than 100 meters — meaning an entire football field would fit across it.
Jewish life in D.C.
Contributions by a UR scholar are helping visitors to a Washington, D.C., museum learn more about the Jewish experience in the nation’s capital and surrounding region.
History professor Eric Yellin serves as visiting curator for the Capital Jewish Museum, which was created in 1960 to rescue Washington’s first purpose-built synagogue. Yellin supported the development of the content and design and co-wrote the copy for the museum’s core exhibitions: What Is Jewish Washington? and Connect. Reflect. Act
“The story of Jews in D.C. is a different story than in a lot of other cities,” Yellin said. “It’s a story not a lot of people know, and this museum opens up that narrative to more people.”
Fall ventures
Several faculty have received grant funding to support their research this fall: With support from the American Mathematical Society, mathematics professor Heather Russell and a team of undergraduates began work on a new project to further her research on algebraic geometry and combinatorial representation theory.
Africana studies and sociology professor Deborwah Faulk received a fellowship to incorporate The HistoryMakers — the largest video oral history archive of the Black experience in the country — in her course Sociology of Black Families, offered for the first time at UR this fall.
Religious studies professor Douglas Winiarski is spending the academic year in residence at Monticello working on his next book, which focuses on religious violence in the Jefferson era, through a $50,000 fellowship from the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. AROUND CAMPUS
NEW EXPERTISE
The unveiling of the new facility coincided with the start date of new journalism professor Andrew Beck Grace, an NPR podcast producer and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker. “He’s very excited to come into this new space, which he had input in designing,” Mufti said. “We are also excited about being able to offer students new courses, such as Introduction to Podcasting.”
RICHMOND GUARANTEE
L.A. LAW , BUT FOR REAL Senior Sam Geller did a summer internship at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office as a law clerk. He tracked court cases, researched criminal records, and otherwise assisted the staff to meet its mission. He’ll build on the experience for a future seeking justice in international courts. “I’m interested in global power dynamics and politics,” he said.
JOURNALISM
New lab, new tools
The news is bright for UR journalism students. The journalism lab — a media and production space where they learn to produce news in a variety of formats — got a major upgrade funded by a recent graduate’s parents.
This is the lab’s first renovation since its creation in 2003. Back then, “[t]here was a new website called Facebook, which was pretty exciting,” said Shahan Mufti, associate professor and chair of the journalism department. “We had no idea how the world of journalism was going to change.”
The renovation, which took place over the summer, included the addition of cutting-edge tools and technology to transform the lab from a print-focused classroom into a multimedia production and editing space. The facility also features a brand-new studio outfitted with advanced audio podcasting equipment and video streaming cameras.
“This facility ensures that we are providing students with the very best there is to offer,” Mufti said.
The donors, who prefer to remain anonymous, committed $100,000 to fund a total facility upgrade and renovation. “The journalism department was our daughter’s home away from home while at UR,” they said. “It provides a rich academic environment that cultivates passion and fosters a sense of community. ... We are grateful to have the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way, with tangible impact.”
Mufti and his colleagues were deeply touched by the family’s generosity. “I can’t overstate how wonderful it is to know that this gift came from a journalism student’s parents,” he said. “Knowing that they were so moved by their child’s experience that they decided to give in such a meaningful way — it’s a vote of confidence like no other.”
A new lab features a podcast studio and other tools to prepare students for journalism careers.
Top photograph by Jamie Betts; opposite page by Gordon Schmidt
A REMARKABLE SPIDER
Senior Kate Amabile revived UR’s Relay for Life chapter to raise funds for cancer research and honor loved ones struck by the disease
When she was a kid, Kate Amabile, ’24, lost her grandfather to prostate cancer. That experience was part of what motivated her to join her high school’s Relay for Life chapter. The event celebrates cancer survivors, remembers loved ones lost to the disease, and raises funds for American Cancer Society research and programs. More than 1.9 million new cancer cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year.
Amabile planned to continue her involvement in Relay when she got to college. When she found out that Richmond didn’t have an active chapter, she stepped forward and created a new one. In two short years, it has developed into one of the country’s most promising chapters, according to the American Cancer Society.
“I decided to start Relay for Life at UR because of how impactful and life-changing this event is,” said Amabile, the chapter’s president. “So many families are touched by cancer, and it takes fundraising efforts from passionate people across the world to make an impact.”
In July, the American Cancer Society honored Richmond’s chapter as one of five Rising Stars at an annual conference in Dallas. The award recognized the chapter’s leadership, growth, and future potential.
“They made big strides their very first year and continued their success their second year,” Jane Roberts, senior development manager at ACS Virginia, said. “They have great leadership, and their donations have increased every year. That’s why we view them as a Rising Star.”
Relay for Life participants collect pledges for their teams, then raise money by walking laps during a four-hour event. The 2022 and 2023 Relay events at Richmond collectively raised nearly $60,000.
In addition to making donations to individuals and teams, donors can also purchase and decorate luminarias to honor loved ones who have had cancer. During a special ceremony, the lights are turned off, and the luminarias glow in the dark around the track. Speakers share their experiences with cancer during this intimate time,
and attendees crack open glow sticks in solidarity.
“At our 2023 event we had several speakers, one being fellow Spider Penny Armenio,” Amabile said. “She lost her dad to cancer in the fall of 2022 and was brave enough to share her story with us at the event. Her dad was an oncologist and devoted his whole life to saving the lives of other cancer patients. We Relay for people like Penny.”
Accounting professor Nancy Bagranoff is the organization’s adviser, and the Robins School of Business is the presenting sponsor for the chapter.
“Under Kate Amabile’s leadership and with the support of many dedicated students across campus, this chapter has far and away exceeded all expectations,” Bagranoff said. “It is no surprise, then, that the American Cancer Society would recognize this effort as a Rising Star.”
Amabile is proud of the leadership team and chapter members for working so hard to make the event a success. “Our chapter is extremely committed to Relay, to raising money for a life-threatening illness, and to organizing an amazing event to honor those affected by cancer,” she said.
CAMPUS LIFE
Relay for Life is one of more than 175 registered student organizations on campus. Approximately 70% of undergraduates are involved in an organization — and often multiple ones. Organizations have 27 members on average.
STARTLING STATS
Statistics show that throughout your lifetime, you’re likely to encounter six murderers and two serial murderers somewhere in your orbit.
Some people think serial killers look or behave a certain way or can’t function in society, but actually the most prolific ones are often the most charismatic. Drawing attention to such similarities is one way Henley and her students explore the complexities of leadership.
Leadership gone wrong
Serial killers and cults might seem like an unusual course topic for the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Professor Lauren Henley reveals their intriguing links to leadership.
What do serial killers and cults have to do with leadership studies?
Pedagogically, there are lots of parallels between killers and cult leaders and people that we think of as successful leaders.
They’re all power systems. [Look at the] ways that they use something as seemingly benign as charisma to attract people to carry out nefarious plans.
Can you give an example?
[Say you’re a] college student coming to campus for the first time. You’re trying to make friends, taking a bunch of new classes, learning new professors’ names, and learning a new city. And someone says, “Why don’t you come study with me at the library?” You do it for one day, and they’re like, “Why don’t you study with me again tomorrow? I really enjoyed your company.”
Then it comes time for fall break: “Why don’t you come home with me and my family? And why don’t you bring your roommate along?”
Soon, you and your roommate are revolving your lives around one person. But that person does the same to two, three, four other people. They’ve got a little following.
And now you get to winter break: “Hey, why don’t we all go rent a house in Virginia Beach for the week?” And you’re excited because now you think you have a community. And then it’s: “Oh, well, the only week we could get it is the last week of classes. So you’re going to have to skip a final or two.”
And now it’s impacting your day-to-day life.
But you think that these are your people, you’ve found your home, you’re safe, and you’re comfortable. It’s very, very easy to get in deep before you realize.
I walk students through these kinds of examples to show how seemingly benignly someone can end up trapped in one of these kinds of groups.
Sounds like anyone could fall into that trap. Absolutely. My students start out thinking
all the usual stereotypes: that people who join cults must be particularly depressed or lonely, that they must be somehow weak in the mind or have some sort of negative home life and are looking for a surrogate family. At the end of the class, they’re like, “Actually, that could be me.” There’s no one kind of person who’s predisposed to joining a cult.
How do they come to realize this?
I don’t offer a moral stance on cults but rather show that they are about power in a corrupt sort of way. I put primary sources before my students, and we interrogate them together.
We also play a game on Day Two called Cult Following. Students get five cards [with amusing descriptors like “a message from the future” or “your very own spaceship”], and they choose three [to define their cult]. Their classmates ask questions, and they try to recruit them by answering according to their cult’s interests. It sounds outlandish, but in reality there are cults that actually hold some of these values.
QUOTATION
“
You never know what someone is going through.”
Junior LYDIA BAER , quoted in a Sept. 12 Collegian story about the importance of students watching out for one another’s mental health. Baer is an intern at UR CAPS, which provides counseling and psychological services.
Boatwright makeover
In May, crews began a significant renovation and expansion project that will transform Boatwright Memorial Library as an intellectual and community center on campus.
The renovation will create an enclosed atrium with inviting study spaces and increased natural light on the side of the library that faces Westhampton Lake. It will also make the building more accessible from the lake level and improve access to key spaces within the library, including the Book Arts Studio and the Lora Robins Gallery.
The library’s existing café, 8:15 at Boatwright, will relocate to the new atrium area and expand as an enjoyable space for members of the campus community to gather. The
library will also become more accessible from the lake level.
The library has undergone several improvements over the past few years. The current renovation began in May 2023 and is scheduled to be completed in spring 2025. It adds 7,500 square feet, increasing the library’s total square footage to 172,200.
The project also includes planning space within the library to prepare for the future home of the new Carole and Marcus Weinstein Learning Center, a center that will focus on academic support for students. The center is funded by a $25 million gift from the Weinsteins — the secondlargest single gift in Richmond’s history.
AROUND CAMPUS
A new foundation
UR has adopted its first major change in more than 30 years to the set of courses taken by all undergraduates before graduation. The redesigned curriculum, called the Foundational Curriculum, will launch in fall 2024. It was approved by a vote of the faculty in the spring.
The Foundational Curriculum is designed to foster both broad exploration and deep discovery. “The goal is to educate students from a variety of perspectives in a variety of fields, encouraging them to think critically, to look at things from multiple viewpoints, and to learn their roles and their strengths,” said Joanna Love, director of general education. “We have this really interesting community with so many talents and skills, and we’re finding ways to make connections between them all.”
More information is available at gened. richmond.edu.
LOOKING SPIFFY
Campus celebrated the conclusion of another major renovation at the start of the academic year — at Richmond Law. The renovation created the Law School Commons and the first green roof on campus. Read more about it in the autumn issue of Richmond Law magazine, available at lawmagazine. richmond.edu.
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Two new academic programs became available to students this year.
A new Master of Science in Management graduate program is now available through the Robins School of Business. The one-year program was created for students with liberal arts degrees or concentrations in STEM who are interested in pursuing an advanced degree in business. Students receive a comprehensive understanding of business fundamentals with an emphasis on innovation and the analytics used across top businesses worldwide. More information is available at msm.richmond.edu.
Creative writing, formerly available as a minor, is now offered as a major through the English department in the School of Arts and Sciences.
A rendering of the new atrium coming to Boatwright Memorial Library
This scholar flies high
Before she was a Richmond Law professor, Corinna Lain was an enlistee in the U.S. Army. She spent most of that time as a truck driver, which meant that she never jumped out of a plane — airborne did that. It took the intercession of Polina Tsvetikova Washington, L’16, to get her to make the leap.
To honor her former Richmond Law professor and adviser, Washington nominated Lain for a tandem jump with the Golden Knights, the Army’s demonstration and competition parachute team. Lain “had a go-getter attitude — her life accomplishments prove that — and came across as fearless,” Washington said. “I consider Professor Lain to be the perfect fit” for the program, “which [seeks] out influential people.”
“I was nervous,” Lain confessed. During the 45-minute pre-jump training, she had one question: “What happens if I faint?”
She didn’t faint. When she touched ground again, she was gleeful, calling it “one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had in my life. The [free fall] feels like you’re flying.”
Punchlines & politics
Political science professor Dan Chen received a grant to continue her research on stand-up comedy in China.
Her research shows that it’s a lot more than a laughing matter. Chen’s focus is on stand-up comedy’s political and cultural power, particularly how it influences public opinion about key social and political issues among Chinese audiences.
“Over the past few decades, stand-up comedy has emerged as a powerful and complex form of creative expression in China,” Chen said. “Party-state controls much of public discourse in China, but popular demand for transgressive content like stand-up comedy continues to grow.”
HISTORY
NEW SPIDERS
PEPLE LECTURE Author and former National Geographic editor Candice Millard will deliver this year’s Peple Lecture, presented by the Friends of Boatwright Memorial Library, March 3 at the Jepson Alumni Center. Her topic will be 19th-century European explorers’ search for the source of the Nile River, which she recounts in her book River of the Gods
MENTORSHIP
First-year students are just at the beginning of an experience that alumni often cite as one of the most important aspects of their time at Richmond: close relationships with faculty.
Our 8:1 studentfaculty ratio encourages these mentoring relationships, which lead to a variety of opportunities. For example, more than half of Richmond undergraduates engage in facultymentored research during their four years.
Fabulous first-years
As you read this, members of the Class of 2027 are in the final weeks of their first semester. The 830+ of them arrived on campus in August as an already remarkable bunch.
One started a nonprofit that raised more than $20,000 and provided 2,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for students in Texas and Zambia. One was among the first female members of the Boy Scouts of America. One held a Guinness Book of World Records title for world’s largest slime.
“Our incoming class is comprised of students who have achieved both academically and personally,” said Stephanie Dupaul, vice president for enrollment management. “In addition to their academic excellence, they have interesting hobbies and extracurricular activities that bring diverse perspectives and a lot of energy to our campus. These new Spiders, who are archers, artists,
chefs, entrepreneurs, figure skaters, fencers, musicians, and much more, will use their experiences to enhance their academic careers.”
The Class of 2027 includes 15% first-generation students, 27% students of color, and 11% international students from 35 countries, including Brazil, Canada, India, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Many incoming students had already completed advanced research. One spent more than two years researching C. difficile infections and helped develop a wipe that makes C. diff spores visible. Others researched prison systems and solitary confinement, the impacts of the Holocaust on the mental health of descendants of survivors, and the effect of a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet on dance injuries.
We look forward to telling stories about what more these Spiders accomplish over the next four years.
LIVING NEAR THE FIRE
Five hundred million people worldwide have active volcanoes as neighbors. Geology professor David Kitchen explores the reasons.
The thought of living near an active volcano probably sounds like an unimaginable risk to you — and rightly so. An active volcano is never safe and can turn a forested hillside into a lifeless wasteland in seconds.
Yet 500 million people worldwide live and work under the shadow of active volcanoes. As a geologist who’s studied many volcanoes, I’ve come to realize it’s naive to ask, “Why don’t people just move to less risky places?” Their motivations range widely.
CENTERS OF IDENTITY
People in many cultures revere volcanoes as places of worship, ritual, and tradition that are celebrated for their power over fertility, life, and sustenance.
For a number of religious traditions, Mount Fuji in Japan is a place where ancestral spirits congregate. It has been a symbolic and sacred site of pilgrimage for centuries. Every summer, thousands of people ascend through the clouds to reach the summit.
For the Tenggerese people on Java, Mount Bromo is a deeply sacred site — the abode of gods. Every year they hike up the volcano carrying agricultural products and livestock to be sacrificed during the Yadnya Kasada festival. Pilgrims gather at the rim to express gratitude and seek blessings with prayer, chanting, and sacred offerings.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
The land surrounding volcanoes often offers significant economic opportunity.
Volcanic soils are among the most fertile in the world. They contain minerals and nutrients that are essential for plant growth. They also have good pH balance, high porosity, and strong water retention, making them ideal for agriculture. In addition, volcanic terrains often create unique microclimates that are ideal for high-value crops such as grapes, coffee, and bananas.
Striking landscapes, unique geological features, and the thrill of proximity draw tourists to active volcanoes worldwide. Visitors to sites like the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park on Java, Mount Kilauea in Hawaii, and Mount Etna on Sicily can boost
local economies and enhance the livelihoods of residents.
Volcanic landscapes can also offer rich mineral resources such as gold, silver, and amethyst. For example, the rich volcanic landscape around El Misti in southern Peru is valued for its copper and other metals. On Java, in Indonesia, miners still excavate bright yellow sulfur deposits from the active Kawah Ijen volcano crater floor using hand tools and then carry the heavy blocks up the volcano’s steep walls to its rim.
Such extraction can stimulate economic growth and create jobs, but often the wealth is exported and lost to local communities that struggle financially.
LOW-COST LAND
Not everyone who lives next to a volcano does so by choice.
At Mount Merapi in Indonesia and Mount Mayon in the Philippines, two of the world’s most active volcanoes, subsistence farmers live and work on the steep slopes. Because they live closest to the eruption sites, these communities are particularly vulnerable, making rapid evacuation unlikely.
In 2010, 250 people were killed by searing gas clouds during an eruption of Mount Merapi. Despite the tragedy, many survivors stayed put because leaving their crops behind would mean financial ruin.
As scientists get better at predicting eruptions and likely paths of destruction, sometimes the danger of volcanoes can be mitigated with good communication and solid evacuation plans. Even so, life beside a volcano is a complex interplay of risk and reward — and one many cannot avoid.
SOURCE CITED Kitchen, an associate professor of geology and associate dean in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, first published a longer version of this essay on TheConversation.com, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing academic expertise with general audiences.
ALREADY IN ACTION
While this issue of the magazine was on press, the Spiders started the season with a significant challenge, a Nov. 6 game at Duke. For the team’s full schedule — and every Spider team’s schedule — go to richmondspiders. com.
“I had to do something — something big.”
Field hockey defender OLIVIA DE CAIN, ’24 , quoted in The Collegian about scoring her first career goal on Senior Day. The team won 5-2 over St. Louis.
Sights are elevated
Throughout his five seasons at Richmond, Aaron Roussell’s teams have been comparatively young. That happens when a new coach comes in to lead a fresh start. Expectations are accordingly tempered as it takes a few recruitment and development cycles for a coach to fully get a new vision for a program in place.
Progress is visible. The team ended last season with the program’s first postseason win since 2015, in the WNIT tournament. This season, the players from Roussell’s first recruiting class are seniors. When Roussell looks at his roster, he sees a confident and hungry team ready to take a big step forward.
The WNIT experience “was a huge notch in our belt and confidence booster, both as a reward for last year
but also springboarding into this coming season,” he said. “I think this has the potential to be a special year.”
The 2023–24 roster has strengths from post to perimeter. Returning players like forward Addie Budnik (“the best player in the league for a couple of seasons”) and guard Grace Townsend (“embodies the build of this program”) will add veteran leadership buttressed by graduate transfers. Forward Maggie Doogan returns after earning a spot on the A-10’s All-Rookie Team last season.
“I’m proud of where the program is right now,” Roussell said. “I want this program every year from here on out to talk about winning a championship and playing in the postseason. Last season proved that this group can do that.”
Hall of famer
Longtime Spider coach and administrator LaRee Sugg (second from left) was enshrined into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in Atlanta in September. She was one of this year’s four inductees.
Sugg had a decorated collegiate golfing career at UCLA and led the Bruins to the 1991 national championship. When she turned pro, she was the third African American to play on the LPGA tour. She came to UR in 2001 as the university’s first women’s golf coach. She is now a deputy director of athletics, the department’s senior woman administrator, and its chief of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Spider smarts
During the 2022-23 academic year, Spider student athletes posted an average team GPA of 3.4, the highest on record for a year not affected by COVID-19 grading policies.
Small groups of student athletes are also taking part in global leadership immersions. One group traveled to Costa Rica during the fall break, and another will travel to Israel during winter break.
Bigger picture
In his beginning-of-the-semester update, athletics director John Hardt addressed the changing dynamics of Division I athletics.
“Potent forces are remaking the competitive landscape from coast to coast,” he wrote. “The best way for Richmond Athletics to respond is to make sure we have the resources needed to meet the moment. An athletics program that is student-athlete centered and combines competitive excellence, academic achievement, and a broad and loyal base of support can thrive in any environment. ... [T]hank you for supporting the Spiders.”
Women’s basketball looks to continue its upswing this season.
Catching on
MLB teams and Spider baseball are adopting a training tool created by former Richmond catcher and Minnesota Twins minor leaguer Kyle Schmidt.
Receiving is a skill many sports fans first associate with football. But it’s also a crucial part of a catcher’s role in baseball. How expertly a catcher receives and frames a pitch going as fast as 100 mph into his glove can influence an umpire’s ball and strike calls on borderline pitches and significantly affect the outcome of a game.
Catchers across dozens of MLB and NCAA baseball teams are now improving their receiving skills by using the Catcher Resistance Training, or CRT, belt invented by catcher Kyle Schmidt, ’19, a standout student athlete for Richmond who now plays in the Minnesota Twins’ minor league system. Schmidt combined his athletic skills with his business-degree acumen to fill an important gap in a catcher’s gear.
The spark for the CRT belt came in September 2020
when Schmidt couldn’t find enough space for his usual training setup of resistance bands and other gear. “I needed something more compact and mobile,” he says. An internet search showed him the product he wanted didn’t exist — yet. “I decided to make my own.”
The CRT uses a resistance cable to connect a wrist band to the catcher’s belt. The resulting tension helps improve a player’s glove strength and speed and make his movements more controlled, consistent, and efficient.
“When the resistance band is attached to your hip, you feel how you are leveraging and creating force into the ball from your body,” he explains. Schmidt enlisted his grandmother, a master quilter, to sew D-rings onto the belt of his first prototype, cobbled together from parts he bought at hardware and
sporting goods stores. As he iterated his model, he sought advice from Joel Mier, lecturer of marketing in the Robins School of Business. “He told me not to prioritize the CRT belt over my main career path but as a small venture to focus on growth and just getting into the market,” Schmidt says.
Schmidt started with word-of-mouth sales in summer 2021, traveling with a suitcase of CRT belt components so he could fill orders between games. Today, 14 of MLB’s 30 franchises and more than 60 college teams — including Richmond — use the CRT.
“What was so special about Kyle as a player was his receiving skills,” says Nate Mulberg, an assistant baseball coach at Richmond. “If any of our catchers can replicate Kyle’s ability to receive pitches by using the CRT belt, then we’re going to be in great shape.”
The CRT belt is helping recreational players too; it is now sold online by Dick’s Sporting Goods and in a third of Scheels sporting goods locations. “I am proud that the CRT belt has been able to become part of many catchers’ routines,” Schmidt says. “I’m excited to see where it goes.”
HE CAN HIT, TOO
As a student athlete at Richmond, Schmidt earned one of college baseball’s highest accolades for a catcher when he was named to the Johnny Bench Award watchlist. The award honors the top catcher in Division I baseball.
During his senior year, he had a team-high 13-game hitting streak and reached base safely in 30 consecutive games.
By Kristin Baird Rattini
BY MATTHEW DEWALD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMIE BETTS
At first glance, it might look like two Spiders who live very different lives are both calling themselves Russell Nance, L’97. But they look alike, talk alike, and wear the same stylish glasses. What’s going on?
ONE IS A MANHATTAN TAX ATTORNEY.
He wears dapper color-coordinated business-lite outfits to his 34th-floor office in a tower on the Avenue of the Americas. When he looks out his office window, Radio City Music Hall, the Rockefeller Center, and other landmarks of Midtown are spread out before him, not that he has a lot of time for sightseeing. He has an advanced law degree called an LL.M. in tax law from New York University, which he pursued after earning his J.D. from Richmond Law. He is a partner at Mayer Brown, a global law firm and the only firm worldwide, as its website notes, “with approximately 200 lawyers in each of the world’s three largest financial centers — New York, London and Hong Kong — the backbone of the global economy.”
According to this Nance’s Mayer Brown profile online, his expertise is in representing “sponsors, managers, issuers, and underwriters in virtually every manner of assetbacked transaction, including account receivable; auto loan; auto lease; collateralized bond, loan, and debt obligation; commercial and residential mortgage, including REMICs; credit card receivable,” and more. That’s just the first half. When I ask him to put his legal work in plain words, the most succinct explanation he can offer is, “My practice focuses on the tax aspects of securitizations and structured finance transactions.” This answer does not advance my understanding significantly, but it does underscore that his work is highly complex and very technical and involves transactions whose dollar figures include many, many digits.
This Russell Nance bills his time in six-minute increments.
And then there is the other Russell Nance, the one I met on a Friday in September after driving an hour west of Richmond into the Albemarle, Virginia, countryside. I knew I had turned into the right place because of a sign from the road. It read:
Ragged Branch Distillery
Virginia Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Beef & Bourbon Available Seven Days a Week This, dear reader, is how you compose a welcome sign.
This version of Nance invited me in through a doorway attached to a barn labeled “Hunt Camp.” He wore violet checkerboard Vans, blue jeans, a periwinkle blue V-neck T-shirt, and a tan sport coat with a casually folded satin pocket square, also periwinkle, peeking up out of his breast pocket. A wood-burning stove sat near one wall, and taxidermy lined many of the other walls. There was a full open kitchen, a big-screen TV, and enough leather furniture around it for a decent-size college football watch party. But off in the corner was also a large desk with piles of paperwork, for I was meeting Nance in Ragged Branch’s business office.
The man who usually sits behind that desk, Alex Toomy, was there, too. Toomy is a genuine Virginia cowboy. He was once a champion horse cutter, a rodeo discipline focused on separating one calf from a herd. He looked the part, from his work boots up to his jeans capped by a large oval
belt buckle to his multiday stubble and a head topped by a ball cap.
Toomy and Nance go back. They are longtime friends and, for a while by marriage, were legally family. Toomy used to make his primary living as a builder and developer, and he often hired a teenage Nance to work construction projects around central Virginia. Despite their city mouse/ country mouse vibe, their ease with and mutual respect for one another is obvious.
“Under this gruff exterior,” Nance assures me, gesturing toward Toomy, “lies the heart of an artisan.”
Today, the two work together as partners. They are twothirds of the founders of Ragged Branch, a bourbon distillery. Nance jokes that they look like an odd pair, but the more serious truth is that this partnership with Toomy is giving Nance more of the life he wants. Don’t get Nance wrong — his life as a New York City tax attorney is fantastic. But life at Ragged Branch? It’s unlikely, impossible even, surpassing even what he thought reasonable to dream. But it’s also really his life, as real as the one he’s built in Manhattan. And he works harder than he ever imagined for it, too.
Ragged Branch was born out of a crazy idea that poked its head up in front of Toomy and wouldn’t go away. Like a lot of people in real estate development and construction in the late 2000s, Toomy saw his work dry up almost overnight when mortgage-backed securities took a nosedive at the start of the Great Recession. He was idled with nothing to do, unsure about his next steps, and watching as his friends were in the same boat. On Thursday nights, they commiserated at happy hours in his horse barn. One of his friends joked at one point that since they had nothing better to do, they might as well make whiskey. Later, a bored but curious Toomy searched online about the preliminary paperwork, but he was killing time more than making plans.
That changed when he plopped down on the couch one day and flipped on The History Channel. “I happened to watch this show called Modern Marvels,” he said. “The episode was called ‘American Whiskey.’ I was watching it just coincidentally as I had looked into getting a license, and this guy was on there called Dave Pickerell. He was the master distiller at Maker’s Mark. So I cold-called him.”
Garden & Gun magazine once referred to Pickerell as “the Johnny Appleseed of American whiskey.” For reasons Toomy still doesn’t quite understand, Pickerell took to this upstart Virginia bourbon idea and became a sort of guru and mentor, coming to central Virginia to teach the distilling process, which is both chemistry and art. One piece of Toomy’s big idea was suddenly falling into place.
Nance’s involvement from the start was another critical piece. Even after Nance moved to New York in 1997, he had remained connected to Toomy — who was his brother-inlaw at the time — as a property investor. When Toomy had a new development to build, Nance would buy a few lots up front. It juiced the early sales and gave Toomy capital to get the development going, making it easier for Toomy
to sell the rest. After the development was well-established, Nance would sell his lots, often for a tidy profit. It was a good deal for both of them.
So it wasn’t unusual for Toomy to approach Nance about an investment. The initial amount was consistent with other deals they’d done together, but Nance didn’t take the idea of going into the bourbon business all too seriously at first.
“My reaction was, ‘Sure, you do that. It’s never going to happen, but I’ll say yes,’” Nance said. “And it was that, but also at the same time, [I was] holding a conflicting view, which is ‘Man, that would be really cool. I really would like to do that.’”
“ One of the greatest things that U of R did for me was it taught me how to think: to think analytically, to think objectively, to try to jettison subjective bias when I’m trying to make decisions.”
The pair recruited a friend from Louisiana, Chris Sarpy, to be a third founder, and they formed the company in 2010. Sarpy handles the finances, keeping the company’s accounts in order. Nance’s wife, Chrissy, doesn’t have her name listed on any of the filing documents, but she is also a solid member of the leadership team. During my visit in September, she was off in Louisville, Kentucky, for sales and marketing meetings. For the company’s name, the team drew inspiration from a creek running off nearby Ragged Mountain.
With Pickerell’s guidance in distilling, they built the business from the ground up — literally, and always with a backup plan in case Ragged Branch didn’t work out. They bought 92 acres
“ He’s a Renaissance man. He’s not just incredibly bright, but he has a lot of different interests and depth of understanding.”
of undeveloped land and then built a house on its highest spot — all the better to sell the property later if that’s how things went. They built the Hunt Camp and its attached barn and installed a 500-gallon copper still in it. Next to the barn, they built a rickhouse, a long, high building designed for storing barrels of aging bourbon.
Bourbon is a distinctly American spirit. As one of Ragged Branch’s marketing people pointed out at a tasting, Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey were developed in the British Isles before the Columbian exchange. Corn was unknown to them, and it’s the ingredient that makes bourbon whiskey different from other whiskeys and uniquely American. When you drink it, “you’re drinking the flavor of the barrel, and you’re drinking the flavor of the grain together,” Toomy says. “When you first try it, you get this wonderful front end, front-of-the-palate flavor. I think it’s unique because it’s usually caramelly, butterscotchy. Sweet on the front. When it goes down on the back of your palate, you get these other flavors. Ideally, you want that bourbon to be smooth. You don’t want to be punished for drinking it.”
Aside from all of the infrastructure the Ragged Branch partners built, they also developed two other key assets: extraordinary patience and faith in their plans. All of the core business’s cash flow in these early years was outbound, and the flow was significant. The first batch they finally distilled, in 2014, needed to age a minimum of two years to meet the legal definition of bourbon. That’s why the com-
pany’s first bit of bourbon revenue, a trickle really, didn’t come until a small release in April 2017. The team still debates whether that was ultimately a good move — two-year bourbon is mocked in aficionados’ circles as if it were a child’s finger painting being proffered for a fine art collection. Anyone who takes bourbon seriously will tell you that five years of aging is the minimum threshold for true quality. The company finally launched its first full product line in 2019 after almost a decade of work and investment.
For the headline of a profile featuring Nance, Law360.com plucked a single word from a quote describing these early years. It reads, “Mayer Brown NY Tax Partner’s ‘Idiotic’ Path to Bourbon Maker.” His firm’s PR people weren’t exactly pleased, but Nance doesn’t quibble about the accuracy of the depiction. A lot of craft distilleries in the early stage of development stay afloat by turning to what’s called sourcing — filling their own branded bottles with someone else’s product for a few years to generate income. Ragged Branch, instead, waited patiently, distilling a barrel a day every day and stacking barrel after barrel after barrel of bourbon in the rickhouse, where they wouldn’t generate income for years.
The “idiotic” headline “really plays into, ‘Is it hard because you’re doing such a good job, or is it hard because you’re not working smarter?’” Nance told me. “We took a bunch of money, we threw it down a black hole to put this place together, we started distilling, and then we kept distilling and sat and waited and continued to dump money down that hole for years until we could get to a point where we can actually sell and generate some revenue. That’s a really hard business model. It’s so hard that very few craft distilleries do that. I mean, ‘very few’ might be one.”
Patient tenacity is one quality that distinguishes Ragged Branch. Another is self-sufficiency. Every grain of corn, rye, and wheat that goes into its still comes from farms the company owns or leases. (One of them is the Caroline County farm where the legendary racehorse Secretariat was born; bourbon from those ingredients is sold as a special expression named for the Triple Crown winner.) The sole sourced ingredient is the malted barley, a finicky input for which they rely on the expertise of a supplier who delivers a consistent enzyme count, which is important for flavor. Ragged Branch also grinds, mashes, distills, ages, and bottles everything on its property.
“We do it all because of control,” Toomy says. “We control every kernel of corn we get. We have all of next year’s
ny’s cattle farm, Pounding Branch.
Far left: One of the company’s mash-fed cattle.
Left: Alex Toomy and Russell Nance, with dog Bootlegger, in Ragged Branch’s multipurpose office space. Bottom left: Nance on a tractor at the compa-
“If I could go back to a 23-year-old me, I would be like, ‘Oh my God, you are not gonna believe how this turns out. Really awesome.’”
already ready. We control making the whiskey. We control bottling the whiskey. We don’t depend on anybody but ourselves.”
It’s an old-school approach that they believe has earned them respect as a worthy newcomer in an industry whose titans are steeped in tradition.
“Alex has been [distilling] for nine years,” Nance says. “From my perspective, the way he’s accepted by the community and the way he’s developed his skill has been shockingly fast and shockingly good. He’s accepted by a lot of the old-school bourbon community, even in Kentucky.”
Toomy describes Nance as similarly indispensable to Ragged Branch. “He’s an attorney, and he’s very successful, but I can talk to him on a different level because he worked on our construction crews,” he says. “Russell is ridiculously smart, not just in a law way. He’s just a very smart guy. When you’re pulling a measurement across the house to lay out windows and stuff, you can yell out to him ‘Six and five-eighths, two foot four and a quarter,’ and such, all the way across that house, and he’ll have that number at the end of it. He’s a different level of smart.” Toomy credits the unique mix of the trio of owners for how well the company has developed. “We all get along, and we all make decisions together,” he says. “It’s a big deal having these three guys. I’m a bricks-and-sticks guy. Sarpy is definitely a money guy, and Russell? Russell’s definitely the logical guy.”
Russell traces his analytical skills back to his three years at Richmond Law. As an undergraduate at Virginia Tech in the early 1990s, he knew that if he did the work, the grades would come. Law school was another beast entirely.
“Law school is intense,” he says. “It was the first time in my life that I couldn’t just show up to class. I had to work at it, and that was a surprise for me. One of the greatest things that U of R did for me was it taught me how to think: to think analytically, to think objectively, to try to jettison subjective bias when I’m trying to make decisions.”
That training, combined with the experience he has subsequently had in his legal practice, has been most important when the stakes are highest — as when something as basic as their ability to put bourbon in a bottle was threatened. In the early years, they relied on a bottler who ran a custom mobile facility from the inside of a trailer. One day, he let them know he was getting out of the business and had a buyer from Texas lined up to buy the trailer and all of its equipment. The Ragged Branch team knew the man’s setup did exactly what they needed, but the price was very steep if they wanted to put in a counteroffer.
“There have been a lot of really hard decisions, like, ‘Do we buy a bottling machine?’” Nance said. “It’s not an easy decision to make in the context of a small business
just getting off the ground. Being able to divorce myself from emotion — it’s not just U of R but the legal practice as well — helps me realize, ‘You’re being affected by emotion. You’re being affected by some anxiety within the business. Don’t do that. Let’s think objectively. Is this a good idea?’”
After a lot of conversation, Ragged Branch made the counteroffer, a move consistent with its ethos of self-reliance. Today, the trailer is parked between the distillery barn and the rickhouse and ready to fire up whenever Ragged Branch needs it.
Time after time, the business has been confronted with unforeseen challenges that they have turned into successes. Often, like with the bottling equipment, the right answer was to go bigger. Even though it means even more investment, significant rewards usually follow. For example, the distilling process generates large quantities of mash as a by-product, which has to be disposed of. Toomy started feeding it to his cattle to get rid of it, but he noticed it enhanced the quality of his beef. Ragged Branch mashfed beef is now another signature product for the company. The house on the hill that they built as a just-in-case hedge went on the market for a bit, but it didn’t sell. The team reevaluated, and now it’s a tasting room with a homespun feel and spectacular views. It and the beef are now both significant revenue streams.
For better and worse, that’s been their business model, Nance says. “Most of the things we do, we’re like, ‘We’re going to do this,’ and as we’re doing that, we realize, ‘No, we don’t want to do that. We want to do this other thing, but hey, I’m glad we started this.’”
To say that business is good in 2023 is a serious understatement. Today, the bourbon flows at a rate of about 100,000 bottles a year, and it is sold in 23 states. It also wins top awards at the annual World Spirits Competition, the industry’s equivalent to the Oscars. The company is currently making investments that will allow it to expand its production capacity eightfold in the near future. Nance — a self-confessed beer guy when all of this started — now finds himself hosting barreling parties and tastings. He also has a killer icebreaker with clients, and, he adds, his experience as a business owner gives him new understanding of the challenges many of them face. All of his clients and colleagues, he says, want to talk about the bourbon.
“Other big law attorneys love to talk to me about Ragged Branch. I get on a conference call, and that’s the first thing they want to talk about, which is great.” He says a lot of people with positions like his dream of quitting their day job and opening a restaurant or creating a tangible product
with their hands. “The dream is always, ‘I’m going to stop doing this and do that,’” he explains. “It took me a little bit to figure this out, but I think part of the reason this captures people’s imagination in big law is that I’m creating that dream without quitting my big law job. I think that’s what makes people say, ‘What? You can do that?’”
Sharing this part of his life with legal colleagues is one thing. Sharing it with his law school buddies is even better.
T. Huntley Thorpe, L’97, has watched over the years as his onetime Richmond Law roommate has built a practice and, with Ragged Branch, a business. “It’s really neat to see somebody start something from scratch and be successful,” Thorpe said. “One thing Russell said that I remember is, ‘This shouldn’t have worked, but it did.’ Meaning, you know, this seemed like a crazy, sort of implausible idea, but they stuck with it, worked at it, and it’s obviously been very successful.”
Back when they met as first-year law students in August 1994, Nance styled himself after the Seattle grunge scene and had the long, Eddie Vedder-style disheveled hair to pull it off. That hair is long-gone, but the friend Thorpe met then is, at core, the same guy today — super friendly, a little goofy in all the best ways, and hyper smart. Thorpe was on hand when Ragged Branch celebrated its first barreling of bourbon in 2014. He says that Nance’s decision to go into this business in particular — distilling — is maybe surprising, but his success is not.
“He’s a Renaissance man,” Thorpe says. “He’s not just incredibly bright, but he has a lot of different interests and depth of understanding in almost everything from pop culture to politics to his tax work and now a bourbon distillery. In a lot of ways, it’s not surprising because he is so bright and has so many different talents and interests.”
In July, Ragged Branch was the setting for a mini-reunion. Nance and Thorpe, plus Richmond Law classmates Sam Stathos, Patrick Skelley, and Werner Versch, and everyone’s spouses, spent a long weekend on the property. They stayed in bedrooms in the private area upstairs from the tasting room and spent their days sipping bourbon and sampling mash-fed beef as they looked out at the Virginia countryside. The weekend offered a long, slow look at what Ragged Branch has become and, most importantly, extended time together with genuine friends.
“What Russell has created there with his partners is incredible, but what stood out was seeing my friends and getting together for the first time since COVID,” Thorpe said. “We were all close in law school. We remain close, but we don’t have time to see each other as much as we would like because life intervenes, but we all just picked up where we left off, like we were all transported back to 1997.”
This, ultimately, is what makes Ragged Branch fundamentally different than the land deals Nance used to do with Toomy. It embeds Nance with friends and family in the place where he grew up. Much of his family still lives in the area. It also creates a potential legacy for his children and maybe even grandchildren, if they choose it, as well as other people he is close to. That potential legacy is already visible. Toomy’s son Josh — also Nance’s nephew — is just a few years out of college and one of the distillers. For Nance, coming to Ragged Branch, whether physically or just via video conference from Manhattan, is coming home.
“When I stop practicing, what will probably happen is I’ll split time between this place [Virginia] and that place [New York]. That’s a pretty fantastic plan,” he says. “If I could go back — not mess things up but go back to a 23-year-old me, I would be like, ‘Oh my God, you are not gonna believe how this turns out. Really awesome. Now the hair? Yeah OK, that’s a lost cause. But other than that, good job.’”
Above left: Ragged Branch’s tasting room offers sweeping views of the Albemarle County, Virginia, countryside. Above: Nance in Mayer Brown’s Manhattan offices.
Fifty years ago, the first generation of Black undergraduate students at Richmond formed a student organization called SOBA and organized UR’s first Black History Week. Their goal was to build community and create a greater sense of belonging for themselves and the students who came after. The university will celebrate this milestone at the Black Excellence Gala in February.
BY ALYSSA DANIGELIS
STANLEY DAVIS, R’74,
remembers looking around the University of Richmond campus on his first visit and not seeing any other Black students like himself at first.
The Davis family, including his parents and two sisters, had piled into the car and driven from Hampton to Richmond. They knew how to get to the city, but they needed a map to find the university that sunny Sunday in August 1970.
His faculty adviser, history professor Barry Westin, met them in a parking lot, took them on a campus tour, and showed Davis his dorm room. While they were on campus, they met another Black freshman, Carlton Mack, R’74, and his family. They looked around. They asked questions. “My mother asked Dr. Westin, ‘How many Blacks are on campus?’” Davis said. “And Dr. Westin said, ‘Twenty-five.’”
Slightly reassured but still apprehensive about their son moving to a predominantly white campus, Davis’ parents walked back to their car with him and his sisters. “My mom looked at me and said, ‘If you want to come home, let us know, and we’ll come get you,’” he says. “No, I will be OK,” he responded.
In hindsight, Davis realized that the more specific question his mother should have asked was how many Black students were on campus. The answer at the time: 11. Westin’s higher tally included workers like janitors, housekeepers,
Previous spread:
Left page, the first yearbook photo of SOBA, from the 1974 edition of The Web. Right page, SOBA in 1975 (top) and 1976 (bottom).
groundskeepers, and food service employees who left at 5 p.m.
This reality would become a catalyst. By early 1973, Davis and his classmates formed the Student Organization for Black Awareness, or SOBA (pronounced so-bah). They also sponsored the first Black History Week at the university in 1974, two years before President Gerald Ford issued a message observing Black History Month for the first time. Their mission was twofold: to ensure that the university community recognized the Black students’ presence and to be included in the full university experience.
At UR, SOBA was part of a historic civil rights movement on college campuses across the country. Their leadership laid important groundwork for today’s efforts on campus to cultivate inclusive communities, empower students to be affirmed in their identities, and ensure that every Spider is part of creating the university’s future.
A COLLECTIVE DECISION
In addition to Mack, Davis met Black Richmond College freshmen Norman Williams, R’74, Weldon Edwards, R’75, and Sam Burleigh, R’76, in his earliest days on campus. They became close friends right away. Later he met the two Black women starting at Westhampton College, Irene Ebhomielen Sagay, W’74, and a student who later transferred.
“One thing I had going for me differently than any of the other students was that there were nine freshmen who were in high school with me,” Davis says. “So I did have people I could reach out to and talk to. That was a good thing, but as far as Black students, that was it.”
Williams, a record-smashing track star and the first Black athlete to receive a full UR scholarship, also felt unprepared for the campus environment. He spent most weekends at track meets, sometimes traveling out of state with the team by bus through areas with overtly racist signage. During the week, he hit the books, a familiar student-athlete rhythm. But the isolation wore on him.
“At first, I didn’t call it home,” Williams says. “I didn’t want to stay.”
“We were welcome … but not welcome,” Davis says. “There was no social life for us on campus. The majority of us, we would go off campus to VCU or down to Virginia State University in Petersburg or across town to Virginia Union University to see friends.”
Halfway through their first semester, the friends talked seriously about leaving. “It was everything,” Davis says. “It was the lack of a social life, the lack of being, we felt, included in the full Richmond experience.”
Instead, the young men made a collective decision to stay. All five of them went on to graduate. “Let’s make this work as best we can,” Davis says about their resolve.
By sophomore year, they discussed organizing.
Davis, naturally outgoing, took the lead. He told Westin, his adviser, their idea about an organization for Black stu-
dent awareness that could mentor students and work collaboratively with other university organizations. Westin liked the idea, but the group needed a faculty sponsor to become official.
As a double major in sociology and political science, Davis approached sociology department chair Jim Sartain, who agreed to be their sponsor. Davis and his fellow founders filed the paperwork, the university provided $500 in funding, and SOBA was born. They met Mondays at 7:30 p.m.
Their challenges were significant. Archival articles and documents show how SOBA members had to keep proving themselves, restating their purpose, offering reassurance. An ostensibly sympathetic op-ed in the Collegian in January 1974 illustrates their dilemma: “It should be made clear that SOBA is not a separatist group,” it reads. “Quite the opposite.”
When Victoria Charles, ’16, dug through SOBA’s history decades later for a post-baccalaureate project, she wrote, “They adopted the language of assimilation in order to carve out a space for themselves on the university landscape that they palpably felt did not exist.”
SHADES OF UNSEEN BEAUTY
A group photo in the 1974 yearbook captioned “Organization for Black Awareness” shows 16 members but does not name them. Davis can identify everyone, including vice president “Ace” Owens, R’76, cut off on the right, historian Virgie Simmons, and secretary Wanda Starke, W’76. Davis lists nearly a dozen other members — treasurer Williams among them — not shown because they had other school commitments or lived off campus.
Starke recalls the thought process for SOBA’s formation. “Everybody has a need to see somebody who reflects who they are,” Starke says. “And when you don’t see that in a space that you’re navigating every day, it’s hard. It’s hard because the message is communicated that you don’t matter. And then, when you see people who look like you, it communicates, ‘Yes, I see you. Yes, you matter.’”
Virgie Simmons and Rose Jackson came up with the idea for celebrating Black History Week at UR, Davis says. Aptly, the theme for Feb. 3–10, 1974, was “shades of unseen beauty.” Jackson led SOBA’s committee dedicated to the week, but pulling off everything they planned required a team effort and almost their entire budget.
Events and activities spanned a Sunday sermon at Cannon Memorial Chapel, gospel night, talent night, a performance by the VCU Players, and guest speaker Senora B. Lawson, Virginia NAACP vice president. A Saturday night dance in Millhiser Gym featured the Virginia State College band Trussel.
Charles W. Howard, president of the NAACP’s Richmond branch and Black Higher Education Coalition chairman, gave remarks ahead of a rap session that drew around 50 people.
“ Everybody has a need to see somebody who reflects who they are. When you see people who look like you, it communicates, ‘Yes, I see you. Yes, you matter.’”
—WANDA STARKE, W’76
“The biggest thing for me was the rap session, where we had all the students come together, and we did have faculty members there, to express our concerns from dormitory life to academics,” Davis says. “The faculty and a couple of administrators started to understand what it was like to be on the Richmond campus as a Black student.”
Turnout for the week was lower than they hoped, and few white students participated in the events, Davis says, but SOBA did raise awareness.
“We weren’t invisible anymore,” he continues. “Now everyone knew there were students on campus of color who wanted to be included in university life and who were willing to share experiences and to work together and learn together.”
WE BELONG
Starke, inspired by feature articles in Norfolk’s Black weekly paper, knew in fifth grade that she wanted to be a reporter. She decided to major in journalism at Westhampton College and became the first Black student on the Collegian staff.
“I can honestly say I never had a bad moment in terms of someone saying something nasty to me or doing something unfair to me,” she says about her undergraduate days. “My relationships with people in my class, my professors, everyone on the Collegian staff — they were wonderful.”
Pain came from elsewhere. Having played the flute since elementary school, Starke joined the marching band. “This was a university that, during football games — every football game, every touchdown — celebrated with the band playing
Wanda Starke on campus with her parents Clarence and Vi Starke. Left, a page from a 1974 issue of this magazine about UR’s first Black History Week.
Above,
DOCUMENTING SOBA
These stories might have remained distant memories had it not been for the interdisciplinary University of Richmond Race & Racism Project, which provides online access to resources from UR’s history. Victoria Charles, ’16, a double major in American studies and political science, conducted extensive archival research on SOBA and the first Black students at the university for the project.
As contributor “vcharles,” she reviewed digitally scanned articles in the Collegian from the time and systematically deciphered garbled text that optical character recognition software did not transcribe accurately. In addition to making stories about early Black students more accessible, she created UR blog posts and the podcast series Expanding the Ivory Tower to shine light on the challenges these students faced.
“Black History Week wasn’t gifted to SOBA from on high. They had to fight just to be recognized before Black History Week could even happen,” Charles says in her Jan. 30, 2017, podcast episode. “When thinking about this event and what it means to the history of this university, understand that it’s not just something we should pat ourselves on the back for, but rather consider with more nuance and understanding of the struggle it took for members of our community to even get there.”
‘Dixie,’” she says. “I remember vividly sitting or standing holding my flute while those around me played gleefully.”
Starke also watched a student circle the stadium on horseback waving the Confederate flag whenever Richmond scored. “I know it’s [now] hard to imagine that at the University of Richmond, but that was my reality for three of the four years,” she says.
Then there was the time a campus police officer stopped Davis and refused to believe he was a student, even after checking his university ID. Williams says, “You had some people who just won’t accept you, but there were a lot of people who did.”
By his junior year, Davis saw the Black student population rise to around 30. The tight-knit SOBA family pressed on with mentorship, information-gathering about campus resources and academic organizations, communication with faculty and administrators, and event sponsorship. In modern parlance, they were working to foster a sense of belonging.
Come early 1976, Starke was SOBA president and a Collegian staffer. She invited Essence magazine editor-in-chief Marcia Ann Gillespie to speak during Black History Week. Gillespie talked about feminism, women’s rights, Black representation, activism, and her experiences as a journalist. “I was beyond excited because she was someone that I really looked up to,” Starke says.
LASTING LEGACY
Several original SOBA members emphasize the positive effects UR had on their lives, despite their struggles. “I got a great education, a lifelong learning,” Davis said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Starke went on to an award-winning career in broadcast news, notably as a longtime anchor for WXII 12 News in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. An art major, Williams embarked on a colorful mosaic of a career. He paints vivid landscapes at his home in Pennsylvania and stays in touch with Davis, his best friend. Davis received his Army commission the day he graduated in 1974. He spent 22 years in service, rising to lieutenant colonel, and then had a lengthy
second career as program manager for a U.S. Army training and education program. All three are retired.
The university prepared Davis well. “The interaction with various students on campus, the faculty, and the administration taught me a lot about human behavior, how to deal with difficult circumstances, and how to resolve problems,” he says.
SOBA continued until 1978 and briefly reorganized in 1982. After that, the Minority Student Union began, becoming the Multicultural Student Union in April 1993. Nearly a decade later, the Black Student Alliance formed and remains active on campus along with Sankofa African Student Alliance and West Indian Lynk. The University of Richmond Black Alumni Network, or URBAN, also keeps the legacy alive.
Morgan Russell-Stokes is the dean of student equity and inclusion, a position created in 2022, and directs the Student Center for Equity and Inclusion, or SCEI, continuing SOBA’s early efforts to make UR feel like home for more students.
Her goal is to create opportunities and platforms that raise awareness around what equity and inclusion look like, how to practice it, and how it shows up in the UR community. Day-to-day, she supervises SCEI, which supports first-generation, limited-income, LGBTQ+, and multicultural students.
“These students in the ’70s introducing Black History Week at a time when Blackness was not celebrated nationally by everyone — whether you were Black or not — says a lot about their tenacity, their bravery, their willingness to put themselves out there,” she says.
Her office plans to recognize 50 years since the first Black History Week and the original SOBA members who made it happen at the Black Excellence Gala in February — what is now Black History Month. Much has changed in the last half-century, and the center’s celebratory programs are part of broader UR efforts to build a more diverse, equitable, and caring community — a main focus area in the current strategic plan.
“The University of Richmond is a very different place and I’m grateful for that,” Starke says. “I hope students feel like they belong, that there’s a space for them, that they matter.”
Davis also compares past and present. “We’re still in a state of struggle and upheaval socially,” he says. “I’m hoping that we get to the point where not only the Black students or students of color, but all students recognize the contributions that each one can give to better themselves and to better the university.”
“These students in the ’70s introducing Black History Week at a time when Blackness was not celebrated … says a lot about their tenacity, their bravery, their willingness to put themselves out there.”
—MORGAN RUSSELL-STOKES
Above: Spiders celebrating at the 2023 Black Excellence Gala. The 2024 gala will be held Feb. 24. For more information, go to inclusion. richmond.edu.
Left: Starke, center, in the Collegian staff photo from the 1976 yearbook.
Two alumni reflect on their memories of the Kennedy assassination — as seen from Richmond’s CBS newsroom.
BY MARÍA BADILLO
A STUDY IN catastrophe
catastrophe
Sixty years ago, the usual Friday afternoon television programming was interrupted to announce there had been an assassination attempt on President John F. Kennedy. Local stations scrambled to get the feed on air, then went still as the story grew graver. And inside Richmond’s CBS affiliate, WTVR, two Spiders were among the staff.
Leonard Sandridge, B’64, and Larry Boppe, B’64, worked in the control room and as a camera operator respectively, student employees learning from seasoned professionals during one of the most shocking news stories to be televised in American history. They would witness firsthand the impact of the Kennedy assassination on a local news station and walk away with the skill set to work under pressure at a level few can comprehend.
THE SCENE
The year was 1963. President Kennedy had taken over the oval office nearly three years prior, though the election had been frightfully close. The reported national popular vote had leaned in his favor by a scant 0.17 percent. To put that in perspective, consider this: Of the 10 closest U.S. presidential races to date, 2016’s Trump vs. Clinton ranks No. 10. Kennedy vs. Nixon comes in first.
“The country was pretty divided back then,” Boppe said. “Some still believe that election could have possibly been stolen.” Eric Yellin, a history professor with a concentra-
tion in 20th century American politics, agreed: “The 1960 election was incredibly close. It was a time not unlike our own where half the country was against this guy, and Nixon will still say he won.”
And like any good historian, Yellin underlined why this informed how the Kennedy assassination impacted the nation. “Kennedy and Nixon were surprisingly similar on some issues. [The race] came down to foreign policy. It was about the Cold War and how the United States would meet what Americans view as the threat of the Soviet Union.”
This laser focus on the nation’s reputation as a world leader made Kennedy’s assassination not just a shock, but a reason to fear for the country’s safety. “That’s the first thought: What does this mean for the foe who is all the way in the Soviet Union, sure, but also right next door in Cuba?” said Yellin. “If the president has been gunned down, what happens next?”
There was no internet or social media, but television was becoming integral to Americans’ lives. So while news couldn’t spread as rapidly as it does today, televised broadcasts updated the nation at an unprecedented pace.
“Americans know really fast,” Yellin said. “Schools are dismissed. Kids are sent home. There’s mourning, but there’s also fear. Who was it? And what does this mean for our standing in the world?”
“I had no experience. I was scared to death. But since then, I’ve spent most of my life learning by doing and assuming responsibility for it.”
The Kennedy administration hustled not only to swear in Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson as the new president, but to publish photographs and announce that the United States still had a strong leader.
Back at the station, Richmond seniors Sandridge and Boppe had all of the same fears and worries as other Americans. Are we under attack? Will our families be OK? But with those concerns, they carried something else — a job that had turned from routine to unprecedented overnight.
THE PLAYERS
“I would love to tell you it was my lifelong ambition to be involved in television,” Sandridge said. “That would not be true.”
Sandridge and Boppe drove school buses to work their way through college, but an 8 a.m. class meant they weren’t available for the shift their senior year. “A faculty member referred me to placement services, and in that process, I learned that WTVR was looking for a student employee.”
At a pay rate of $2.25 an hour, Leonard Sandridge took up a post in the control room. It was his era’s version of an internship, allowing him to learn hands-on beyond the classroom. And while neither he nor Boppe continued into careers in broadcast television — Sandridge is now a retired executive vice president and chief operating officer at the University of Virginia, and Boppe is the former president and CEO of plastic container manufacturer Toter Inc. — the lessons stuck.
“I learned so much about operating under pressure,” said Sandridge. Before automation transitioned the station between feeds — for example, from local newscast to national programming — Sandridge would load 16-millimeter film reels he’d sequenced and spliced together. At that time, television stations also went dark overnight,
playing the national anthem before signing off each evening. Sandridge would keep the station on air from 4:30 p.m. until sign-off on Saturday, then return bright and early on Sunday to bring the station back on air at 7 a.m. with the test pattern announcing “WTVR Richmond Virginia” to viewers. “I had no experience. I was scared to death. But since then, I’ve spent most of my life learning by doing and assuming responsibility for it.”
On the day Kennedy was assassinated, Sandridge wasn’t the only one feeling as though he lacked experience. “All of a sudden, everyone at the station was in the same sort of position. They’re going through something for the first time. WTVR had never dealt with anything like this.”
Sandridge and Boppe watched as Walter Cronkite cut across their afternoon programming, the crew witnessing the live CBS coverage only seconds before the breaking news reached people’s home television sets. Every monitor in the control room had Cronkite on it, announcing that President Kennedy had been shot.
“I think it’s fair to say the industry did not have the ability to quickly respond like they would today,” Sandridge said. “There wasn’t the infrastructure or the technology.” Where today a field crew would capture live footage of ongoing events, CBS could only show Cronkite in the newsroom, video of the event hall Kennedy had been en route to, and photographs Cronkite held up to the studio camera. It was the nation’s first look at these now iconic images of a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy in the motorcade just prior to the assassination.
“You could argue we were a much smaller, tighter country at the time of the Kennedy assassination,” said Steven Herman, adjunct lecturer of journalism and chief national correspondent of Voice of America. “With 9/11, we had live coverage of it. It was basically broadcast live. That was not
“And truth be told, the only subject I could ad lib live was sports at the University of Richmond.”
the case with the Kennedy assassination. Bulletins came over the radio, and then Walter Cronkite breaking in and removing his glasses, very emotionally announcing that the President was dead.”
The bulletins Herman mentioned arrived in newsrooms as they always did in those days, announced by the mechanical clatter of the teletype machine as it punched out messages letter by letter. These slips of paper were given to Cronkite, one eventually leading to the announcement: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.”
Inside WTVR, Sandridge, Boppe, and the rest of the television crew were in shock. “It was a mirror image of what the country was going through,” Sandridge said.
Fear. Confusion. And a powerlessness to do anything but maintain the national feed from CBS so the nation heard every word.
“I remember coming into the studio that afternoon, and it was really different,” said Boppe. “I felt like people were sober. It was grim. One of my most vivid memories was the control room with its wall of monitors full of live pictures from wherever there were network cameras being televised. And I thought, ‘I can’t believe that I’m standing here able to see what’s going on behind the scenes of all this.’ That made a really big impression on me.”
“There was certainly an intensity to everything,” Sandridge said. “You didn’t know exactly when you would be going to the network [for breaking news].” Sandridge was working on the day Lee Harvey Oswald was shot. The tele -
type printed the report — THE ACCUSED ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS SHOT A FEW HOURS AGO WHILE BEING TRANSFERRED FROM DALLAS CITY JAIL TO THE COUNTY JAIL — and Sandridge switched the feed to the live coverage about to cut in.
“I don’t think there is really anything a reporter can do to prepare themselves for such an event,” Herman said. “It’s moment by moment by moment. And it doesn’t necessarily sink in, even though you may be reporting live on air what has happened to your community, or to a nation, or to the world. It’s only later that you have an opportunity to decompress.”
BACKSTAGE
Decompression, however, would be a slow process when it came to the Kennedy assassination. The president’s sudden death shocked everyone, a trauma that would embed itself in American society for years to come. President Kennedy’s was the first televised presidency, and viewers were used to seeing a formidable and passionate leader on their screens. Witnessing his death and the reactions that followed obliterated that pristine image.
But that image had less authenticity than people realized. “We know now that Kennedy was terribly ill and in pain all the time,” Yellin said. “But he gets pictured as vibrant and strong.” As an increasing number of households obtained television sets, the Kennedy administration learned how to portray the White House not just in words and photographs, but in footage.
place out on Broad Street, we would not have been able to cover it,” Boppe said. “We didn’t have remote capabilities at the time [that would have allowed the station to go live on the scene].”
As the norm of the time, Americans took these limitations in stride. “This was a period when the state, government, and Walter Cronkite were the authorities for the vast majority of Americans,” Yellin said. “And you believed them. When Johnson said, ‘We’ve got this, I’ve been sworn in, I’m president,’ most Americans went, ‘OK, good. Done.’” Even on a local level, anyone appearing on television was placed on this pedestal. “These people were celebrities,” Boppe said. “Newsmen, reporters, weather-
Not unlike today’s carefully curated social media feeds, the stories that arrived in newsrooms like WTVR were similarly crafted. “There’s something remarkably plastic about it,” Yellin said. “[Kennedy’s image] was designed to be attractive and in some ways impenetrable. And one of the reasons Kennedy squeaked out ahead of Nixon was that he absolutely understands [the importance of] image and image-making.”
Those images arrived at WTVR ready to air, with the station’s contribution limited to the Richmond community’s reactions to the shooting. “There wasn’t the ability to quickly respond and get people on the scene like they would today,” Sandridge said. “We learned these things the only way we could: a bulletin comes in on the teletype, and you get a piece of paper, and that’s what the station knew.”
“I remember thinking that if the assassination took
men, they were celebrities to us.” But that was a belief that would fracture during the subsequent presidencies. “It really takes the revelations of the lies of Vietnam and the lies of Watergate to really shake that and produce the kind of moment we have today where we don’t necessarily know who to believe,” Yellin said.
According to a 2023 Associated Press poll, “Nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults say the news media is increasing political polarization in this country, and just under half say they have little to no trust in the media’s ability to report the news fairly and accurately.” The plasticity of public appearance that began with the first televised presidency, combined with the exposure of events like Watergate, created an increasing level of distrust in authority that Yellin categorizes as conspiratorial thinking.
“Newsmen, reporters, weathermen, they were celebrities to us.”
“For example, when the polio vaccine came out. The majority of parents lined up their kids to take the experimental shot. Why? Because the government said to. Because the government said this will help. And millions of parents just handed their kids over,” Yellin said. “Today? We had the CDC tell us 10 times over that the FDA had looked at every inch of these COVID19 vaccines and saying we should take them.” At the end of 2021, barely 63% of the population was fully vaccinated. And yet, despite the uptick in conspiratorial thinking, there are moments that still have the power to unite the American people, even if only for a short while. Sept. 11, 2001, was one such example, the event bringing the nation to a standstill before television sets. Boppe recalled the hours and days following Kennedy’s assassination as “not being about politics at all. When I came into the studio [that day], everyone was somber. I had not been a Kennedy supporter, but it was really sad, and I felt the country come together for those few days.”
In May of 2023, Boppe and Sandridge returned to WTVR in an interview that touched on the most memorable moments of their experience. And although they worked through a dark time in American history, they also had plenty to look back on fondly.
“It’s like that station’s a part of your family,” Boppe said, chuckling as he reflected on a day when the station had several minutes of time to fill. Dal Burnette, a member of WTVR’s production staff and the first major children’s programming host, turned to Boppe and said, “Larry, grab a puppet.”
“I was scared to death,” Boppe said. “And truth be told, the only subject I could ad lib live was sports at the University of Richmond. So we had the puppet Al the Alligator talking about the next game the Richmond Spiders were going to play. Anyone watching must have thought we were crazy. Afterward, I went over to Leonard, and he just shook his head like, ‘You both really got some guts.’
“I expect it’s still the sort of place that creates a lot of excitement,” Boppe said. “Being there boosted my confidence coming out of college. It was educational. It was impressive. It was one of the best experiences during my four years of college.”
Sandridge took a step further back in his recollection: “It was a unique opportunity, and one you probably couldn’t
have planned. I was a school bus driver in Albemarle County while I was in high school, and I ended up at the University of Richmond not because I knew anything about it, but because the supervisor of bus operations was an alumnus of the University of Richmond. He took me to Richmond for a visit, arranged for me to apply for financial aid, and later introduced me to those responsible for bus operations in Henrico County.” This led to Sandridge’s job driving school buses to work his way through college — a job he helped Boppe to get as well — and ultimately to placement services when their 8 a.m. class prevented them from continuing in those roles. “[We] would never have gotten to WTVR if it had not been for that.”
This trail of small moments built the foundation for Sandridge’s and Boppe’s Richmond educations and their careers to follow. And had it not been for an alum bringing new Spiders into the fold, this story would never have been told. Perhaps Boppe put it best: “I’m very, very indebted for the experience.”
Sandridge
Boppe
100
YEARS OF WOMEN AT RICHMOND LAW
JANE BROWN RANSON, CLASS OF 1923, BROKE NEW GROUND WHEN SHE BECAME RICHMOND’S FIRST FEMALE LAW GRADUATE.
A CENTURY LATER, ANOTHER ALUMNA IS AT THE HEART OF A MILESTONE FOR THE LAW SCHOOL.
BY MATTHEW DEWALD | PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMIE BETTS
This year marked the centennial of
the graduation of the first woman from Richmond Law. Jane Brown Ranson graduated in 1923, less than a decade after the university established Westhampton College and began accepting women as undergraduates in significant numbers. A century after this important milestone, the school is celebrating another unique first: its first professorship named in recognition of a woman, thanks to a generous gift from the family of Nancy Litchfield Hicks, L’85.
EARLY DAYS
Ranson entered Richmond Law at a time of significant change for women in the legal profession. Since the late 1880s, Virginia’s legislators had been considering and rejecting bills that would have permitted their licensing. Even as other states increasingly opened the profession, Virginia’s legislature emphatically underscored its opposition in 1895, amending laws governing professional licensing by replacing the phrase “any person” to “any male citizen” after a woman named Belva Lockwood successfully sued and was temporarily admitted to the Virginia bar in 1894 based on the existing statute’s gender-neutral language. When Virginia finally admitted women to the bar in 1920, it was one of the last three states — alongside Rhode Island and Delaware — to do so.
The decisive push came from the adoption of the 19th Amendment. Although Virginia’s legislators voted against ratifying it, they recognized that it would nonetheless take effect nationally and enacted what historian Peter Wallenstein calls “contingent legislation” in his book Blue Laws and Black Codes: Conflict, Courts, and Change in Twentieth-Century Virginia. They did so “recognizing a relationship between exercising the franchise [i.e., voting] and practicing the law,” he wrote. The law’s new language became “all male and female persons,” and then, with another tweak in 1922, “all persons, male and female.”
Richmond Law was then a night program offered by Richmond College, soon to be the University of Richmond. Documentation from the Library of Virginia indicates that it was ahead of the commonwealth. A woman named Rebecca Lovenstein — a Lithuanian immigrant and married mother of two who was in her early 30s — began taking classes as early as 1918. She and Ranson were two of four women enrolled in Richmond’s law program in 1920, according to Wallenstein.
In 1923, Ranson became the first woman to complete the law degree at Richmond and, in doing so, became one of the first two women to earn a law degree in Virginia.
Lovenstein did not stay to complete her law degree. Instead, she made history. As soon as women became eligible to sit for the bar examination in Virginia, she and another woman became the first two Virginia women to pass it, in June 1920. Lovenstein almost immediately qualified before a judge in Richmond’s Hustings Court and, on July 1, 1920, paid her fee and became the first woman licensed to practice in Virginia. This former Richmond Law student set another milestone in 1925 when she became the first woman to present oral arguments at Virginia’s Supreme Court. In an amusing twist, the case, Mazer v. Commonwealth, was about a violation of prohibition laws, though in this case the prohibition in question targeted alcohol, not women. She and co-counsel won the case.
In 1923, Ranson became the first woman to complete the law degree at Richmond and, in doing so, became one of the first two women to earn a law degree in Virginia. Alongside her was a fellow Spider, Elizabeth Tompkins,
Below: Elizabeth
Tompkins’ yearbook picture from the 1919 edition of The Spider
Opposite page: Nancy Litchfield Hicks, L’85
a 1919 graduate of the newly formed Westhampton College, who was the first woman graduate of the law school at the University of Virginia, also in 1923.
Little documentation exists from Ranson’s time in law school, but a bit of the atmosphere in which the women studied can be gleaned from sources tied to Tompkins. One source is a letter that she wrote to her father in 1921 asking him to let her transfer to a different law program. She wrote that she was frustrated that “there is no one to argue with when I leave class at noon. I have no law afterwards. ... [Meanwhile,] the boys at practically every fraternity have a round table and discuss law every night for an hour. Of that I know nothing.”
The law program where she preferred to be was Richmond Law. In addition to persuading her father of the financial benefits of her living at home, she praises its reputation as “getting to be nothing to be snipped at.” She says that one of its faculty — Walter McNeill, namesake of today’s McNeill Law Society — “is considered good by all” and notes that another professor is responsible for the state bar exams, “which I am turning heaven and earth to pass.” Her father, apparently, resisted the move, and things apparently settled down for her. In 1980, she told Virginia Law Weekly that “it took [male classmates] one semester to find out that I was not after a husband and another semester to find out that I could do the work. After that everything was fine.”
Another source — and possible source of Tompkins’ consternation — is her dean at U.Va., William Lile. In his book, Wallenstein quotes Lile referring to his school’s three women students as “these new and strange beings” in a 1920 report to the president. When Tompkins graduated in 1923, Lile recorded in his diary that she was “an unusually capable person” but nevertheless predicted that “it will not be long before she deserts the profession” and will be found “rolling a baby carriage instead of wrangling in court.” He was very wrong, despite the post-graduation obstacles she faced breaking into the profession. She went on to a long legal career, dying at age 83 just two years after retiring from practicing. Over these years, she also took on leadership roles at Richmond, including serving as a trustee, and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1970.
Since 1984, the law school has awarded a scholarship named in her honor; it has had 39 recipients to date. Ranson may have encountered some difficulties in law school herself. Not long after graduation, she used her legal education to sue the university. At issue was a “most improved” award she received from the law school’s faculty, despite consistently ranking second in her class. In two defamation suits, she alleged that, through the award, the faculty intentionally implied that she had an inferior understanding of the law, thereby injuring her professional reputation. The outcomes of the suits are unknown.
Similarly, little is known about Ranson’s life. Historical records tied to a woman with her name who was then living in Richmond indicate that she was close to several men with legal careers. Her father was a judge, and she married an attorney in 1904. Tragedy quickly struck the newlyweds when her husband died the next year of tuberculosis after leaving Jamaica on a United Fruit Co. steamer, according to his obituary. The 1920 census, conducted around the time she enrolled at Richmond, lists her as a 35-year-old widow. It also gives some indication of her more recent life, reporting that she had become a trained nurse and was working as a supervisor at a state hospital. Other records suggest she was a military veteran who served as a nurse in the reserves in France during World War I. After law school, she began practicing. Richmond city directories for 1924 and 1925 list her as an attorney operating out of an office on North 11th Street, near today’s Valentine Museum, but she does not appear in subsequent directories.
“ I think she’d be very proud that there’s now a professorship named after a woman and that the first one to hold the position is a woman professor who is highly regarded in the field.”
A CENTURY OF PROGRESS
In 1920, when Ranson began her legal education, the census recorded six women practicing law in Virginia. A decade later, it was just 27. Women’s numbers in the profession didn’t hit triple digits in Virginia until the 1950 census, and it would not be until the 1980 census that the number jumped into the thousands. Whether enrollment by women at Richmond Law mirrors those trends is unclear but seems likely. Reliable data that records enrollment at Richmond Law by gender dates back only to 1992. By that point, women were regularly making up between 45% and 50% of graduating classes, surpassing the number of male graduates for the first time in 1996. In three of the last five years, women have accounted for 57% or more of the graduating class.
These figures track with national statistics. Women made up just over 55% of law school students nationally in 2020–21, and nearly five times as many law schools had female majorities as had male majorities, according to the American Bar Association. At five ABA-accredited law schools, the ratio in favor of women was two-to-one. When today’s students enroll, they are more likely than ever to encounter women as their professors; 55% of the current full-time faculty at Richmond Law are now women. They are also more likely to encounter women in administrative leadership. The latest data from Rosenblatt’s Deans Database at the Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi, show that 43% of the nation’s law school deans are women. That figure includes Richmond Law’s Wendy Perdue, the first woman to be dean of a law school in Virginia and the nation’s 11th-longest-serving law dean of any gender.
A NEW MILESTONE FOR RICHMOND LAW
As the school celebrates the 100th anniversary of its first female graduate, it is also celebrating another unique first. This one — again — involves a woman. A generous gift from the family of Nancy Litchfield Hicks, L’85, has established the school’s first professorship named in recognition of a
woman. Its first appointee is Jessica Erickson, founding director of the Richmond Law and Business Forum, which helps students prepare for careers in business law.
“Nancy loved it there,” said Hal Hicks, who made the gift in memory of his late wife. “I think she’d be very proud that there’s now a professorship named after a woman and that the first one to hold the position is a woman professor who is highly regarded in the field.”
Hicks’ gift to establish this professorship is a continuation of the ongoing generosity he has displayed over the last several years. Following her passing in August 2020, Hicks and the couple’s three sons — Josh, Billy, and Matt, ’15 — established the Nancy Litchfield Hicks (L’85) Memorial Scholarship.
Two years later, inspired by the strength Nancy displayed throughout a difficult illness, Hicks sought to do something more to honor her and other “strong women” in his life — the Hicks professorship. “Nancy was a strong woman. Her daughter-in-law, Jess, is a strong woman. And, yes, her 2-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, is certainly turning out to be a strong young woman and the absolute queen of the family,” he said.
Erickson was named the Nancy Litchfield Hicks Professor of Law in June 2022. A prolific scholar on the Richmond Law faculty since 2007, she teaches and writes about corporate and securities litigation and was the 2020 School of Law Distinguished Scholar.
“Women are such an important part of Richmond Law’s story, and we are thrilled that this new professorship serves as an enduring tribute to two important women in our history,” Perdue said. “An endowed professorship is one of the highest academic awards that the university can bestow on a faculty member. This professorship is such a fitting way to honor two exceptional women. I am grateful to the Hicks family for making it possible.”
The Law Women’s Centennial Scholarship, established in honor of this milestone, looks forward to the promise of Richmond Law’s next 100 years. Mary Lou Kramer, L’75, launched it with a $50,000 commitment and a goal of recruiting 100 donors and reaching $100,000. Learn more at uronline.net/ law/100women 100years
SPIDER DAY
Fun Fact: Each of the three bands that performed at Spider Day Homecoming had Spiders among the band members, either current students, alumni, faculty, or staff.
This one’s a bop
The soundtrack to Spider Day Homecoming had a theme: live performances by alumni you might remember strumming around campus during your student days. For the band Room for Improvement, however, time under the stage lights began decades after they tossed their graduation caps.
About three years ago, friends Kevin McQueen, R’89, GB’98, and Dave DeWalle, GB’04, attended an event where the performers left something to be desired. “We could do that,” McQueen joked. “[Let's] start a band.”
A few months later, the first practice session was held. With McQueen on guitar and DeWalle on bass, shaky melodies floated from McQueen’s garage as a small group of friends dusted off instruments and pieced together a set list.
“Dave used to joke that we had five songs,” McQueen said, “three of which were ‘Wagon Wheel.’”
Room for Improvement members include spouses and UR staff
members, a few of whom took some convincing before agreeing to share their musical talents.
McQueen and DeWalle both described the chance to perform on campus decades later as a surreal experience. “I’ve lived most of my life not being overly musical,” DeWalle said. “Now to perform [here] is a very special opportunity that I never would have dreamed about when I was a student.”
Will Harford, ’23, however, did have that dream as a student when he started the band Dogpark during his junior year. “I definitely [felt] a little washed up coming back to play on campus,” he said. “But [Richmond] still feels like home.”
In the company of one other university band — Faculty Lounge — Room for Improvement and Dogpark shared their repertoires under the glow of Millhiser Green, putting on a show for their fellow Spiders who are not part of a band — yet.
—Sophia Demerath, ’26
#SPIDERSUPPORT
Perfect fit
Richmond is fortunate to have a tight-knit community of donors who support our mission of preparing students for leadership and lives of purpose. With your gift of $25 or more, we’ll help more Spiders put their best foot forward.
These limited-edition socks are a small token of our immense gratitude. Make your gift before Dec. 31 to get your pair and wear them with pride knowing you’ve helped Spiders step confidently into the future.
Go to socks. richmond.edu or use the QR code for more information. Thank you for being our Spider sole-mate!
Holiday get-togethers
New Jersey-area alumni are gathering for an evening of revelry, vintage charm, and spirited merriment at a local speakeasy.
On Thursday, Dec. 14 from 6 to 8 p.m., join fellow Spiders at the Laundromat Speakeasy in Morristown, New Jersey. Register at alumni.richmond.edu or by calling 804-289-8030.
For alumni events near you, check the calendar at alumni.richmond.edu.
Dogpark performing on Milhiser Green in September during the football home opener tailgate
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
“Obama once told me to set my sights on something I can believe in — not power or a specific position.”
DANIEL FAIRLEY II, ’13, who was selected for the Obama Foundation’s inaugural Leaders USA program. He was a White House intern in 2014.
GENERATIONS
A family connection
When Sarah Grace Clarke, ’25, decided to attend the University of Richmond, she knew she would be carrying on her family’s legacy — her father, grandmother, and great-grandmother are Spider alumni. But she didn’t know that she would receive financial support from an endowed scholarship funded by her grandmother’s graduating class.
The Westhampton College Class of 1952 Memorial Scholarship was established during the class’s 30th reunion to benefit a Westhampton College student.
Sarah Barlow Wright, W’52, is the class representative for the scholarship. She and her classmates hoped that it could be given to a descendant of the Class of 1952.
Clarke, the granddaughter of Barbara Cawthorne Clarke, W’52, fit the bill and brought a meritorious academic record.
Clarke said receiving the scholarship reinforced her familial connection to UR. A biology major, she plans to pursue a nursing career. She is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and the women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, and she works part time in financial aid.
“I’m following in the footsteps of my family members but creating my own experience,” she said. “I am very appreciative of Mrs. Wright and the Class of 1952 because the support helps me and my family. It really shows how important the university is to alumni.”
This fourthgeneration Spider was awarded a scholarship, making her one of the 69% of undergraduates who receive some form of financial aid.
Victory on ice
A team of Richmond alumni hockey players won its third Boom Boom Cup Championship in August in Nashville, Tennessee.
After going undefeated in the preliminary rounds, they beat Team Ohio 3-2 to win the tournament overall. The alumni on the championship team were Tucker Blanton, ’13, Scott Celander, ’04, Justin Collins, ’08, Matt Improta, ’10, Chris Nelson, ’09, and Tom Occhino, GB’06. Go Spiders!
ABCs of world travel
In our last issue, we reported that Watson Mills, R’61, has traveled to 174 of the 193 UN member countries. It appears Mills has good company.
Harold Smith, R’62, wrote to tell us he has traveled to all 193 UN member countries. Yes, all of them. “My travel was for fun and adventure,” Smith wrote, including a 71-page document detailing his experience in each country — in alphabetical order from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
For the United States entry, he simply wrote, “I have visited all 50 states.”
Fun in the sun
Members of the Class of 2001 gathered in Banner Elk, North Carolina, for an event called Spider Fun in the Sun.
Send us photos of your latest alumni get-together at classnotes@richmond.edu. ROADTRIP
Sarah Barlow Wright, W’52, and scholarship recipient Sarah Grace Clarke, ’25
LEGACY
by María
SHAREBABY’S MISSION
ShareBaby is a diaper bank that helps Baltimore keep the youngest members of its community healthy. According to the nonprofit, almost half of families with small children are unable to fully meet their children’s diaper needs. For more information, visit www. ShareBaby.org.
NOT EVERY FAMILY CAN AFFORD DIAPERS FOR THEIR NEWBORN
Two alumni united to found a diaper bank that now serves more than 15,000 children in Baltimore.
Remember the toilet paper shortage of 2020? Now imagine it never ended. That’s the unfortunate reality in this country for many families trying to keep up with their children’s need for diapers.
It’s called “diaper need.” Families cannot always afford enough diapers to keep their babies clean, dry, and healthy.
Two Spiders — Kristin Finkelstein, ’07, and Maya Ammons, ’06 — joined forces to combat this unmet need from a 9,000-square-foot warehouse in Baltimore. The nonprofit they created, ShareBaby, distributes 200,000 diapers each month.
ShareBaby also offers a pantry of baby supplies to more than 60 community partners.
Finkelstein and Ammons were both moms with surplus baby supplies when they realized there were no organizations that accepted those items as donations.
“Maya and I were talking with our friend and third co-founder, Kate Mumaw, about the lack of organizations that accepted baby gear and clothing,” Finkelstein says.
“We did some research and discovered Baltimore had a huge need for children's items but no way to get new and gently used items to those families.” The trio reached out to friends and began collecting these supplies in their garages to take to the local organizations that needed them.
“That was how we started back in 2014,” Finkelstein says. “But now we’ve moved into a fully functional warehouse with five full-time staff members.”
But what Finkelstein recalls most fondly is how she and Ammons met. “It was my first day of freshman year. Maya was a sophomore, and she heard I was also from Baltimore. She came to my dorm building and found my room. We became close friends throughout college. ShareBaby wouldn't have happened had Maya not come to find me.”
“ Baltimore had a huge need for children’s items but no way to get new and gently used items to those families.”
Ammons agrees, emphasizing that establishing and sustaining collegiate connections has been incredibly valuable. “I would have never imagined during our time at Richmond that we would have gotten together post-college and created such a beneficial organization for the Baltimore community,” Ammons says. “We are proud of our Richmond educations and so grateful that the school brought us together. We encourage everyone to stay connected. You never know what can come from it.”
by
Photograph
Stephen Voss
Tap for tatts
Mylon Blueford, ’15, and Terrence Fullum, ’15, have been tattooed over 60 times by more than 20 artists. “Each time, we’re reminded how much the current process for acquiring a tattoo sucks,” Blueford said. “It’s incredibly inefficient, taking days, weeks, or never even reaching completion at all.”
Blueford and Fullum, college roommates and football teammates, came up with a solution during their senior year.
“It was a typical night of us just hanging out,” Blueford said. “We were talking about tattoos, and Terrence said something along the lines of, ‘Yo, what if there was an app for tattoos? An app where you can connect with a tattoo artist, draw up a design of what you want in the app, pay for the appointment, all of it?’
And I thought to myself, ‘You know, that’s not a bad idea.’”
Blueford and Fullum developed a detailed business plan, but the concept got put on the backburner until 2019.
“With my background as a software engineer, I spent the next four years building the booking app from the ground up,” Blueford said. “Terrence used his entrepreneur skills to handle things on the business and marketing side, and we officially formed TattMe, LLC, in 2021. On July 14, 2023, we launched TattMe on the App Store.”
TattMe’s goal is to make the process as efficient and painless as possible. “We reduce the amount of time it takes to book a tattoo appointment from days or weeks to minutes,”
Blueford said.
“We’re also helping people that look like us to find quality artists who know how to tattoo their skin tone. People of color make up the majority of the tattooed population, but 99% of what you see in tattoo media is white skin. There are also artists claiming certain tattoos can’t be done on darker skin, which isn’t true. It’s time Black and minority tattoo culture got the spotlight, and that’s what we’re here to do.”
TattMe is a platform that simplifies the process of getting your next tattoo. Their social media highlight tattoos on a broad range of skin tones to celebrate the rich and diverse community of tattoo enthusiasts.
Follow them at: @tattme.app
THE SURROGATE DECISION KRISTI WILKINSON, W’89
A chance conversation about adoption leads to Wilkinson’s decision to become the surrogate for her son's teacher. She shares her story of facing medical and emotional challenges with steadfast faith in order to fulfill a family’s desire for a child.
IT’S OKAY NOT TO BE FABULOUS EVERY DAY ALLY DALSIMER, W’86
Navigate change with these relatable quotes and stories, and find the motivation to achieve life goals with positivity and purpose. This book taps into universal wisdoms to shift how readers tackle adversity.
This strategic guide proposes seven steps for accomplishing goals while finding happiness along the way. Chapters conclude with questions to help the reader implement each of the steps.
Historical narrative and treasure hunt meet in this nonfiction book's exploration of Nazi Germany’s failed World War II atomic bomb project by tracing a small cube of Nazi uranium.
STEP BY STEP
MARK KINSLOW, ’13
THE URANIUM CLUB
MIRIAM E. HIEBERT, ’14
TATTME
Owners Terrence Fullum, ’15, left, and Mylon Blueford ’15
We welcome your news. Send information to your class secretary or directly to the magazine at classnotes @richmond.edu. Or you may mail it to the magazine at Fountain Hall • UR Drive • University of Richmond, VA 23173. Please include your class year and the name you were known by as a student, if different than today. For your children, please include birth dates rather than ages. Photographs of alumni are welcome and encouraged. Please note that the magazine does not publish news of engagements or pregnancies. Information may take up to two issues to publish. Class notes do not appear on the magazine’s website.
The magazine uses undergraduate degree designations for graduates through 1992, and law, graduate, and honorary degree designations for all years.
B Robins School of Business
C School of Professional and Continuing Studies
G Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
GB Richard S. Reynolds Graduate School of Business
GC Graduate School of Professional and Continuing Studies
H Honorary Degree
L School of Law
R Richmond College
W Westhampton College
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feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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Class notes are available only in the print edition. To submit your news and photos, contact your class secretary or email us at classnotes@richmond.edu.
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue
For information about photos, see:
1. Helen Outen Owens, W’70
2. Kathleen Clinedinst Swallow, W’70
3. Rachel Pierce Newell, W’72
4. William “Bill” Turner, R’74
5. Rayford Harris Jr., R’77
6. Dorie Griggs, ’81
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’60
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“What I hesitated to even try became a prize of lifelong joy. My gratitude to Westhampton, to Mrs. DuPont, and to Becky Webb for the gift of music.”
—Jackie Feeman Leavitt, W’59
dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
THE LLOYDS, L’81 AND L’82
Together in law and life
Rob Lloyd, L’81, and Lisa Anderson-Lloyd, L’82, have been a pair for almost all of their lives. They met when they were 16, married as undergraduates at William and Mary, and then went to Richmond Law a year apart. By the time Lisa enrolled, the couple had a young daughter running around the law school with them.
“Her first words were ‘rule against perpetuities’ and ‘fee simple,’” Lisa said. “We’d take her into classes. She was like the mascot for our class.”
The supportive family atmosphere was just what they wanted when they were looking at law schools. That balancing act of law and family continued after graduation, as Rob went straight into active duty in the Army. Lisa followed in 1984. Both became part of the JAG Corps and together served nearly 60 years.
“The wonderful thing is that when you come in as a young attorney, they move you through the different areas of law so that you get a good overview,” Lisa said. “You get experience in criminal law, administrative law, environmental law, and contract law.” From there, they moved up in responsibility, eventually heading offices.
“You can’t get anywhere without your people — you realize this as you go up through the ranks,” Rob said. “You’re not able to finish the mission with heavy-handed ‘thou shalts.’”
For Lisa, caring for the whole person was the most satisfying part of the job. “In the JAG Corps, we’re a soldier first and lawyer always. A lot of what I enjoyed the most was working with those young attorneys and young soldiers as they came in.”
Their care for others turned pastoral after their Army retirements. Until his recent second retirement, Rob served as pastor of congregations in Kentucky, Virginia, and Hawaii after earning a divinity degree. Lisa also went to seminary, earning a master’s degree in theology and working alongside Rob in ministry.
Together, as always.
—Matthew Dewald
ANNIE TOBEY, W’82
100
things to do in RVA
While many Spiders graduate with an affection for the city of Richmond, Annie Tobey, W’82, wrote a whole book about it. This native Richmonder distilled decades of local experience into 100 Things to Do in Richmond Before You Die
“We moved away when I was young,” she said, “but my parents always talked about Richmond with such warmth.” Raised with a strong sense of hometown pride, she found it natural to capture that love in her favorite medium: words.
“I wanted to be a writer when I grew up,” she said. “When my friend was finishing her dissertation research, she told me it was time to start writing, and I said, ‘Oh, the fun part!’ And she looked at me like I had two heads.”
This taught Tobey that her adoration for the written language wasn’t a universal experience. She used the revelation as the launching pad for her award-winning career as a writer.
“My Richmond professors helped me [make that possible.] They made their classes so interesting, which made writing about the topics so enjoyable. They were helpful in their critiques. This was a great launching point for everything.”
Devoted to writing about intriguing subjects, Tobey has worked as a beer columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a regular contributor to beer and spirit periodicals, and an editor at several local magazines.
“There’s so much to do in Richmond and great communities for meeting people with shared interests. I truly enjoy the craft brewery scene, and I’m also part of the running community here. There are even groups that combine the two — you can really find your niche here.”
So when Reedy Press reached out to Tobey to write a Richmond guidebook, she jumped at the chance. “My reader was always front of mind as I wrote. It’s great for visitors, but I wanted it to be a resource for locals as well. There are definitely hidden gems that people might not know about.”
—María Badillo
’65
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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modo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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“[We] had a wonderful telephone conversation. We settled all of the problems anyone could have in 30 minutes.”
— Em St. Clair Key, W’60
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Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis
at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’71Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim
veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.
Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros
et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril
“We have all earned ‘rents’ on our UR degrees. We paid for one degree but got much more than we had bargained for.”
— George Hoffer, R’64
delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit
For information about photos, see:
7. Paul Victory, B’84
8. Kristen Buchs Calendrille, W’90
9. Julie Schmidt Kanto, B and GB’98
10. Bonnie Atwood, L’96
11. Valentin Il’Chuk, ’07
12. Corrie Mixon Culley, ’08
13. Dave Marquardt, ’08
DAVID SIENKO, ’08
Collaboration ensured
The economy wasn’t welcoming when David Sienko, ’08, graduated with his degree in leadership studies and economics. He also had plans to attend law school but had little idea of what area he wanted to practice. His friend, who graduated the year prior, suggested a potential solution to both issues: an internship in London through the Mountbatten Program.
While interning with Merrill Lynch International, Sienko’s exposure to the Lloyd’s of London market — believed to be the birthplace of insurance –— influenced him to join its firms after law school. In the New York office of London-headquartered firm Clyde & Co., Sienko provides legal counsel during investigations and litigation into claims involving fine art and other specialty risks, often involving disputes over authenticity or ownership.
Sienko considers one of the most rewarding aspects of his career to be his interpersonal relationships. His work — which was influenced by one such relationship — involves collaborating with law enforcement, experts in the field, clients, and colleagues.
“There’s something very special in an attorneyclient relationship,” Sienko said. “There’s something unique about the relationship that I have with my colleagues past and present. You get to meet so many amazing, intelligent, and hardworking people.”
These relationships are essential to his growth as a lawyer and a person. Experienced colleagues guide him, and Sienko mentors younger lawyers. Working in the same demanding environment, they also help each other maintain healthy mindsets on stressful days. Most of his work entails reading, writing, and thinking through complex problems with his teammates.
“I love being part of a team,” he said. “It gives you an opportunity to have deep, meaningful collaboration. And that’s how you sharpen your skills. That’s how you learn.”
—Amy Ogle, ’26
in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’74Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit
praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’77
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod
tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis
at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
“As most of us are turning 80 this year, please continue to keep in touch with your classmates.”
— Carolyn Jackson Mears Elmore, W’65
’79Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te
feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’81
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’83
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ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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“Everything the grandchildren do is exciting, — except perhaps going to bed.”
—Anne Park Young, W’70
’86Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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’90Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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’92Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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ROGER MANCUSI, ’12
A path of his own
Roger Mancusi, ’12, had a concrete plan: get a degree, go to medical school, and become a doctor. But in the classroom, he started to question this clear, linear career path when he found himself falling in love with a less linear field — film.
After graduation, Mancusi worked in film publicity, academia, and classic film curation, before ultimately becoming a filmmaker. His non-linear path became the foundation for Hannah Ha Ha, his first feature film. Hannah, the protagonist, faces a similar dilemma between her odd jobs and contented small-town life and leaving for a corporate career. Hannah’s story is what Mancusi calls “outsider cinema”: films that elevate excluded characters and center on their decision to find happiness outside of the system. The more he learns about characters in this genre, the more he relates to them –— and the more he desires to give “outsiders” a place in the film industry.
“I want to create these stories,” he says. “There’s a fear that if we don’t do it, no one else might, and I don’t want to live in a world in which some of these stories don’t exist.”
Mancusi’s guiding principle as a filmmaker is to create truthful stories, both to the characters and to himself. In Hannah Ha Ha, it’s not about one path being better than another; it’s about finding a path that is authentically you. And despite the awards that the film received, such as the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature, Mancusi believes the greatest reward was sharing the story with audiences and hearing their reactions.
“I’ve always wanted to bring people together around movies,” he says. “Building something collaboratively and then having a physical, tangible experience afterward to share with people is the most rewarding and enriching part of the process.”
—Amy Ogle, ’26
ZACH DAVIS, ’15
Unending curiosity
Zach Davis, ’15, considers the lab his second home ever since he joined the lab of David Landy, his former psychology professor, the summer after his first year at Richmond.
“[At UR], you’re learning how to develop your own research questions and come up with new experiments to test those questions,” Davis said. “At larger universities, undergraduates are not generally a part of that process. Instead, they have to begin with more entry-level tasks like running experiments that graduate students or professors have designed.”
Now a visiting research scientist at Meta, Davis uses cognitive science to understand user behavior and observes how people interact with an experimental system. Based on the patterns he sees, he creates user-friendly controls and displays for Meta’s applications.
Davis’ research places him at the intersection of psychology and data science. That interaction is essential to determining what an experiment reveals and how he can use that data in the future.
“If you don’t have a statistical understanding, then you’re not learning things reliably,” he said.
Even though he conducts research as a job, Davis still values the experience of finding answers to his own questions. His curiosity fuels his desire to continue researching user behavior and data science, such as how hours of usage per month relates to people’s decision to cancel Netflix. He sees no reason to stop asking questions no matter what lab he’s in.
“Many of the most important inventions came from basic research,” he said. “Research questions are generally open-ended, and you have to try out different approaches to get a good answer. And answers often lead to even more questions.”
—Amy Ogle, ’26
’93
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“I remember the elegance of the oldfashioned dining experience, with the lovely round tables and tablecloths, wonderful lifelong friendships, laughter, and trying to figure out what composed the ‘mystery meat.’”
—Betty Deans Witter, W’71
diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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’96Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Hodge joins federal bench
Kelley Hodge, L’96, a newly appointed federal judge, was the first and only Black woman district attorney in Pennsylvania, her career developing from her time as a public defender in Richmond.
“Is that my name? And is that White House letterhead?” said Kelley Hodge, L’96, recalling her awe at the first sight of her presidential nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“I was honored, grateful, and ecstatic to know I had been recommended by my home state senators as a nominee for U.S. District Court judge — and then that the president and the White House said, ‘We agree.’”
Hodge was sworn in as a federal judge in December 2022 (above). But this was just the latest in a criminal justice career that took her from public defender in Richmond to district attorney of Philadelphia. There, she was the first and only Black woman to serve as district attorney in the state of Pennsylvania.
In this office, Hodge developed a deeper understanding of the challenges faced in a major urban environment, particularly those relating to education. She later became a safe schools advocate at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency,
then the Title IX coordinator at the University of Virginia.
But, according to Hodge, it all started at Richmond Law, where she credits her professors with introducing her to all that a law career can do.
“[At Richmond,] I developed my passion for advocating.”
“Through clinical programs and exceptional professors like Robert Shepherd and Kelley Bartges, I developed my passion for advocating for children, juvenile justice, and equitable education,” she said. “Professor Shepherd’s instruction and guidance,
in particular, gave me really good foundational tools for this. And Professor Bartges was a shining example of how compassion and advocacy go hand in hand.”
As a member of the Richmond Law Advisory Board, Hodge has remained connected to the school throughout her career, even into her latest role. “My advanced trial practice professor was my first supervisor at the public defender’s office, and she was there to celebrate with me at my ceremonial investiture.”
Other Richmond Law connections were also present at the event, including classmates and lifelong friends; a recent graduate whom she mentors; Richmond Law Professor Julie McConnell; and Dean Wendy Perdue.
As she began this new chapter in her career, Hodge aspired to demonstrate empathy and compassion and to make those qualities a lasting impact on those who encounter her in the courtroom.
“Quite simply, I want to be remembered as a judge who listened, who understood, and who cared about the litigants and all those who appeared before her.”
A FEDERAL CASE
Hodge was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s 94 federal trial courts. Appointment to the court requires both presidential nomination and senate confirmation.
MELANIE LIPPERT, ’19
Converse, collab, conserve
Melanie Lippert, ’19, met wildlife poachers in Somaliland whose stories cemented the trajectory of her career in journalism.
“I’m interested in why [the illegal wildlife trade] originated and how we can all solve it together rather than making the poachers or traffickers a huge villain,” she says. “We need to go a little deeper.”
Lippert traveled to Namibia and Somaliland to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund, caring for injured cheetahs and raising orphaned cubs confiscated from traffickers. During that time, she met a poacher whose story was not one of a criminal but of a person trying to feed a family.
“The public and general people resonate a lot more with a positive story or a story they can relate to on a human level,” she says. “Instead of making it a criminal case or an investigative report, what if we show [the poachers’] side as a human?”
Now an associate producer with National Geographic’s Pristine Seas program, she helps create films about marine ecosystems to build support with local governments and communities to establish protected marine areas.
In Namibia, Somaliland, and Kenya, she witnessed locals coexisting with wildlife, often through innovative methods. For example, in Kenya she saw people using beehive fencing to prevent elephants from going into farms. Even poachers have important knowledge about cheetahs, but many lack awareness of methods to coexist with them and make a living without poaching, such as ecotourism. By swapping knowledge with locals, Lippert hopes to explore solutions and rewrite negative narratives that permeate conservation stories.
“When we go into these foreign spaces, we need to be collaborators,” she says. “When we collaborate and share knowledge rather than just preaching ideas, it can lead to super effective change that can find solutions to help both the people and the animals.”
—Amy Ogle, ’26
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’98Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta
nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’99
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’00Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
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Everyone reads class notes, but only you can write them. Send your update — whether life-changing or just friendly chitchat — today using this QR code.
consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’04Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’07Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’08Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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trud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’09Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore
eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’12Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
’13Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel
For information about photos, see: 14. Brian Stellingwerf, ’13
15. Cassaundra Fincke, ’14 and Stephen Aronson, ’15
16. Austin Gund, ’15, and Erin Flynn, ’15
17. Patrick Giampietro, ’17
18. Helen Richardson, ’18
CHLOE ANDUIZA, ’22
From law to letter
Chloe Anduiza, ’22, is used to being a policy translator for her family and friends. She’s been making a SparkNotes version of news headlines for them ever since she became interested in politics.
Anduiza now applies that skill to a much larger audience. On Capitol Hill, she serves as a staff assistant and legislative correspondent for a member of the House of Representatives. She reviews mail from constituents and drafts responses, typically covering a variety of issues and concerns. She takes the complex inner workings of Congress and turns them into a digestible format for the public.
“You have to educate yourself on each issue area so that you can write an informed response,” she said. “It’s important to ask, ‘Could someone who knows nothing about this issue understand this bill?’”
Anduiza understands there’s a disconnect between what happens in Congress and what the public sees. While interning at the Virginia General Assembly, she watched live committee hearings and witnessed significant decisions being made with less discussion than she had expected. Because of her current position, Anduiza now knows some bills that seem to move quickly can take years of work and conversations that the public doesn’t see. This is what drives Anduiza to connect people to their legislation.
These exchanges with constituents keep her grounded. During busy days on Capitol Hill, Anduiza doesn’t want to forget the satisfaction of helping people stay informed. It’s what encouraged her to pursue a career in politics, and it reminds her of why she wants to stay.
“I like being able to convey the importance to [the public] and fill them in because people take in information differently,” she said. “I have my opinions, but that’s not what you need to know. You need to know the basic facts and what’s going on.”
—Amy Ogle, ’26
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’15
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo con-
sequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’17Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’18Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis
at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’19Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facilisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facilisi. Nam liber tempor cum soluta nobis eleifend option congue nihil imperdiet doming id quod mazim placerat facer possim assum.
’23Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facili-
We remember Spiders’ lives. The notes that appear here are drawn from the university’s most recently available records updates at the time of compilation, which is generally about two months before each issue prints. To report a graduate’s passing, email classnotes@richmond.edu
’40s
Anne Williams Roberts,’43 attd., of Newfield, New York, July 25, 2023. She worked in immigration services for 35 years as secretary and administrative aide in Richmond and Dallas.
Carlos Simon Berrocal, R’45, of Jacksonville, Florida, July 6, 2022. He was 100 at the time of his passing.
Elizabeth Parker Cone, W’45, of Richmond, Virginia, Feb. 4, 2023. She was married for 62 years to Howard, whose career in the tobacco business gave them the opportunity to travel to more than 40 countries. She was a founding member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, and was the first woman on the vestry of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond.
Susie Virginia Wagstaff, W’47, of Midlothian, Virginia, Dec. 21, 2022. She had a long career in education and school administration in Maryland.
Sarah Brenner Rubin, W’48, of Henrico, Virginia, July 30, 2023. She taught Judaic studies and the Hebrew language for more than two decades
at Beth El synagogue in Richmond. She enjoyed travel, especially a family trip to Israel, where their children had bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies and they floated on the Jordan River.
Florence Lide Snider, W’48, of Greensboro, North Carolina, May 14, 2023. She served on the board of directors for the Greensboro YWCA and was co-editor, with her husband, of the Greensboro Daily News book page.
Sherman F. Sosnow, R’49, of Brooklyn, New York, Sept. 21, 2022.
’50s
Louise Covington Randall, W’50, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, July 26, 2023. She and her husband, a Marine and United Methodist pastor, moved many times. She was a lifelong member of Quail Springs United Methodist Church and president of the United Methodist Women for many years.
Charlotte Herrink Sayre, W’51, of Richmond, Virginia, April 16, 2023. A Richmond native, she was a longtime member of Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church.
Virginia Claire Carlton, W’52, of Richmond, Virginia, May 23, 2023. She had a successful career at Craigie Inc.
Roger A. Koury Sr.,’52 attd. and H’07, of Richmond, Virginia, July 8, 2023. He was a U.S. Army veteran and served in Korea. He then had a civil
service career with the Army Logistics Center at Fort Lee, Virginia.
Milton E. Leonard Jr., B’52, of Trophy Club, Texas, April 17, 2023. A U.S. Navy veteran, he worked 40 years in sales and marketing for IBM and was one of the first marketing employees to be trained in programming the early, commercially available computers.
Walter D. Tucker, B’53, of Richmond, Virginia, April 20, 2023. He served in the U.S. Navy and then the Navy Reserve for two decades. He began a long career with State Planters Bank in 1956 and remained with the bank through many mergers and acquisitions, retiring from Crestar Bank in 1994. He was active in the Second Baptist Church, where he was on the finance committee, taught Sunday School, and shared devotionals at youth basketball games sponsored at the church. He passed away one day after his wife of 61 years, Jacqueline Randlette Tucker, W’57
Malcolm G. “Mac” Shotwell, R’54, of Springfield, Illinois, April 23, 2023. An ordained American Baptist minister, he was a pastor of churches in Cuba, New York; Olean, New York; and Galesburg, Illinois. He also was an area minister for churches in Pennsylvania and Delaware and regional executive minister for churches in Illinois and Missouri. He authored three books and two dramatic monologues, among other publications.
Richard H. “Dick” Guenther, R’55, of La Quinta,
California, Jan. 29, 2023. He played basketball for the Spiders and earned a dental degree from University of Oregon Dental School. He served in the U.S. Army dental corps and then opened a dental practice in Saratoga, California. He started Dental Insurance Consultants, working with insurance companies to provide professional claim review, design consulting, and claim payment processes. The company grew rapidly, with offices in five major cities. He also began Insured Dentists of America, helping to develop dental preferred-provider networks. An avid golfer, he accumulated 13 holes-in-one.
Halford I. Hayes, B’55, GB’64, and L’77, of Richmond, Virginia, July 7, 2023. He served in the U.S. Army and taught in the Collegiate schools and in the Richmond Public Schools. He was an assistant athletic director at the University of Richmond and was a swim coach for local club teams. He co-founded Bon Air Title Agency.
Kenneth L. Hodder, R’55 and H’94, of Sun City Center, Florida, May 1, 2023. He was the retired national commander of the Salvation Army in the United States. He served several years in corps appointments and then became a chaplain in the U.S. Navy, including a tour in Vietnam, where he earned the Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V.” He became national commander of the Salvation Army in 1993. University of Richmond awarded him an honorary doctorate in social service in 1994.
H. Lee Ford, B’56, of Richmond, Virginia, Oct. 31, 2022. He retired from Lawyers Title Insurance Corp. as assistant vice president after 37 years. He was president of the Administrative Management Society. A lifelong member of St. John’s United Church of Christ, he served on the church council and endowment committees and sang in the choir.
Carl C. Gillespie Jr., L’57, of Bluefield, Virginia, May 3, 2023. He joined his father’s law practice in Tazwell, Virginia, and practiced until his retirement in 1995. For more than 50 years, he was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Virginia State Bar, where he served on the disciplinary board.
Betty Lou Dudley Taylor, W’57, of Williamston, North Carolina, May 6, 2023. She was a piano teacher and family therapist.
Jacqueline Randlette Tucker, W’57, of Richmond, Virginia, April 19, 2023. Her undergraduate studies and later teaching career in Spanish sparked a lifelong love of Mexican and Spanish art, culture, history, and music. At First Baptist Church, where she was a devoted member of the women’s circle, she volunteered for several ongoing charities, including clothing donations, food pantry, and teaching English as a second language. She passed away one day before her husband of 61 years, Walter Tucker, B’53.
G. Warren Chukinas, R’58, of Franklin, Tennes-
see, May 21, 2023. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he was a high school principal and became a business executive and entrepreneur. He was an advocate for people with disabilities and served two terms on the Virginia State Board of Mental Health. During his time on the board, the board recommended and helped institute special education in Virginia public schools.
Herbert L. Jones, B’58, of South Hill, Virginia, June 20, 2023. He worked 34 years with People’s Life Insurance. He served in the Army Reserves and was a Sunday school teacher and deacon at First Baptist Church.
Carolyn Smith Yarbrough, W’58, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, June 16, 2023. A gifted gardener and flower arranger, she worked with the Grace Church Cathedral Flower Guild and helped establish its Fall Flower Festival. She also worked with Mount Pleasant Pride Committee, which sought opportunities for projects to keep the town beautiful, preserve history, and promote civic pride.
Clifton S. “Cliff” Collins, R’59 and G’68, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, June 30, 2023. He worked many years at Chowan University, including as director of financial aid. The university named him to the Order of Lux et Veritas and the Chowan Sports Hall of Fame. He was the first staff member to receive emeritus status.
Margaret Rutherford Compton, W’59, of Westland, Michigan, May 4, 2023. She was a civilian contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense and the Naval Weapons Lab at Dahlgren, Virginia. The lab’s commander awarded her a citation for her work on the Polaris missile system. She also taught high school and worked in her husband’s business.
Robert L. Deal, R’59, of Henrico, Virginia, July 17, 2023. He earned a dental degree from the Medical College of Virginia and after graduation was assigned to the dental clinic at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, Florida. After moving back to Richmond, he started his own dental practice, where he worked for more than 40 years.
Karen Diedrich Gardner, W’59, of Abingdon, Virginia, July 26, 2023. Her family resided on their hilltop farm for 53 years. There, Karen became a farmer and developed a love of gardening. She was involved in the community, serving with the hospital auxiliary and the Holston Mountain Artisans, and she was president of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Leonard “Dick” Hatch Jr., B’59, of Roanoke, Virginia, July 8, 2023. He was a bank examiner and member of the Porsche Club of America. He was a national concours judge for more than 20 years.
William H. “Billy” Mitchell, R’59, of Madison, Virginia, Jan. 9, 2023. He served Madison County Public Schools for 65 years as an educator, coach, administrator, and student. He coached football, baseball, and boys’ and girls’ basketball. He played
professional baseball in the Detroit Tigers organization. A U.S. Army veteran, he was a lifelong member of Rose Park United Methodist Church.
Jerald F. “Jerry” Moore Sr., R’59, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, May 11, 2023. His long career with the Commonwealth of Virginia included working in conservation, recreation, parks, preservation of historic resources, and economic development. He was acting director of the Department of Conservation and Economic Development and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. He was board chair of the Virginia Credit Union. A sportsman, he played briefly for a Yankees farm team in Richmond, enjoyed fishing Virginia’s rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, and excelled in tennis and golf.
’60s
Sandra Motley Swain, W’60, of Newport News, Virginia, April 11, 2023. She taught elementary school and Sunday school, first at Deer Park Baptist Church and then at Immanuel Baptist Church, where she taught children’s and women’s classes and sang in the choir.
Joseph C. Cox Jr., R’61, of Glen Allen, Virginia, June 18, 2023. He practiced dentistry in Richmond from 1965 to 2022. He and his wife loved to travel, especially to Hawaii, and he enjoyed woodworking and playing banjo and Hawaiian slack key guitar.
James R. “Jimmy” Greenstreet, ’61 attd., of Mechanicsville, Virginia, June 8, 2023. He served in the U.S. Navy, loved sports of all kinds, and was a member of the Tuckahoe Moose Lodge No. 1163. Helen Londeree Johnson, W’61, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, May 17, 2023. She was an elementary school teacher, volunteered in the school library, and was involved in her husband’s dental practice. She was a lifelong member of Westhampton Baptist Church.
Jack W. Justis,’61 attd., of Coconut Creek, Florida, June 13, 2023. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves and worked for Chris-Craft Corp. in Salisbury, Maryland, and Pompano Beach, Florida, where he was a customer service manager. As a craftsman, he made custom fishing rods and took home Rod of the Show first-place awards in both saltwater and freshwater divisions at the national competition in 1984. He invented and patented the Zebco Rhino Rod grip. He also won more than 100 first-place trophies and numerous Best of Show awards for his restored 1955 Chevy Bel Air.
Raymond L. Kee Jr., R’61, of Goochland, Virginia, July 5, 2023. He was captain of the Spider tennis team his senior year and majored in mathematics. He served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. He began his career in computers in 1963 with Life of Virginia, became president of SEC Computer Co., and retired in 2007 from SyCom Technologies after 44 years as a businessman. He
loved golf, cards, travel, beach, and family.
Carl F. Langley Jr., R’61, of Lady Lake, Florida, April 10, 2023. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. An industrial engineer, he was director of case goods at Hill-Rom. He was an avid golfer and poetry writer.
Lawrence D. “Dale” McGhee, L’61, of Martinsville, Virginia, May 6, 2023. He practiced law in Bassett, Virginia, with then-Speaker of the House A.L. Philpott. He was Henry County attorney for many years. After retiring, he and wife Nancy toured the country in a motor home, settling in Florida. He later returned to Henry County, where he was active in his church.
Norman L. Hancock, B’62, of Richmond, Virginia, May 5, 2023. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and worked many years at Scott & Stringfellow, where he retired as compliance director in 2005. He loved to play the clarinet. He was a Freemason and was active in Bon Air United Methodist Church.
W. Sidney “Sid” Ives, R’62, of Hampton, Virginia, April 18, 2023. He enjoyed sports, especially tennis and baseball, and studied history and philosophy.
Nathalie Harwood “Dee” Perkins, W’63 and G’75, of Newport News, Virginia, Oct. 4, 2022.
Glenda Nicholas Burke, W’64, of Richmond, Virginia, June 19, 2023. She taught Earth science in Richmond for several years and later continued as a substitute teacher at the Steward School in Henrico, Virginia. She started and maintained a growing jewelry business and participated in suburban league tennis. She joined her husband in starting the Osteoporosis Diagnostic and Treatment Center.
Mary Louise Moschler Forte, W’64, of North Chesterfield, Virginia, May 14, 2023. She taught fifth grade for 14 years and enjoyed knitting baby blankets and shawls, playing Scrabble, and reading 100 books a year. She was an active member of Providence United Methodist Church.
Nancy Smith Scarborough, W’64, of Fairfax, Virginia, July 4, 2023. She was a reporter and fashion editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. After moving to College Park, Maryland, she earned a master’s degree in education and began work as a sixth-grade teacher. She later earned a doctorate in education and taught classes for reading specialists at George Mason University’s Graduate School of Education.
Alvin N. Smith Jr., R’64, of Hurt, Virginia, May 25, 2023. He taught math, physics, and computer programming at Central Virginia Community College and Altavista High School, where he also coached football and track. He ran track and cross country for the Spiders. Altavista High School honored him as Teacher of the Year and inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame. He also was a AA State Track Coach of the Year.
Sheldon M. Markowitz, R’65, of Richmond,
Virginia, April 26, 2023. He received medical and microbiology training at Medical College of Virginia and did two years of residency there and two years at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he earned the rank of major. Back at MCV, he completed a fellowship in infectious diseases. He was an assistant professor and then a professor at both MCV and McGuire Veterans Hospital, where he was chief of infectious diseases and chief of medicine before becoming chief of staff.
Raymond C. Robertson, R’65, of Staunton, Virginia, April 21, 2023. He taught middle and high school government, geography, and history before he transitioned to full-time practice of criminal law. He served 11 consecutive terms as Staunton’s commonwealth’s attorney, and when he retired, he was the second-longest-serving commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia history. He authored four books, including two relating accounts of his favorite memories of criminal cases and one about the difference that drug courts can make in rehabilitating people with addiction problems. He was active in his church and enjoyed travel.
Dolores “Dolly” Kirkpatrick Carroll, W’67, of North Chesterfield, Virginia, July 16, 2023. She was a PTA president and a Girl Scout troop leader. She held a weekly Bible study for women in her home and was a Christian counselor and teacher at the Christian Counseling and Training Center. She later led and taught groups of women at Wellspring Bible Study at West End Presbyterian Church. She and her husband hosted a Bible study in their home and loved welcoming University of Richmond students into their group.
Sydney Williams Graff, W’67, of Evington, Virginia, May 20, 2023. She taught middle school biology and later earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She then worked in the cardiac step-down unit at Virginia Baptist Hospital and at the ear, nose, and throat practice of Feinman and Clark. She also earned master’s in agency counseling and retired in 2013 as a marriage and family counselor. She enjoyed traveling abroad and throughout the United States.
George R. “Ron” Grubbs Jr., R’67 and L’76, of Richmond, Virginia, June 12, 2023. He played running back and defensive back for the Spiders. He served in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator, earning his Gold Wings in 1969, flying the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and Huey helicopters, supporting special operations teams. After receiving a law degree, he was a partner with Coates & Davenport and later established his own firm. After retirement from law, he was an associate broker and vice president of the Gentil Co., a real estate company.
Joseph P. “Pat” Harahan, G’67, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, July 3, 2023. He was a special assistant to the chief of Air Force History in Washington, D.C., where he researched and co-edited 10 books on the history of the Air Force. He also
authored books on contemporary arms control treaties and agreements. The Society for History in the federal government awarded him the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Award.
Glen A. Hatcher, R’67, of North East, Maryland, June 24, 2023. He was an anti-missile ballistic programmer for Bell Labs, senior vice president at Medaphis Physician Services, general manager at MRI & CT Diagnostics, and president at New Dominion Healthcare.
Linda Graham Butler, W’69, of Williamsburg, Virginia, July 10, 2023. She taught math in public and private schools and in retirement enjoyed activities with the Daughters of the American Revolution, Woman’s Missionary Union, and Bible study.
Samuel D. “Sam” Shumate, B’69, of Hoover, Alabama, April 30, 2023. He began his career working for Safeway and later worked in retail and as an appliance parts buyer. He loved baseball, softball, and football and enjoyed coaching and watching his kids and grandkids play.
Charles R. “Charlie” Watson Jr., R’69, of Windsor, Connecticut, May 22, 2023. He worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and with Sloan Kettering in New York before accepting a position as an organic chemist with Pratt & Whitney. He is named on hundreds of patents and retired as senior fellow of organic matrix and composite materials. He was passionate about woodworking, woodcarving, and photography. He was a self-taught master of carving and cabinetry and appreciated Shaker techniques. He studied Northwest Indian art and created many pieces in honor of Native American culture. He also taught classes on woodworking technique.
’70s
Michael W. Cassidy, R’70, of Alexandria, Virginia, April 8, 2023. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard and then joined the Smithsonian Institution, where he remained for his entire career.
Linda Tomasek Wallace, W’70, of Richmond, Virginia, May 11, 2023. She was a high school science teacher for many years and co-founded and served 25 years as president of the Greater Richmond Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America.
Richard E. “Dick” Patteson, B’71, of Irvington, Virginia, March 7, 2023. He was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He obtained a CPA license and became a bank auditor, finishing his career as senior examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond. An avid sports fan, he played volleyball with the Richmond Volleyball Club. After retirement, he moved to the Northern Neck of Virginia, where he was a guest DJ with local radio stations, helped his sister manage the Old Farm Truck Market, and was involved in many other local activities.
N. Carr Stogner Jr., C’71 and L’73, of Annapolis,
Maryland, May 24, 2023. After launching his career with McGuireWoods, he opened a trust and estates practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He had a passion for sailing and was known for his booming laugh.
Robert S. “Bob” Weber Jr., B’71, of Aransas Pass, Texas, April 11, 2023. He worked for Southwestern Bell and retired from AT&T in 2000. He was a founding member of the Aransas Pass Yacht Club, commodore of the Power Squadron, and president of the Bay Harbor Channel owners’ association.
Hunter L.W. Allman Sr., B’72, of Barboursville, Virginia, May 28, 2023. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran and a CPA in Richmond, Hampton, and Gordonsville, Virginia.
Kenneth W. Davis Sr., C’72 and GB’78, of Chesterfield, Virginia, June 12, 2023. He served with the U.S. Army in Korea. He was a Richmond police officer and later worked for Reynolds Metals Co. He also taught as an adjunct professor at John Tyler Community College.
CHARTER ASSOCIATES
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND
Giving
to the University of Richmond as part of your estate planning creates an enduring legacy and impacts generations of students. The university recognizes these alumni, faculty, staff, and friends as members of the Charter Associates. Between May and August 2023, the university received legacy gifts from the following Charter Associates:
• Timothy B. Heilman, R’86, P’14, who supported the university's annual fund
• E. Bruce Heilman, former president and chancellor of the university, P’75, P’76, P’77, P’86, who supported the E. Claiborne Robins President's Scholarship
• Jewell D. Ratliff, spouse of Earl G. Ratliff, B’51, who established the Earl G. and Jewell D. Ratliff Scholarship
• Marvin Rosenberg, R’52, who supported the university's annual fund
If you have included the University of Richmond in your estate planning or through another deferred gift — or if you would like information about doing so — please contact the university’s office of gift planning by phone at 804-287-1864 or by email at giftplanning@richmond.edu.
Janice P. Gibb, B’72, of Blacksburg, Virginia, May 19, 2023. She was a computer systems engineer at Virginia Tech. After retirement, she devoted her time to the Montgomery County Animal Care and Adoption Center.
Phillip C. Johnson, B’72, of Suffolk, Virginia, April 9, 2023. He was a longtime senior vice president of Towne Insurance. He was an avid golfer, hunter, boater, and car enthusiast.
William E. “Ed” Ashworth, R’73, of Ashland, Virginia, July 1, 2023. He studied acupuncture in China and was a chiropractor.
John W. Hall, R’73, of Bristol, Virginia, June 18, 2023. He earned a master’s degree in education, specializing in orientation and mobility for the blind and visually impaired. He continued to teach in that field for 47 years. He was known as an easygoing, kind friend to all.
William E. “Bill” Kelly III, L’73, of Canyon, Texas, May 13, 2023. While in law school, he coached football for the Spiders. After passing the bar, he was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney, later giving up law to pursue a football career full time. In Utah, he coached high school football and then was head coach at Snow College, where his team ranked fourth in the nation his first season. He relocated to Eastern New Mexico University as head coach, winning back-to-back championships. His final coaching position was as head coach for West Texas State University, where he earned Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year in 1986. In 1988, he went back into law and practiced in Canyon and Amarillo, Texas.
McDaniel “Dan” Rucker IV, R’73, of Midlothian, Virginia, June 25, 2023. He was headmaster of Stony Point School and then taught social studies at Robious Middle School for 15 years. He was a history buff, talented musician, lover of 1950s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll, speaker, writer, coach, and believer in God.
John B. Wheeler, R’74, of Hampton, Virginia, April 4, 2023. He worked for 40 years as a general sales manager in concrete. A star baseball and basketball player in high school and at UR, he was a member of the 1969 Hampton High School Crabbers state championship basketball team.
Roger E. Early, R’75, of Chesapeake, Virginia, May 13, 2023. He retired after a 40-year career in banking, including serving as president and CEO of Northern Star Credit Union.
Kevin W. McMann, B’75, of Midlothian, Virginia, June 23, 2023. He is remembered for his sense of humor, loyalty, and devotion to family. His party gatherings were filled with laughter, dancing, and a shared love of life. He also was a passionate supporter of the Richmond Spiders.
William E. “Bill” Milby Sr., C’75 and GB’79, of Spotsylvania, Virginia, July 18, 2023. He began his career at a small loan office in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and retired as executive vice president and director from the National Bank of Fredericksburg. He taught business courses at Germanna Community College and loved to travel.
James H. Hudson III, L’77, of West Point, Virginia, July 3, 2023. He practiced law in West Point and became the town attorney. He later served on town council and as mayor for 16 years. The Virginia House of Delegates recognized his time as a public servant with House Joint Resolution No. 600 in February 2023. He served on the vestry of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Lee P. Rice, G’77, of Richmond, Virginia, July 21, 2023. He had a long career as a commercial insurance agent with A.W. Hargrove Insurance Agency in Hanover County, Virginia. He often contributed letters to the editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and was named the paper’s “Correspondent of the Year” on multiple occasions. He authored a memoir and Journeys of Entrepreneurs. As a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, he was a mentor to elementary students.
Stephen H. White, ’77 attd., of Greenville, South Carolina, June 27, 2023. At UR, he edited the yearbook and was co-captain of the 1977 state championship swim team. He worked in his family’s manufacturing business, James C. White Co. Thomas W. Dixon Jr., L’78, of Staunton, Virginia, May 24, 2023. A U.S. Army veteran, he spent most of his law career as a partner at Nelson, McPherson, Summers & Santos. After years representing people subject to civil commitment proceedings, he was a special justice in Staunton and Augusta counties. In later life, he developed a love of woodworking and made handsome pieces of furniture for his home.
Anne Brooke “Jody” Lewis, G’78, of Tappahannock, Virginia, May 3, 2023. She taught high school English at Collegiate School in Richmond, and after retiring with her husband to Tappahannock, she taught AP English at St. Margaret’s School. Her knowledge and passion for literature, shared with her students, was her life’s work and legacy.
Rachel W. Saunders, W’78, of Dallastown, Pennsylvania, May 13, 2023. After receiving a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, she was a family therapist for more than 40 years.
James F. “Phil” Dulaney Jr., GB’79, of Staunton, Virginia, July 15, 2023. He was the third-generation owner and president of Charlottesville Oil Inc.; owner and president of Charlottesville Realty Corp.; and operator of Skyline Swannanoa Inc. in Afton, Virginia.
William D. Oakes, R’79, of New Orleans, Louisiana, April 27, 2023. After studying organ at UR, he received master’s and doctoral degrees from University of Michigan, where he was a finalist for the Grand Prix de Chartres, an organ-playing competition held in France. In 1988, he began a long association with Orgues Létourneau of Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada (Létourneau Organs in the United States), where he rose to vice president for sales and marketing. In 2019, he purchased the company and became its president. He performed extensively and served many churches as organist/choirmaster.
Carl H. Pearson II, R’79, of Willow Spring, North Carolina, April 19, 2023. He served in the U.S. Navy, where he developed his aptitude and love for computers. He worked in technology for 32 years.
’80s
Mitchell J. “Jay” Alga Jr., B’80, of Irvington, Virginia, June 11, 2023. He retired as regional vice president of Compass Group. He enjoyed cooking, water activities, tennis, biking, and walking. He was active in the Irvington Village Improvement Association.
Roger K. Clark, GB’80, of Boone, North Carolina, April 19, 2023. He was a self-employed CPA. In Richmond, he was active with Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, served on the Richmond City School Board, and volunteered with many organizations. After moving to Boone in 2014, he continued his life of service by volunteering with many local groups, including the Southern Appalachian Historical Society, the Hunger and Health Coalition, the Project on Aging’s Home Delivered Meals program, and many others. He enjoyed camping and river trips, tinkering on his Austin-Healey cars, reading about history, riding trains, and attending old-time acoustic music events.
Karin Stangholm Lambert, W’81, of Richmond, Virginia, May 31, 2023. Born in Oslo, Norway, she was raised there and in the United States. She loved to travel and lived in many major cities abroad before marrying and settling in Richmond, where she worked in commercial banking.
Richard M. “Dick” Spiers Jr., GB’81, of North Chesterfield, Virginia, June 17, 2023. He had a long career in the insurance industry and taught insurance courses at University of Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University. He was a longtime member of St. David’s Episcopal Church, where he sang in the choir.
Carlisle M. Williams III, R’81, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, May 17, 2023. He was a financial
analyst and an active member of Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Mechanicsville.
Robert L. Dowdy Sr., GB’84, of Richmond, Virginia, and West Palm Beach, Florida, May 29, 2023. He worked for Reynolds Metals Co. in Richmond and Florida Power and Light Co. He believed in paying his good fortune forward and was dedicated to his family and charity on local and international levels. He traveled with a church group to a village in Kenya to build a fence that would deter predators, helped a Vietnamese refugee family feel comfortable in America, served as a scoutmaster, and was an active member of Stratford Hills United Methodist Church.
Frank K. Cylke Jr., R’85, of Geneseo, New York, July 29, 2023. He was employed by SUNY Geneseo. Thamer E. “Chip” Temple III, L’87, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, March 25, 2023. He practiced labor and employment law in Richmond for almost 35 years. He clerked for the Virginia Supreme Court and was partner with the firm Durrette Crump and its predecessors. More recently, he was director at Thompson McMullan. He argued cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, and the National Labor Relations Board. Numerous publications named him a top lawyer in Virginia, and he served as president of the Richmond Bar Association and as a board member of the Hanover Education Foundation and the American Heart Association Mid-Atlantic.
Nathaniel C. “Nate” Cotton,’88 attd., of Ipswich, Massachusetts, June 22, 2023. He played soccer for the Spiders, and after a brief stint as a stockbroker, he became an arborist. He worked on power line clearance and spent long hours keeping his community safe and with power during winter storms.
’90s
Brenda A. Pomfrey, C’93 and G’03, of Powhatan, Virginia, June 5, 2023. She retired from the Richmond Department of Public Utilities after more than 20 years of service. She enjoyed travel, animals, British mystery shows, and the arts.
Raymond J. Gilday Jr., C’94, of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, June 7, 2023. He was a U.S. Navy veteran and worked in information technology management for 30 years, developing software in the corporate and governmental sectors. He enjoyed classic cars, the New York Giants, and the Washington Nationals.
Thomas T. Atkinson III, C’96 and C’97, of Petersburg, Virginia, April 16, 2023. He was a stockbroker at Dean Witter and Scott and Stringfellow, both in Richmond. He worked on staff of several Republican political campaigns and in the Virginia governor’s office during the administration of Gov. John N. Dalton. He enjoyed learning about history, especially Southern and Virginia history, and his
family’s genealogy. He was a talented musician, playing rhythm guitar and singing harmony in a few small bands.
’10s
Emily Lenschow, L’10, of Cartersville, Virginia, April 22, 2023. She opened her own firm in Cartersville, specializing in criminal defense. Though diminutive in stature, she was a force to be reckoned with, never afraid to face challenges or use her words, persistence, and logic to convince others to see things from a different point of view. Outside of the courtroom, she enjoyed working her border collies, managing a flock of border Cheviots, or showing her komondor.
Jessica A. Lesky, ’13, of Bloomington, Indiana, April 6, 2023. At the time of her death, she was pursuing a degree in nursing. As a teenager, she became an emergency medical technician and a cadet for the East Millstone First Aid Squad, where she volunteered on ambulance calls for several years.
FACULTY, STAFF, AND FRIENDS
Georgia W. Cobbs of Rockville, Virginia, May 24, 2023. She had a passion for her church and community, exemplified by her career as a hospital and school nurse for 25 years. She formerly served on the university staff.
Lillian W. Evans of Richmond, Virginia, June 17, 2023. She was employed at the University of Richmond for 10 years, retiring in 1996.
Sharyn K. Gemelos of Midlothian, Virginia, July 15, 2023. She was an administrative assistant at the University of Richmond from 2000 to 2007.
George W. Gilliam of Cartersville, Virginia, July 4, 2023. He retired in 1995 after working nearly 30 years as a landscaper at the University of Richmond.
Sherman Johnson of Richmond, Virginia, June 27, 2023. He began working at the University of Richmond in 1988 and retired after 33 years. He was a team leader in custodial services and received the Business Affairs Award for his outstanding service.
John H. Neblett of Richmond, Virginia, April 25, 2023. An engineer, he worked in operations research within various agencies in the federal government. After retirement, he lectured for UR’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on his experiences in the Cold War. He later compiled those lectures into multiple extensive reports that he shared with friends and family.
by Katie McBride
By Matthew
Who’s in the lake?
Westhampton Lake is a picture-perfect showpiece for the nation’s most beautiful campus (according to the Princeton Review). But it’s also something else — home to numerous fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, plus a year-round outdoor lab for students studying ecology and related subjects. With the help of biology faculty Kristine Grayson, Jonathan Richardson, and Peter Smallwood, we compiled a representative list of permanent residents and occasional visitors.
Dewald; illustration
Intellectual horsepower.
ALLY RAPHAEL THINKS FAST. As a business major and one of the few female drivers in professional sports car racing, the University of Richmond junior anticipates opportunities like the next turn on the track.
Ally aims her high-powered mind at pitching new sponsors and marketing directions to grow the sport she loves — something she intends to make her career.
“I have a passion that I’m turning into my profession,” says Ally. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for the University of Richmond.”
Learn more about Ally and other remarkable Spiders at RICHMOND.EDU/SPIDERS.
f Confession time:
A PRINT MAGAZINE IS NOT A GREAT MEDIUM FOR VIDEO. But you know what? UR’s Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and other social media channels are. Take a look, give us a follow, and add your likes and comments so we can connect Spiders everywhere with more of what you want to see.
