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Class Notes 2010
Alumni from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences share their personal and professional updates.
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Dr. David Richard Lincicome (BS, MS ’37, zoology) was the honored chairman of the 2010 Festival of Trees for the state of Connecticut. He was recognized by Governor M. Jodi Rell for his dedicated volunteer service to Roxbury’s senior citizens, teaching them German and piano, and for his financial support to enhance their quality of life.
Michael H. Prosser (PhD ’64, speech), distinguished professor emeritus at Shanghai International Studies University and professor emeritus at University of Virginia, published three articles in 2010: co-authored with Zhang Shengyong, “A Comparative Review: 2010 Middle East Books,” Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia), Vol. 4, number 3; “Barack Obama: Culurall Transformational Identities and Accomodations,” in X.D. Dai and Steve J. Kulich (Eds.). Indentity and Intercultural Communication: I: Theoretical and Contextual Construction. Shainghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press; and co-authored with Zhang Shengyong, “G2: Chinese and English” Intercultural Communication Research, Vol 2. Prosser has also been selected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Intercultural Researchers, and is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in Asia, and Who’s Who in the World. He is still the chair of the International Advisory Board at Shanghai’s Intercultural Institute and senior co-editor of the institute’s Intercultural Research series. He is currently authoring a book on China’s youth entitled China’s Future.
Deborah Cohen (BS ’77, psychology) was awarded tenure in the Department of History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Michael G. Flaherty (PhD ’82, sociology) is the author of a new book, The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience (Temple University Press 2011).
Brett Coffee, (AB ’93, political science), general counsel of CSCI, was recognized by The Washington Business Journal as one of Washington, D.C.’s, 40 Under 40, and he was voted as Readers’ Choice for the top young business leader of the year.
T. Markus Funk (AB ’91, Germanic literatures and languages), joined Perkins Coie in Denver, Colo., after 10 years in government service as a federal prosecutor in Chicago. He is a member of the firm's Investigations and White Collar Defense Group. During his tenure as a federal prosecutor, Funk was presented with the Department of Justice's Attorney General's Award for his role in the prosecution of the most extensive mob-murder racketeering case in U.S. history.
William Olson (BS ’96, psychology) recently published the novel Right on Time (2010, Petroleum Pelican Books).
Twin sisters Kelli Jones and Keri Jones (both BS ’03, mathematics), both completed master’s degrees in mathematics at Chicago State University. They both also received the Graduate Honors Award. Kelli finished a maser’s research project in math education while Keri completed a master’s thesis. Kelli is teaching algebra and geometry at Simeon Career Academy. Keri is teaching advanced algebra and trigonometry at Carver Military Academy.
Dave Jareo (AB ’56, teaching of social studies), taught social studies in Cincinnatti public schools for more than 45 years. He and his wife, Nancy, whom he met at Illinois, have been married for 52 years. In his retirement, he gives free talks on “rounding Cape Horn” in sailing ships. The Jareos have also befriended a robin that has visited them for the past several winters to snack on raisins.
Fr. Robert Bovenzi (AB ’78, finance) has been giving parish missions and retreats, based at Holy Name Passionist retreat in Houston, Texas, since October 2009.
Kimberly Pendo (AB ’95, English) recently launched a law firm to provide legal representation focused primarily on the needs of trade and professional associations, charitable organizations, and other types of nonprofit clients. She is chief operating officer of Chicago Law Partners, LLC.
Erin Jacqueline (Petron) Gosser (AB ’05, French) is completing her second year of teaching French for kindergarten through 6th-grade students at the magnet school Murray Language Academy in Hyde Park, Ill.
Edward M. Lerner (BS ’71, physics; MS ’73 computer science), has recently published two science-fiction titles bound back to back: the short novel Countdown to Armageddon and a fiction collection called A Stranger in Paradise. He also published InterstellarNet: Origins, based on five related stories. The original InterstellarNet novelette, about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and first contact, ran in Analog in 2000.
Rocco Versaci (AB ’89, English and rhetoric) is an English professor at Palomar College in California where he teaches literature, composition, and creative writing. He is also the advisor of the college’s award-winning literary journal, Bravura. This summer he will journey alone by bicycle across the U.S. and write about the experience during his fall 2010 sabbatical.
Ira Jay Winn (AB ’50, MA ’52, sociology and social sciences) has published his third book, Small Town/Big Town: Growing Pains on California’s Central Coast (iUniverse, 2010). Winn is an emeritus professor of urban studies and education at California State University, Northridge. He also serves as a volunteer mediator for Creative Mediation and the state superior court.
Vaishali Joshi (AB ’04, political science) will graduate from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree on May 16. Dr. Joshi will practice veterinary medicine at Banfield in the Chicagoland area.
Nancy L. Crase (BS ’69, science and letters) published an article about the photographic technique of light painting and an accompanying photo in the March 2010 issue of Arizona Highways. She is currently an editorial sports photographer and also freelances for the New York Times.
T. Markus Funk (AB ’91, Germanic languages and literatures) published his book Victims’ Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court (Oxford University Press, 2010).
Jason Cohan (BS ’97, teaching of biology) and Amy Cohan (BS ’96 psychology) became parents on April 22, 2010, to twin daughters, Olivia Hope Cohan and Jordan Elizabeth Cohan.
Dr. Jennifer R. Mercieca (PhD ’03, speech communication), associate professor, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, has just published her first book, entitled Founding Fictions (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2010). Part political history, part rhetorical criticism, the book is an extended analysis of how Americans imagined themselves as citizens between 1764 and 1845.
Deborah Cohen (BS ’77, psychology) co-edited a volume entitled Gender and Sexuality in 1968: Transformative Politics in the Cultural Imagination, which was published in October 2009 by Palgrave Macmillan.
Linda Mastandrea (AB ’86, speech communication) was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame on February 27, 2010. She is the first female Paralympian to receive this honor. She is a Paralympic gold and silver medalist in wheelchair track.
Michael Miles (AB ’76, oral interpretation) returned to Morocco for a seven-city tour at the request of the U.S. State Department there, after touring there originally in 2002. He collaborated with both American and Moroccan musicians throughout the tour. He is recognized as one of the country’s leading innovators on the five-string banjo and is artist-in-residence at the famed Old Town School of Folk Music.
Terry MacCarthy (AB ’86, English), was elected judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County in the February 2, 2010, Democratic primary election. He has no Republican challenger in the general election.
Ginger L. Darling (BS ’96, biology), has joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine as an assistant professor of neonatology. She is one of the pediatric specialists recruited as part of St. John’s Children’s Hospital, which is a joint endeavor of SIU and St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.
Andrea Jones (AB ’78, speech) has published her first novel, Hook & Jill, a serious parody of J.M. Barrie’s Peter & Wendy, aimed at adults. The story is a Jungian allegory, and an intellectual delving into a time-honored tale.
Mark Wukas (AB ’77, history; AM ’79, English) is in his eighth year teaching English at New Trier Township High School (where he teaches with more Illinois English alums than he can count). His essay, “Running With Ghosts,” which was mentioned as a “notable essay” in 1998 Best American Sports Writing, will appear in an anthology of distance-running essays scheduled for publication in Fall 2010.
Vivian Wagner (PhD ’96, English) has a book, Fiddle: One Woman, Four Strings, and 8,000 Miles of Music, coming out in April 2010 from Citadel/Kensington. She is an assistant professor of journalism at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio.
Cheryl A. Kulikowski-Lentz (AB ’89, science and letters, music), has published two new books: Journey Outside the Golden Palace and Leadership Comes Softly, scheduled for a spring 2010 release. She has also published The Refractive Thinker series. Dr. Lentz is a faculty member at Embry-Riddle University, Colorado State University-Global, and the University of Phoenix, where she also serves on several doctoral committees and is a faculty mentor.
Obituaries
David Harold Blackwell (AB ’38, MS ’39, PhD ’41, mathematics), passed away on July 8, 2010, at the age of 91. A mathematician as well as a statistician, Dr. Blackwell contributed to many fields, including probability theory, game theory, and information theory. He joined the University of California, Berkeley, faculty in 1954 and was the first tenured black professor in campus history. He was also the first African American to be admitted to the National Academy of Sciences. Blackwell was a fellow of numerous organizations, among them the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Statistical Society. He held 12 honorary degrees, including from Harvard, Yale, and Carnegie Mellon universities. Blackwell is survived by four of his eight children: Hugo of Berkeley; Ann Blackwell and Vera Gleason of Oakland, Calif.; and Sarah Hunt of Houston, Texas. He was preceded in death by his wife, Ann Madison Blackwell, who died in 2006 after 62 years of marriage; and children Julia Madison Blackwell, David Harold Blackwell Jr., Grover Johnson Blackwell, and Ruth Blackwell Herch.
Sherburne F. Barber (PhD ’33, mathematics) passed away on July 4, 2010, at the age of 102. After graduating from Illinois, Dr. Barber did post-doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University for a year and the then newly organized Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton for a year, where he met Albert Einstein. During the Great Depression, he was offered a teaching position at Iowa State University. In 1937, he was offered a tenure track position at City College of New York (CCNY). During WWII, he taught at the U.S. Naval Academy. Back at CCNY, Barber was appointed assistant dean of liberal arts and sciences in 1953 and was dean from 1967-1971. He taught full-time until his retirement in 1976. Besides his wife of 66 years, Virginia Louise Barber, he is survived by three sons, John and his wife, Susan Canfield Barber, David and his wife, Joyce Heffernan Barber, and Andrew and his wife, Linda Snyder Barber; three grandsons, Matthew Barber and his wife, Nicola Harper Barber, Andrew Barber, and Jonathan Barber; and two granddaughters, Allison and Carolyn Barber.
George W. Cartwright (AM ’48, PhD ’51, speech communication) passed away on May 29, 2010, at the age of 98. After getting his bachelor’s in religion at Butler University, Cartwright was appointed as the Army Air Corps chaplain where he served in Clark Field, the Philippines, and Japan. Upon his return, he entered graduate studies in 1947 at Illinois. He was the first PhD student in speech communication. After graduating, Cartwright taught public speaking classes in churches. He later began a teaching career at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, until retiring in 1973.
Luis Leal, who was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in 2000 from the University of Illinois, passed away on January 25, 2010, at the age of 102. Professor Leal was nominated for the honorary doctor of literature degree by the Latina/Latino Studies Program. He emigrated from Mexico to Chicago and earned his degrees from universities in Illinois. He served in the U.S. Army from 1943-45. Leal worked in the U of I Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese until his retirement. Later, he taught Chicana and Chicano studies at UC-Santa Barbara, Calif. Leal was recognized with the highest honors by both presidents of Mexico and the U.S.; President Clinton awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 1997. He authored more than 45 books and 400 scholarly articles. Leal is survived by his son, Antonio; two grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Gladys, and son, Luis Alonso.