00 | Let's see what our classmates are up to for the New Year! Julie Todisco Mitchell has been very busy lately. She received an MS in manufacturing engineering in 2001 at Boston U. and is now working at Sun Microsystems as a mechanical and manufacturing engineer. Julie then married Paul Mitchell Jr. and ran the Philadelphia Marathon all in the same year! Cornell couple David Garlough and Donna Ress '02 got married at Sage Chapel on June 25, 2005. Donna is the editor at Body and Soul magazine, and Dave works in enterprise sales for Hewlett Packard. Ernesto Jimenez Jr. and Melissa Rosas were fortunate enough to have two weddings--one in Miami through the Florida court system on March 28, 2005, and one in New York through the Catholic Church on June 4, 2005. The couple then headed to Hawaii for their honeymoon. As Ernesto says, "The rest is history waiting to be made." Ernesto has postponed pursuing his MBA and is currently the international regional manager for Emerson Electric.Melissa has one more year to complete her master's in elementary education and is the director of a private elementary school located in Doral, FL. Her ambition is to open up her own daycare/elementary ed institution some time in the future.

Wedding bells were also ringing for Kim Harris and Mike Greiner. The adorable couple, who have been together since our college days, were wed on August 7, 2004 at Sage Chapel as well. Nicole Cain and Melissa Paul were bridesmaids. Keith Moss '99, JonWilkenfeld '99, Steve Chin '99, and Chris Comarato '99 were groomsmen. Kim and Mike had a lovely honeymoon in France. Kim is in her third year of veterinary school at the U. of Pennsylvania, and Mike works as a project manager for Toll Brothers Inc. Best wishes to you all!

There have also been many changes in our friends' lives. Heather Foulks decided to transfer from the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, to the Four Seasons Resort in Jackson Hole,WY. She is the assistant F&B manager and is looking forward to fly-fishing and learning how to ski. She also had the honor of being in the wedding party for Julie-Ann Dittmer, who recently married Sean Armstrong. Stephanie Wilmot started a new job as a "Team-in-Training" manager for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The program trains volunteers for endurance events such as marathons and century rides. In return, the participants raise funds to cure blood cancer and improve the lives of patients and their families.

Maryam Khan quit corporate law practice due to interest in development projects. She is now working in the dual capacity of a legal advisor and operations associate at KASHF Foundation, an organization that works with women from low-income households to empower them financially and socially.Maryam is also learning to play the tabla, a South Asian percussion instrument belonging to the drum family! After four years at Sherwin-Williams, Michelle Fischman is still enjoying her job as a recruiter and has taken on some human resources generalist duties. She is also attending Rutgers U. in pursuit of an MBA.

Shirley Puiwa Li is working at Credit Suisse First Boston, and Anthony Mingione is practicing labor and employment law at Lum, Danzis, Drasco & Positan LLC in Roseland, NJ. Jesse Veverka entered an MS/PhD program in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell.He was also a US Fulbright grantee to South Korea in 2002- 03. Benjamin Ufer works at Lehman Brothers on 7th Avenue in NYC, while Liliana Vidal-Quadras works for GlobalPack, a leading producer of packaging products for the consumer goods industry in the Americas. Liliana is based out of the corporate headquarters in Miami, FL, and directs all of the company's marketing and sales efforts. She says this is a wonderful business to be in.

Cate Beirne is an account manager for GE Silicones in Chicago, and Jennifer Dickman, MAT '01, is a middle school science teacher for the NYC Dept. of Education in Queens.Minna Kwon finished her stint as director of finance at the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott, then became the director of revenue analysis for the NYC midtown Marriott Hotels. She is excited to be back in the city! Benjamin Kuhn and Matthew Bruntel both earned their Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Connie Chen has been traveling around the world with other Cornellians. Her most recent excursions included Spain, Athens,Mykonos, and Santorini. She also spent the holidays in Mexico,Hawaii, and Taiwan. Connie hopes to make it to Morocco one day. She received her JD from Boston College Law School and interned with UNICEF. Connie would like to pursue a legal career in either real estate or family law. She keeps in touch with Catherine Chow, who is a successful spa/high-end luxury clothing boutique owner in the hippest area in San Francisco. It's called Azalea and it's on Hayes St., so if you're in the area, drop on by! Their theme is to "shop around the world" for you.

If you, too, have a new business to tell us about or a new story to share with us, make sure you fill out your class News Form and send it our way! Or write us directly. We love hearing from you and we love writing for you! -- Andrea Chan, amc32@cornell.edu; Christine Jensen Weld, ckj1@cornell.edu.

01 | In just six months we will be returning to campus for our first reunion on June 8-11, 2006. The Class of 2001 Reunion Headquarters will be in Clara Dickson, and if you would like to help with reunion preparations, please send an e-mail to classof2001_reunion@cornell.edu. In addition to our June reunion festivities, Nathan Connell, Trina Lee, Seema Prasannakumar, and Diana Tyler are leading a committee of more than 30 classmates for our 5th Reunion Campaign. Our class goal is to raise $75,000 from 600 donors, including 65 Giving Society members and seven Tower Club members. Thanks to those of you who have already supported our efforts by making a gift to Cornell. If you haven't had a chance to make your gift yet, please join us! Gifts can be made online at www.alumni.cornell. edu/giving.htm or by calling 1-800-279-3099.

Julie Bassett and her husband Patrick Kelly celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary on January 1, 2006. Julie graduated from Wake Forest School of Law and the couple recently bought a house in southern Maine. Congratulations also to Jonathan Benaknin on his graduation from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine last June. Greg Giusto received his master's in public health from the U. of Michigan last April and is living and working in Washington, DC, as an analyst with the healthcare team for the US Government Accountability Office. Last year was a busy one for Mona Arif. In May she graduated from medical school at the U. of Rochester and then in August married Adil Haque in Michigan. Classmates in attendance included Kristin D'Aco and Seema Saifee. Now living in the San Francisco Bay Area,Mona would love to reconnect with Cornell friends and can be reached at monakarif@yahoo.com.

In a beautiful Mexican-themed wedding, Brooke Sinnes married Enrique Trinidad Martinez at Cain Vineyard on July 3, 2005 in St. Helena, CA. Cornellians in attendance included matron of honor Jenni Washburn Higgs, Caroline Williams, Kristal Yee, Katrina Dryer, and Trina Lee. In addition to working as an associate landscape architect for Chandler Landscape Architects, which specializes in residential, hotel, winery, and environment work in the Napa area, Brooke also teaches classes on knitting, weaving, spinning, and natural dyeing.

Following Brooke's wedding, Jenni flew to Africa in September to see her husband, Lt. Dan Higgs '00, who was there working for the United Nations. In Africa they spent time in Ethiopia and Egypt, leisurely making their way down the Nile via cruise, train, plane, and camel. This past fall, Jenni began her doctoral studies in English at Northwestern U., while Dan began the MBA program at U. of Chicago in January. Kristal Yee has worked for TIAA-CREF, a pension fund in NYC, since graduation. In the past year she traveled to Madrid for work and Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and Scotland for pleasure. Katrina graduated from Boston U. School of Law in May 2005, where she concentrated in litigation and dispute resolution. This past summer she sat for both the Massachusetts and New York Bar exams, spent some time hiking and kayaking on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, and cruised the inside passage of Alaska.

Last summer, Trina Lee was able to reconnect with Jamie and Amira Abuzeid Aycock and their sons Noah, 3, and Benjamin, 2, in Dallas, TX. Jamie graduated from Harvard Law School in June 2005. After taking the Texas Bar exam in August, he and his family bid farewell to Boston and several Cornell friends, including Morgan and Emily Gangemi Campbell. Emily spent the summer on an archaeological dig in Turkey and then set out for a year in Greece as part of her PhD in classical archaeology. Morgan, who will continue working on his MDiv from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary from Greece, is working on developing a ministry to international students and refugees while in Athens. After leaving, Jamie and Amira made a long, leisurely road trip to Austin, TX, where Jamie is working for a year as a briefing attorney to Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court. Along the way, they stopped in Manhattan and saw Reyko Huang, who is a researcher with the Int'l Peace Academy, and her husband of one year,Melvin Ooi. In central New Jersey they met up with Kristen Benedetto, who was just finishing her judicial clerkship with a federal magistrate before heading to work at a law firm.

Joan Leahy and Brendan Quigley were married on August 5, 2005 at the Riviera in Massapequa Park, NY. Among the Cornellians in attendance were classmates Kimm Maugeri, Luke Barefoot, Jocelyn Heyman, Joanne Schleifman, Sydney Chastain-Chapman, Louise Pullin, Melissa Levine, Kristina Klimovich, Laura Burak, Jess Sayles, and Dave Saunders. Joan and Brendan have since relocated to Washington, DC, where Brendan is attending Georgetown Law School and Joan continues to work for Deloitte as a senior consultant. Earlier in the year, Kimm was promoted to human resources representative at Amerada Hess Corp., where she has successfully initiated a Cornell externship program. In December, Luke completed his clerkship with the Hon. Rosemary Barkett on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and returned to the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb in NYC. Also practicing law, Jocelyn is an associate at Foley Hoag in Boston, MA, while Joanne is at Jones Day in Washington, DC. Now a "Brooklynite," Sydney is completing her master's in fine arts at Hunter College and has shown pieces at galleries in both New York and Los Angeles. Sydney is frequently in cahoots with fellow Brooklyn local Louise, who works at Macy's in midtown Manhattan.

Congratulations also to classmates Viki Lovei and Kevin Cuttica on their September wedding in Chicago, IL. Send news to -- Trina Lee, TKL6@cornell.edu; or Lauren Wallach, LEW15@cornell.edu.

02 | It is becoming colder by the day in Manhattan. Soon I will have to break out my fuzzy knee boots. The rain in New York has been atrocious. As it is, I have already slipped down the subway stairs. I had to sacrifice three umbrellas to that infamous inside-turned-out-because-of-the-wind scene. I need a strong, won't-go-inside-out umbrella. Any recommendations? Send them my way; I am tired of eating my mascara. As another graduation draws closer, I am again faced with the trauma and drama inherent in any job search. I have found that I could really use a secretary. Ahem, a personal assistant. Ahem, a cheerleader. Ahem, a Tom Welling look-alike.Wait, wrong dilemma . . . Moving on.

Shara Freeman, associate director of Cornell's Northeast Regional Office in Boston, wrote to tell me that Brook Dannemiller and NicoleMariani got hitched on August 13, 2005 in Newport, RI. I ran into Joey Karcinel (who now goes by "Joe") and Brad Unger at an alumni networking event in October at the Cornell Club. Both are working in Manhattan and looking quite dapper in their professional attire. Other alums within range of '02 included KimmMaugeri '01, KeithMambretti, and Jocelyn Schwartz '00.

Working in organizational development at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, I have had the pleasure of joining forces with fellow alum Jonathan Stearn '96, who has made an impressive career switch from engineering at PricewaterhouseCoopers to non-profit at-home healthcare. He was married October 2004 and lives in New York City with his wife Beth.

Rob Paderofsky returned in the spring of 2005 from two years in the Peace Corps, an hour north of Johannesburg. "A wonderful experience, and it's been easier than I expected to readjust to being back in the States," he said. Now living in Arlington, VA, he is looking to reconnect with old friends, so send him an e-mail at rmp20@ cornell.edu. Rich Hedge graduated from law school and is now working in New York City at a law firm downtown.

I hope you received your annual News and Dues mailing last fall. If you haven't sent it back yet, it's not too late. Join the class and send your news! You can also e-mail me directly. Happy New Year! -- Carolyn Deckinger, cmd35@comcast.net; Elizabeth Richards, ELR10@cornell.edu.

03 | Greetings from the Evergreen State! These past few months have been full of fun, surprise e-mails from fellow Cornellians with whom I had seemingly lost touch after graduation. I continue to have near-daily run-ins with Molly Hoyne, who is a co-worker at the hotel and who has moved out of being a restaurant manager and into banquet management. I was thrilled to hear from Stacie Chalfin, who has been all over the place since I last saw her. She wrote, "I worked at Bear Stearns in L.A. for a little over a year, spent some time in South America learning Spanish, then helped open a dessert restaurant in Cabo San Lucas,Mexico."Her latest adventure landed her in London, where she is working on her master's in tourism. "It has been a lot of randomness, but a lot of fun. I have been in London for two months now and it is really great." Zach Conine is continuing to work hard in Las Vegas and is forever dreaming up ways to propel himself and his accomplices into greatness.

Naval officer Tom Struble is still attached to his submarine, the USS Virginia out of Groton, CT, and enjoys living in Middletown with his fiancée Caitlin, an architect. Matt Haistings, our Army friend, was home from Iraq for two weeks in October; however, he has since returned abroad to finish up his year deployment. Yujin Chung, MEE '04, has finished a little over a year at Bain & Co. as an associate consultant, having worked in a variety of industries. He was honored as godfather to the recently born daughter of the Decker family. Such a title implies great responsibility--and age. Yujin also spent five days playing soccer for the annual Bain World Cup soccer tournament. While his team did not win the cup, he did manage to outdrink his international colleagues in a riveting game of Budweiser Boatrace. He writes, "I am still in Boston, though I travel to Philly for my case pretty often."

Annie Wickstrom lives in Miami, FL, and works for Ernst & Young in the hospitality advisory services department. After hearing that I was at the Fairmont Olympic in Seattle, she wrote to share a few memories of working at the Fairmont in Chicago. "That is where I worked after school for 18 months. I was at the strike in San Fran and made some amazing friends, who I miss very much. I've left operations for a more analytical career at EY. It's amazing--I'm covering Latin America and the Caribbean for our Transaction Real Estate Division. I do almost exclusively hotels. I'm perfecting my Spanish and getting tan."

No tans for me out here in Seattle! I hug my Starbucks coffee cup and run in and out of the rain while commuting into the city to the Fairmont, where I have quite happily settled in as the fine-dining manager of the Georgian Room. I continue to keep my doors open and am studying for the LSAT, which is rapidly approaching. All the best to the Class of 2003. Send me a shout if you get the chance! -- Samantha Buckingham, Sam_buckingham@hotmail.com; Sudha Nandagopal, sn58@cornell.edu.

04 | Marc Zawel has completed his first book! He writes, "After nearly two years of research, writing, and editing, Untangling the Ivy League 2006 is here. It's the first comprehensive guidebook of its kind--a hefty 550 pages, covering every imaginable aspect--from athletics and admissions to secret societies and famous pranks--at the nation's eight oldest, most respected and competitive schools. College Prowler, the book's publisher, has been praised by the critics, including the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times. Cornell played a tremendous role in how the book came together, in large part because it began as an independent study during my undergraduate years there. It features interviews with former president Jeffrey Lehman '77 and alumna Ruth Bader Ginsburg '54. The guidebook also never would've been possible without the help of about ten other Cornell students who provided research assistance. Untangling the Ivy League 2006 would make an interesting read for prospective, current, and former students. It's available at retail booksellers now and also on my website, www.marczawel.com."

On October 9, 2005, Christine Eckstaedt, former Cornell Varsity cross-country captain and track athlete, competed among 37,000 participants in the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. In her marathon debut, Christine finished 92nd among the women with a finishing time of 3:07:19, qualifying her for the Boston Marathon not only by the female time standard, but under the men's time standard as well. For a collegiate distance runner, intensive training was nothing new to her. "I started running with the DC Road Runners (DCRRC) last fall as a way to meet fellow runners, and began flirting with the idea of running a marathon. Chicago is recommended for a first marathon because it's flat and fast, and the crowd support is amazing. I signed up on a whim only days before the marathon hit capacity and registration closed. I began training seriously in July, running one long run and track workout a week with the DCRRC. The longest distance I ran before the marathon was 20 miles, and I was nervous about how the final 6.2 miles would feel.My strategy was to cruise through 18 miles and then to make a conscious effort to race the final 8, if I had anything left. That's just what I did, and I honestly enjoyed every step of it!" Christine plans on running the Boston Marathon in April. She aspires to someday run under three hours, placing herself among elite marathoners. Currently Christine resides in Washington, DC, and is a paralegal for Skadden, Arps, Slate,Meagher & Flom LLP.

Here's some news from Liore Milgrom-Elcott '03, MPS '05, who started with us, then graduated early. She writes, "There is no other time like right after graduation to just get up and go--and that's just what I did. After I received my MPS, I got on a plane and headed to Kanchipuram, India. Kanchipuram is a city near Chennai (Madras), in the state of Tamil Nadu, just 50 km inland from the coast that the tsunami devastated. I went there as a volunteer through American Jewish World Service to work with an organization called Rural Inst. for Development Education (RIDE). Through this organization, approximately 20,000 women have formed self-help groups that support and encourage economic independence and savings. I went there with intentions of developing their ecotourism services, but ended up involved in programming and marketing and even a documentary. I broached such issues as women's health, pollution, and advertising. After the tsunami hit we altered our focus toward the affected communities to understand what they needed and how we, with American-donated supplies, could provide for their needs. I am now back in New York. Though I still have my eye on international development, I am currently working for NYS Assemblywoman Amy Paulin."

Thanks to Liore, Christine, and Marc for sharing their stories with us. I hope to hear from you, too. Send your updates, and don't forget to join the Cornell 2004 Friendster and Facebook groups. Have a happy and healthy New Year! -- Vanessa Matsis, vgm3@cornell.edu.

05 | Many of us were able to attend our first Homecoming as alumni this year, and a huge win against Georgetown seemed like a great welcome back to campus. I hope everyone in attendance was able to meet up with friends and remember fondly how things were not too long ago. Unfortunately, I was not able to get back to campus, but from what I hear, some big things have changed in the short time since we left the Hill. Among the buzz, Dino's has completely changed its look under new ownership, and the area formerly known as Redbud Woods has left a void in the landscape bordering West Campus.

Like many classmates, I have been extremely busy with my new job. As a project intern at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia, I recently helped coordinate a public art exhibition called Chinatown In/flux (www.chinatowninflux.org), which runs from October 21, 2005 to January 29, 2006. In one of the first community-based arts projects of its kind, seven Asian-American artists from across the country engaged the Philadelphia Chinatown community through workshops, and created public works of art based on these interactions. In the end, eight different art projects were installed in and around Chinatown for the community and visitors to appreciate. The purpose of Chinatown In/flux is to dispel stereotypes about Chinatown and highlight the complex layers that make up the community.

I have also received some updates from classmates who are continuing their studies. Elisa Cruz is an MA student in Columbia U.'s Dept. of Organization and Leadership in the program of higher and post-secondary education. She will be graduating in May '06. Elisa reports that she is not the only classmate at Teacher's College: Kuanhui Leu '04 and Cara Daniels are pursuing higher degrees there as well. Danielle Terrazas Williams is a PhD student at Duke U. in the history department. She will be presenting a paper on the African Diaspora in Colonial Mexico at the Latin American Studies Association Conference this year, which will be held in Puerto Rico. Mark Eskenazi attends St. John's U. School of Law in Queens, NY, and was elected representative to the Student Bar Association in August 2005. Says Mark, "I miss Cornell so much and cannot wait to visit in the coming months!"

In other news, Nathan Shinagawa beat former Ithaca City Council member Joan Spielholz '73, BS Ag '81, and current graduate student Matthew Bishop to win the Democratic primary for Tompkins County Legislature in District 4, which represents West Campus and areas of Collegetown. Says Nathan, "I will never forget the effort and energy put into this election. Dozens of supporters were working the phones, knocking on doors, and encouraging people to vote all over the district.We contacted nearly a thousand voters and had a massive get-out-the-vote effort that increased voter turnout by more than 55 percent from years past.We showed the skeptics that when students, working people, and concerned citizens come together, we can beat even the most difficult odds." If elected on November 8, Nathan will be the youngest person in the Legislature by 17 years and the youngest elected official in the history of the Legislature. He will also be the first Asian American elected official in Tompkins County.

Other classmates have traveled far from Ithaca for their jobs. Alexandra Schwartz did brand consulting at Enterprise IG in London over the summer and has recently relocated to Los Angeles to work at L.E.K. Consulting, where she does consulting involving business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and shareholder valuations. I guess four years of Ithaca winters caused her to crave warmer weather. Mike LePage is busy as usual, interning for Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert in Washington, DC, through December.Mike hopes to eventually get a job in Speaker Hastert's office, or in the office of another prominent Republican. He reports, "So far it's been really crazy with the Katrina aftermath, the DeLay indictment, the budget controversy, and a lot of other stuff--but the craziness is more than offset by the fascination of working in the Capitol Building and seeing history occur in person."

It's no surprise that our classmates are up to such amazing things so soon after graduation. I'm glad that I have been able to remain close to many of my friends from Cornell, but for those of you who I have not spoken with in a while, don't be strangers! Regardless of how long it has been since you last talked to a friend from Cornell, all of those long walks in cold winters, late night coffee runs to CTB, and long talks in Uris when we should have been studying have forever connected us. Stay in touch, and keep the updates coming, however big or small. -- MichelleWong, mrw29@cornell.edu; and Matthew Janiga, mwj3@cornell.edu.