Subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, The Cal Connection.
Each afternoon when the lunch bell rang at Maybeck High School, 16-year-old Gabriel Lautaro, aspiring DJ, would walk the two blocks to Telegraph Avenue and hit the record stores. The year was 1990, back when DJing meant two turntables and a crate of vinyl.
Shirlinda “Cindy” Acker, Ed.D. ’16, the director and playwright of a play depicting the landmark court case of Brown v. Board of Education, received a DEI award from the Alameda Chamber. Her play concluded Black History Month in Alameda, with words taken directly from the court transcripts. Cindy is the founder of The Child Unique […]
Arendse Lund’s short fiction “The Toll Bridge” won the Staunch Book Prize, an international award celebrating fiction that contains no violence against women. The short story, describing an unnerving encounter on a train, gave the judges “absolute chills.” Arendse is the first American to win the short fiction award.
Gail Reese writes: “I am thrilled to share the joy of getting married to the love of my life, Eric Skidmore ’05, in June 2020, as well as the birth of our own baby bear, Lenora Amery Reese-Skidmore. Lenora was named after her great-grandmother, Lenora Skidmore, and my own father, Peter Amery Reese ’72. She […]
Brad Boyce, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’01, a Sandia National Laboratories materials scientist, was elected president of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society. Brad has been involved in the society for more than two decades, starting as a doctoral student at Cal. Class Secretary: Christina Noz, chrisxnoz@yahoo.com
Olivia Chen wrote: “Twrl Milk Tea just launched at Golden Bear Café! If we do well, we will be placed in the other cafés on campus. Our Cal alumni team, Pauline Ang, Amy Tsay, and myself, are thrilled!” See more at twrlmilktea.com. Class Secretaries: Paul Huang, donhenley0789@gmail.com; Jonathan Stewart, calboy@alum.berkeley.edu; Deborah Yim, dyim98@gmail.com.
Jim Barnhart, MBA ’95, chief operating officer at Velodyne Lidar, has authored Elite and True: Leadership Lessons Inspired by the US Navy, which translates real-life experiences in the Navy’s Officer Candidate School, Nuclear Power School, and submarine service into deeper leadership insights than most people will experience in their entire careers. The book will be […]
Dr. John Saroyan has been appointed as the executive director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health’s Patient Centered Medical Homes, a health care reform initiative promoting the integration of high-quality primary care with human services that impact health and well-being. Class Secretary: Elizabeth (Zamora) Villegas, francophile@alum.calberkeley.org
Willie Hernandez, head of legal for the Messenger division at Meta, has been appointed to Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area’s board of directors for a three-year term, which began in January. Class Secretary: Kelly Hamilton Graser, graserkg@sbcglobal.net
The second edition of Ludwig B. Chincarini and Daehwan Kim’s book, Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management, was released in April. It is a comprehensive guide to the entire process of constructing and managing a high-yield quantitative equity portfolio. Class Secretary: Michelle Segal, michelle_segal@yahoo.com
Colleen Hofstadter Hlavac completed her debut mystery novel, The Stalker in the Desert, in November 2021. The novel has become an international seller, achieving sales in seventeen countries. Colleen’s next novel, Liquid Deceptions, is hitting shelves this summer. For more information, visit colleenhlavac.com. Class Secretary: Althea Kippes, atkippes@alumni.haas.org
Colin Parris, M.S. ’87, Ph.D. ’94, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering. As the chief technology officer at GE Digital, his expertise spans engineering, software, and AI-driven analytics. Wendy Suzuki has been named Seryl Kushner Dean of New York University’s College of Arts and Science. She focuses on the […]
Anthony Poon has just released Death by Design at Alcatraz, a mystery of obsession exploring the heights and depths within the world of architecture. Anthony writes: “Many of the themes in my novel come from my days at the College of Environmental Design, and, of course, the lead character is a Cal grad.” The book […]
The NonFiction Authors Association has conferred its gold award on Wounded Workers: Tales from a Working Man’s Shrink, written by Dr. Bob Larsen, MPH ’84. Honoring his working-class roots, Dr. Bob has published the tales of working Americans who sacrifice more than was expected. For more information, go to the book’s Amazon page or to […]
In Re-living the American Frontier: Western Fandoms, Reenactment, and Historical Hobbyists in Germany and America Since 1900, published in December 2021, Nancy Reagin looks at the emergence of Western fan communities in 20th century Europe and the United States, showing that the past that fans seek to re-create is shaped by the changing present. Nancy […]
Emily Gold Mears’s new book, Optimizing Your Health, is a guide to reducing one’s risk of chronic disease. It was released on May 17 and can be found on Amazon. Jeff Schaffer writes: “Last year, I became president and owner of JMC Philanthropic Advisors, where I’ve been working for the past six years. We’re a […]
Michael J. Coffino, J.D. ’79, writes: “After 40 years of law practice and 25 parallel years as a high school basketball coach, I became a professional writer. Since then, I have authored and co-authored eight published books. The most recent is my debut (and award-winning) novel, Truth Is in the House, a work of historical […]
Markos Kounalakis’s new book, Freedom Isn’t Free: The Price of World Order (Anthem Press), provides a broad look at the freedoms we often take for granted. Markos takes an analytical look at political, economic, social, and moral trade-offs in a world in flux. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. […]
Brent Green, MPH ’76, is a former National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow. His most recent publication is “In Pursuit of Empathy: A Contribution to Social Psychiatry,” published in Psychiatric Times in October 2021. Marc Kristal, who graduated with a bachelor’s in English, has just published his first novel, entitled Permission, from Atmosphere Press, at […]
