Connections
Class Notes and more
Fire
Extinguishers
1953
The founding year of the UMass student firefighting force. While it’s not unusual for colleges to have student firefighters, they usually ride along with the pros. However, at UMass, student firefighters operate their own engine and respond to calls all over town—including fires and medical emergencies—on their own.
30
The average number of students who serve on the force each year. At the beginning of the fall semester, all volunteer firefighters go through a rigorous week of training, nicknamed “Wonder Week.”
1990
The year that Lindsay Stromgren ’90, ’97 first graduated from UMass after four years in the student force. He never stopped fighting Amherst fires, later returning to UMass to pursue a second bachelor’s degree in fire science administration. Today, he serves as the interim fire chief of the Amherst Fire Department.
6
The number of students who live at the station full time. It’s outfitted with a handful of dormitory spaces, and more senior members of the force get the privilege of living at the station full time, instead of just bunking there overnight when on duty.
$0
The amount of money students make as student firefighters—though they sometimes pick up paid hours in town over the summer.
1974
The year that Bruce Whitmore ’76 and Bob Hopkins ’75 won a national award for designing safer protective coats—their practical experience led them to design what Interim Chief Stromgren describes as the “starting point of modern fire gear.”
Read about the student force—25 years ago—in a 1999 feature in UMass Magazine.
Hi, Tech!
Jack Cooley ’96MS was teaching science and engineering at The Chapin School, an all-girls school in New York City, when inspiration struck. He was aware of the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and he had learned that the late elementary and middle school years were a pivotal time to engage girls in STEM. He ran a STEM robotics program at the school, and in the process of upgrading the program’s equipment, he found himself with older but still functioning robotic models—and an opportunity. “A colleague [Ana Agón] and I decided that we would try to donate this out to a school that didn’t have the resources, and that’s what started us in this process,” Cooley says.
Thus began The Community Bots, a nonprofit dedicated to providing STEM and robotics training and equipment for girls and their teachers in underserved communities around the world. The organization started by piloting the program in a school in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. “This led to another unrelated connection with an organization in Nicaragua, and they invited us over,” says Cooley. “We said, ‘Why not? We have the equipment,’ and it just kept snowballing from there.” Today, the organization operates in five different countries, including the United States, and reaches over 600 girls and 100 educators.
From the beginning, Cooley knew he wanted to take an evidence-based approach, and he called on his friend Bob Hall ’95MS to join the board and collect data. “As I talked to other small nonprofits, a lot of them don’t have that data and don’t know how to do it,” says Cooley. “We’ve had it from day one, in large part thanks to Bob’s expertise.”
Hall, who works for the Veterans Health Administration in Boston doing epidemiology and clinical trials research, was happy to step in. He’s been administering surveys and analyzing data for The Community Bots for the past seven years and remains committed to its mission. “Something I’ve always found particularly empowering is a lot of these videos where these girls are very, very excited about their accomplishments and what they’re doing,” he says. “You really get this sense of the camaraderie and these groups of girls coming together to do this program.”
While robotics is the entry point—the hook, as Cooley calls it—The Community Bots is committed to seeing girls through the process of preparing for careers in STEM. “We’re starting to teach Python,” says Cooley, “which is a very applicable programming tool for girls, and app development and things like that, so that when they finish high school, they have these experiences and tools in their belt as well.” At the program’s first site in Nicaragua, the partnering organization has added ancillary services such as academic tutoring and English language teaching so that girls are ready to attend college and enter the STEM workforce. The Community Bots is also committed to providing university scholarships and support to girls who want to study STEM. Ultimately, Cooley hopes that the girls who make it through a STEM degree will come back and serve as mentors for younger girls coming up through the program. “[We want] to develop a real pipeline with the universities in the country as well as companies in the tech sector,” he says, “so that especially when we get our first university graduates, they come back and the young girls begin to see the path more clearly.“
Bot up!
To learn more and get involved with The Community Bots as a mentor, board member, or donor, visit communitybots.org.
Class Notes
A Taste of Victory
Nick O'Malley ’11, a senior producer for MassLive who covers professional sports and offbeat foods, combined his two passions to report on how Mullins Center concessions have changed since his UMass days. He reports that since he graduated, “the food has quietly evolved from a boring backdrop to a highlight of the game-day experience.” While the classics like hot dogs are still good (“The 1/4-pound all-beef frank I had was one of the best I’ve had at a game in ages”), he also enjoyed some more innovative options, like the BBQ platter combo, chicken tikka masala rice bowl, pancake sundae, and pickle pizza. He adds, “Oh yeah, the Mullins Center sells beer now.”
Ground Control
Nick Pappas ’12 is neither a San Francisco 49er nor a Kansas City Chief, but he played a crucial role in Superbowl LVIII nonetheless. As the newest field director for the National Football League, Pappas was responsible for building and delivering the turfgrass field designed specifically for use during the big game. After studying turfgrass management and plant and soil sciences at UMass, Pappas was up to the task.
Nurture Through Nature
Jus Crea Giammarino ’01 runs Native Root Medicine, a naturopathic medical practice in Springfield offering holistic health care through herbal and nutritional medicine. Raised in Penobscot culture and spiritual practices, Giammarino learned about the healing powers of nature from her mother and grandmothers. She also gives lectures and presentations on traditional Wabanaki healing modalities and naturopathic care, teaches plant medicine workshops, and is working toward reclaiming traditional birthing practices. She was profiled by MassLive as an inspiring Indigenous community leader.
High Comedy
Kevin Flynn ’85, former professional soccer player and current stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, and television host, recently debuted his one-man play, Fear of Heights. This autobiographical solo show examines the American experience through the lens of Flynn’s Irish immigrant family, including his tough steelworker grandfather, one of the men in the famous photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper. The play was produced by the Farrelly brothers, Peter (who briefly studied at UMass as well) and Bobby.
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s
Missing something?
Looking for updates from decades not represented here? We’d love to include them—but we need your submissions! Have you taken up a new hobby in retirement, recently reconnected with old UMass friends, or had a professional or personal achievement? Your UMass community wants to hear about it!
Submit your note to magazine@umass.edu.
1950s
Stewart Coffin ’52 has written numerous books, including Geometric Puzzle Design (Routledge, 2015) and two books of essays about his youth in North Amherst and Lincoln, Mass.: Tall Trees and Wild Bees (Levellers Press, 2006) and Tipcart Tales (Levellers Press). He spends much of his time and effort in retirement researching and writing about current affairs.
1960s
Taj Mahal ’63 released a new live album, Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa, earlier this year from Lightning Rod Records. The album includes a new version of his classic single “Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes,” which features Grammy-nominated guitarist and vocalist Trey Hensley and became a runaway streaming hit.
John Brown Childs ’64, distinguished emeritus professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was recently featured in the PBS documentary Being 80 for his education work in Soledad State Prison. Being 80 highlights stories of several activists in their 80s.
1970s
Elwood “Woody” Mills ’71 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in park administration, which helped prepare him for a 32-year career as a sanctuary director for the Massachusetts Audubon Society at the Ashumet Holly Wildlife Sanctuary on Cape Cod. Now retired, Mills spends many days pursuing his passions of fly fishing and kayak fishing. He is the author of two books, Fly Fishing the Worm "Hatch": And Other Saltwater Stories and Elizabeth Islands Adventures: A Waterman's View.
Richard and Amy (Blander) Lynn ’75 have written, photographed, and published two coffee table books inspired by the couple’s travels to all seven continents, almost 100 countries, all 50 states, and all 63 U.S. National Parks.
Leslie Murray ’76 and his wife, Jayne, are the owners of New England Chocolate Company in Salisbury, Mass., which is now celebrating its 20th year. After retiring from his career as a high school principal and hers as a speech pathologist, the pair reinvented themselves as importers of Belgian chocolate, and they’re happy to report that business is flourishing.
James Eade ’78 is a world-renowned chess master and the author of Chess for Dummies (IDG Books, 1996), among other books. He is also the chairman and CEO of the Eade Foundation, which he founded in 2019 to increase chess literacy and provide chess sets and boards to organizations that cannot otherwise afford them.
1980s
Cynthia Guild ’80, ’89MFA had a one-person exhibition of her oil paintings and drawings last spring at Hampden Gallery in the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts. The show addressed different elements of the creative process, with a “Fabrications” section examining mechanical subjects related to logic, ships, and freight, and a “Dreams” section of paintings derived from web cameras positioned at ski resorts in the Alps and elsewhere. She proudly reports that her family has seven UMass alums, including all five of her siblings and her mother.
John Winn ’80 retired after 20 years as a judge for the Sacramento County Superior Court. He plans to continue sitting on the bench in California on a part-time basis. He also hopes to see the UMass hockey team in action in Arizona in the near future.
Kang Kyung-wha ’81MA, ’84PhD has been appointed president/CEO of Asia Society, a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering understanding between Asia and the United States. Kang previously served as South Korea’s first female foreign affairs minister and as deputy high commissioner for human rights and deputy emergency relief coordinator in the United Nations.
Eric A. Swanson ’82 is one of three colleagues who were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Biden at a White House ceremony in October 2023. The team was recognized for the invention of optical coherence tomography (OCT), which uses light beams to visualize microscopic structures within the human body. OCT is now a standard of care that is widely used in ophthalmology and increasingly used in cardiology and many other medical and non-medical applications.
Juan Carlos Iturregui ’87 was nominated by President Biden to be the next ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Dominican Republic. Iturregui is currently the managing partner of Milan Americas, LLC, a consulting practice specializing in business, regulatory, and public policy issues, with a focus on infrastructure and renewable energy projects in the Caribbean and Latin America.
1990s
Denise Dresser ’93 was appointed CEO of Slack, a Salesforce company, in November 2023. For over 20 years, Dresser has spearheaded business transformations within many of the world’s largest and most innovative companies, with the last 12 years being at Salesforce.
Captain Malaysia Gresham Harrell ’98 retired after more than 20 years of service in the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Public Health Service. Harrell held several positions in the field of mental health and substance abuse services, with roles in the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, and, most recently, the Department of Defense’s Defense Health Agency, where she served as chief for Military-Specific Clinical Communities. Her contributions have been recognized with numerous commendations, including the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal.
Mat Keel ’99 and his wife, Liz Lessner, founded Yes We Cannibal, an art and music project space in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2020. They recently hosted their 25th gallery show with a member of the legendary 1970s critical media and architecture collective Ant Farm. A grant from the local arts council will fund a project to release 45 rpm singles documenting sound and visual artists associated with Yes We Cannibal. Keel is also finishing his dissertation at Louisiana State University this year.
Genevieve Nadeau ’99 is counsel at Protect Democracy, a cross-ideology nonprofit that fights authoritarianism by working to preserve fair elections and counter disinformation. She is also a lecturer at Harvard Law School and has previously served in several leadership positions at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
2000s
Anne Keane ’02 ran the Boston Marathon for the third time as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. Keane, who is still in active treatment after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2016, has raised nearly $100,000 for cancer research over her three runs. “The people that I see [when I go in for treatments] are the reason that this will be my third year running Boston,” Keane told WickedLocal.com. “They inspire me and motivate me to get out there and do this.”
Katy A. Kellett ’05 is one of the owners of Boston Glory, Boston’s professional ultimate frisbee team, and notes that the ownership team also includes Jason Talerman ’88. The team plays home games at Hormel Stadium in Medford and competes nationally and in Canada with the Ultimate Frisbee Association. “We have a few incredible UMass Amherst ultimate athletes on our team,” reports Kellett. “In addition, Boston Glory is in its second year of collaborating with the McCormack Department of Sport Management on internships, independent studies, and classroom projects. We’ve even talked about bringing Boston Glory out to play a showcase game in the Amherst area.”
Maddie S. Makara ’05 was appointed reporter of decisions for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where she provides editorial support for the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court, among other duties. She has worked in the Office of the Reporter of Decisions since 2012 as a legal publishing specialist and then associate deputy reporter of decisions.
Kerry O’Grady ’06 earned her doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University in 2021 and works as the director of teaching excellence at Columbia Business School. Additionally, she was recently appointed to be an instructor at the Isenberg School of Management.
Elizabeth Román ’06 was promoted to managing editor of daily and digital news at New England Public Media. A lifelong Springfield resident and the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, Román strives to expand the diversity of sources in news coverage, create opportunities for more Spanish-language news content, and provide accurate representation of communities of color in western Massachusetts.
2010s
Dave Coffey ’12, editorial page editor of The Berkshire Eagle, won the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize, a prestigious national award for editorial writing. The award recognized a series of editorials Coffey wrote calling out the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield for targeting a reporter who revealed its mishandling of an abuse case.
Nigar Alam ’17MBA is the author of Under the Tamarind Tree (Putnam, 2023), which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction’s 2023 First Novel Prize. Set in Pakistan in the aftermath of Partition, the novel follows four friends whose dark secrets lead to a life-changing night that comes back to haunt them decades later.
We’re on the lookout
Share your most intriguing nooks, niches, coordinates, or curiosities on campus or anywhere in the region. Email magazine@umass.edu and we’ll investigate!