2012 Summer – Alumni News and Notes 1990s

Paul Valenti ’90 (CLAS) is director of Pinellas County’s Office of Human Rights in Pinellas, Fla. Kimberly Blackburn ’91 (SSW) is a family intervention specialist for the Youth Villages intensive in-home services program, located in West Springfield, Mass. Stacey L. Fuller ’91 (CLAS), partner at Gawthrop and Greenwood P.C. in West Chester, Pa., serves on […]

Paul Valenti ’90 (CLAS) is director of Pinellas County’s Office of Human Rights in Pinellas, Fla.

Kimberly Blackburn ’91 (SSW) is a family intervention specialist for the Youth Villages intensive in-home services program, located in West Springfield, Mass.

Stacey L. Fuller ’91 (CLAS), partner at Gawthrop and Greenwood P.C. in West Chester, Pa., serves on the board of directors of the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry in Pennsylvania.

John Toscano ’91 (BUS) is partner at J.H. Cohn, LLP, an accounting and consulting firm. He oversees the firm’s educational institution industry practice and is a member of the nonprofit industry practice.

Laura (Dameron) Wilson ’91 (CLAS) and Chris Wilson announce the birth of a daughter, Avery Elizabeth, on Dec. 26, 2011. The family resides in Columbus, Ohio.

Douglass Bohl ’92 (ENG) is associate professor in the department of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y.

Peter F. Burns ’92 (CLAS), ’94 MA, professor of political science at Loyola University New Orleans, is author of Shock the World: UConn Basketball in the Calhoun Era, to be released in September 2012 by Northeastern University Press. He was named one of The Princeton Review’s The Best 300 Teachers in 2012.

Marcia Gentry ’92 6th Year, ’96 Ph.D., professor of educational studies and executive director of the Gifted Education Resource Institute at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., received the Alumni Distinguished Research Award and the Outstanding Higher Education Professional Award from the Neag School of Education Alumni Society in March.

Darnell Moss ’92 MBA is president and CEO of Dreams Group One, a company that buys, sells, and builds startup businesses in metropolitan communities. She previously worked at Everybody Wins! CT as a business and community developer.

William D. Sluben ’92 (CLAS), ’95 MBA is senior vice president of consumer engagement for Live Link Events, a marketing agency specializing in marketing solutions.

A.J. Edwards ’93 (CLAS), ’97 MBA is chief investment officer of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He holds the chartered financial analyst designation (CFA) and is a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts.

Doug Maynard ’93 (CLAS), associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz, N.Y., authored Underemployment: Psychological, Economic, and Social Challenges, released in June 2011 by Springer Publishers.

Tiffany L. Violette ’93 (CLAS), ’02 6th Year, assistant principal at South Windsor (Conn.) High School, was named the 2012 Connecticut Association of Schools High School Assistant Principal of the Year.

Courtney Burke ’94 (CLAS) is commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities in Albany, N.Y. She lives in Albany with her husband and two children.

Alessandro Ferrari ’94 MBA is ambassador to Italy for the UConn Alumni Association.

Jeffrey Gaudiosi ’94 (CLAS) is power procurement manager for the state of Connecticut. He previously worked as regulatory counsel and lobbyist for the manufacturing alliance of Connecticut for 15 years. He resides in Windsor, Conn., with his two children.

Mary P. Conway, ’95 6th Year, ’05 Ed.D., superintendent of schools in Vernon, Conn., was named Outstanding School Superintendent by the Neag School of Education Alumni Society in March.

Sandra K. Davis ’95 (CLAS) and Scott R. Ragaglia ’02 JD announce the birth of a daughter, Olivia Davis-Ragaglia, on March 6, 2012. The family resides in Harwinton, Conn.

Teri M. (Jamaitis) Derksen ’95 (BUS) and (John) Jay Derksen announce the birth of a son, Bryce Ortis, on Oct. 4, 2011. He joins an older brother, Luke, 3. The family resides in Manchester, Conn.

Scott M. Erardi ’95 (CLAS), ’97 MA is director of educational informatics and technology at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, Conn., where he leads the faculty technology group with medical, dental, and graduate curriculums.

Christopher Fee ’95 MA, professor of English at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pa., is one of the country’s best undergraduate professors, according to The Princeton Review. This prestigious ranking is given to 0.02 percent of undergraduate professors in the United States.

Matthew Macaluso ’95 (CLAS) is founder and co-CEO of Human Intelligence, LLC, a historical research company located in Tolland, Conn., that provides historical and cultural information to businesses and the entertainment industry. He and his wife, Erin (Capozzi) Macaluso ’94 (BUS), ’02 MBA have two children.

Jen Palancia Shipp ’95 (CLAS) is general counsel at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Md. She lives with her husband and three children in Easton, Md.

Jennifer Croteau Zettergren ’95 (CLAS), a principal of the law firm Dzialo, Pickett & Allen P.C. in Middletown, Conn., serves on the Connecticut Attorneys Title Insurance Company board of directors.

Kevin F. LaChapelle ’96 (BUS) is partner at Weinstein and Anastasio, P.C., in Hamden, Conn. He lives in Beacon Falls with his wife, Sarah, and their two sons.

Mark Bittar ’97 (ENG) and Kristin Bittar announce the birth of a daughter, Laurel Lake, on Dec. 23, 2011. She joins an older sister, Noelle Rebecca.

Sunny Gupta ’97 (ED), associate sports medicine physician at Rothman Institute Orthopedics in Philadelphia, works with the team physicians of the Philadelphia Eagles, Flyers, and Phillies sports teams.

Lilliam Casillas-Martínez ’98 Ph.D., professor of biology at the University of Puerto Rico-Humacao, received the 2012 Carski Foundation Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award from the American Society for Microbiology Honors.

Claudia Norman ’98 6th Year, co-principal of Lewin G. Joel Elementary School in Clinton, Conn., received the Outstanding School Administrator Award from the Neag School of Education Alumni Society in March.

Karl Seekamp ’98 (ENG) is the detachment commander of the Afghan Air Force Herat Air Detachment in Afghanistan.

Nate Williams ’98 (CLAS), senior director and head of product marketing at Converged Experiences Group for Motorola Mobility, Inc., located in Sunnyvale, Calif., was named one of Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” honorees.

Priscilla Cale ’99 (CLAS), ’06 MBA co-authored Sink or Swim: How Lessons from the Titanic Can Save Your Family Business, published by Praeger in September 2011.

Kartik Chandran ’99 Ph.D., associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York, N.Y., is developing a wastewater treatment process that reduces toxic emissions.

Richard Donovan Jr. ’99 (CLAS) is assistant director of human resources at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Arlington, Va.

Caroline (Ferreira) Harrington ’99 (CLAS) and Scott Harrington announce the birth of a daughter, Samantha Mary, on Dec. 6, 2011, in Brockton, Mass. She joins an older brother, Mason, 1.

Kimberly Ruiz ’99 (ED), ’00 MA, a fourth-grade teacher at Dorothy C. Goodwin Elementary School in Mansfield, Conn., received the Outstanding School Educator Award from the Neag School of Education Alumni Society in March.