Brandeis Magazine

Hey, 2011ers! Isn’t it crazy that our four years at Brandeis are behind us? I hope everyone is enjoying our first post-Brandeis year. I have taken a job in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at Brandeis — four years at this place just wasn’t enough! The Class Notes section is a great way to stay in touch. Please send your updates, and we’ll share them in the next issue!

Jonathan Lopez ’11 and Ji Yun Lee ’11 attended their first-ever Alumni Association event in June. The New York City Recent Graduates BBQ at Brandeis House drew more than 70 young alumni.

Chiara Bercu works at the Social Science Research Council in New York as a program assistant for the International Dissertation Research Fellowship Program. She will be supporting the next generation of scholars in the humanities and social sciences to advance knowledge about non-U.S. cultures and societies. Chiara is very excited to meet Brandeis alumni in New York and share her love for social justice. Ria Chadha works at Navigant Consulting in Washington, D.C., where she investigates subprime mortgages. She cannot wait to use her recently obtained economics degree to solve the recession. She hopes to meet other Brandeis alumni in the city. Shirah Moses is living in New York with two of her Brandeis roommates while studying occupational therapy at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Elysha Greenberg lives in Brookline, Mass., and is pursuing a degree in mental health counseling at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. She spent the summer developing a new dinosaur exhibition at the Garden State Discovery Museum in New Jersey. Dan Podair works in New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s press office in Washington. As a politics major, Dan is ecstatic to be working in the field. Michal Pearl attended Camp Ultimate Peace in Israel, which fosters peaceful coexistence by bringing together Jewish Israeli, Arab Israeli and Palestinian youth to play Ultimate Frisbee. Michal also coached the Israeli women’s national team at the European Youth Ultimate Championships in Poland, helping the team finish fifth. She is studying at the London School of Economics. Daniela Montoya-
Fontalvo, M.A.’12, is studying in Milan, Italy, this fall and will return to Brandeis in the spring to complete a master’s degree in international economics and finance at the International Business School. Daniela spent the summer in New York as a public relations intern at Ann Taylor. She also had her own small business that sold Mary Kay products. Susan Paykin just began a job as a legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, D.C. David Ronn, an economics major with a passion for renewable energy, moved from Texas to White Plains, N.Y. David has been traveling the country visiting his friends from Brandeis. Former Brandeis runner 
Kerwin Vega won the Cumberlandfest (R.I.) 5K in a time of 16 minutes, 21 seconds to beat the second-place finisher by nine seconds. A year ago, Kerwin finished second in the annual race after he missed the final left-hand turn to the finish line. Julian Olidort is in Växjö, Sweden, on a Fulbright grant, conducting socioeconomic research on the glassblowing industry there. He also hopes to spend time blowing glass at one of the glass factories in the region. He writes, “I am grateful to the Brandeis professors and administrators whose help and encouragement made this project possible!” Jamie Fleishman is working for the Yale–China Association in New Haven, Conn., a nonprofit promoting understanding between Chinese and American people through programs in the arts, education, health and public service. He writes, “At the beginning of my final semester at Brandeis, my Chinese professor told me about a paid internship opportunity at a publisher specializing in Asian-language textbooks and learning materials using my bilingual English-Chinese language proficiency. The part-time internship materialized into a full-time internship over the summer. At the end of June, I was offered a position with the Yale–China Association. I work as a program assistant, coordinating Yale-China’s programs for undergraduates, planning the ‘Fireside Chat’ series of lectures, and managing Yale-China’s social media. Without a doubt, my Brandeis experience studying Chinese, working in the admissions office and organizing lectures played an integral part in getting me to New Haven.”