2000s  1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s

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CLASS OF 2008

Rachel Klein
Corvallis, OR

Rob Matera
Los Angeles, CA
Graduate Student in Classics
I’ve moved to LA and am starting at USC this fall.

Sarah Beckmann
Student
I've spent the last two years in Chicago, working for a wedding cake decorator (best job ever) and also as an intern at the International Museum of Surgical Science, where I performed exciting amputation demonstrations, lead guided tours, and got visiting school children psyched about and/or scared of surgery.

In the fall (of 2009) I will be beginning a Ph.D. program at Penn, pursing a graduate degree in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World. I'm excited, nervous, and all together thrilled, and so very thankful for all the seeds planted during my experiences at Carleton (some of which still have yet to fully germinate).

All my best to everyone in Carleton Classics. It looks like the department is up and kicking, Clara! Way to go!

Romeo Chichirau
Guangdong, China
Foreign Language Specialist
I'm in China trying to start an English school. It's a challenging country: I end up in hospital about once every two months, I have to dodge a plethora of government officials and I also got robbed (of everything). But, hey, audaces fortuna juvat.

Nathan Gilbert
Toronto, ON Canada
I'm taking lots of reading list courses and joining Toronto's Collaborative Program in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy.

Caroline Krafft
Minneapolis, MN
Starting the Master of Public Policy program at the U of MN this fall!

Jill (Hinderliter) Schrader
Minneapolis, MN
In my first semester of law school at William Mitchell on a full merit scholarship.
Enjoying the challenge and the topics, especially Contracts!

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CLASS OF 2006

Lauren Carpenter
New York, NY 10128

Taylor S. Coughlan
Cincinnati, OH
Taylor worked for one year after graduation as Latin teacher at Norwood High School in Norwood, MA. The following year he returned to school and received an MA in Classics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2009 with a thesis entitled "Nepos' Atticus at the Politics of Friendship at the End of the Republic." Currently, Taylor is a PhD student in the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati.

Scott Konzem
Alexandria, VA
Working at the Federal Reserve in financial market analysis; working on Ph.D. in Statistics at George Washington University part-time.

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CLASS OF 2005

Sylvia L. Reed
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~slreed
I'm working on my PhD in linguistics at the University of Arizona (in Tucson). Dissertation work starts in a couple of months.

Bill Richter
Austin, TX
Master's student, Global Policy Studies
LBJ School of Public Affairs
University of Texas at Austin

Rachel Boehme
St. Louis Park, MN
Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Minnesota
Moved back to MN one year ago July 4th! One boyfriend, two cats, three years of grad school and no degree yet, zero complaints. :)

Mike Schorsch
http://www.actionyes.org/issue8/schorsch/schorsch1.html
I'm finishing up an MFA at the University of Iowa this year. Am married to Violet Blosser '04 and we have a little daughter Stella (can we give every future child a Latin name as well? Stay tuned...).

I continue to interact with classical texts, now via creative writing & translation (see the above URL). Main project right now is re-setting the Eclogues in rural Iowa among drug-addicted, ATV-riding teenagers. Very Vergilian I think.

Drew Ayers
Atlanta, GA
PhD Student/Graduate Teaching Assistant
http://www.drewayers.net/
I'm living in Atlanta and working on a PhD in Moving Image Studies at Georgia State University.  I finished my coursework this summer, taking my comprehensive exams this November, and working on my dissertation.  Hopefully I'll be finished by Spring 2011.

Oh yeah, I'm also getting married this July, which should be very exciting :)

Alexis Smith
Waterville, MN
Sr Benefits Analyst
Express Scripts, Inc.
http://sporthorsesofcrickhollow.vox.com/
I got my J.D. in 2006 from Hamline University School of Law & then promptly turned my back on law as a profession.  Since fall of '06, I've been working at a pharmacy benefits management company to fund my real passion: a 10 acre horse farm in Southern MN.  My first foal was born this summer (July '09), and I couldn't be more pleased with her.

Hans Wietzke
Stanford, CA
Graduate Student Stanford University
After a few years of trying different things, I’ve returned to academia and am beginning a PhD in Classics with (I hope) a special focus on the History and Philosophy of Science. If anyone ventures out to the Bay Area, look me up.

David Raczek
Bethpage, NY
Neurology/Neurosurgery Intern
Long Island Veterinary Specialists
I graduated from veterinary school at Cornell in 2008, spent a year working near Denver, CO, and am now completing a specialty internship in veterinary neurology/neurosurgery.
Still play hockey whenever I can which is becoming less frequent than I'd like.

Geoffrey Claussen
Charlottesville, VA
I was ordained as a rabbi in May 2007 by the Jewish Theological Seminary. I'm now working on a Ph.D. in Jewish ethics there, and I'm a Dissertation Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. My wife Katy (Carleton '02) and I had a baby girl, Eliana Dorit, this June.

 

 

Melissa Battis
Math Teacher and Class of 2013 Team Leader
Four years ago I found an amazing school in Dallas, Texas. The one downfall to it is that I am unable to teach Latin there (they already have 3 Latin teachers). I am happily teaching math and working closely with the class of 2013 as they enter the Upper School this coming fall. This spring I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a Masters of Arts and Teaching (MAT) in Math.

Over the past year I have also gone back to some of the activities I loved at Carleton and have joined seasonal recreation leagues for Ultimate Frisbee and am planning to try out for a club team that competes at tournaments. Doing this I met up with another Carl, Alison Ede ('02) who is also playing Frisbee in Texas.

Leif Jensen
Kansas City, MO
Radiology Resident
Kansas University Medical Center
Starting third (of four) year of radiology residency. Happily engaged and dreading wedding planning.

Marcus Miles
San Francisco CA
Vice President, WMC,Inc.
I own a Lake Tahoe business with my brother, and am a Scout leader.

Ian Crawford
Portland, OR
Associate Attorney
Stoel Rives LLP
www.stoel.com
I am watching I, Claudius.

Katie Hines-Shah
Berkeley, CA
Pastor
I just started my 5th year as a Lutheran pastor up here in the Berkeley Hills. I have a very nice husband (Jay) and a four-year-old son (John) who is currently obsessed with big cats and subway lines.

Josh Mitchell
Durham, NC
Student! Again!
After working as a technical writer for most of a decade, and hating it for almost that long, I decided to go to law school in 2007. I've just finished 1L year at Duke Law, where I'm a candidate for a joint JD/LL.M. in International and Comparative Law. As part of that program, I'm spending this summer in Tokyo (working) and Hong Kong (taking classes). It's pretty much the best summer ever.

I'm looking to relocate either back to Denver or up to Boston when I finish at Duke.

Keyne Cheshire
Davidson, NC
Associate Professor of Classics
http://www.davidson.edu/academic/Classics/Cheshire/Cheshire.html
Working on a book treating Callimachus' Hymns. That's taking longer than I expected. Was sidetracked a little this spring when I found some clever acrostic-like patterns in those poems.

Translating one of Sophocles' tragedies as a Western. It's an extraordinary pleasure... for me. My poor daughter Earle (4) has no natural resistance to her father's strains (nor to his caterwauling) and sings the odes all the time. Yes, I know there will be payback later!
Alyssa and I ditched our athletic shoes in January and began running barefoot on the streets and sidewalks of Davidson. We eased into it, of course, but it feels indescribably great. I had no idea what distress shoes had been causing my body over the years! Society forces them onto our daughter's feet all to often, but we do go on barefoot walks together now...

Ben Pearlman
Athens, GA
Assistant Public Defender
Western Judicial Circuit
Still in Athens, as I had to maintain some Classical links in my life (though I wish this particular Athens wasn't in Georgia). Working as a public defender is challenging, but ultimately fulfilling. I can't imagine doing anything else, though, so I suppose I'm stuck. I recently worked Hippolytus into a closing argument in my last trial (don't ask how), which resulted in an acquittal (though probably not due to Hippolytus), so I guess I'm still flying the flag.

Elsa Watson
Bainbridge Island, WA
Development Coordinator
West Sound Wildlife Shelter
http://www.elsawatson.net
I was so happy to get Clara's postcard about the e-newsletter! I'm living near Seattle, married to Kol Medina ('96), raising dogs and chickens in between work at an environmental nonprofit. And scribbling at novels in the meantime. I can't complain - it's a happy life. I've even run into a few classics scholars out here in the not-so-wild west....Fond wishes to all of you, Elsa

Sarah Maier
St. Paul, MN
Physician
Fairview Hiawatha Clinic
My partner Kristin (Johnson '92) is getting ordained in the Unitarian church this fall, our daughter Kaija had a great time in kindergarten, I just donated a kidney to my brother and am practicing lots of (vini)yoga to stay sane!

Jason Fisher
Cincinnati, Ohio
IS Director, Gardner Publications, Inc
www.wanax.com
Still settling into a new job in a very down economy, but otherwise trying to enjoy the summer.

Tobi Zemsky
Narberth, PA
Teacher Overbrook Preschool
Been home with two children, Noah (7) and Willa (4) and just getting ready to go back to some form of teaching. The kids love history as I do, so far mostly colonial, but I am quite sure we will get to the classics beyond the myths that we read.

Kirk Ormand
Oberlin, OH
Dept. of Classics, Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH 44074
http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/classics/faculty_detail.dot?id=21063
Hey Carleton!
I spent the 2007-08 year as the Elizabeth A. Whitehead Professor at the American School for Classical Studies in Athens. The whole family went along, and we had a terrific year in Greece, tromping around archaeological sites and systematically studying the quality of Greek beaches in different locales. While there, I finished a book: _Controlling Desires: Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome_, now available from Praeger Press.

Other than that, life goes well at Oberlin, where I'm in the Classics dept., teaching the usual slate of courses and continuing work on various books and articles.

In summer of 2010 I'll return to Greece to lead one of the ASCSA summer sessions (as the Gertrude Smith Professor).

Here are a couple o' pics of the kids in Greece. --Kirk

John Hodges
Boulder Creek, CA
R&D Manager
Embarcadero Technologies
www.nickhodges.com
Living in California and leading the development of really cool software development tools.

Uli Koester
Uli Koester had a wonderful time at 25th Reunion this June. He missed some of his best classics friends, though--Liz Sunderland, Johanna Froehlich, Seth Leventhal--and hopes they are all well. Uli's sons are 12 and 9 now, are pretty good with German, and the older one is already complaining that his High School does not offer Latin. Professionally, Uli still leads a non-profit educational organization, the Midwest Food Connection, which teaches school children about natural foods. Pictures can be seen at midwestfoodconnection.org Uli would love to have more Homer and Thucydides in his life--is there yet time? Take care, Uli

Liz Sunderland
Fort Collins, CO
Program Coordinator at:
Loveland Youth Gardeners, Loveland CO
and Trees, Water & People, Fort Collins, CO

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CLASS OF 1983

Sahya Luck (nee Nakamura)
Tokyo, Japan
Controller
Asia pacific Medtronic
Strayed somewhat far from Classics into Finance, but, to me, Finance is another language. My daughter just entered Carleton (class of 13); unfortunately she likes languages alive. I still have the T-shirt "the only good language is a dead language".

Lisa Jane Mebus Toczek
Philadelphia, PA
Web maven/Sales
The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd
Still learning, and occasionally translating from Latin. Married Bob Toczek in 2005, living in Philadelphia with our golder retriever, Jenny.

Richard Hunter
Malone NY
Partner
Fischer, Bessette, Muldowney & Hunter

P. Kevin Piron
Hibbing, MN
Architectural Resources, Inc.
First, hello to Jackson and Nancy. I have many fond memories of my time spent as a classics major at Carleton. My wife Cheryl and I now only have one left at home, our daughter Mollie, now 19 and attending community college. Our older daughter, Dominique, is 24 and works for the VA Hospital in Minneapolis. I have been at Architectural Resources for 19 years now and find new challenges every day. My wife continues to work as dedicated nurse at a local clinic. Two summers ago, I had the good fortune to visit Italy (Rome, Florence and Siena) with my family and parents. I intend to go back as soon as I am able! Kind regards to all.

Luanne Lippold
Minneapolis, MN
Director of Funding Programs
IFP Minnesota

Richard M. Lincoln Vogel
Andover, MA
Manager, Embedded Software
TAC/Schneider
Two boys, one going to Reed in the fall (sorry, Carleton), one in high school. Both love art and skateboarding. Wife teaches violin. I still think of Homer and Vergil (rereading Fagles translation of the Odyssey).

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CLASS OF 1970

Katherine (Kathy) Floerke
Not very new -- but I've been living in Nicaragua for 15 years. I joined an intentional faith-based community (Jubilee House Community) in 1987 and in 1994 we all moved from North Carolina to Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua. We do sustainable community development work. I'm the bookkeeper/administrative director. When I was going through the process of -- what do I pack for Nicaragua and what do I leave in storage? -- quite a few Greek books made it into the "take along" pile. Can't say I've looked into them much! But my Carleton major in Greek is a significant part of my personal identity.

Linda Clader
Vallejo, CA
Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Homiletics
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
I am on a semi-sabbatical for the coming academic year, during which I plan to write a handbook for lay preachers.

Linda Clader '68 and her husband Rick Ristad (St. Olaf '57) at Carcassonne.

 

Meredith Hoppin
Williamstown, MA
Gagliardi Professor of Classical Languages
Williams CollegeAs a first time contributor, I have a lot to report that's new since 1968! Including a son, Christopher Langston, who graduated from Carleton in 2002. (Daughter Elizabeth graduated from Wesleyan in 2005 -- but I think of Wesleyan as the closest thing to a Carleton here in the northeast.)

As my job title indicates, you can graduate from Carleton as a Classics major and "do something" as obvious with your degree as teaching Latin and Greek. Which I've been doing (along with courses with texts in English -- drama, myth, gender studies -- that sort of thing) for many years now. Much as I love Williams, I happily and confidently urge any number of students onto Carleton every year as an AAR representative. My heart remains in Northfield.

Carleton folks coming through the Berkshires of Massachusetts: look me up!

David M. Powers
Dennis, MA
Interim Minister
First Congregational Church UCC

John-Julian Swanson
Hartland, WI
I'm and Episcopal priest and contemplative monk, retired from parish ministry.
In 1982, I founded The Order of Julian of Norwich -- a contemplative monastic order with both monks and nuns in the same order, with equal status, and under the same traditional monastic vows. Ten members currently - six nuns, four monks. About to undertake major building addition to our Waukesha (WI) monastery.

Carol Thomas
Carol Thomas (nee Guggenheim, class of 1960) is honored to be the first
holder of the Dr. Nick and Nancy Family Endowed Professorship in Hellenic
Studies at the University of Washington. Class of 1954

January, 2009: published (with co-author Fred Roden) "Love's Trinity: A Companion to Julian of Norwich" (Liturgical Press).

May, 2009: published "The Complete Julian of Norwich" (Paraclete Press)

Summer, 2009: will publish "Stars in a Dark World: Stories of the Saints and Holy Days of the Liturgy" (PoD: Outskirts Press)

Working now on a new book "Wandering in God".

 

Martha Winterble Erickson
Madison, WI
On May 6th I participated in a live interview about my employment in Washington DC at the OSS (Office of Strategic Services). Secret work not released until 1976! It was very special to WWII. I was chosen because of my resume: Carleton Class ’41, Phi Beta Kappa, Summa cum Laude, national winner of Pepsi Essay Contest on “Why I consider American Democracy Worth Saving,” June, 1941 and several other small awards. All due to my Classics Major under Charles Smiley and Herbert Houghton. I am now 90—still busy writing.