Class Notes, Spring 2026

2020s

Emma Dabinett (24BA), a Hawkeye women’s rowing letter winner, became an assistant coach for the University of Iowa rowing team.

Kayla Hutchins (24BA), a Hawkeye women’s track and field letter winner, has been inducted into the Royse City High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Texas.

Xiaoyan Kang (25MFA) is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood Playwrights Cohort.

Billal Virani (20MBA), a Merrill Lynch wealth management financial advisor in Lisle, Illinois, has been named to Forbes’ “Best-In-State Next-Gen Wealth Advisors” list.

2010s

Amie R. Barrodale (14MFA) is author of the novel Trip.

Ruben Chavez (17BA), a former Hawkeye wrestler, is head coach of the new women’s wrestling program at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.

Cameron Cooper (18BA) is an associate attorney with the Ahlers & Cooney law firm in Des Moines.

Meesha Vijayendran Dogan (11BSE, 12MS, 17PhD), CEO of Cardio Diagnostics, has been named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ 40 Under 40 list.

Kristie Fortmann-Doser (11BA) has retired after 32 years with the Domestic Violence Intervention Program in Iowa City, including as executive director.

Danielle Berndt Huber (12BSE), a former Hawkeye cross-country and track and field letter winner, has been inducted into the Kennedy High School Athletic Hall of Fame in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Nick Melrose (15BBA), founder and CEO of Melrose Ascension Capital, has been named to Crain’s Chicago Business’ 40 Under 40 list.

Tom Miner (11BA), founder and managing partner of Gold Miner Media in Denver, recently published Social First Brands: How Modern Brands Create Community, Loyalty, and Growth.

Andrew Munson (16BA), a former Hawkeye men’s basketball student manager, is an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets.

Eliana C. Ramage (18MFA) is author of the novel and Reese’s Book Club selection To the Moon and Back.

Carl Rowles (16DMA), band director at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, has been inducted into the Greene County High School Fine Arts Hall of Fame in Jefferson, Iowa.

Arianna Russ (13BA, 13BS, 18MFA), director of the Modern American Dance Company in St. Louis, is leading the company’s 50th year celebration.

Stefan Schöberlein (16MA, 18PhD), an associate professor of English at Texas A&M University– Central Texas in Kileen, is coauthor of Whitman’s Southern Sojourn: Rediscovering the Poet in New Orleans, 1848.

Abigail Tompkins (17MS) is a senior supervisor of industrial hygiene at Climax Molybdenum Henderson Mine and Mill in Colorado.

2000s

Martin Buincki (03PhD), founding director of the Center for Games and Interactive Entertainment at Valparaiso University in Indiana and lead writer for the tabletop roleplaying game company Gaming Honors, is author of Designing Tabletop Role Playing Games for Dummies.

Brandon Campbell (04BA) is author of the children’s book Oh Brother, My Brother: Two Brothers. Blended Family. A Journey of Healing.

Cody-Rose Clevidence (09MFA) is author of This Household of Earthly Nature.

Andrew Grimm (08BA, 12MPH, 12MHA) is chief integrated health operations officer at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless in Denver.

Allison Guernsey (08JD) is the Hershel G. Langdon Clinical Professor of Trial Advocacy and director of the Federal Criminal Defense Clinic at the UI College of Law.

Ryan J. Hesseltine (02BSE), a Hawkeye Marching Band alum, competed with the Iowa Brass and won best baritone solo at the U.S. Masters Brass Band Entertainment Competition in Kansas City, Missouri.

Liz Hollingworth (05PhD), a professor of educational leadership and director of the UI Center for Evaluation and Assessment, has been recognized for her role as a faculty athletic representative on the UI Presidential Committee on Athletics by 2025 National Football Foundation Faculty Salutes.

Katherine Lock (00BFA) is owner of Katherine Lock Contemporary, a shop and gallery space in Des Moines.

David Pendergast (06JD) is a partner with Goodwin law firm in Los Angeles.

Micaela Schuneman (01BA, 09JD) is CEO of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul.

1990s

Scott K. Anderson (93MFA), a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is author of King of Kings; The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion, and Catastrophic Miscalculation.

Ryan Bowen (98BS), a former Hawkeye men’s basketball player, is head coach of Denver Nuggets’ G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold in Michigan.

Rob Dengler (97BS), a math teacher at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa, is the new Hawkeye men’s basketball public address announcer.

Nicole Grosland (94BSE, 98PhD), associate dean for academic programs and a distinguished professor for the UI College of Engineering, has been recognized for her role as a faculty athletic representative on the UI Presidential Committee on Athletics by 2025 National Football Foundation Faculty Salutes.

Viviana Martinez-Bianchi (96R), an associate professor and director of community engagement for the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is president of the World Organization of Family Doctors, which represents family physicians in more than 150 countries.

Alexis Nichelson Plath (98BA) and Brian Plath (98BA) are owners of Sneaker Box, an online sneaker shop featuring independent and international brands.

Jason Snell (98BA), an electronic music producer, is one of five artists awarded a 2025- 26 Iowa Artist Fellowship by the Iowa Arts Council.

1980s

Thomas H. Boyd (84BA, 87JD, 87MA), a shareholder with Winthrop and Weinstine law firm in Minneapolis, received a Minnesota Icon Award from Finance & Commerce.

Roger W. Conely (86BSPh) has retired as a pharmacy manager after nearly 40 years with Walgreens in Arizona.

Gish Jen (83MFA) is author of the novel Bad Bad Girl.

David A. Kent (86MD, 90R), a psychiatrist who founded NuMe TMS Clinics in Idaho, is author of Why Me? The Brain on Tilt.

David A. Lang (88BM), a former Hawkeye drum major, competed with the Iowa Brass and won best euphonium solo at the U.S. Masters Brass Band Entertainment Competition in Kansas City, Missouri.

Martin Klein (83MS) has been elected to the board of directors for MGIC Investment Corporation and Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation.

Lana Lin (88BA), an associate professor of media studies at The New School in New York, is author of The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam, which was longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award in Nonfiction.

Bob Stoops (83BBA), former Hawkeye football letter winner, has retired as head coach of the UFL Dallas Renegades.

1970s

Robert W. Becker (71MA), emeritus CEO of New Orleans City Park, is author of Going South: Stories and Thoughts from a Northerner’s Career as a Southerner.

Richard Cherwitz (74BA, 75MA, 78PhD) is the Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor Emeritus in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.

Major L. Clark III (71JD, 72MS), former chief of staff and senior administrative officer of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, received the lifetime advocate achievement award from the National Association of Small Business.

Dennis Dahl (71DDS), a 1970 Iowa City Open champion and a 40-time state Senior Games gold medalist, won sixth place in table tennis doubles in the 75-79 age group at the 2025 National Senior Games.

Peter Hansen (79BGS, 82JD), a lawyer with Hansen Law Offices in Burlington, Iowa, has been included in the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Bankruptcy and Restructuring Lawyers guide.

Casey Mahon (73BA, 76JD), a longtime member of the UI Center for Advancement board of directors, has been elected to Lifetime Honorary Director status.

1960s

Raymond Benton (65BA, 66JD), a former Hawkeye men’s tennis letter winner and longtime tennis executive, received the 2025 Tennis Creates Visionary Award from the USTA Mid- Atlantic Foundation.

Carroll Engelhardt (69PhD), a history professor emeritus for Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, published the online memoir Schooling: A College Life.

1950s

Julia A. Sherman (57MA, 57PhD), a psychologist, is author of The Neanderthal-Human Hybrid Is Us: Bipolar Disorder, A Behavioral Fossil.

Robert C. Smith (58BS, 62MD, 68R), university distinguished professor emeritus of medicine and psychiatry at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, is author of Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? Why Our Mental Health System Is Failing Us and What Should Be Done to Cure It and has been recognized on the wall of fame for faculty at the Michigan State Department of Medicine.

Faculty & Friends

Kevin Campbell, professor and chair of molecular physiology and biophysics at the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University for his muscular dystrophy research.

Rene Schilling-Arps has retired as an administrative services manager after 30 years with the UI College of Law.

Mary Joy Stead, a longtime member of the UI Center for Advancement board of directors, has been elected to Lifetime Honorary Director status.

Edwin Stone, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the UI Carver College of Medicine and director of the UI Institute for Vision Research, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.