Class Notes
2013
Eric K. Ham, MPP'04, recently authored the report, S.O.S. A U.S. Strategy of State-Building, which offers recommendations for confronting state fragility, using the Arab Spring as the test case, with the aim of developing a framework for addressing the issues wrought by weak states. More >>
2012
Juancho Eekhout, MPP’01, Director of Origination and Portfolio Design at San Diego Gas and Electric, was invited to the U.S. Capitol to address the House of Representatives Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus on energy policy.
Juan Rocha, MPP'03, was asked to provide expert commentary for PBS stations on the SB 1070 decision and its impact on immigration policy in Arizona.
Tarek Mahmassani, MPP '01, a senior analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), was charged with leading a review of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Don Laackman, MPP'09, was appointed the next president of Harold Washington College, the downtown campus of the city college system in Chicago. Laackman was previously principal at Civic Consulting Alliance.
Alexandra Holt, AM'92, was selected to be on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Government Reinvention and Budget Committee. Holt is an associate at Baker and McKenzie LLP.
Beth Swanson, MPP'02, was selected to lead the education transition team for incoming Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Swanson is executive director of the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation.
Aaron Win, MPP'08, co-authored a study that evaluated the cost-effectiveness of genetic testing in neonatal diabetes. Winn is a senior associate at Harvard University's ideas42.
2011
Cristal Thomas, MPP'01, was appointed deputy governor for public policy by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's deputy governor for public policy.
Terry Gillen, MPP'80, was recently named director of Federal Legislation for the City of Philadelphia.
2010
Laura Martinez, MPP'06, is now working as a senior program associate at The Finance Project in Washington, D.C.
Gaea Honeycutt, MPP'03, was recently appointed chairwoman of the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce 2011 Board of Directors.
David Wells, MPP'98, was appointed to be the new CFO of Netflix, effective Dec 10.
Mike Quigley, AM'85, easily retained his congressional seat in Illinois' 5th district by winning 72 percent of the votes.
A week after Election Day, Joe Walsh, MPP'91, the Republican candidate for Illinois' 8th congressional district, still awaits conclusive results of the election. As absentee ballots trickle in, Walsh has a 350-vote lead.
Nicole Naurath, MPP'06, recently relocated to Abu Dhabi where she is working as a Senior Analyst in the new Abu Dhabi Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. She is also continuing her data collection work for the Gallup World Poll.
Mary Joan McNamara, AM'78, is now a Federal Administrative Law Judge. She was appointed in 2009 after working as a trial and appellate lawyer for 22 years.
John Thomason, MPP'93, has recently been elected to the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Center of Chicago.
Margot Fahnestock, MPP’00, joined the staff of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in September. Fahnestock is a program officer in the Hewlett Foundation Population Program, which promotes voluntary family planning and good reproductive health around the world.
Steve Glazerman, PhD’98, was recently promoted to senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, DC, where he has worked since 1995. Glazerman’s research focuses on the use of student achievement data to measure teacher, school, and program performance.
Rebecca Janowitz, MPP’08, published her book Culture of Opportunity: Obama’s Chicago—The People, Politics, and Ideas of Hyde Park in May. It portrays the UChicago neighborhood as a springboard for Obama’s political career. Janowitz is a Chicago lawyer who has worked in politics and community affairs in Hyde Park for more than 20 years.
Eileen McCarthy, MPP’93, was selected for the 2010 Emerging Leaders Class by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The two-year program focuses on Chicago’s relationship to global policy issues. McCarthy is assistant vice president for global initiatives at the University of Chicago, where she oversees the development and management of University centers in China and India.
Nicole Naurath, MPP’06, recently moved to Abu Dhabi, where she works as a senior analyst at the new Abu Dhabi Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
Generation Earn, a new finance guide for young professionals written by Kimberly Palmer, MPP’04, was published in October. Palmer is a senior editor and personal finance columnist for US News & World Report.
Elizabeth Perlstein, AM’80, was among 38 women honored by Make Mine a Million $ Business, a nonprofit that supports women entrepreneurs seeking to grow micro-businesses, for growing their businesses past $1 million in revenue level last year. In October, she was recognized by Fortune as one of the Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs of 2010. Perelstein is the president of School Choice International, a New York-based global educational consulting firm working with families being relocated.
In Memoriam
Carlos F. Gomez (1958–2010) Carlos Gomez, PhD’90, a clinical professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, died in Washington, DC, on June 12, 2010. He was 52 years old.
A past member of the American Hospice Foundation and former medical director at the University of Virginia Health System’s Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, Gomez recently served as the medical director of the District of Columbia Pediatric Palliative Care Collaboration, which provides end-of-life care to children with life-threatening illnesses.
He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1991 and completed his residency in internal medicine three years later. Gomez also studied medical ethics and earned a doctorate in public policy from the Harris School, where he wrote a thesis on regulating death called “An Analysis of the Practice of Euthanasia in the Netherlands.”
His work has been instrumental in making palliative care part of the curriculum for medical students and residents at medical schools around the country. Gomez is survived by his mother, three brothers, one sister, and four children.
Doug Krupka (1974–2010) Alumnus Douglas Krupka, MPP’99, PhD’04, passed away in his sleep on June 23, 2010, after a brief battle with cancer. He was 36 years old.
Krupka worked as an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy (IRLEE) and a research fellow for the Institute of the Study of Labor (IZL) in Bonn, Germany. As an urban and regional economist, Krupka specialized in the dynamics of neighborhood change, the determinants of an area’s attractiveness to firms and workers, and residential sorting. In addition to his studies, he shared his expertise with Harris School as an invited speaker at academic workshops.
From 2007 to 2009, he was a senior research associate at IZL after spending three years at the economics department of Georgia State University in Atlanta. He majored in history and music at the University of Virginia. He is survived by his wife, Erin, and two children.
Update us on your life and career by e-mailing Jody Horowitz in our Alumni Relations Office at jhorowitz@uchicago.edu.
