Brandeis Magazine

Liza Abelson runs Dasken Designs, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, creating art glass and jewelry using copper foil, American-made glass and lead-free metals. She is also part of Artisans in the Square, an artisans cooperative in Hingham, Massachusetts. Her primary medium is nature-inspired stained glass, featuring a touch of whimsy. Derek Cohen wrote most of the lyrics for “Jinx,” an album of original piano rock released by his son, Adrian, who wrote and played the music. One of Adrian’s Berklee College of Music classmates does the singing. Peter Hartog celebrated the publication of his debut novel, “Bloodlines,” in September. A dystopian science-fiction thriller, the book follows homicide detective Tom “Doc” Holliday as he hunts an inhuman killer in futuristic Empire City. Peter is looking for a literary agent; contact him at althazyr@gmail.com if you have suggestions. James Levine is chief financial officer at Cidara Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in San Diego, which develops novel anti-infectives, including immunotherapies. Ben Morse has been elected to the board of education in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He’d like to hear from friends at benjmorse@gmail.com. Paul Murray has been named a Top 401 Retirement Adviser by the Financial Times for the third year in a row. He is a wealth manager at Merrill Lynch in Boston, leading a team that specializes in portfolio asset management with an emphasis on financial planning and corporate retirement benefits planning. Jill Shinderman and her family hosted more than 50 people at their home for a Faculty in the Field presentation by Ryan McKittrick, assistant professor of theater arts, on the evolution of the American musical. Jill executive produces and writes for the PBS Kids series “Splash and Bubbles.” Ásta Sveinsdóttir’s book “Categories We Live By: The Construction of Sex, Gender, Race and Other Social Categories” was published by Oxford University Press last summer. Ásta is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University.