Here’s What We’re Doing

George Jett ’72 has been working in clinical medicine and the computer science domain for the past 25+ years. After recently holding a position at the Food and Drug Administration directing a project to upgrade the FDA's AERS software system, (the system that tracks patients’ and consumers’ adverse reactions to prescription drugs), Jett decided to leave Maryland and return to Connecticut. He has recently accepted a position as director of strategic initiatives at ArisGlobal (www.arisglobal.com) in Stamford, Connecticut. ArisGlobal builds software systems for pharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies like the FDA. Jett is happy to be back in Connecticut and plans to get back to Wesleyan and Middletown as often as possible.

Norma J. Williams ’74 was installed on June 13, 2006 as the chair of the Real Property Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Williams has been a member of the executive committee of the Section since 1993 and an officer since 2002. Her law firm, Williams & Associates, represents institutional real estate clients in transactions involving the financing, leasing, and purchase and sale of commercial real estate.

Rolando Arroyo ’82 enjoyed vacationing this summer in California and Caracas and experienced a spectacular white water rafting trip down the King River.

Carlia Francis ’82 is living in Missouri and has just completed the first year of a doctoral program in theater at the University of Missouri–Columbia. Francis enjoys the theater program in Missouri because it allows her just the right balance between scholarship and praxis. She acted in the spring, taught during the summer, and is directing this fall. She is also trying to fit in playwriting when she can. Francis encourages old Wesleyan friends to contact her if they are ever in the Missouri area.

Kierra D. Foster-Ba ’83 is currently an assistant principal at a large New York City secondary school. She has also found time in her busy schedule to pursue her passion for dance. She has been studying the work of Gabrielle Roth, founder of The 5 Rhythms, and appears in two of her videos and in a film by Michelle Mahrer and Nicole Ma on ecstatic dance, Dances of Ecstasy. The film shows Foster-Ba in Maui during a trip to study with master 5 Rhythms teacher Jonathan Horan.

Jeanie Tung ’90 is the new manager of employment services at the Work Force Development Center on the lower east side of Manhattan. Her daughter, Raina, is four years old and has just started pre-kindergarten.

Gregory Baldwin ’91 is the principal and co-founder of New Haven Academy, a small, progressive, New Haven public school about to enter its fourth year of operation. He and his wife, Meredith Gavrin, NHA program director, founded the school in 2003. Their mission is to prepare all students to succeed in college and to become independent, active thinkers and citizens. They will graduate their first class of seniors in June 2007, and expect 100 percent college matriculation. The school is based on the Institute for Collaborative Education, a New York City public middle and high school where Baldwin and his wife met as teachers and helped to develop the program in the mid-1990s. They have recently added another Wesleyan alumna, Karen Amaker ’94, as their guidance counselor/college advisor/internship coordinator. They live in New Haven with their two sons, Elijah, 5, and Caleb, 16 months. Baldwin would love to hear from alumni interested in education.

Spencer P. Boyer ’91, JD, is a fellow of the Security and Peace Initiative, which is a joint initiative of the Center for American Progress and The Century Foundation. Prior to his current position, Boyer was executive director and war powers initiative director at the Constitution Project, based at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. He is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, New York, and New Jersey, and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Paul Kim ’91 and his family have been in Thailand since Thanksgiving last year. They are learning Thai and have enrolled their children in a Thai Christian School They hope to stay a long time as traditional Christian missionaries. Kim invites you to visit his blog at xanga.com/paulmkim. He is interested in hearing from other alumni living in Thailand.

Marvin Cabrera ’92 and his family live in New York City. Cabrera is entering his 14th year of work at the Double Discovery Center, a TRIO program (federally-funded program founded during President Johnson’s administration’s war on poverty), whose mission is to assist first-generation college bound, low-income youth gain admission to college. He is married to Chaumtoli Huq. The couple has a two-and-a-half-year-old son named Zarif Humberto Cabrera.

Daniel Kim ’92, went on to seminary immediately after graduating from college and completed his master of divinity degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. He then went on to be an assistant pastor at two churches, one in Manchester, Connecticut, and the other in McLean, Virginia. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) in 1999. After spending almost a year in Thailand on a short-term mission, he returned to Trinity International University to complete two more degrees: master of theology in 2004 and doctor of philosophy in 2006. He lives with his wife Tammy (RISD ’93) and his three children Joseph (7), Noelle (5), and Jonathan (3) in the St. Louis area. He is an assistant professor of Hebrew and educational ministries at Covenant Theological Seminary.

Dwayne Busby ’95 recently attended the wedding of Mike Jones ’95 on June 24, 2006. Wesleyan alumni in attendance included, Dale Allsopp ’95 (the best man) and Ayiesha King ’96 (bridesmaid).

Nathalie Perez-Cino ’95 and her husband are expecting their third child in late September.

Son Tran ’95 has been living in Washington, D.C. He has been serving on the selection committee of the AFI/Discovery Channel’s SILVERDOCS Documentary Film Festival. This year’s festival has been the largest yet and featured films from Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, and independent film makers from all over the world. He encourages all alumni documentary film makers to submit their films to the 2007 festival. Be sure to contact him in advance for "special Wesleyan alumni consideration!"

Lynn Chen ’98 will soon begin shooting the NBC half-hour show The Singles Table, set to air mid-season. She made her feature film acting debut in Saving Face, now available on DVD. For more information on Chen’s work, visit www.lynnchen.com.

Georgia Silvera ’98 is a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, studying neighborhood and greenspace planning. Her husband is also in a doctoral program at UC Berkeley. She recently attended Sachita Shah’s ’98 wedding to Andrew Reichman ’95 and got to spend time with Carolyn Seabury ’98 and Julianna Shortell ’98.

Rachel Quinn ’99 recently moved to Michigan to pursue a PhD in American culture at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her work with the documentary film distribution company California Newsreel in San Francisco and their Library of African Cenema fostered her interest in African American life and history and will inform her studies. For the last two years, she has also been leading service-earning trips with American Jewish World Service to Ghana, the Ukraine, and El Salvador.

Janine Robinson ’99 is enjoying her summer overseas in Australia and India. She is working on a stretch assignment and trying to take in all both countries have to offer. She looks forward to returning back to Boston in September in time to catch the foliage.

Dana Rondel Mals ’02 is an author residing in Hartford, Connecticut. Her new book, A Flower: It Has Its Own Song, about the beauty and struggles of the human life and the strength of the human spirit, was released in June 2006 and is currently available at all major book retailers including Barnes and Noble, Borders, and amazon.com.

Carmen V. Carrillo ’03 has just begun her second year at Rutgers University School of Law–Newark.

Jhanelle Allen ’04 is a first-year medical student at New Jersey Medical School. She recently completed a master’s in biomedical sciences.

Liz Andrews ’05 recently founded a social arts program for young queer people of color called QPOC Lounge while working with the Denver Pan African Arts Society and Film Festival. She also served as a lead coach for the Daniels Fund College Preparatory and Scholarship Program, led a voice class for the Aye Leadership Program at Cleo Parker Robinson School of Dance, and worked as respite care provider for young people with various developmental disabilities.

Fabrice Coles ’05 recently began his second year of law school and is considering pursuing an MBA simultaneously. Last summer he interned in the office of Senator Joe Lieberman. Coles would like to connect with alumni of color in the D.C. area.

Sandy Tello ’06 celebrated the third birthday of her son, Alexis Jayden, in August.