Moments and Milestones

College of Arts & Science

Phoebe Butler (Kingsak) (CAS ’12, WAG ’20) recently got married in her home state of Texas. She was joined by many NYU alumni friends and former colleagues from the Undergraduate Admissions office. It was amazing to celebrate with those through which the violet torch still shines! (Winter 2023)

Dr. Evan Berger (CAS ’12) and Rebecca Cooper (CAS ’12) met at NYU and got married on August 8, 2020. (Summer 2020)

Brian Clark (CAS ’01) and Katie Clark (CAS ’00) celebrated twenty years of marriage this past August! They met as undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences at NYU. Now proud parents to three boys—all hockey players—they split their time evenly between New England ice rinks and beaches. (Fall 2022)

Shane Neman (CAS ’99) received the SHAI Leadership Award for his achievements as an outstanding member of the Persian-American community. (Winter 2020)

Amy Wu (CAS ’96) was ranked as Worth's 50 Women Groundbreakers list. (Spring 2020)

Adam Brecht (WSUC ’89) will be honored with a Gay City News Impact Award in New York City in November 2022. (Fall 2022)

Allan Hess (WSC ’79) is entering into semi-retirement, moving into consulting and advisory roles after decades of sales, marketing, and leadership roles in the software industry. (Winter 2023)

Virginia A. McCarthy, Esq. (WSUC ’79) is retiring after a 39 year career as a lawyer, practicing primarily in the insurance industry. She capped off her career as General Counsel with the Workers’ Compensation and Rating Bureau of Massachusetts. (Winter 2023)

Joseph R. Sutton (WSUC ’74, GSAS ’76) retired from U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and has relocated from Virginia to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. (Winter 2022)

Arnold Victor (HEIGHTS ’50) will be turning 92 this year. Retired as a rural pediatrician, Victor has gone back to college (Arizona State University) to update studies on bioethics and reforming the U.S. Health Care Delivery System, as well as taking fun classes in film, music, art, short story, philosophy, and poetry. Victor has not lost interest in the arts and humanities which he took in NYU as an undergraduate. (Spring 2023)

Dentistry

Barry J. Litwin (DEN ’74) has retired from general practice in Nutley, New Jersey. (Winter 2022)

Richard Berg (DEN ’67) retired after a 50-year career in oral & maxillofacial surgery and volunteer teaching of dental students and residents at StonyBrook University School of Dental Medicine. (Spring 2021)

Dr. Robert Berger (DEN ’65) is a general dentist of 40 years at Lake Ronkonkoma, NY. Dr. Berger was a volunteer dentist for 10 years with a community service license in Maui, Hawaii. He is retired now at 85-years-old, and has taken up ceramics, surfing, and fly radio-controlled airplanes. Dr. Berger was married to Francine for 46 years and is now married to Shelley Anne for 10 years. (Summer 2020)

Graduate School of Arts & Science

Laura R. Aldrich (GSAS ’18) was selected by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in support of Parkinson’s Disease research. As a part of the trek with Team Fox this August, Aldrich has pledged to raise $10,000 in memory of her father Boyd Aldrich who passed away in 2021 after 23 years with Parkinson’s. (Winter 2023)

Ailin Tomio (GSAS ’16) has recently obtained a position at the Mind, Behavior and Development Unit of the World Bank as Behavioral Scientist and sees it as a great opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired at NYU's Social and Consumer Psychology Masters degree program. (Fall 2022)

Kimberly Southwick-Thompson (GSAS ’09) graduated with her PhD from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's English Department in May 2020. She has accepted a position at Jacksonville State University for Fall 2020 as an Assistant Professor, specializing in Creative Writing poetry. She and her husband, Geoffrey, welcomed a baby girl, Esma Josephine Southwick-Thompson, into this world in March 2020. Kimberly's debut poetry collection, Orchid Alpha, will premiere from Trembling Pillow Press in 2021. (Summer 2020)

Ada Limón (GSAS ’01) was named the nation's 24th U.S. poet laureate earlier this year. (Fall 2022)

Ron Gelman (GSAS ’86) retired in 2014 after 32 years of working in the mental health profession. Mr. Gelman has released a 215 page volume of poetry titled, From the Heart. (Summer 2020)

Michael Mascioni (GSAS ’83) received the Albert Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. (Winter 2020)

Gallatin School of Individualized Study

Anita Rojas Carroll (GAL ’14) and Ethan Lashman Van Buren (CAS ’13) were married on June 4, 2022, in Brooklyn, New York with several NYU alum in attendance. The couple met in the Spring of 2012 in the Tisch Open Arts Program's "Topics in Cuba" class and reconnected many years later in 2019. (Winter 2023)

Tonya Ingram (LS ’11, GAL ’13) was a native Cincinnati poet who has been honored at the Getty Museum, Madison Square Garden, San Francisco Opera House, Nuyorican Poets Café, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lexus Verses and the Flow variety show, and The Price is Right. She wrote How to Survive Today, a collection of poems, prompts, and affirmations for those of us still finding our way. (Winter 2023)

Jacqueline Simonovich (GAL ’11) has been elected as the Diversity Director for the Barristers Board of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF). (WInter 2023)

Alexis Haselberger (GAL ’03) is pleased to announce that she has now taught over 100,000 students through her 3 online courses (Time Management Mastery: Do More, Stress Less, Frazzled to Focused and Hybrid Leadership: Essential Skills to Lead from Anywhere). She is currently working on a new course about how to thrive as a working parent, which will be available later this year. (Winter 2023)

School of Law

Elizabeth Wilkerson (LAW ’15) has joined Reynolds Frizzell LLP in Houston. As a trial attorney, Elizabeth delves deep into research and quickly learns the facts of a new case to help her clients tackle any type of challenge. She has mastered the cross-disciplinary approach, with experience spanning the banking, insurance, media, and oil and gas industries. (Fall 2022)

Kevin Ryan (LAW ’00) announced his retirement later this year as president and CEO of Covenant House International more than 30 years after he first joined the charity to provide civil legal services to youth facing homelessness. (Summer 2022)

Bart Stichman (LAW ’74) is stepping down as Executive Director of National Veterans Legal Services Program. He has been a trailblazer for veterans rights and ensured that those veterans, servicemembers and their families who have been wrongfully denied their benefits to which they are entitled get justice for more than 4 decades. (Fall 2021)

Liberal Studies

Jarrett James Lash (GLS ’22) has been selected to serve as a UNA-USA (UN Foundation) Global Goals Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goal #11, Sustainable Cities and Communities. (Winter 2032)

Rory Meyers College of Nursing

Moshe and Celia Frances (MEYERS ’10 and STEINHARDT ’09) both met at NYU and are currently celebrating their 10 year anniversary: "My wife and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this coming October.” (Summer 2020)

Jennie Lipari (MEYERS ’97) retired from private practice as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner and moved to Florida and is now President of their 1359-member Condominium Assnn which is self-managed. (Spring 2023)

School of Global Public Health

Marianne Olaniran, MS, MPH (SGPH ’14) and her husband, Dr. Kabir Olaniran welcomed their third child, Nathan; born in Dallas, Texas in September, 2021. (Fall 2021)

School of Professional Studies

Thomas Koty (SPS ’20) and Mirta Rodriguez (SPS ’01) officially tied the knot at the Central Park Boathouse in December 2022! (Winter 2023)

Stefani Bralock McCoy (SPS ’19) and Nyasha Bralock McCoy (CAS ’05) celebrated their marriage in Central Park on November 11, 2022. Stefani and Nyasha’s career has been rooted in social impact and racial justice since graduation. All guests who witnessed their ceremony also attended NYU. (Fall 2022)

Sandra Grisolia (SPS ’16) is celebrating 7 years working for the government. Sandra started her journey in a congressional office and has now moved on to working as public affairs for U.S. Small Business Administration. (Winter 2023)

Jess Grossman (SPS ’12) was featured in People Magazine on her efforts to break the stigma around ostomy surgery. (Spring 2023)

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

Tara Holzer (née Muoio) (STEINHARDT ’17) and Steven Holzer (STEINHARDT ’17, ’18) were married on June 25, 2022 by fellow alumnus Jack Bandarenko (STEINHARDT ’17) at Queens Botanical Garden. (Fall 2022)

Melissa Muscato (STEINHARDT ’14) was married in Larkspur, Colorado. Several NYU alumni were in her bridal party, including Zachary McDermott (GSAS, Wagner), Lauren Hood (Steinhardt), Kathleen McFarlane (Steinhardt, Tisch), and Bridget Kelly (Steinhardt). There were also several alumnni of the Performing Arts Administration Program both in the wedding party and in attendance as guests including: Sachiko Ninomiya, Lauren Hood, Melissa Muscato, Seth Eckelman, and Kathleen McFarlane, all from the class of 2014. (Fall 2021)

Sandra Langer (STEINHARDT ’74) is celebrating the publication of her 10th book: Erase Her: A Survivor's Story. An anti-conversion memoir about her conversion abuse during the dark ages of psychiatry during the mid-1950s. (Winter 2023)

Dr. Gerald L. Knieter (STEINHARDT ’53) has been included in Marquis Who's Who for his achievements in the psychology, philosophy, and pedagogy of the arts.

Stern School of Business

Beau Gresham (STERN ’20) and Jenna Link (STERN ’21) met at NYU Stern in 2019 and exchanged their wedding vows on August 28, 2022 at the Liberty House in Jersey City, NJ. (Fall 2022)

Mark D. Pankoff (STERN ’17) says hello and happy holidays to his fellow Violets! Headquartered in New York City, Mark and Rebecca helm a busy slate of activities for themselves and their quartet of 5-to-10-year-old children. In 2020 Mark chopped 4 cords of firewood, coached his son’s squirt hockey team to a championship, lowered his golf handicap, and more-or-less mastered the fine art of French braids. Off the rink and away from his axe and hair-braiding duties, Mark was recently promoted to Executive Vice President at Wellington Shields & Company, a prominent financial firm with a storied 95-year history. (Winter 2021)

Qin (Chloe) Zhang (STERN ’13) was awarded a fishing world record for alligator gar in the women's 6lb line category. (Spring 2022)

Xiang Allan Xiao's (STERN ’11) father wrote in on behalf of his son wanting to share Xiang's story and longtime journey battling a brain tumor since he was 8-years-old with the NYU community. In the last year, Xiang has run out of treatment options and in the time he has left has launched a couple funds to supply research on NF2 with a goal of finding a cure patients suffering from NF2 tumors.

Christopher Alquiza (STERN ’10) married his college sweetheart, Maria Luna (CAS ’10). (Winter 2020)

Carol Szeto (STERN ’00) moved back home to Hong Kong after being away for thirty odd years in the U.S., Canada and Switzerland. She heads up Save the Children Hong Kong as the CEO and is looking forward to connecting with the local NYU Stern community. (Fall 2020)

Norman Liss (STERN ’52, LAW ’55) recently retired after 65 years in practice. During that time, among other involvements, he served as Counsel to the New York State Statue of Liberty Commission, Chairman of Development of the Ellis Island Restoration Commission, and as Counsel to the US Constitution Bicentennial Commission. (Winter 2022)

Tandon School of Engineering

Earl Co (TANDON ’16) married his Violet sweetheart Shayna Garkofsky (CAS ’15) on their 10th anniversary since meeting on the school bus to NYU Albany Day 2013. Mazel Tov! (Spring 2023)

John S. Craparo (TANDON ’90) set seven national and world aviation records and then led a team of four aviators flying two gyroplanes roundtrip from central Texas to Havana, Cuba. The first gyroplane/autogiro to fly between the two countries in 85 years and first to fly under visual flight rules (VFR) since the revolution. John is a retired senior vice president of Hewlett-Packard Company. (Fall 2020)

Jack Lee (TANDON ’87) is currently retired, getting back to fencing at the age of 68, and volunteering in our local Westchester County archives. (Winter 2020)

Herb Fischgrund (TANDON ’55) is writing their memoir, which reminisces on good memories of their days at Poly. (Spring 2023)

Tisch School of the Arts

Tanya Zimbardo (TSOA ’01) welcomed her first child, Clay Cielo Doyle, in February 2022. She also curated two exhibitions, "Speculative Portraits" and "Susan Philipsz," on view at SFMOMA from April 9 - September 5, 2022. (Winter 2022)

Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service

Alex Meyers (WAG ’22) and Aya Meyers are please to announce the birth of their new baby boy Alexander Anthony Meyers II on 12/7/2020. (Winter 2021)

Jayson Browder (WAG ’15) was inducted into the D.C. Society of the Sons of the American Revolution representing his 6th Great Grandfather Austin Stone. (Spring 2022)

Alison Devenny Hetherington (WAG ’10) and her husband Kells Hetherington, welcomed a baby girl on February 1, 2020 at the Santa Rosa Medical Center in Milton, Florida. Lydia Luke Hetherington weighed 7 pounds 1 ounces and measured 19 inches long. Lydia is named in honor of her maternal Great-Great-Great Grandmother, Lydia Cherry of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Luke in honor of her paternal Grandmother Hope's family. (Summer 2020)

David Muirhead (WAG ’88) recently retired from a 40-year career in International Development, having worked with Overseas Building Operations, the Department of State, US Agency for International Development, private Design/Build Contractor Morganti Group based in Connecticut and completed assignments with Qatar based Supreme Committee for the FIFA World Cup. (Winter 2023)