Alumnx notes
1977
Alexandra Conover Bennett '77 was among five master canoe artisans honored with Legislative Sentiments for their talents and efforts to preserve traditions that are thousands of years old. Presented during the Monson Arts and Cultural Resources "Canoe Land" in July at the Monson Summerfest, the sentiment includes, "This Wabanaki tradition has been sustained for centuries by Wabanaki and Northwoods makers, whose creativity, skill, and knowledge of materials, design, and construction serve as a model for future makers and generations to come."
1978
After completing her education and going off to a career with horses, Liz Lundberg ('78) has always been grounded in the curious study of human ecology. Of all things that are possible in the world, Liz is most deeply committed to bridging ideological, political, and relational divides. To that end, Liz is drawn to challenging relationships to nurture. As we seem to sit on the cusp of a new civil war, she believes she is in a useful niche. Anyone similarly inclined is welcome to connect and share notes. The objective is to shift the nature of our dialogue from adversarial to collaborative.
Timmon Milne Wallis '78 published his latest book, Warheads to Windmills: Preventing Climate Catastrophe and Nuclear War in December 2023. He is living in western Massachusetts after a year in Brussels and a year in DC (and about 50 years in the UK!). Tim is running a national coalition of organizations working together to address those two existential threats, and can be reached at timmon.wallis@gmail.com.
1979
Frank Twohill '79 recently won his 17th two-year term on the Branford, Connecticut Representative Town Meeting; this is the 30-member town legislative body. Frank has served as an RTM Representative since 1990. In November 2023, Frank was unanimously elected clerk by the body. From 2005 to 2022, Frank served on the COA Alumni Association Governing Board. During his terms, Frank worked to commence COA reunions. Frank continues his legal practice in Connecticut, and graduated from the school for environmental law rated #1 in the US, Vermont Law and Graduate School, in 1985. Frank was also a member of the COA 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee in 2022.
Loie Hayes '79 is now providing energy efficiency consulting to fisheries-related businesses in Massachusetts. Her employer, Green Energy Consumers Alliance, is teaming up with Fisheries Friendly Climate Action and others on a federally funded Energy Efficient Fisheries project. If you have case studies of ways to conserve energy or tap into renewable power at a shoreside facility, send them Loie's way!
1985
Potuck Farm, the residential cooperative where Jim Senter '85 resides north of Durham, North Carolina, established a conservation easement on 100 acres of their common land this year and is in the process of developing a permaculture plan for the farm. The first chapter of his book on the New Deal work program on the Outer Banks was published in Tributaries, the journal of the North Carolina Maritime History Association under the title, “Building the Bridge to Paradise: The Early Years of Automobile Tourism on the Outer Banks, 1926-1931.” Additionally, as a member of the board of the Fertile Ground Food Cooperative, Jim took part in finding a site and negotiating a lease for the store, hiring an architectural firm, and helping engage co-op members in site and store design. Finally, early in the year, Jim and his motorcycle had a run-in with a deer that led to six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a two-day stay in the trauma ward. (He’s still a devoted, year-round rider.)
1989
Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO), a nonprofit dedicated to collecting data and creating educational tools to help better understand Maine plants and animals, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. MNHO is marking its anniversary with online content highlighting the organization's history, and releasing a limited edition sticker featuring a Purple Sandpiper design by Addison-based artist, Jada Fitch. The sticker is available to all new and renewing members at any level. MNHO was founded by Glen Mittelhauser '89 in 2003. Maine didn’t have an organization dedicated to collecting, interpreting, and maintaining the data crucial for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations, and Glen decided to step into the role. Now, two decades later, over 75 islands have completed botanical inventories and five field guides to Maine plants have been published including the award-winning Plants of Acadia National Park. For more information about MNHO’s history and 20th Anniversary Campaign, visit mainenaturalhistory.org/20-years.
1999
Annika Ginsberg '99 spent the last few years doing emergency work for the City of New York. First, helping to set up the largest test and trace response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and now helping to support the humanitarian crisis by housing NYC's influx of migrants. She also picked up a pandemic hobby of making pottery.
2003
Katrina Zarrella Smith '03 was awarded the NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics. The fellowship is a highly competitive national program that supports research on the development of quantitative methods for use in marine fisheries management. Katrina's fellowship research will focus on the incorporation of local and dynamic ecological processes in stock assessments, especially for use in systems like the Gulf of Maine, where rapid changes have been observed.
2008
This year, Kate Hassett '08 attended Smith College’s six-month, post-grad certificate program in palliative and end of life care to deepen her work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker on Maine Medical Center’s Palliative Care Team in Portland, Maine. In December 2023 she passed the exam to become licensed as an Advanced Palliative and Hospice Social Worker-Certified. When not at work, these days she enjoys knitting, reading, walking around Portland, playing mahjong with a group of people every other Sunday, taking art classes, perusing craft fairs, visiting family and friends, and basking in the companionship of her dog, Winnie.
2010
Nina Wish Adler '10 and David Adler welcomed baby Nathan Jethro to the family. Big sister Diana is thrilled. David, a structural engineer with Silman Structural Solutions, recently completed work on COA’s new campus renovation project. They are excited to bring the kids for a campus visit soon!
Becky Wartell '10 and Seven Siegel are excited to announce the birth of their baby, Vi, on October 25, 2023. Becky was really amused to realize that her pregnancy care team was made up of COA alums: OBGYN Dr. Josh Sinkin '03, acupuncturist Ann Helfrich '00, and doula Arwyn Sherman '13. Jake Wartell '12 and Devina Iyer '16 are thrilled about their new niece.
2013
After seven years working in independent bookstores, being named a 2021 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree, and championing diverse voices, bookseller equity, and pay transparency, Mariana Calderón '13 stepped away from frontline bookselling in July to accept a position with the American Booksellers Association (ABA) as DEIA & member relations manager. Her work includes supporting indie bookstores across the country and overseeing the ABA's work to ensure a continued and growing focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in all aspects of the organization. Currently located in southeastern Connecticut, she will be moving with her spouse back to Maine in summer 2024. While she misses bookselling dearly, she's enjoying the freedom of remote work, showing art in local galleries, and is looking forward to connecting with more alumnx in the Bangor area next year.
Lilly Demers '13 and Colin Ogilvie were married in Conway, Washington in July 2023. Lilly graduated from the Middle Way Acupuncture Institute in 2020 and works as an acupuncturist and a gardener in western Washington.
Maddy Magnuson '13 and their partner Ross joyfully welcomed Mika Ray Magnuson into the world this August. Determined to be a little Leo baby, Mika arrived three weeks early after a quick, two-hour labor. They are pictured enjoying their first staycation at the Seguin Tree Dwellings in Georgetown, Maine.
2016
Natasha Krell '16 was featured in an interview with Federal News Network on the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The interview focused on STEM recruitment for federal agencies and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's use of AI.
Ian Medeiros '16 and Panchali Nag got married on December 28, 2022 in a small ceremony at Ian's parents' home in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Ian is wrapping up a PhD in biology at Duke University. He and Panchali are currently living in California, where Panchali is a visiting assistant professor in the mathematics department at UC San Diego.
2017
Shlomit Auciello '17 began the year at a Buddhist meditation retreat in Southern New Hampshire. In April, she turned 70 and “began considering how I want to experience life and mortality as I approach the great mystery. As year's end approaches, I am two weeks short of my last day of scheduled employment as adult education program assistant at Mid-Coast School of Technology. My column, ‘Letter from Away’ moved from the Courier-Gazette newspaper to the Free Press in September, as well as at medium.com. In October, I received my third Maine Press Association award, proving that journalists in Utah like my writing. I spent 18 days in August writing music for the lyrics I wrote as part of my senior project (a musical screenplay). Renting a quiet apartment near Cobscook Bay, I completed four songs: ‘Opportunistic’ (overture); ‘Back and Forth,’ a love song in the form of a lecture on the life cycle of northern shrimp; a blues tune called ‘Shake Your Rug’; and a eulogy in four-part harmony called ‘Pushing Up Daisies.’”
Ursa Beckford '17 is set to graduate from Georgetown Law in May, and next winter will start working as a trial attorney at the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. He has also been selected as a 2024 John Robert Lewis Fellow by the Faith and Politics Institute. The year-long program brings together emerging leaders who are committed to creating positive societal change and studying John Lewis's nonviolent philosophy, which was successfully used in the Civil Rights Movement.
2018
Jessica Arseneau '18 graduated with an MA in museology at Université du Québec in Outaouais. She currently works as an educator at the National Gallery of Canada, and in her free time makes things (sewing, printmaking, etc.) and spends time hiking with Roman Bina '16.
Arlo Cristofaro Hark '18 and Josie Trople '18 welcomed their daughter Ammi Delano Hark into the world in February. They are living in Northfield, Minnesota, and are the founders of an ecological grazing company that works with solar developers to provide vegetation management services.
2019
Leah Rubin '19 was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to study historical ecology in Maine and Fiji through her position as a PhD student at The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She also continued the research collaboration that came out of her meeting with Elizabeth Sibert, a guest speaker in COA professor Sarah Hall's Climate Change course. Their first paper published in the journal Science on dermal denticles came out in 2021, and they recently published an article together with the help of other co-authors titled "Neurodiversity: An Important Axis of Diversity in Ocean Sciences." She will be joining Dr. Sibert at her lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a visiting student this fall.
Jolie Lau '19 graduated with a master's in architectural engineering: environmental design from the University of Bath and was awarded “Best Overall Performance.” Her thesis explored the elusive Module D's (reuse, recovery, and recycling potential) impact on the life cycle of conventional façade cladding materials. Following graduation, Jolie accepted a position as a facade engineer with Arup and was quickly promoted to graduate facade engineer.
After nearly four years working in sexual violence support and advocacy, Elise Martin '19 is now celebrating her second year of business as owner of Lily & Quartz, a small business specializing in gemstones and jewelry. She has enjoyed meeting customers at markets and craft fairs all over southern Maine. In the fall, Elise will follow interests she first explored in her senior project studying law and abortion access by matriculating at the University of Maine School of Law.
2022
In 2023, Emma Damm '22 became a resident of Florida. She planned to work a temporary biology internship over the winter and then return to Maine, “but one internship turned into two, and then I landed a year-round job. I now work as a field biologist for Florida's Natural Heritage Program. Our organization tracks occurrences of rare plants, rare animals, and natural communities to aid in their conservation throughout the state. I want to emphasize a message to any science-geared COA students who are struggling with doubt: It is possible to have a career in science with a human ecology degree. Be proactive, and don't give up!”
