“Seminar,” a play by Theresa Rebeck, MA’83, MFA’86, PhD’89, was staged in a Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater production. The plot involves four young people yearning to become successful writers, who come together for a seminar with Leonard, a respected novelist who gives expensive private lessons. Leonard is crass and brutally honest, and the students end up learning more than they expected. Todd Crosset, MA’85, PhD’92, is an associate professor and director of undergraduate programs at UMass Amherst’s Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management, in the Isenberg School of Management. In July, he traveled to Geneva to deliver a talk on racism in American sports to a United Nations panel. Trained as a sociologist, Todd has been studying race and gender in American sport for 25 years. Carol Fierke, PhD’85, the Jerome and Isabella Karle Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, was appointed to a five-year term as dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and vice provost for academic affairs for graduate studies. Carol has professorships in chemistry and biophysics in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and in biological chemistry in the medical school. She does research on the mechanisms used by biological catalysts, both proteins and nucleic acids, to achieve high efficiency and stringent specificity, focusing particularly on the mechanism of medically important metalloenzymes. She has published 217 research articles and reviews, and has three patents. Michael Levine, Heller PhD’85, is the founding executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at the global nonprofit Sesame Workshop. The center conducts research; develops prototypes, scalable models and design challenges; and convenes leaders to promote investments in high-quality media experiences for children. Levine also serves as a senior executive on Sesame Workshop’s leadership team, concentrating on public engagement and educational impact. Roland Valliere, MFA’85, was named president and CEO of the Cape Cod Symphony and Conservatory. He has served in executive roles with symphonies in Memphis, Tenn.; Columbus, Ohio; and Kansas City, Mo. Lisa Hochberg-Miller, MJC’86, was named one of America’s 36 Most Inspiring Rabbis by the Jewish Daily Forward, in recognition of her efforts to relieve homelessness in Ventura, Calif. Lisa has been leading Temple Beth Torah in Fremont for the past 18 years. She lives with her husband, Seth, and her daughters, Mara, 24; Elisheva, 22; and Hannah, 18. Susan Tananbaum, MA’86, MA’87, PhD’91, was promoted to full professor at Bowdoin College. Her research focuses on immigrant acculturation, philanthropy and child care during the Victorian era. Susan’s book “Jewish Immigrants in London, 1880-1939” was recently published; it explores the ways in which Anglo-Jewish communities, and local government, education and welfare organizations tried to socialize new Jewish arrivals. Paul Anastas, MA’87, PhD’90, director of Yale’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment, was awarded the 2015 Emanuel Merck Lectureship at the Technical University in Dormstadt, Germany, for his pioneering work in green chemistry. The lectureship recognizes globally renowned scientists who have made superb contributions to chemical and pharmaceutical research. Louann Larson, Heller MMHS’87, serves as director of the family support division at Northeast Arc, a not-for-profit organization that helps children and adults with disabilities become full participants in the community. She was honored with the 2015 Marty Martini Award for Outstanding Leadership by the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers. Allan Arkush, PhD’88, is professor of Judaic studies and history at the University of Binghamton. In May, he delivered a lecture at Baylor University titled “The Jewish State: Redemption or Quagmire?” Alan is the author of “Moses Mendelsohn and the Enlightenment” and many essays on Jewish history and thought. He is also senior contributing editor at the Jewish Review of Books, where his reviews regularly appear. Adam Stone, MA’88, is an associate professor in political science at Georgia Perimeter College’s Alpharetta Center. He has taught at the college for 21 years and is co-editor of the proceedings of the Georgia Political Science Association. An interview with Ha Jin, MA’89, PhD’93, was featured in the Chinese-language section of The New York Times and was translated into English for the NYT’s Sinosphere blog. His latest novel, “A Map of Betrayal,” tells the story of a Chinese mole within the CIA. Ha Jin is a literature professor at Boston University.

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