Class Notes
The Secret Emissary (Gatekeeper Press, 2024), a novel by Roberto Haro ’58, has earned a Gold Medal in the Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Fiction Book category of the 2024 International Latino Book Awards and received high praise in numerous book reviews.
The new novel by Diana R. Chambers ’69, The Secret War of Julia Child, is now out from Sourcebooks Landmark. Based on extensive research, it tells the little-known story of Julia’s OSS service in WWII India and China, i.e. the “Forgotten War of Asia.” It’s a People magazine Best Book of the Fall and an international bestseller.
Peter Dudley ’89 celebrates the November 13, 2024 release of the first collaborative book from his new publishing imprint, Gray Bear Publications. The book, RELIT: How to Rekindle Yourself in the Darkness of Compassion Fatigue, gives practical advice for avoiding and overcoming compassion fatigue and caregiver burnout. After publishing four novels and two poetry collections, this is Peter’s first book as editor and first project publishing other people’s words. After a 30-year career in startups, nonprofits, and global corporate responsibility, in 2022 he launched a professional leardership and life coaching practice where he helps people level up and make a difference. In 2023, he added book and writing coaching as well as assisted self-publishing services. He writes weekly about life, leadership, authenticity, and balance on his blog at graybearcoaching.com.
Cameron Walker ’99 published her debut short story collection, How to Capture Carbon, with What Books Press in October 2024. She is the author of the children’s book National Monuments of the U.S.A. (a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year), and of the essay collection Points of Light: Curious Essays on Science, Nature, and Other Wonders Along the Pacific Coast. Her writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Orion, and Nature.
John Starrels received his BA in political science from UC Berkeley in 1965, and went on to earn his doctoral degree in the same field from UC Santa Barbara in 1971. Soon thereafter, he accepted a position as assistant professor in George Washington University’s political science department where he taught throughout the 1970s. “I liked teaching and research in my chosen subfield, comparative politics; but alas tenure proved elusive,” he recently observed. This reverse proved temporary, however, from the vantage point of time, he reflects. Washington, both then and now, remains a mecca for academically trained social scientists; the area has always been heavily populated by think tanks, NGOs, positions at all levels of the Federal Government, Capitol Hill, and the multilateral organizations, he notes. Many of these slots are hard to obtain, Starrels allows, “but a degree in economics, applied science or law will almost invariably open the right door.” As if to hammer home the point, John’s last full-time position was with The International Monetary Fund from where he retired in 2006. “This is from a guy whose doctoral dissertation was on political education in the long-gone primary school of The German Democratic Republic!” John’s post-IMF life includes teaching English as a second language and as an Adjunct professor in the UC Washington program.
John Starrels resides with wife Judy in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They have one son, David.
Susan Robison ’79 writes: A few days after I retired in 2019 I began writing Halley and the Mystery of the Lost Girls, a young adult historical adventure, about a 15 year old girl who goes with her father to India in 1952. Shortly after they arrive in Bombay (Mumbai) Halley discovers that the young woman in the hotel room next to hers is a prisoner. When the young woman disappears, Halley is drawn into an ever-expanding web of intrigue and danger.
During my years at Berkeley I took short fiction writing from Masao Miyoshi while he was in residence at Berkeley. His class has had a lifelong impact on me. When I was a child my family of six lived in Poona while my father set up the Virus Research Centre (VRC) for the Rockefeller Foundation before he moved us to Berkeley in 1954. For the rest of his career he worked for the California State Health Dept. and taught virology at UC.
Jordan Berk ’08 just published his debut sci-fi novel, The Timestream Verdict, in September. It is a love letter to time travel fiction, and centers on a trial for the first-ever case of “temporal homicide,” time-travel murder, and the jury pulled in from across the modern timestream that must reach a critical verdict. The victim is a Berkeley physics professor, colloquially known as “the mother of time travel.” Naturally, a good portion of the story takes place in and celebrates the author’s beloved Berkeley. The Timestream Verdict is available everywhere now. https://linktr.ee/jordanberkauthor
As a Berkeley student, Randy Hall ’79, MS ’80, PhD ’82 was an original member of the student co-op Kingman Hall. Kingman Hall was named for Harry Kingman, a founder of the co-op system that has housed thousands of students over the decades.
Kerr’s book The Uses of the University has been an inspiration for Randy. Kerr depicts universities as “multiversities,” due to their broad spectrum of interconnected activities and their overarching purpose to serve society.
In Randy’s new book, Managing Innovation Inside Universities, Systematic Change for Research Service and Learning (Springer), Randy aimed to bring the multiversity to the present.
Kingman Hall was a second inspiration for Randy’s book. He and his future wife, Janice Partyka ’79, jointly served as workshift managers at Kingman, assigning students to the various tasks needed to keep the house running, including cooking, cleaning, maintenance and even rodent control.
Randy’s book specifically examines how old institutions (i.e., universities) can lead in the knowledge economy. As universities seek to modernize in a world altered by changing demographics and information technology, Randy has articulated a roadmap for change.
He draws from his long experience as V.P. of Research at USC, along with case studies, new scholarship and his student days. In particular, he examines how universities can be more effective as learning institutions, where learning doesn’t just mean educating students.
In his words, “a culture of learning should encompass the entirety of the university, engaging students, staff and faculty in a continuous process of examination, innovation and change. That is, universities can do the things themselves that they have been teaching their own students to do for so many years.”
Ann P Meredith ’70 was chosen, along with 99 other lesbians, for GO magazine’s 100 Women We Love, Class of 2024.
John Garrison’s ’93 book, Red Hot + Blue, was published by Bloomsbury in September 2024. The book recounts the music’s industry’s first major response to the AIDS epidemic in the context of Garrison’s own coming of age story. More about John’s writing can be found at www.john-garrison.com.
Peggy Li ’96 has one of her jewelry creations featured in the upcoming film from Searchlight Pictures – The Supremes at Earl’s All You Can Eat. Costume designer Whitney Anne Adams selected Peggy’s Eye of the Sun Necklace to be worn throughout the film by the character of Barbara Jean, played by actress Sanaa Lathan. The movie, based on the novel by Edward Kelsey Moore and directed by Tina Mabry, premieres on hulu August 23rd. Peggy has been making and designing jewelry for over 20 years, inspired by the artisans she saw on Telegraph Avenue during her time at UC Berkeley. Her work can be seen on TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scandal, The Bachelorette, Dead to Me and more. You may view Peggy’s work at https://www.peggyli.com
Award-winning author Janine Kovac ’09 began her life on stage dancing in Ballet El Paso’s production of The Nutcracker, lead by director Ingeborg Heuser. Despite Heuser–who once performed for Hitler–frequently hurling insults at the young dancers, Kovac decided to dedicate her life to the beauty of the artform. She climbed through the ranks as a professional dancer and her Nutcracker roles progressed from soldier to snowflake to candy soloist. After leaving the stage, as all dancers must, Kovac adjusted to her new roles as a mother and audience member, watching her husband, children and students as they performed. Despite shifting roles at midlife, Kovac never lost her artistry. Transitioning her talents to writing, she remains connected with the same creative spirit that allowed her to take the stage in the first place. Now, she is set to release her autobiography, The Nutcracker Chronicles, which tells the story of Janine’s pursuit of an elusive dream that compels her to endure blistered toes, weekly weigh-ins, second-hand pointe shoes, and constant insults from her directors.
