Class Notes, Summer 2026

2020s

William Borich (20MFA) is an assistant professor of lighting and projections within the entertainment engineering and design program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Jonathan Gleason (22MFA), a creative writing lecturer at the University of Chicago, is author of Field Guide to Falling Ill.

Javier Espinosa Mómox (24MA, 25MFA) is a teaching scholar in ceramics at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Lucy Olsen (25BA), a former Hawkeye women’s basketball letter winner who plays for the Washington Mystics, received the Women’s National Basketball League’s Sixth Woman of the Year Award and won the WNBL Championship Series in Australia this past spring with the Townsville Fire.

2010s

Matt E. Arnold (12PharmD), a clinical pharmacist and population health specialist at Genesis Quad Cities Family Medicine Residency Program and Genesis Health Group in Davenport, has been named the 2025 Iowa Diabetes Care and Education Specialist of the Year.

Isabel Baldrich (16BA, 18MA, 25PhD) is a professor at Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño in Puerto Rico.

Zach J. Hermsen (12BA, 15JD) is an attorney in Des Moines on the Whitfield & Eddy Law firm’s executive committee.

Jenny L. Juehring (16BA) is a partner with the Lane & Waterman law firm in the Quad Cities.

Jesse L. Kreitzer (15MFA), a filmmaker, premiered the short documentary Sugarhouse at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana.

Nora Claire Miller (19MFA), editor-in-chief of Ghost Proposal and the founder and director of Somehow School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, is author of the novel Groceries.

Delaney T. Nolan (16MFA), an investigative journalist in New Orleans, is author of the novel Happy Bad.

Neva Wagner (17JD) is a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm in Chicago.

Devon E. Walker-Figueroa (17MFA), an assistant professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, is author of the poetry collection Lazarus Species.

Janet Weaver (19PhD) retired from her role as the Iowa Women’s Archives curator.

Atticus Wegman (15MA), founder of Atticus Injury Law in Southern California, has been named one of The Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 personal injury lawyers.

Joshua G. Wheeler (15MFA), an associate English professor at Louisiana State University inBaton Rouge, is author of the novel The High Heaven.

2000s

Johnathan L. Gajdos (06MA, 11PhD) is provost at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York.

Donald G. Klepser (05PhD) is dean at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy in Omaha.

Erik D. Maki (03PharmD) is dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University in Des Moines.

Wesley M. Obermueller (07BS), a former Hawkeye baseball letter winner, has been inducted into the Kirkwood Athletics Hall of Fame in Cedar Rapids.

Kaethe E. Schwehn (06MFA), an associate professor of practice in English at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, is author of the novel The Gospel of Salome.

Alexander M. Tsirtsis (08BA), a former Hawkeye men’s wrestling letter winner, is the Illinois Wrestling Coaches Officials Association’s Coach of the Year.

Kara Westercamp (05BA, 05BBA, 09JD, 09MBA), a White House associate counsel, has been nominated for appointment to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Renee Zukin (02MAT) is author of the self-help memoir Every Day, I’m Brave: Cultivating Resilience to Gain Freedom from Fear.

1990s

Laura Borgelt (95BSPh) is the executive vice chancellor for academic student affairs, provost, and chief academic officer for University of Colorado Anshutz.

Brian LaCien (99BBA), Chicago trial attorney and Smith LaCien Founder, has been named to the Top 100 Illinois Super Lawyers for the fifth consecutive year.

Jessie Whitmer (97BA), a former Hawkeye men’s wrestling letter winner, has been inducted into the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame of Iowa.

Suzanne S. Yoon (98BA), founder and managing partner of Kinzie Capital Partners in Chicago, has been named as one of Mergers & Acquisition’s 2026 Most Influential Women in Mid-Market Mergers & Acquisitions.

1980s

Stephen R. Baird (86BSPh, 90JD), a shareholder with the Greenberg Traurig law firm in Minneapolis, has been named to Thomson Reuters’ 2026 Stand-Out Lawyer list.

Susan Bennett (88BM, 92JD), chief legal officer and secretary for the e2open supply chain software platform, is a new member of the UI Center for Advancement’s board of directors.

Greg Bruch (85JD) and the late Scott Friestad (83BBA, 86JD) have been named to the Class of 2025 Enforcement Hall of Fame by Securities Docket, an industry resource on securities enforcement.

Cathy Shen J. Fann (87MS, 93PhD) is a deputy director and research fellow at Academia Sinica, an academic institution in Taiwan.

Ted Habte-Gabr (89BSE), founder and producer of Live Talks Los Angeles, celebrated 15 years of onstage stories, ideas, and conversations with actors, artists, and writers.

Anthony J. Leo (82MD), a retired general and vascular surgeon from Oelwein, Iowa, completed his term as president of the Iowa Association of County Medical Examiners.

Lou Ann Montgomery (88MA, 00PhD) retired as associate chief nursing officer at UI Health Care after 47 years in the health care field.

David A. Richmond (81BFA, 86MA, 87MFA) served as the principal artist for the Monarch Skyway Project at the Annett Nature Center in Warren County, Iowa.

Mark Steffensen (88BBA, 92JD, 92MBA) is the chief of law, policy, and legislative affairs on the Social Security Administration’s executive leadership team.

Leonard Strand (87BA, 90JD) and C.J. Williams (85BBA, 88JD), U.S. district court judges for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, are authors of Persuading Judges: Principles and Strategies for Effective Advocacy in Trial Courts.

1970s

Patricia L. Albers (71BA), an art historian, is author of the biography Everything Is Photograph: A Life of André Kertész.

Richard Mahoney (74BBA), a board member of The Wine Group, is a new member of the UI Center for Advancement board of directors.

David Petreman (76MA, 84PhD), professor emeritus of modern languages at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, published a memoir titled El amigo cuando es forastero: Mis memorias de Francisco Coloane.

1960s

Thomas Y. Moore (61BA), a former UI quarterback and letter winner, is senior consultant to the head coach and offensive advisor for Hawkeye football.

Faculty & Friends

Christine M. Annicella retired after 24 years as the UI College of Education’s human resources director.

Bob Shomper, a Hawkeye Marching Band alum and longtime radio broadcaster, will serve as the next Golden Voice of the Hawkeye Marching Band.

Anna Stanhewicz, associate professor in UI Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology, has received the 2026 Henry Pickering Bowditch Award for early career scholar excellence from the American Physiological Society.

Garrett Stewart, a UI English professor, has retired after 33 years.

Bonnie S. Sunstein, a professor, past chair of English education, former director of undergraduate writing, and past director of the Nonfiction Writing Program, retired from the UI’s English department after 34 years.