2020s
2020s
20 Wedding Bells
Jennifer Duma and Ryan Cotter are getting married in Cincinnati OH on May 30. Thanks to everyone who attended our reunion earlier this summer. We hope you had an amazing weekend! — Gabby Meridien; gmeridie@alumni.nd.edu
20MBA Welcome, Caspian
Earlier this year, Fernando Quijano Franky and his wife, Madeleine George, welcomed a son, Caspian Zak Quijano George, to their family! Caspian was born Jan. 28 as a premature baby, and after almost two months in the NICU, he was able to go home March 21. He is now doing extremely well, growing consistently and, according to Nando, “existing loudly just like his father!” Congratulations to the new parents! Our resident artist and author Jacob Mazurek had his book on naval mine warfare history accepted by a publisher. Titled The Evolution of Naval Mine Warfare, it is expected to be released in spring or summer of 2026. Please send any updates you might have my way! — Audrey Walker; awalke10@alumni.nd.edu
20JD Congrats
Congratulations to our classmate Alex Ehler, who started as assistant general counsel at the US Office of Personnel Management. Please continue to share any updates you have with me! Praying for and thinking of you all, always. In Notre Dame, Go Irish! — Elizabeth (Lombard) Eckert ’15, ’19MBA, ’20JD; 708-334-0213; elombard@nd.edu
21 Ready for Football
Greetings, Irish Nation! You smell that? That’s the smell of turf pellets heating up on the gridiron. We are weeks away from the return of Notre Dame’s most beloved pastime — football. Get ready. Without further ado, the much-anticipated and highly sought-after life updates! Let’s start aboard the love train. Leah Fitter and Andrew Schomogyi recently got engaged. Siena Gruler Schipke and William Schipke ’19 are expecting a baby boy in the late summer. Riley Recker Lezysnki ’20SMC and Xavier Lezynski were married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on April 27, 2024, and Riley gave birth to a son, Bronx Francis Lezynski (tentatively Class of ’47), on March 10, 2025. Josie Wesseler married Liam Mungcal on April 26 in Indianapolis and will be moving to Durham NC in June. Devon Ngo adopted a beautiful orange cat. Javier Rivera Gonzalez recently moved back home to Puerto Rico from Arlington VA to work with Stantec, an electrical engineering design firm. Matthew Gaborek graduated from veterinary school in May. Claire Cahill was honored to serve on the Queen’s Court for the 70th Annual Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade. She had the great opportunity of representing Chicago and meeting with many elected officials representing Chicago and Ireland. Courtney VanHuffel started a new job as a consultant for the Community Electricity Aggregation in New England. Anna Garatoni began working at Moroccanoil with Elizabeth Fenton ’17. Rachel Bartnet graduated from Loyola U Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in May. She successfully matched and will begin a combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency at Rush U Medical Center in June. Mollie Bond began a new job in advertising for Premier League soccer. Finally, Charlotte Edmonds spent a week in Aspen CO, but is trying to be really chill and lowkey about it, so don’t bring it up to her. Congrats, all, on some amazing life accomplishments and milestones! Save the date for our 5-year reunion June 4 - 7, 2026. Email me if you are interested in joining the reunion planning committee. As always, for those of you reading along, don’t be shy! When we send out our quarterly emails asking for updates, let us know what you’ve been up to. Or, if you’re too eager to wait for that, you can DM us 24/7 on Instagram @class21nd. We look forward to hearing from you and Go Irish! — Ryan Mullin; rmullin77@gmail.com
21MBA Class Notes Author Needed — This class is in search of a Class Notes author. If you would like to volunteer, please contact beth.thomas@nd.edu.
21JD Class Secretary — Graham Pilotte; gpilotte@alumni.nd.edu
22 Celebrating Milestones
As the seasons shift, so many members of the Class of 2022 continue to reach exciting new milestones — both personal and professional! Danielle Slevin graduated from physician assistant school and is starting her career as a neurosurgery PA. We’re proud of all she’s accomplished and can’t wait to see what’s next. Amanda Krueger got engaged in March to Steven Gardiner. Huge congratulations to Amanda and Steven — we wish you all the best as you plan this next chapter together! We love hearing about all the big (and small!) moments happening in your lives. Share your news, milestones and adventures by visiting tinyurl.com/nd22update, and don’t forget to follow and tag us on Instagram at @ndclassof2022. — PJ Brennan; classof2022@alumni.nd.edu
23 Accomplishments and Celebrations
Uriel Ibarra is completing his first year of medical school at U of Texas at Austin and starting clinical rotations in July. His first rotation is surgery so he’s getting “thrown right into the fire.” He survived Februtosus so we’re not too concerned about him. Proud of you, Udi, good luck! Sarajane Smith earned a MA in applied anthropology with a focus in forensic anthropology from Mississippi State U. She begins her Ph.D. in biological anthropology, concentration in archaeological and forensic sciences at U of South Florida this fall. Ella Cate Hungeling, Asha LaBine and I made a trip to Sarajane’s hometown to celebrate. Speaking of celebrations, many members of the Class of 2023 celebrated being back together for the College Football Playoff national championship. James Plaschke, Dan Law and Luca Ripani sent in photo evidence of their class council reunion in Atlanta. I can’t attach a photo here, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Matt Engels and I found our seats to be in a sea of Ohio State U fans, but we had a great time regardless. Please send any updates you may have to classof2023@alumni.nd.edu or DM us on Instagram @class2023nd. I’m looking forward to hearing from you! — Jill Borza; classof2023@alumni.nd.edu
24 Did Somebody Call for a Doctor?
Sam Ouhaj finished up his master’s program at Notre Dame and started a new job at a startup following graduation. Emily Velasco started her new job as an R&D lab manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific. Jacob Sherer is enrolling in a Ph.D. program at Harvard U this fall. Speaking of Ph.D.’s, Cecilia Leber started her Ph.D. program in biochemistry at Washington U in St. Louis. Joseph Hagerty has settled in quite nicely into his Ph.D. program in organic chemistry at Purdue U. Maria Sermersheim began her Ph.D. in theology focusing on the New Testament at Notre Dame while living with her two fun roommates, Toby Kult and Maggie Laurence ’22. Maria spends her days studying scripture in Greek and Hebrew and enjoys spending time with her 2-year-old Godson. Linh Oliver started her job working in the OR Legislature for two state representatives. Grace Haak is off to medical school after finishing up her clinical research program at South Bend Orthopaedics. Anaum Showkat graduated with a master’s degree in health care research from Dartmouth this June. After that, she will be spending the summer in Nairobi, Kenya, to join the Brain and Mind Institute at Aga Khan U, where she will be working on cutting-edge brain health initiatives in communities across Africa. In the fall, she’ll be starting an exciting position at Yale Medical School, where she will both develop her own independent research project and contribute to ongoing neuroscience studies. Ryan Hechmer has been meeting people in his research program, and using his newfound free time to learn how to cook more elaborate foods and training for his first 5K. Paul Granizo will be running the Chicago Marathon while raising money for Grassroot Soccer. Tricia McCormack, Kayla Seepersad, Christian Quilon and Taylor Erickson have been working diligently in the Notre Dame Admissions Office, where they read a record number of first-year applications to help select the Class of 2029 for admittance! They also helped to organize and run The Rally, better known as Notre Dame’s admitted student days, to welcome over 1,000 members of the Class of 2029 and their families to campus. Kariana Radabaugh is working in Shizuoka City, Japan, as an assistant language teacher teaching English. She works with middle school and elementary students during the week, and on weekends she explores the city and travels around Shizuoka prefecture with her teacher friends, taking in the sights and making new connections wherever they go! Alyssa Rave is getting married July 10 before moving to Boston to start her master’s program this fall. Jacob Abel got married to his high school sweetheart last spring, and welcomed his firstborn son into the world on Ash Wednesday. Congratulations to you all on these big moves, and thanks to everyone for responding to our call for quarterly updates. Stay on the lookout for more emails, and be sure to join us for our alumni mini-reunion game vs. Purdue on Sept. 20. — Ryan Wachter; classof2024@alumni.nd.edu
25 Welcome
Hi Class of 2025, welcome to the alumni family! Now that we’ve graduated, we can stay connected through Class Notes in Notre Dame Magazine. This is a great way to keep up with classmates and share life updates, whether it is a new job, a big move, graduate school, friend group reunions, an engagement or just a fun story with ND friends! To be featured in the fall edition, please send me your updates by July 18 (I will switch over to my alumni email once those are set up!). Feel free to reach out with questions, and I look forward to hearing from you! — Sabrina Takagishi; sabrinatakagishi@gmail.com
Accountancy Class Secretary — Kim Talianko; ktalianko@alumni.edu
Architecture
The ND School of Architecture announced the selection of Liam O’Connor, Kensington, UK, as the 2025 Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureate, and Philippe Rotthier, Island of Ibiza (Spain), Polynesia and Brussels (Belgium) who won the Henry Hope Reed Award. The $200,000 Driehaus Prize, the largest cash award in architecture worldwide, is granted by the Chicago-based Driehaus Trust. The trust also provides the $50,000 Henry Hope Reed Award. The jury is selected and headed each year by the ND professor and dean of the School of Architecture, currently Stefanos Polyzoides. O’Connor received the prize “in recognition for the design of a body of excellent new traditional public and private buildings and monuments, his war memorials in particular.” His classical British Normandy Memorial overlooks Gold Beach, adjacent to one of the five D-Day Landing beaches during WWII. Rotthier won the Henry Hope Reed Award for “his lifelong initiatives and continued commitment to the cause of a new traditional architecture and urbanism.” Among his notable accomplishments is his relentless advocacy for architectural change that has enabled generations of significant architects capable of exploring alternative forms of architectural modernity, including O’Connor. Congratulations to Doug Marsh ’82, South Bend, on his 30 years as vice president for facilities design and operations and University architect. Doug is the first person to hold the title “University Architect,” which he obtained in 1999. He retired in May. During his stewardship, the campus’ 1,250-acre grounds had an era of record expansion and reinvestment. The physical space in campus buildings grew 55 percent — from 7.3 million to 11.3 million square feet — and 60 major buildings have opened. Congratulations also to Kate Chambers ’18MArch for winning the New York City-based Institute for Classical Architecture & Art’s top prize for “emerging professionals whose work exhibits a holistic understanding of the principles of classical design.” Kate is a senior project architect at Tippett Sease Baker Architecture, Montgomery AL. Margaret Derwent Ketcham ’85, Chicago, won the 2024 Raphael Award for “On-Site Line Drawing” of the Prince Edward Memorial, Vancouver, presented by Traditional Building magazine. The award is named for Italian Renaissance painter and draftsman Raffaello Sanzo da Urbino (1483-1520), and is one of the many magazine’s award categories that seek to encourage the study of Classical and Neoclassical architecture through the practice of hand drawing and to recognize “the best in traditional drawing and painting.” Michael J. Molinelli, AIA, ’82, Briarcliff Manor NY, keeps busy with his own award-winning firm that specializes in educational buildings for elementary up to universities, health care, and religious buildings while also serving as Pace U Architect and part-time adjunct professor at the Catholic U of America, Washington DC. He is the host and creator of the Architecture Codex video blog that discusses great works of architecture through the eyes of a practicing architect. He is also a part-time freelance guest lecturer and architecture history instructor in the Greater NY City area. — Orlando T. Maione, FAIA Emeritus, FACHA Emeritus; 27 Bucknell Lane, Stony Brook NY 11790-2521; 631-246-5660; cell 516-578-5320; omaione@optonline.net
Biological Sciences
Parasitologists and virologists among alumni of the department will be very familiar with Dickson D. “Dick” Despommier ’67Ph.D., professor emeritus at Columbia U, who died Feb. 7 at age 84. The New York Times honored Dick with a generous number of column inches in an obituary Feb. 18 which included a photo of Dick amongst his vegetable plants in a vertical (high rise) farm. (See his book The Vertical Farm.) Another, online Times report about Dick’s life shows him posing in a New York subway (reprints are available from the NY Times). Dick spent his career studying Trichinella spiralis and long considered that his development of a serologic test for the parasite in swine to be his most impactful scientific contribution. The test led to the eradication of the parasite from domestic swine herds resulting in increased consumption of pork since it no longer required it to be cooked well-done. Wendell Murphy, founder of Murphy Farms, one of the largest pork producers in the USA, recently told your correspondents that the elimination of trichinosis in swine had a profoundly positive impact on the industry since people were no longer afraid of getting trichinosis. Virologists, on the other hand, will recognize Dick as the founder, along with fellow Columbia U Prof. Vincent Racaniello, of “This Week in Virology” (see TWiV #1195 for a memorial to Dick titled “Parasitologist Without Borders”). Until the time of his death, Dick was actively engaged in research and being the “straight” man on TWiV as the non-virologist posing questions the uninitiated might ask. As a teacher Dick was exceptional, being named Teacher of the Year six times, and in 2003 he earned that title nationally. Beyond science, Dick always had a smile and tale to tell. He was an active fly fisherman, mostly of trout, in the Catskill and Adirondack mountains of NY (and perhaps the only grad student to catch trout in Juday Creek north of the ND campus). He often contributed articles to fly fishing magazines (this once went too far when he disclosed to the readership a close friend’s “secret” fishing spot on NY’s Ausable River). In addition to Dick being a close friend of your correspondents, Robert “Bob” Gwadz ’62, ’70Ph.D. was also a longtime friend since first meeting as grad students at ND. Bob recounts that Dick was a student of the late ND Prof. Bernard “Bob” Wostmann. Gwadz and Despommier became good friends after graduation with Bob contributing several chapters to the many editions of the textbook Parasitic Diseases, which they coauthored with two others. For 20 years, Bob was a guest lecturer in Dick’s microbiology course for second-year students at Columbia U College of Physicians and Surgeons. Please see the next issue of this report for a list of the department MS and Ph.D. graduates of 2024 - 2025. — Joan Smith Carter ’71MS and Philip B. Carter ’67, ’71Ph.D.; 12916 Barsanlaw Drive, Raleigh NC 27613-6400; res 919-848-2192; phil@ncsu.edu
History Class Secretary — Mary Linehan ’91Ph.D.; maryline113@yahoo.com
Mathematics Class Secretary — Tori Spalding; 574-631-6008; tspaldin@nd.edu
Master of Nonprofit Administration
Greetings to all MNA, EMNA and MSA alumni. A huge congratulations to Michael T. Benson ’11, the new president of West Virginia U. He will bring three decades of academic and administrative experience in higher education to his role leading WV’s flagship, land-grant higher education institution into a new era. He will begin his appointment as WVU’s 27th president in July and shared, “I am honored to be named president of West Virginia U — one of our nation’s oldest land-grant institutions. My 30-year career in public higher education has prepared me for this singular opportunity, and I wish to thank the Board of Governors for the trust they have placed in me and hope to earn that same level of trust and support from the entire WVU community.” Wishing him much success in this exciting new chapter. All MNA, MSA and EMNA alumni are encouraged to submit your news for upcoming Class Notes. You may email me directly at the address below. — Betsy Quinn ’12; betsyquinn@alumni.nd.edu
Master of Science in Management
Hello everyone! I hope you’re having a great summer. Please join me in congratulating Emily McNally ’17MSM on her graduation this past May from IU McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. She is now working as a deputy prosecuting attorney in Morgan County IN, focusing on domestic violence crimes. Emily and her husband Andrew ’17MSEng live in Greenwood IN with their three daughters Selah (5), Mary Ann (3) and Eden (6 months). — Maddie Corsaro ’17; mcorsar1@alumni.nd.edu
Political Science Class Secretary — Charlie Kenney; 455 W. Lindsey, Room 205, Norman OK 73019; 405-325-3735; ckenney@ou.edu
Graduate Degrees
A new star is on the horizon at Notre Dame. Servant of God Brother Columba O’Neill, CSC, 1848-1923, lived a humble life as a cobbler working at the rear of the Dome. He began his life at Notre Dame in 1885 and remained there until his death 38 years later. He pledged himself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Cures were attributed to the humble cobbler and his small shop was filled with crutches and braces of the lame. He died peacefully on Nov. 23, 1923. His cause for canonization opened in 2022. — Marvin J. LaHood ’58MA, ’62Ph.D. English; 93 Parkhaven Drive, Amherst NY 14228; 716-691-4648; mlahood@roadrunner.com