Brandeis Magazine

Michelle Barras and Alexander Rosenberg announce the April 25 birth of their second daughter, Zoe Colette Rosenberg, who joins big sister Sasha.

Nicholas Brown is assistant chief of the Library of Congress’ music division, which holds the papers of Leonard Bernstein, H’59; Aaron Copland, H’57; Irving Fine, who founded the Brandeis School of Creative Arts; conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who was a consultant in music at Brandeis; and Eric Chasalow, the Irving Fine Professor of Music at Brandeis.

Judah Druck, a partner at law firm Maslon, received the 2023 Arthur T. Pfefer Memorial Award, which honors ambition, public service, and leadership. The recognition is presented by the Twin Cities Cardozo Society, an association of Jewish attorneys, judges, and law students in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area.

On a spring-break road trip, Etta King Heisler and Rachel Comstock explored the superbloom in Joshua Tree, off-roaded in Mojave, hiked into a snow-packed Grand Canyon, and ended their travels in Las Vegas. They report Tara Metal provided excellent recommendations and infectious enthusiasm as they planned the adventure.

Netta Engelhardt is the Biedenharn Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. Her research focuses on black holes, including the nature of black holes in quantum gravity.

Ryan Fanning and Jessica Seitz ’09 celebrated their daughter Rosalyn Jean Fanning’s first birthday on Aug. 9.

Sasha Kopp is senior director, education and engagement, for Project-412, a collaborative initiative centered on Jewish education in early childhood.

Brad Mahlof was named the winner on Season 2 of the PBS cooking competition “The Great American Recipe,” earning praise from the judges for his Libyan Jewish dishes.

Christine Chen is an associate in the banking and finance practice at Greenberg Traurig. She works in the law firm’s Boston office, where she represents providers of private credit.

No Class Notes submissions this issue.

Alexandra Zelle Rettman, an account manager at Pivotal Consulting, has graduated from the Leadership Tomorrow program, which aims to create racial equity in the Greater Seattle area.

Naomi Shine is CEO of the IT-services provider Executech, based in the Salt Lake City area.

Anna Bessendorf is engaged to Jason Goldberg. Both families boast a Brandeis connection. On the Bessendorf side, there’s Anna and her mother, Iris Richman ’78, P’15. On the Goldberg side, there’s Jason’s parents, Ricky Stamler Goldberg ’83 and Stanley Goldberg ’84, and his grandfather David Stamler, who in 1956 was a graduate student in Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis while on a Fulbright.

Sam Mintz is the founding editor of Brookline.News, a nonprofit startup covering Brookline, Massachusetts. Sam previously worked at RTO Insider, and has also worked for Politico and the Boston Business Journal.

Alexis Munoz was given the 2023 LifeChanger of the Year Award by his colleagues for his work as an applied behavior analyst at the Thomas Edison K8 School, in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood.

During his time at Brandeis, Robby Howell created a tabletop roleplaying game called Enclave, which he intends to publish soon. He says his Brandeis education helped him with the game design, especially his major in interactive storytelling, which he obtained through the independent interdisciplinary major program.

Galen Gabriel Karlan-Mason, IBS MBA’18, is piloting a new program in Brattleboro, Vermont, that helps people purchase healthier and more environmentally conscious food at grocery stores.

Allie Hecht, GSAS MAT’17, married Bill O’Connor on July 29. Several members of the bridal party were Allie’s softball teammates at Brandeis; they took a photo with their jerseys to pay tribute to where it all began.

Madeline Lenchner lives in London and works at the National Health Service, improving accessibility to maternity services for marginalized groups. (Spotlighting a milestone shared with Brandeis, she writes, “Fun fact: This year, the NHS is celebrating its 75th anniversary, too!”) Madeline first visited London during her midyear semester abroad.

Allison Marill is director of research at the JLens Investor Network, which looks at investing through a Jewish perspective. She previously worked at law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Both Tom Rossetti and Josh Korsen received a PhD in pharmacology at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.

No Class Notes submissions this issue.

Bryan McNamara is chief of staff to Alex Bores, who represents District 73 (located in Manhattan) in the New York State Assembly.

Ethan Stone, who has been listed on the Gift of Life registry since 2015, donated stem cells to save the life of a man in his 70s battling acute myelogenous leukemia. Ethan wrote about his experience on the Gift of Life website.