Notes from the Cornell Class of 1991 - 2001 January/February

Class Notes, 2001 January/February

Greetings from the Hill! On a personal note, Mark and I were blessed with the birth of our daughter, Kaitlyn Rose, on Oct. 2, '00. Her big brother Bryan is adjusting well and loves to play with her toes! News of the birth of a baby girl, Mindy, also came from Ines and Steven Hwang, who are currently living in Taiwan. Mindy was born on July 21, '00. Steve and Wendy Hellinger Bennett also gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sarah Jane, on May 27, '00. In addition, Allison Kottler Ostow and husband Michael announced the birth of their son David Harris on Aug. 31, '00. Bonnie Greenspan Goldberg and husband Larry also gave birth to a son, Benjamin Leo, on Apr. 20, '00. Gail Fishler Sirota and husband Dan welcomed their twin sons Andrew and Justin on June 16, '00. Congratulations to our mommies and daddies!

News from Michele Fox comes in from Massachusetts where she is currently assistant professor in the physical therapy assistant program at Hesser College. Stephen Schwartz sends news from Texas where he is currently a fellow in vitreoretinal surgery in the ophthalmology department at Baylor College of Medicine. Out west in Oregon, Christine Anderson Perkins created a library program for teens which was selected as one of five top programs by the American Library Assn. and was presented at the national conference in Chicago. Christine loves being a Young Adult Services librarian but is even more thrilled to be a mom. She and husband Chris welcomed their first child, Katherine Grace, on June 18, '00. Rachel Laiserin was recently promoted to assistant commissioner for policy analysis at New York City Department of Design and Construction. She recently got together with Cornellians Lisa Epstein Jay, Linda Keenan, and Peter Crosby at a BBQ at Lisa's house. News from the Justice Department in DC: Matthew Hammond was named special assistant for the Directors of Enforcement. Matthew has been in the Telecommunications Task Force since 1999 and was in the Chicago Field Office in 1998-1999. LaMonte Edwards is currently the vice president and general manager of ALLTEL Communications (Gulf-Coast Region). Sara Weaver sends word from California where she took a position at Lifescan, a Johnson and Johnson company, after graduating from Fugua School of Business at Duke U.

News from down under comes from Susan Lipetz who is living in Australia and plans to move back to NYC in 2001. Cecile Belaman and Axel Beck send news from England where Cecile recently changed jobs from JP Morgan to Morgan Stanley as the vice president in corporate finance. Cecile and Axel got married last July in France! Also abroad, we heard from Tadayuki Hara who will return to Ithaca this fall with his family to start a PhD program. Tad had been in Japan as a team leader of multilateral negotiations for the Middle East peace process. Eric Rauchway and Meg Arnold are married classmates who are currently living in England. Eric is teaching US History at Oxford U. and Meg is working in the Internet for British Telecom. Lots of luck to our classmates abroad!

Wedding bells were also in the air for Stephen Holden III and Kristine Hooks in Rye, NY, last August. Stephen is to become a law clerk in New York for the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission. After graduation from Cornell, he received a law degree cum laude from St. John's U. Cynthia Dombrowski and Mark Anthony Peters were also married in August at St. Joseph U. Catholic Church. Cynthia received her master's from Buffalo State College and currently teaches art in Tonawanda City Public Schools. Congratulations to our newlyweds for a happy and healthy future together!

Jesse Pichel started a "dream job" in equity research for a technology investment bank in NYC and is currently finishing his MBA at Fordam U. Kimberly Epstein left the Big Apple and moved to Boston where she currently works at Boston Community Capital as a loan program manager. Kimberly recently road-tripped with Lisa Camesano '92 and Corinne McKamey '92 to a baby shower for Cristina Moeder Shaul. At the shower they met up with Ariane Schreiber Horn, JD '96, and other Cornellians from Tri-Delta sorority. Rachel Teck sends news from Virginia where she secured a new position as an outreach supervisor for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. In her new position she co-supervises a team of 25 individuals who travel all over Virginia presenting hands-on, inquiry-based programs about 17th- and 18th-century Virginia history in school classrooms. Rachel exclaims: "A true joy! "

The Ithaca Journal announced that classmate Jennifer Altre, PhD '00, was appointed as a full-time faculty teaching biology at Tompkins Cortland Community College. Jennifer completed her doctorate in entomology at Cornell U. Lucinda Rosenfeld's first novel, What She Saw in Roger Mancuso, Gunter Hopstock, Jason Barry Gold..., was published by Random House in September 2000. A coming-of-age story with a twist, the book is divided into 15 parts, each one chronicling a different romantico--or not so romantico--interlude in the life of a violinist's daughter from New Jersey named Phoebe Fine. A portion of the novel was excerpted in The New Yorker this past July under "The Male Gaze." Lucinda encourages all of her old Cornell classmates both to buy a copy and write nice things about it on amazon.com. Lucinda lives in NYC where she has been a free-lance writer for five years.

Elizabeth Henry Kamhout dropped us her first message since graduation. "I have never written in before, because so far I have been a perpetual student. But, I would like to share with everyone some big events in my life. I've just celebrated my first wedding anniversary this September. Peter Kamhout and I had a beautiful wedding in my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, last year. Christine Weatherup '90 was my matron of honor and is a veterinarian in Scottsdale, AZ. Jessica Lifland was there, too. She is a photojournalist in Indiana." Elizabeth's husband is from Chicago and is now practicing emergency medicine in Harrisburg until she finishes her ophthalmology residency in Hershey, PA, this June 2001. "We are looking forward to returning to Grand Rapids then, as we have just purchased our dream home on ten acres with a barn and pasture for my old horse, whom some of our alumni friends would remember. I also have two large dogs who are family to me. No time for babies yet! "

We received an e-mail from Andrew Puzzio, MPA '92, telling us of the birth of his son Aidan Kyle, who was born on Oct. 4, '00. Maybe we're looking at a member of the Class of 2022! Marc and Laura Bond Fraioli wrote to tell us about the birth of their second daughter, Anna Elizabeth, born June 10, '00. Their older daughter Julia is now 3 years old. Marc is currently working as a software engineer for Tivoli, a division of IBM. Laura really enjoys being a stay-home mom. The Fraioli family lives in Durham, NC.

Finally, we seemed to have created some confusion in our past column about Wendy Fuhr. Wendy writes: "I did NOT have a son last year. Also, I work in Collegeville, PA, but live in Paoli, PA. I am not married and am not planning on having a family at this point--much too busy with doctoring and being a semi-professional musician! " Our sincere apologies for not getting the right message out the first time.

Well that's all the news for now. Hope you enjoyed catching up with some of your Cornell classmates. We are always looking for news so keep the mail flowing! Enjoy the holidays and remember that our 10th Reunion is just around the corner! --Linda Moerck-Cisz, 2 Susan Dr., Northport, NY 11768; e-mail, cisz_mark@jpmorgan.com; Kevin Lemanowicz, 25 Fox Dr., Dedham, MA 02027; e-mail, KPL6@cornell.edu.