Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2015 January/February

Class Notes, 2015 January/February

January/February 2015

I hope you are having a wonderful New Year and that the holidays treated you well. In the past few months the Class of '91 has been active with Cornell. In October, classmates David and Cheryl Strauss Einhorn made a hugely generous gift of $50 million from the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust for the project dubbed Engaged Cornell. This is an initiative that aims to involve all undergrads in community outreach projects. In David's words, it will "institutionalize public service as a cornerstone of every Cornellian's educational experience."

Also in October, classmates Paul Hayre, Bob Baca, Jeff Weintraub, MD '95, Nicole Bisagni DelToro, Cathy Merrill Williams, and Karen Paul Zimmer, MD '98, returned to Ithaca for Homecoming and the Trustee Council Annual Meeting. This was a special event, as it was the kickoff of Cornell's Sesquicentennial celebration. Homecoming has been an exciting occasion in Ithaca with many new events and a laser show that wowed the Class of '91 and others.

Debbie Squires-Lee writes that she was appointed by the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts to a five-year term on the Board of Bar Examiners. The board is the entity that develops the Bar exam and determines the character and fitness of candidates for membership to the Commonwealth's Bar. In addition, she keeps busy as a trial lawyer at Sherin and Lodgen and enjoying her three children and her husband, Jeff Lee '89, ME '90, who went to his 25th Reunion last June.

Heading westward, Mark and Angela Shope Stiefbold write from Ohio with some family news. This spring Angela received her master's in history from U. of Cincinnati. She is continuing as a PhD student. Then in July, Mark, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, graduated from the US Army War College with a master's in strategic studies. His paper "Water Scarcity as a Domestic Stability Issue" was awarded the Lieutenant General Thomas J. Plewes Reserve Components National Security Strategy Writing Award. "We also had the opportunity to be in Ithaca in early July with our daughters. It was great to watch the chimesmaster during a chimes concert, hike to Taughannock Falls, play Frisbee indoors in the field house (is that allowed?), and enjoy ice cream in the Dairy Barn."

Continuing westward to Mountain View, CA, Greg '93 and Maia Albano Coladonato '92 hosted their annual Hot Truck Party that gathered some of our classmates, including your correspondent Charles Wu, Rob Yu, ME '94, Scott Benson, Jason Feinsmith, and Joe Megibow. This annual tradition brings together regional alumni to recreate the West Campus favorite. About 45 alums and family members attended the packed event. Not so far away, Sarah Abbe Taylor now resides in the beautiful town of Mill Valley, near Mt. Tamalpais, north of San Francisco. Sarah shares that she is now working at the San Francisco Foundation in their program-related investments program. She has two daughters who are 7 and 9, and their family is expanding with the adoption of their first dog from a shelter.

Our last California update comes from Dawn Harrison Harris, who writes from Nevada City that she has been working as an emergency room physician at the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital located in Grass Valley for the past ten years. She is also the medical director at the Butte County Jail. She and her husband, Mark, also celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary after meeting on a semester-away back in fall 1989. Please send in your news and don't forget to visit our class website at http://cornellclassof1991.com. Charles Wu, ccwu@mac.com; Wendy Milks Coburn, wmilkscoburn@me.com; Tom Greenberg, twg22@cornell.edu. Online news form, http://www.alumni.cornell.edu/participate/class-notes.cfm.