Brown Degree Days - Archive

Learn about the varied career paths in media, business, and medicine taken by 4 Brown alumni who concentrated in history.

Jonathan Ebinger (class of 1984)
Media consultant and educator

Jonathan Ebinger has worked on political campaigns, in television news, and for networks ranging from BBC to PBS to ESPN. He teaches and lectures at Universities across the country.

Frannie Kronenberg MD (class of 1984)
Internist
Ochsner Medical Center, New Orleans
Degrees: MD, MS in Health Care Management

Dr. Kronenberg was Chief Medical Officer at one of the three hospitals in New Orleans that remained open during and after Hurricane Katrina.

David Peterkin (class of 1975)
Executive Director of News Practices
ABC News

David Peterkin manages news policy and standards for ABC news. He has worked as a senior producer, writer, and bureau chief for ABC. While at Brown, he worked as a DJ at WBRU.

Steven Wallace JD (class of 1983)
President
Omanhene Cocoa Bean Co.
Degrees: JD

After working as a tax attorney, Mr. Wallace went to Ghana to start a single-source chocolate business. Wallace has been recognized by the UN Global Compact for his path-breaking business model.

Heather Darcy Bhandari is a director of Mixed Greens Gallery in New York City. She
has curated over forty exhibitions at Mixed Greens while managing and advising a roster
of nearly two dozen artists. She also curates independent shows and sits on the board
of NUTUREart, a non-profit in Brooklyn giving opportunities to unrepresented artists.
Heather will discuss building a career in art after graduation and will answer your questions.

Heather Darcy Bhandari (class of 1997)
Director
Mixed Greens Gallery
Degrees: MFA in Painting

Heather Darcy Bhandari is a director of Mixed Greens Gallery in New York City. She has curated over forty exhibitions at Mixed Greens.

As part of Brown Degree Days, Brown Women in Business invites you to our Industry Panel this Saturday, November 6th, 11:00am-12:00pm in Wilson 101. A group of business professionals representing three different industries will be speaking and answering questions related to their respective careers.

Concentrations represented are COE, Economics and Biology (from Brown), as well as English and Political Science (from Tufts University).

Matt Hostettler (class of 2006)
Private Equity Analyst
Nautic Partners

Mr. Hostettler will be speaking about his experience in middle market private equity firms. Before joining Nautic Partners in 2008, he was employed at Lehman Brothers.

Amy Hunkler (class of 2008)
Senior Analyst
Health Advances, Inc.

While at Brown, Ms. Hunkler served as a Quality Assurance Intern at Takeda Pharmaceuticals in her senior year. Ms. Hunkler double concentrated at Brown in Biology and Economics

Mary Sadlier (class of Tufts University '90)
Executive Vice President
(add)ventures
Degrees: MBA Providence College '99

Ms. Sadlier has worked as Manager of Communications for Southcoast Health System, Manager of Public Relations for St. Luke's Hospital and Associate of Member Relations for The Advisory Board Company.

Alison Fairbrother
Director
Public Trust Project

Cari Mailloux
Executive Director
Global Health through Education, Training, and Service

Aaron Wee (class of 2010)
MA Candidate
Brown University

Paul Block PhD
Director
Psychological Centers
Degrees: PhD

Paul Block graduated from Brown with a BA in Psychology and Philosophy and got his PhD at NYU. He was faculty at the University of Denver and followed a path into clinical administration.

Patricia Fox ScM
Biostatistician
American College of Radiology
Degrees: ScM

Patricia Fox graduated from Brown with a BA in psychology and an ScM in Biostatistics. She works as a biostatistician and teaches a SAS programming course to graduate students.

Eliza Lane
Doctoral Student in Clinical Psychology
Mass. School of Professional Psychology

Eliza Lane graduated with honors from Brown in psychology. Then she worked as a Research Assistant and a Treatment Teacher at the Groden Center. She is now a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology.

Jason Machan PhD
Research Associate, Assistant Professor
Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University
Degrees: PhD

Three Brown alumni who concentrated in Anthropology will speak about their time at Brown as well as answer questions about their careers in medicine, higher education, and a non-profit.

Geoffrey M. Burns, M.D. (Family Physician at Newton-Wellesley Hospital)
Rebecca Y. Starr (Assistant Director of Admissions at Brown University)
Hannah R. Mellion (Market Mobile Coordinator at Farm Fresh Rhode Island)

Geoffrey Burns
Family Physician
Newton Wellesley Hospital
Degrees: M.D.

Hannah Mellion
Market Mobile Coordinator
Farm Fresh Rhode Island

Rebecca Starr
Assistant Director of Admissions
Brown University

Josh Biber '04 is the founding Executive Director of Teach for America in the Greater Boston region, where he also served as director of new site development, laying the groundwork to establish the region. A 2004 Phoenix corps member, he was the regional recipient and national semi-finalist for the Sue Lehmann Excellence in Teaching Award. Josh graduated with honors from Brown University in 2004 and earned a M.Ed. from Arizona State University.

Josh Biber (class of 2004)
Executive Director
Teach for America, Greater Boston
Degrees: AB, M.Ed.

The Department of English, Nonfiction Writing Program, presents a panel discussion entitled "When Science is Personal." Three recent Brown alums, Rachel Aviv '04, Molly Birnbaum '05, and Casey Schwartz '04, will discuss writing narrative nonfiction informed by scientific research. They will offer perspectives on how they have bridged the chasm between the humanities and the hard sciences through their nonfiction writing.

Rachel Aviv (class of 2004)
Science Writer

Molly Birnbaum (class of 2005)
Science Writer

Casey Schwartz (class of 2004)
Science Writer

Alisa Ballard (class of 2009)
Graduate Student
Princeton Univesity

Alice Lovejoy
Professor
University of Minnesota

Are you interested in a career that can make a positive environmental impact? Come meet alums of the Center for Environmental Studies as they discuss their varied environmental careers and how their time at Brown helped them in their career path. Alums will discuss their experiences on a panel, and then meet and mingle with students over hors d'oeuvres. This event will take place at the Urban Environmental Lab (135 Angell Street) on Friday, March 18 at 3 PM.

Maysa Jarudi (class of 2008)
Research Analyst
Industrial Economics, Inc.

Joshua Lehman (class of 2009)
Manager of Energy and Sustainability
EBI Consulting

Eugenia Marks
Senior Director of Policy
Audubon Society of Rhode Island
Degrees: MA

Eugenia Marks is the senior policy director for Audubon Society of RI and serves as a liaison with governmental agencies and lobbyist in RI General Assembly.

Jeffrey Nield
Senior Project Scientist and Manager
ESS Group
Degrees: MA

eff Nield is a Senior Project Scientist and Project Manager for ESS Group Inc. – a leader in renewable energy and environmental consulting. He also has experience in environmental policymaking.

Sven Risom (class of 1981)
Managing Director
Kantar Retail
Degrees: MBA

Sven Risom, in consulting for the past 15 years, promotes sustainability on Block Island. He is President of the Committee for the Great Salt Pond, one of Block Island's environmental organizations.

Jennifer Ha Tan
Fundraising at Facing History and Ourselves

Jed Lippard
Head of School
Prospect Hill Academy

Lynn Rasic
Senior Vice President
National 9/11 Memorial and Museum

Heather Velez
News Show Assistant, The Takeaway
WNYC Radio

Christine Wilt
Feature Producer
HBO Sports

Pane discussion about career possibilities with a degree in Economics. Featured speakers are all Brown alumni and work in various fields and positions including the President of Football Outsiders, Inc., Associate at Bain Capital Private Equity, President of Composite Energy Technologies / Goetz Boats, and Product Development Manager at CVS Pharmacies.

Justin Glavis-Bloom (class of 2007)
Associate
Bain Capital Private Equity

Chase Hogoboom (class of 2003)
President
Composite Energy Technologies / Goetz Boats

Aaron Schatz (class of 1996)
President
Football Outsiders, Inc.

Veronica Vacca (class of 2001)
Product Development Manager
CVS

Harold Nahigian
investor

Michael Richman
Section Lead Image Processing

Lisa Shea
Associate Medical Director
Butler Hospital

David Gernert, former editor-in-chief of Doubleday and founder and head of The Gernert Company literary agency, will speak about careers in publishing, editing, and agenting.

David Gernert
Founder and Agent
The Gernert Company

David Gernert spent the first 14 years of his publishing career at Doubleday. He left in 1996 to start The Gernert Company, believing his experiences gave him unique insight into representing authors.

Join GNSS alumni to discuss how they were able to find diverse career paths with a degree in gender and Sexuality Studies.

Kate Cook
Director/Attorney
Cabinet Affairs for Governor Deval Patrick

Nicole Raphaelson
Finance
Seal Cove Investment Advisors

Robert Smith III
Non Profit Work
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

Refreshments at 5:30pm allowing for the chance for interaction between students, faculty, and any alumni who decide to attend, as an invitation has gone out to Urban Studies alumni. Afterward, at 6:30pm there will be a panel discussion with alumni from Urban Studies.

Renee McKinney (class of 1987)
Medical Doctor

Anne Patin (class of 1987)
Seward & Kissel's Litigation Group

Come hear a diverse group of Engineering alumni discuss how their concentrations led to a variety of career paths. Find out how they got started, what career options they chose, and what they are doing now.

Adam Greenbaum (class of 2008)
Space Systems Engineer
Draper Laboratory

As a systems engineer focused on space applications, Adam helps define system architectures and refine system requirements for satellites, rockets, and other space based hardware and software.

Kevin Kingston (class of 2001)
Manager, Corporate Development Group
InterGen

Kevin works on the development, design and construction of large energy infrastructure projects with InterGen. He is now working on a project for a greenfield natural gas power plant in Mexico.

Dionne Nickerson (class of 2005)
Team Leader - Energy & Environmental Assessments
Foresight Science & Technology

Dionne works with a host of Small Business Innovation Research awardees, university innovators, and government lab researchers, providing commercialization strategies for early-stage technologies.

Michael Romito (class of 2005)
Senior Hardware Verification Engineer
Oracle

Mike's group at Oracle specializes in the design and verification of ASIC and SOC components for processor, memory, and I/O interfaces.

Julie Sygiel (class of 2009)
CEO and Founder
Sexy Period

Julie is the CEO & Founder of Sexy Period, an up-and-coming intimate apparel company that created a patent-pending line of leak resistant underwear.

Krystyn Van Vliet (class of 1998)
Associate Professor
MIT

Krystyn is currently an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT.

2010 is the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Semiotics Program & 15th anniversary of MCM's establishment as a department. This will be a 2 day symposium to celebrate these two anniversaries (by adding them together) and to showcase the work of our alumni. It will be held on April 8 +9. Former concentrators and grad students of Semiotics/MCM will appear on special panels addressing current undergraduates. 4/8 7pm-9pm: artists/producers panel. 4/9: 930am-7:30pm

Ed Ball (class of 1982)
Alum

Noted columnist and author of the 1998 National Book Award-winning Slaves in the Family

Fiona Barnett (class of 2001)
Ph.D. candidate
Duke University

Ph.D. candidate, Literature, Duke University

Rebecca Baron (class of 1991)
Artist

Faculty member at CalArts Program in Film, award-winning experimental and documentary filmmaker of Okay Bye-Bye

Wendy Chun
Professor of Modern Culture and Media
Brown University

new media and comparative media theory, theoretical and historical studies of code and race

Mary Ann Doane
George Hazard Crooker Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University
Brown University

She works in the areas of film theory, feminist film studies, cultural theory, & semiotics. She has written on photography, television, and digital media as well.

Coco Fusco (class of 1982)
Chair of the Fine Art Department at Parsons/The New School for Design

New York based interdisciplinary artist. Performed, lectured, exhibited and curated throughout North and South America, Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan.

Alex Galloway (class of 1996)
Associate Professor

Associate Professor of Culture and Communication, NYU. Founding member of software collective RSG and creator of the data surveillance engine Carnivore.

Ira Glass (class of 1982)
Creator and Director

Creator, director, and host of the acclaimed radio broadcast This American Life

Todd Haynes (class of 1985)
Film Director

Academy award-nominee and director of films that include Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven, and I'm Not There.

Michele Higa (class of 2004)
Artist

Founding organizer of the visionary Chaise as an undergraduate. Current member of the Mixtape Club, a digital animation group

Roger Mayer
Professor Emeritus of Modern Culture & Media and Art/Semiotics
Brown University

Ona Nierenberg (class of 1980)
Psychoanalyst in private practice

Psychoanalyst in private practice. Clinical psychologist in the AIDS program at Bellevue Hospital. She has published several articles on psychoanalysis and science.

Scott Pagano (class of 2000)
Artist

Hybrid fine artist and independent creative professional recognized for his high-end, multi-media works

Bob Scholes
Professor Emeritus of Modern Culture and Media
Brown University

Michael Silverman
Professor Emeritus of Modern Culture & Media
Brown University

Duncan Smith
Professor Emeritus of Modern Culture & Media and Literature & Society
Brown University

Althea Wasow (class of 1997)
Ph.D. candidate, UC Berkeley

Ph.D. candidate, UC Berkeley, Writer and director of the wannabe, Best Short Film, HBO's New York International Latino Film Festival, 2006

Lauren Zalaznick (class of 1984)
President, NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks

President of NBC Universal Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, oversees Bravo Media, Oxygen Media, iVillage

Join Philip Sanchez '05 and Alexeis Almonte '00 for a panel discussion about career possibilities with a degree in Ethnic Studies. Snacks and Refreshments will be provided!

Alexeis Almonte (class of 2000)
Manager, Learning and Development
Athenahealth

Philip Sanchez (class of 2005)
Manager, Philanthropic Initiatives
Time Warner

Panel discussion with various PoBS Alumni in different career fields. Food and refreshments will be provided.

Deborah Moore
City Attorney
City of Meriden, Department of Law

Alicia Svenson (class of 1997)
Preservation Architecture

Peter DuBois '97, Artistic Director of the Huntington Theatre Company, and playwright Stephen Karam '02 will discuss developing new work and artistic collaboration in the theatre, followed by a Q&A with students. Peter is directing the premiere of Stephen's new play, Sons of the Prophet, this month. The play is about two brothers, young, gay and having a hell of a year. Their father has died and their uncle is losing it, putting the brothers' once unbreakable sense of humor to the test.

Peter DuBois (class of 1997)
Artistic Director
Huntington Theatre Company

Stephen Karam (class of 2002)
Playwright

Our three panelists will share their experiences and insight on international business and global relations, from educational, diplomatic, and commercial perspectives.

Cathryn Cluver (class of 1999)
Executive Director
Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School

Susan Farrell (class of 1972)
Senior Director
PFC Energy

Nicholas Phillips (class of 2004)
Director of High School Programs
Cambridge Institute of China Business Research

Join the Independent Concentration DUG in welcoming Brown alumni back to campus for a panel discussion about the career paths that they have chosen and how their concentration helped them arrive at these professions.

Erica De Rosa
Director of Development at the American Repertory Theatre

Erica develops new audiences and donors on a local and national level through a philanthropy and donor relations program at A.R.T.

Pamela Heller
President of the Board of Directors of Project Morry

Pamela serves on the Board of Project Morry, a youth development organization for at-risk children and works on several committees at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

Sarah Jay
Online Retailer at Paellapans.com

Founded by Sarah Jay, La Paella has been selling paella pans and other Spanish products on the internet for over a decade. "We are direct importers, and we sell direct to consumers and retailers."

Lena Groeger
Science Journalist

Mr. Andrew Huddleston
Graduate Student

Alex Klibaner
Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts

The Philosophy Department Brown Degree Day Event will be a panel discussion featuring three Brown Alumni who will discuss the career paths that they have chosen and how concentrating in Philosophy has helped them arrive at their current professional positions.

Lena Groeger (class of 2008)
Graduate Student/Science Journalist

Lena Groeger '08 studied biology & philosophy at Brown University & took classes next door at the RSID. She is currently a graduate student at NYU, pursuing a degree in science journalism.

Andrew Huddleston (class of 2006)
Ph.D. Student
Princeton

Andrew Huddleston '06 is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Philosophy Dept. at Princeton University and a Graduate Prize Fellow at the Princeton University Center for Human Values.

Alex Klibaner (class of 1995)
Assistant Attorney General
Massachusetts Attorney General's Office
Degrees: J.D.

Alex Klibaner '95 is an Assistant Attorney General in the Insurance and Financial Services Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.

12:00-1:15 pm Buffet lunch for faculty and alumni @ Barus & Holley lobby
1:30-2:30 pm Keynote Speakers
2:30-3:30 pm Panel Discussion (five alumni have been invited; we are waiting for confirmation) @ Barus & Holley 168
3:45-5:00 pm Refreshments and roundtable discussions with students @ Barus & Holley lobby
5:00-5:45 pm Faculty Presentation @ Barus & Holley 190

Matthew Bowen (class of 2000)
Senior Advisor
Office of Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy

Xi-Cheng Zhang (class of 1986)
Director
Center for THz Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Mr. Daniel Hausmann (class of '05)
Learning Specialist
Google

Join Fiasco Theater co-artistic directors Noah Brody MFA '05 and Ben Steinfeld '01 MFA '05 for a conversation on founding a brand new theatre company and producing work for the New York stage. Fiasco has recently produced CYMBELINE and company members have performed on Broadway in BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Professor Lowry Marshall with moderate the discussion, followed by a Q&A with students at 5:30.

Nice Slice Pizza will follow the panel!

Noah Brody
Co-Artistic Director and Head of Producing
Fiasco Theater
Degrees: MFA '05

Ben Steinfeld (class of '01)
Co-Artistic Director and Head of Artistic Development
Degrees: MFA '05