Spring 2024
Do you have news to share?
Maybe you recently got married or had a baby, celebrated a promotion or professional milestone, or had a gathering with some UHart friends. Whatever your news may be, share your UHart pride with your fellow alumni by submitting a class note or tagging us on social media. Select news and posts may be published in a future issue of H magazine. Notes are posted on a quarterly basis in March, June, September, and December and are archived after two years.
1966 | Luella Landis
Luella (M'70, ENHP) wrote and self-published, A Green Canoe and Other Essays. Her husband, George '66 (A&S) produced the photos for the book.
This book is a unique collection of mostly nature-related essays, ranging from winning a green canoe and having various canoeing adventures, to childhood memories, to hunting for rare plants in Hawaii and in Northern New England, and much more in between.
1974 | Ronald Barisano
Ron was hired to be the Event Coordinator for the 90th Anniversary of the Dover Days Celebration Fesitval and Parade which is the largest festival and parade in the state of Delaware.
1985 | Anthony Susi
Anthony Susi was selected to conduct the 2024 CMEA Elementary Honor Band at the All-State Conference, April 2–4. He was also selected to present two sessions for the conference: "Guide to Composing, Arranging, & Publishing" and "Band Refresher for Non-Band Musicians".
1986 | Astrid Eugenie Jarvis
Astrid Jarvis (A&S) was promoted to Assistant Coordinating Manager at NYC Health + Hospitals in 2023 and currently manages mental health services at the Queens Family Court servicing clients who need psychological evalutations for cour cases. Astrid helps clients register for appointments and supports associate clinic director and staff.
1987 | Karen Gillis
After a successful career as an executive leader in biotech that took her all over the world, Karen Gillis (A&S) retired from Abbott Labrotories after 26 years and started a luxury travel business. Last year she launced The Pampered Tourist, to translate her love of culture, food, and globetrotting into a new venture to help you make the most of your vacations.
She specializes in travel experiences to Asia, Europe, and Mexico by river, land, or sea with a particular eye for hard-to-find speakeasies, local cusine, and hideen gem locations to explore.
1988 | Erik Hansen
Erik Hansen (A&S) was offered and accepted the position of vice president of Legacy Safety and Security, LLC, to help manage their growth.
Erik graduated from UHart with a BA in Criminal Justice. After a successful and rewarding career in law enforecement, he retired in 2014. A few months before his retirement, Erik was recruited for a position as an executive protection agent for an ultra-high-new-worth-family (UHNWF) in New York. Erik lived and traveled with the family for several years providing personal protection for the family, their estates, aircraft, and yachts.
After leaving the service of the UHNWF, Erik continued in the executive protection field as a private contractor and eventually formed The ETC Collective, LLC.
Along with his role at Legacy Safety and Security, Erik is also involved in several humanitarian projects in central Africa including helping with biodiesel initiatives that will have a postitive impact on the lives of artisanal miners as well as helping to reduce food insecurity issues on the local level.
1991 | Jack McLarney
Jack McLarney (CETA) authored the book The Book of Batch Scripting: From Fundamentals to Advanced Automation" with No Startch Press. It's an entertaining exploration of bat files for seasoned coders, as well as anyone who wished to automate repetitive tasks on a Windows computer.
1993 | Michael Warren Debiak
Michael Debiak (CETA) is celebrating four years at Your 360 Improvements, LLC, residental and commercial construction company.
1998 | Russell Shannon
Russell Shannon, PhD (CETA) has been promoted to Science and Technology Lead of the Cyber Warfare Department within the Naval Air Systems Command.
2000 | Kelly Walters Kennedy
Kelly Kennedy (Barney) recieved a Doctorate in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University. Kelly is the Director of Transformative Learning, Career Education faculty at the University of Connecticut School of Business
2004 | Anne McGinnis
Anne McGinnis (Hartt, A&S) joined Bond, Schoeneck & King as a school law and labor attorney.
McGinnis represents public, private, and charter schools as well as board of cooperative educational services clients and employers across New York State with a focus on special education, general education, and labor and employment issues.
2005 | Nicole Gesmondi
After 15 years, Nicole Gesmondi (HAS) relocated her photography studio from Providence to Warwick, Rhode Island. She purchased a 4,000 sq ft building in December 2023 that is closer to her home and on a highly visable road.
Nicole Gesmondi Photographer, LLC is a full service wedding and portrait studio. They make your happiest moments last forever by capturing photos of all of life's incredible milestones.
2017 | Agustin Muriago
Agustin Muriago (DMA, Hartt) has recently released SUR, his first solo recording. SUR features piano works from Muriago's native Argentina and was produced with support from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he serves as Assistant Professor of Keyboard Skills.
A Yamaha artist, Muragio recorded the CD on Yamaha's new CFX at their piano salon in New York City. The album was released on Albany Records and is available to stream on all major platforms.
2018 | Nadika Paranamana
Nadika (M '18, D'24, A&S) was invited to speak at the Association for Psychological Science on Barriers to Access in Mental Health Services.