Scott Macneil, a captain in the Air Force, writes, “Hello from Germany. I would like to announce the birth of my first child, Devyn Siena MacNeil, born on October 23 in Wittlich, Germany. Our whole family is doing fine!”

Brad Herling ’69, principal of Clarkville Elementary, a National Blue Ribbon School in Howard County, Maryland, reconnected with UMass roomates from the Class of '69, Alan Goodman, for a weekend with wives in Waterville Valley, NH. E-mail Brad at bherling@hcpss.org

Al Halpern writes, “The Bulldogs (third floor John Adams dorm) from the late 1960s to the early 1970s had their third reunion in Las Vegas in July. Besides telling old UMass war stories, the highlight was going backstage at the Mirage to meet Jay Leno in his dressing room. The meeting was brought about by my sending Leno a note telling him about being at his prom (Andover High, 1968) and that several of the Bulldogs were from the Merrimack Valley—Haverhill and Lawrence.”

Front row (left to right) Jerry Giaquinta (73), Dan Kamal (73), Jay Leno, Al Halpern (71)
Back Row: (left to right) Jules Reese (73), Ken Hanover (73), Alan Garber (73), Mark Lundberg (74).

Lauren Krawczyk ’02 married Mike Tatalias ’99 with 21 UMass alumni attending.
Front Row: Erin Gosselin ’02, Allison Christie ’02, Justin Daly ’02, Sena Fuhr. Second Row: Cailyn Kirkman ’02, Abby (Rubino) Pgliaro ’02, Lauren (Krawczyk) Tatalias ’02, Mike Tatalias ’99. Third Row: Annie Hamilton ’02, Esther Yuen ’02, Lauren Prinn, Lauren Schinn ’02, Rachel Gecker ’02, Deron Kowalski ’01, Bryan Hunter ’99, Danielle Randazzo ’02. Back Row: Christine Vulopas ’84, Phil Soares ’02, John Link ’02, Aaron Echles ’99, Ben Schlick ’02, Tyler Spiers ’98 and Chris Corcione ’02.

Jennifer Levine ’88 lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband, Aaron Task, and their daughter, Davida. She is a graduate of the San Francisco School of Circus Arts Clown Conservatory and a recipient of a 2007 Puffin Foundation grant. In August, she performed her original puppet drama “The Miracle on Monroe Street” at the 2007 New York International Fringe Festival. More information on Jennifer is available at www.princessmoxie.org.

Alan Searleman has been named Dana Professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York.

Kofi Cash ’00, a healthcare performance improvement specialist at Sutter Health in Sacramento, California, was recently promoted to clinical performance improvement consultant to the Bay Region. This includes six Sutter hospitals within and near the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. He writes, “I miss the New England Indian summers and fall foliage. My best friend, Wesley Jacques, and I always make a point to see the Red Sox when they come to town to play the Oakland Athletics.”

Sharon (Lovett) Levine and her husband, Andy ’98, had their first child, Ava Rose, in September. They live in Franklin.

Glen Goldstein, after a twenty year career in public relations on Madison Avenue, now puts on bicycle rides for a living. He will be holding a two-day ride based at UMass Amherst this August and writes, “Alumni who want to participate can pay the usual ride fee or donate $500 to UMass and attend the event for free. We’re staying in the dorms!” Money raised will go toward the Mary Killeen Bennett ’93G Scholarship Fund. For details and pictures regarding the event visit tinyurl.com/2yzpmx or www.thefarmride.com.

Bob Shaughnessey ’03 writes that prior to attending UMass on the GI Bill, he was a systems engineer with the Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity attached to the 3rd Marine Air Wing. He was one of only six people from the Navy League, where he is vice president on their board of directors, to be invited to ride on the JFK’s final voyage to Boston.

Daniel Carberg '96G, an associate professor of music at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, recently received tenure. He writes, “I have been performing regularly with the Concord Ensemble (www.concordensemble.com) and Gravitacion (http://millikin.edu/gravitacion). Most recently, I performed in concert with Sting at Disney Hall in Los Angeles.” His summer plans include performances in Bulgaria, and teaching at Millinkin University’s summer immersion program in Urbania, Italy.

Ken Gainey ’91 and Charise Nigrelli ’91 live in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, with their four children; Bella, 2, Sammy, 6, Jake, 8, and Luke, 4. Charise writes, “Jake was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 7 and has undergone two brain surgeries and more than a year of chemo. We are also inviting everyone to ride with and/or sponsor us May 20, 2007 in the Brain Tumors Society’s Ride for Research under TEAMJAKE. The funds raised will go directly to research that could literally save Jake’s life and thousands of other children afflicted by this devastating disease. We hope with your help we can make a difference.” Visit
teamjake.org for more information.

Kathleen Cowan ’96 married Adam Riendeau ’97 in July. Jason Powers ’97, Luke Brooks ’97, Michael Fitzpatrick ’97, Jenny (Place) Capizano ’97, and Caitlin Horgan ’96 were in the wedding party. Guests included Chad Lemieux ’98, Arthur Fryar ’97, Phil Walper ’95, Tim Rodrick ’97, Dave Greeley ’97, Kerri Drinkwater ’97, Jodi Smith ’97, Tracee (Abbott) Fitzpatrick ’97, Carlyn (Haley) Powers ’96, Allison Haley ’99, Jason Terlato ’98, Joe Tribbetts ’96, Dave Asermely ’95, Kevin Sexton ’97, Chris Capizano ’95, Matt Twarog ’98, Jesse (Rutherford) Twarog ’97, Craig Asack ’96, and Ali Dehestani ’97. Kathleen is a fourth grade teacher in Boston; Adam is a computer engineer at MITRE Corporation.

Mary (Hadad) Arata ’89 and her husband, Christopher, celebrated the birth of their second child, Meaghan Rose, born on December 28. She joins brother, Michael, at their home in Harvard.

Rexford Baker ’57 and his wife, Janeen, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on January 7. Rex works as a consulting forester and Janeen teaches piano at the Pakachoag Community Music School in Auburn and at their home in Princeton. They have two children and one grandchild.

Jennifer White ’00 married Sean Corcoran ’99 on Saturday, July 29, 2006 in Port Jefferson, New York. They celebrated with the following alumni, pictured front, left to right: Caren Wachtenheim ’99, Helen Greeley ’92, Allison (Slang) Mauser ’00, Jaclyn Bowdren ’00, Anne Ramsey ’00, Jennifer, Melissa (Aginsky) Harawitz ’00, Marissa Weiss ’00, Jon LaSage ’99. Back row: Brett Mauser ’00, Jennie Stone ’96, Brian LaSage ’00, Jeff Nichols ’99, Sean, Kevin Koczwara ’09, Scott Kogos ’98, and Justin White.

Mark Citron ’76 sent in a photo of his company’s bell ringing ceremony at NASDAQ where the executive staff of BioMimetic Therapeutics closed the trading for the day. He writes, “The bell ringing ceremony was in celebration of our successful IPO where I am the senior vice president of regulatory affairs and quality systems. I was hoping to report to my lost friends and colleagues who read the alumni magazine that I am well and living in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, TN.”

Marcella Derubeis ’02 and former UMass (and now current) roommate, Kelly Davis, were visited recently in New Jersey by old pals Mike Leung, Anthony Frongillo, Louis Delmonica ’01, and Ryan Akerhalt. She writes, “We’ve all stayed close through the years, making it a point to see each other as much as we can. This was a fun filled weekend of memories and laughs about the days at UMass, when all we had to worry about was partying and going to class. Things are a little different now, but we had fun trying to recapture those days.” Check out umassmag.com/photos for a shot of the gang.

Jennifer (Arsenault) Howe ’99G and her husband, Todd, had their first child, Tyler Michael, in September. The family lives in Huntersville, North Carolina.

Barry Allyn ’88, president of the UMass Alumni Club in Birmingham, Alabama, writes, “My wife and I were in Disney World for ESPN weekend. On the set of ESPN’s Cold Pizza, I was able to pose a question to Julius Erving about his thoughts on Travis Ford and the direction of the UMass program. Dr. J gave me an enthusiastic hand pump when I introduced myself as a UMass Amherst alumnus. Eloquent as usual, he said he had spoken with our new coach several times and thought he was definitely the right choice. Later, when Dr. J was leaving in his motorcade through the park, the ESPN folks referred to him as a ‘proud UMass Minuteman.’”

Adina Potischman ’00 and Sara Demenkoff ’96 met recently on a two week study tour to China that included stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and Hong Kong. "We bonded over a love for Antonio's Pizza," writes Adina. "Climbing the Great Wall was a cinch compared to the walk from Southwest to Sylvan!"

Adina and Sara will both be graduating with MBA's from Fordham Graduate School of Business in May 2006.

Kathleen Mitchell ’79 and her husband Steven Hershberg ’77 are shown here with their new baby daughter Sara whom they adopted from Guatemala in August. Nieces Denise Ricci ’04 and Leigh Ricci ’06 accompanied them on their trip.

Al Halpern, a teacher and coach at Londonderry High School in New Hampshire writes, “The second Bulldog (John Adams 3rd floor early ’70s) was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in June. Nine members attended; (from left to right) Al Halpern, Greg Dykes, Ken Hanover, Barry Yunes, Mark Lundberg, Gerry Giaquinta, Alan Garber Jules Reese, and  Dan Kamal. We had a great time and caught up on some old UMass war stories. Plans are in the works for the next gathering in 2007. The guys now live all over the country and send their best to all the other Bulldogs and all of their other friends and classmates.”

Bill Tarter ’79 writes from Tiverton, Rhode Island, “Working in Boston over the years I’ve crossed paths with many UMass alumni. But when my job took me to the Middle East that’s another story. I was doing government business in Jordan for the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs Service, working with a four-person group in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Amman. None of our group spoke Arabic, so the Embassy provided an interpreter to help us, a Jordanian born economic specialist named Mustafa Mustafa ’95. It is not uncommon for Jordanians to speak English so I asked him where he learned the language, ‘I went to English speaking schools here in Jordan and a university in America—UMass Amherst.’ We were different era’s—I was on campus post-disco; he was early Calipari—but we both expressed fond memories of our days there. Mustafa recalled stories of his bus driving adventures; I remembered Gorman, the Collegian and soccer. It was a reminder to me that you never know where and when you might run into a UMass alumni. You just never know!”

Dr. Shawn D. Kinney, class of 1999, recently was the featured speaker at Governor Mitt Romney's press conference on the Commonwealth tax incentive program for biotech and medical device manufacturing companies that expand and hire employees within Massachusetts. Dr. Kinney started his successful company, Hyaluron, Inc., several months after graduating from UMass Amherst with a doctorate in chemistry. Hyaluron Contract Manufacturing provides formulation and sterile manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Hyaluron is expected to double in size from 40 to more than 70 employees in the next year. Dr. Kinney spoke at the Governor's conference to praise the assistance that the Commonwealth has provided to Hyaluron Contract Manufacturing in funding the growth of this Massachusetts-based company.

Pictured (l to r): Stephen Mulloney, director, policy and public affairs for the Mass. Biotechnology Council, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Dr. Shawn Kinney and Patrick Larkin.

Walter Carroll, WFCR host and leader of the WFCR trip to Japan in May/June is shown with attendees at the Azumiya restaurant in South Aoyama, Tokyo. [from left] Daniel Castellano ’96; Tomoo Ohyama ’95, main UMass contact in Tokyo; Kazuko Sakamoto; Akane (Tokiwayama) Wiswell ’98; Noriko Yamaguchi; Ann (Shutty) Maggs Carroll ’61; Sadahiro Kurita; and Walter Carroll.

Pete Mazzone '88G and his wife, Amy, welcomed their son Domenico Mazzone on March 25.

On June 4th in Prospect, CT, a few members of our intramural championship co-rec softball team got together to celebrate the 15th anniversary of our victory. Although teammates currently living in Korea and Chicago could not make it, several members did attend with their spouses and kids. In attendance were Kevin Murphy ’90, Jonathan Hartl’90, Gabrielle Reine ’92, Gary Wu ’91, Kerry (O'Leary) Crisley ’92, and John Triana ’91. Other UMass alumni attending were David Gramm ’91, Maura McLaughlin ’91, Michael Kelley ’90 and Gretchen (Morrill) Kelley ’89. Although several teammates claimed to still have their intramural championships t-shirt, only John Hartl was able to produce it. My shirt disintegrated years ago from overuse.

Front row -Kerry (O'Leary) Crisley (1992), Ben Crisley, Brendan Kelley, Elizabeth Triana, Sean Kelley, Jennifer Triana, Elizabeth Gramm, Joshua Gramm
Middle row - Maura McLaughlin (1991), Michael Kelley (1990), Gretchen (Morrill) Kelley (1989), David Gramm (1991), Andrea Gramm
Back row - John Triana (1991), Jonathan Hartl (1990), Kevin Murphy (1990), Gabrielle Reine (1992), Gary Wu (1991)
 

"This photo shows ten members of our group of ROTC Military Majors at our 50th Reunion. We were all originally members of the class of 1944. however, we were called to active duty in our junior year. After the end of WWII, we returned to Amherst and graduated from UMass in the class of 1947." submitted by Gordon P. Trowbridge, Jr. ’47, ’50G

Those in the photo are:

Kneeling, l. to r.- H. Drozdal and C. Warner

Standing, l. to r. - R. Burke, A. Amell, A. Fox, G. Trowbridge, D. Bush, R. Damon, R. Denis, and E. Warner.

Doug Shepardson, a business manager with the Boeing Company in Los Angeles, visted Hong Kong recently. While there, he met Wei-Chou Su (G), a vice-president with Reach Telephone Company, for lunch. Doug writes, “I was actually in Hong Kong to discuss licensing of animated characters developed by the home-based graphic arts business that I run. But it was a pleasure to meet with Wei-Chou and share memories of our UMass days.” Visit umassmag.com/photos for a picture of Doug and Wei-Chou.

Virginia Coates Fisher ’41 writes, "This photograph, "The old and the New," is one I took while attending a July meeting of the New England Camera Club Council in Amherst. I am a charter member of the Southeastern Connecticut Camera Club here in Waterford. It was taken from the Campus Center building. I look forward to attending my 65th reunion in 2006."

This is two year-old Ariella Shulman ’2024, daughter of David Shulman ’91 and Valerie Green Shulman ’92. Ariella is learning to chant "Go UMass" with her family. Ariella's grandparents, Andy Shulman ’63 and Pat Shulman attended this year's Legacy Day and enjoyed renewing friendships at UMass.

I just received my first issue of UMass Amherst magazine and loved the beautiful photography. We took this shot while visiting my son (Heathcliff Wright ’07) this past fall. It was shot by Michael Keyser.

I am the proud father of a 2004 UMass graduate, Hilary Cresko, a Wildlife Conservation major. This photo was taken during a successful ascent of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in September ’04. Hilary, also an avid hiker, would have eagerly joined her mom and me were it not for her bird banding project in the Pacific Northwest.Submitted by Robert Cresko, Huntington, NY

Left is a photo of the class of 1944 Sigma Alpha Epsilon Military Majors.It was taken in the fall of 1942 near UMass Amherst's Memorial Hall. Standing left to right: M. Barnes, N. Vanasse, G. Trowbridge, A. Amell, D. Anderson, and S. Hollis. Kneeling, left to right: R. Radway, R. Moser, and A. Salinger. Don Parker was absent when the picture was taken. In 1942 all male students were required to take two years of military training. Submitted by Gordon P. Trowbridge, Jr. ’47, Barefoot Bay, FL

This picture is of Brig. Gen. Albin F. Irzyk, USA (Ret.), class of 1940. It was taken at Williamsburg, VA on October 11th, 2003 just prior to the UMass/William and Mary (where his granddaughter is a junior) football game. Irzyk is wearing the letter sweater which he was awarded as varsity quarterback during the fall of 1937, his sophomore year.

Brenda (Daniels) Elfman sent in this photo of former UMass music friends who've formed the musical group, the "Brenda Band". Bill Prost '91, Tracy Salazar '91, Brenda (Daniels) Elfman '90, Mike McKendry, Linda Cugini '90, Lynda Segal '90, Glenn McGibbon '90, Jeff Petersen, Kathleen Walsh '92, Ted Greeley '92 and Gary Hyman '93.