Class-Notes, September/October 1998
Sunday November 01, 1998 Category: Archives Permanent Link
It’s been two years, and I’m still waithing for the semester to end. I must say though, paychecks are much nicer to receive in the mail than grades. I keep thinking I have to rush home to do some studying, while instead I realize that I can spend my non-work hours settled comfortably on my futon in front of my non-existent TV. Was I the one previously extolling the virtues of spending copious amounts of time in the hallowed halls of institutes of higher education? It’s the journey that’s the important part, right?
Well, still unable to shake the ubiquitous “edu” from the end of my e-mail, I am here in my new West Coast environs surrounded by a plethora of Cornellians. Dominique M. Lazanski is working for Cornell’s West Coast regional office, and making sure the alumni in the area are keeping occupied and sociable. Nathaniel L. Yap is working for the San Francisco regional commercial banking office of Wells Fargo Bank. Michael “Mick” Merritt recently moved from St. Louis to take a research associate position with APM Management Consultants, a health care consulting firm. Mich reports that Janine Giloot and Nels Nelson were married on May 23, in San Diego . And, keeping it real in East Bay , Jessica Katz is pursuing a degree in optometry at U. of California , Berkeley , while roommate Rachel Berman pursues graduate studies in public health.
Elizabeth Mito is working at a law firm in Santa Fe , and at time of writing, was busy with law school applications. She’d seen Renee Land, who is counting and banding hawks in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque , and reports that Sarah Roberts is in acupuncture school. Dan Rech is working as an associate consultant with CSC Consulting in the New York City area, along with Michelle Lauermann, who is still getting used to the New Jersey style of driving. Lauren Garson lives in NYC, and loves the working world, employed by Pfizer in clinical research. Lauren writes that Melissa Waiser will spend her summer at the Manhattan DA’s office before returning for her final year at George Washington U.’s law school. Lauren also reports that she is not able to go anywhere without seeing ads on telephone booths, bus shelters, TV, and magazines for “theglobe.com,” a web company started by Stephan Paternot and Todd Krizelman. Gabi Yariv landed a great condo in Santa Monica , and is having the timer of her life, landscape architecting by day, and hitting all the LA hotspots at night.
After finishing a master’s program in aerospace engineering at U. of Colorado , Boulder , Theresa Klein is an orbital analyst for Motorola in Leesburg , VA. Jennifer L. Hahn is a Jesuit volunteer in the Marshall Islands , working as a chemistry, biology, and English teacher, and reports that the equatorial heat and 12 full hours of sunlight is a nice change of pace from Ithaca winters. Greg Knight completed a tour of the Mediterranean with the US Navy, and while performing various naval duties, visited several ports of call in France , Greece , Italy , Romania , Spain , and Turkey . After completing his first year at Columbia law school, Samantha Klein was planning to spend summer 1998 doing environmental law work and policy in Budapest (and testing the worth of my degree by expecting me to KNOW what country Budapest is in…), while Martha Sesin ‘97 will be returning from a full year in Paris to start graduate work at Tufts in the fall.
Pat Mizak is completing a master’s degree in economics and reports that Zaid Sidi, BA ‘97, is teaching in “Yugoslavia – or something like that.” Brad Yoo is at New York medical college, and Sameh and Hany Girgis have returned to their native New Jersey . Scott Palmer is working for Delaware Distributors in Philadelphia . Danielle Piscitelli is the vice president of Aakron Rule Corp., located in upstate New York . While not sharpening their pool skills at various Georgetown haunts, Priya Ratnamurthy is an engineer with the Clark Construction group in Bethesda , MD , and Elizabeth Rand is a law student at George Washington. Priya is now living with Deb Moll and Karen Ehret in northern Virginia and, according to Liz, “loving every minute of it.”
Rachel Adleman completed her master’s degree in food science at the U. of Wisconsin , and ran into Barry Steiglitz, who is pursuing his PhD in biomolecular chemistry. Rachel also holds the distinct honor of being the only New Yawka to participate in that beloved Wisconsin activity, the cow chip throwing contest. Christie Kaefer (who has the l-o-n-g-e-s-t e-mail address ever) is in Augusta , GA , as a registered dietician and a lieutenant in the Army. Christie would like to go back to grad school, but is “taking a break for a year or two to recover from Cornell.” Jon Prince was briefly back home in Atlanta, but didn’t stay long enough to do some severe rehashing of stories, and left in August 1997 for four years to pursue a medical degree at Tel Aviv U. in Israel. Elizabeth “Betsy” Levine left a consulting position at Mercury Technologies to join Diefenbach Elkins, a brand strategy consulting firm, as a research consultant and is “thrilled with it.” Cathy Simpson is tearing herself away from the Ad Council and NYC to pursue a PhD at Brown in the fall. While not recreating the matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof , she hangs with Lisa Heuer, who is pursuing her master’s in nutrition at New York U.
Robin Raskin is an analyst for Merrill Lynch in NYC. Scott Goldsmith, who loves Ithaca with such fervor that he decided to stay for law school, too, had his two-cents-worth heard when the New York Times quoted him in the Falling of the Great Pumpkin piece last spring. Michael Santarcangelo is working for Andersen Consulting in NYC, and Reed Singer is working for Arthur Andersen in Chicago . (I am the only person in America that doesn’t know the difference, aren’t I?) Nemu Shinzawa graduated from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn , with a master of science in interior design. Chad Tennesen is working for Kaufmann’s in Pittsburgh.
After spending a year in Paris , Catherine Tingey spent the summer leading bike tours for high school students cross country, and will be attending Columbia U. for film school in the fall. Amy P. Tong is a marketing associate with Mac-Gray in Cambridge , MA . Amy Toth is living outside Buffalo , NY , and working for Waste Stream Technology. Lauren Twitchell, MPA ‘97, is working for the Dept. of Labor in Dallas . Karen Wallace is saying good-bye to Boston and was to return to Ithaca to join Cornell’s Vet college Class of ‘02. Ashley Weaver is a research and development chemist with BF Goodrich in Brecksville , OH . Anthony Tsai is a property equity trader for Worldco, in NYC. Lori Marino is spending her summer doing some mergers and acquisitions before returning to U. of Pennsylvania for her final year of law school.
I am happy to report that Catherine Dillon and Stephen Perreault were married on Oct. 5, ‘97 , at Sage Chapel. Both are now officers with the US Navy. And, after finishing up her boards and second year of medical school at Pennsylvania State medical school in Hershey, Jane “Jennie” Lowell found just enough time to marry high school sweetheart Derek Poirier (St. Lawrence U. ‘96) on June 13, ‘98 . Kathy Locker, MPA ‘97, Maia Hightower ‘95, Nina Ballisio, Maureen Mellett, Ann Burdick, Liz Lee, and Ellen Berman journeyed to Malone , NY to raise a glass and join the festivities.
Keep writing!
—Sheryl Magzamen, Class Columnist
