Class Notes
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Carmen Diana Deere, Ph.D ’78, recently published First-World Feminism and Women’s Civil and Political Rights in South America with Routledge press. It is a seven-country study of the interaction between feminists, jurists and legislators in the reform of married women’s property rights and the attainment of suffrage in the first half of the twentieth century. […]
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Class of 2014 Meg Elison
Meg Elison ’14 married the cartoonist Colin Lidston on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The couple live in North Adams, MA, where Colin is the visitor experience manager at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA).
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Class of 2021 Peter Stielstra
Peter Stielstra ’21 stars in two featured pieces in the 39th Annual Young Playwrights Festival, January 1 – 24, 2026 at Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen. Stielstra plays Marcus in Blizzard Bound by Sophia Ponce and Michael in Offices etc. by Clark Tavas. For nearly four decades, the Young Playwrights Festival, the oldest such festival […]
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Class of 2023 Amrita Bhasin
Amrita Bhasin ’23 was just named to the 2026 Forbes 30 under 30 list in the social impact category for her achievements in waste reduction and circularity in supply chain. Her social enterprise is supported by Stop Waste and the State of California.
Eli Andrew Ramer, who writes under the name Andrew Ramer, is a graduate of the class of 1973 in Religious Studies. He's the author of 19 published books of fiction and on spiritual subjects, and is the author of a newly released memoir, Tales of an Urban Mystic, in which he tells the stories of his unfolding spiritual life, from remembering past lives to having encounters with dead ancestors,...
Matt Biggar, Ph.D. ’92, has a new and timely book, Connected to Place: Regenerating Nature, Communities, and Local Economies through Systems Change (Cornell University Press, November 2025). Connected to Place is about changing the systems that shape how we live and hold us in patterns harming nature and people. Matt shows how systems change can reorient people’s lives around the places where...
William Cooper ’11 published a new book: The Trial of Donald H. Rumsfeld: A Novel.
Effective February 2026, Esther Lukman B.S. ’12 will be made partner of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide.
Based in London, Lukman advises private and public companies on complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures, and corporate...
In November 2025, Margaret Tides J.D. ’16, and Megan Bright J.D. ’22, were elected to serve on the board of the union representing California Attorneys Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment (CASE). Both Margaret and Megan are Deputy Attorneys General in the California Department of Justice. Margaret represents the state's natural resources agencies, and Megan...
Retiring five years ago, after 30 years as a Credit Manager for a wholesale steel supplier in California's Central Valley, James Fox '72 returned to his dormant hobby of writing, turning his experiences into poetry and prose. The Tuleburg Press of Stockton, CA, selected his Where Centuries Collide for their 2025 anthology on labor in the San Joaquin Valley environs. Subsequently, a fictional poem...
Danielle De Smeth ’03, managing partner Bamieh & De Smeth, PLC, a respected law firm with offices in Santa Barbara and Ventura, chosen by Pacific Coast Business Times, Who’s Who in Professional Services.
Veteran trial lawyer Brian Procel ’98 and former federal prosecutor Jeremiah Levine have launched Procel Levine LLP, a Los Angeles-based litigation boutique with a nationwide practice representing both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes business disputes. The firm handles matters involving fraud, class actions, privacy, entertainment, real estate, financial services disputes, government...
Joseph Godlewski '15, Associate Professor of Architecture and Senior Research Associate at the Maxwell African Scholars Union at Syracuse University, has been awarded the prestigious Cecil B. Currey Book Award by the Association for Global South Studies (AGSS) for his recent monograph, The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial Entanglements (Routledge, 2024). Established in 1997 and named...
Kevin Johnson ’80 writes: After 16 years as Dean of UC Davis School of Law, I returned to the faculty in fall 2024. I spent spring 2025 as a visiting scholar at Indiana-Bloomington School of Law (my son, a Cal alum, lived in Indy) and at UCLA Law in fall (where our daughters live). I saw a great first quarter of football against Duke with Leo O'Farrell '80. A visit to Top Dog was a highlight!
Beryl Voss, Jim Griffin, Don Mattson, Bob Merrick and guests representing the Class of 1954 attended the Golden Bear Luncheon on campus Oct 3. A good time was had by all celebrating our 71st reunion!
On November 7, 2024, Julia Mbakire, MBA ’23, published her debut children’s picture book, Kesa and Kobia’s Christmas in Nairobi (Pegasus Publishers). Set in bustling Nairobi during the holiday season, the story follows cousins Kesa and Kobia as they prepare for Christmas with their family—capturing the warmth of East African traditions, the joy of family bonds, and the universal magic of...
