Class Notes
From marriages to births to publishing novels…
See what’s happening in the lives of CGS alums, and submit your class note here.
1960s
T. David Gill (’61, CAS’65) recently celebrated his 60-year CGS graduation anniversary. He remembers the diversity of the CGS curriculum fondly, and says the faculty were inspiring and made learning a pleasure.
Michael Crowley (’66, CAS’71) is happily retired and completely vaccinated, and continues to write and work with his poetry writing group, The Loft, in Rhode Island.
Neal Joel Schneider (’66) became a grandfather for the fourth time last month. His oldest grandson, age 23, was married this April in Tennessee and will be going to medical school at Auburn University, Alabama, in the fall. His only granddaughter is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Class of 2016. She is a traveling ICU nurse whose next stop is Boston.
Timothy Miles (’67) retired after nearly 35 years of federal government service and lives in Mount Airy, North Carolina, where he has been a guardian ad litem advocate for abused and neglected children and now does volunteer work for a local food bank.
Kathy Tarr Ross (’69, Wheelock’71) is living by the ocean in Florida. Her husband Ray recently lost his battle with kidney disease. Although COVID has changed many things, she is still an antiques dealer, which she says is “a grand passion.”
1970s
Donna (Watson) Stern (’70, Wheelock’74) has one grandchild and is rewriting her children’s book, The Mouse In Our House, published under her pen name Louise Watson.
Austin Duvernoy (’73) wants to send a message to his classmates: “Hi to anyone who’s alive and well (or not!) out there who remembers. Feel free to contact me at aduvernoy@twcny.rr.com. Best wishes!”
Ronald Bland (’73, CAS’75) attended CGS because he wanted to major in political science at BU and learn from Howard Zinn, Betty Zisk, and Murray Levin, all leaders in the political movement of the 1970s. Bland writes, “The school gave a 16-year-old underachiever an opportunity to realize his early dreams. Much thanks!”
1980s
Melinda Margetson (’81, MET’23) is currently a graduate student at BU Metropolitan College pursuing a master’s in project management. She says it’s hard managing school with a full-time job, but that she is making it work.
Jane (Arena) Gilmartin (‘84, COM’86) debuted her novel The Mirror Man (Mira Books) in 2020.
1990s
Kevin Sanderson (’94, CAS’96) and his family recently moved to a new home in Sarasota, Florida. He is honored to represent several plaintiffs in their suits against former sexual harassers and abusers in the workplace, supported by the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund and the National Women’s Law Center.
2000s
Benjamin Movtady (’05, CAS’07) married fellow BU alum Melissa A. Robbins (CAS’09) in June 2020. They got engaged on the first day of COVID lockdown in March 2020 and decided to push on and get married that June. It was an intimate setting, on Saranac Lake, New York, with their families in attendance.
Adanta Ahanonu (’08, Questrom’10) is the chief program officer at COOP Careers, a national nonprofit focused on overcoming underemployment for recent first-generation college graduates through peer connections and digital skills.
2010s
Briana Vessells (’14, CAS’16) is in her second year of her PhD program in history at the University of California, Berkeley. She is researching the colonial relationship between 19th-century Americo-Liberians and the Indigenous peoples of the Liberian region.
Jonathan Caflun (’15, SHA’17) became engaged to Alyssa Regina (’15, Sargent’17) in April. They met on the CGS Boat Cruise in September 2013, their first day of college at BU.
Kyle Mabry (’15, CAS’17, MET’22) has a message to CGS faculty: “To all of the special faculty and staff at BU CGS, keep being you! You made my experience at BU unique and memorable.”
Alexandra Machado (’15, COM’17) is the social media and content manager for a fitness brand called Fhitting Room in New York City.
Allison Bussert (’17, CAS’19), has been working in a special education classroom specializing in social-emotional learning and behavioral support. She will soon become a double Terrier in BU Wheelock’s child and adolescent mental health counseling program.
Vaishnavi Kothapalli (’17, Questrom’19) will be starting a JD program at New England Law, Boston, this fall while continuing in a full-time position as the sole paralegal in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, law firm.
Catherine Monroy (’18, CAS’20) works at an immigration law firm in Boston.
Danni Qu (’18, CAS’20) is completing a master’s degree in economics and strategy for business at Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and will work in London after graduation.
Alexis Mills (’19, COM’21), graduated from BU’s College of Communication in January and began her role as campaign manager for the life sciences segment of IBM Watson Health.