Class Notes

Hartman King, MBA, of Laguna Beach, Calif., was awarded another patent (11,793,190) for his AI-driven, species-specific agricultural and commercial animal deterrent technology. See more at animaldeterrenttechnologies.com.

Abbey Morrow, JD, of Atlanta was promoted to senior corporate counsel at global conglomerate Cox Enterprises.

Patty Conboy Nielson, MEd, of Ogden, Utah, was selected as the Utah School Counselor of the Year for 2023–24 out of approximately 1,500 counselors in the state of Utah. She represented Utah at the American School Counseling Association Gala in Washington, D.C., during National School Counseling Week in February.

Maria Carr, BMus, of Cleveland recently was elected to membership in the business advisory and advocacy law firm McDonald Hopkins. She focuses her practice on corporate restructuring, commercial bankruptcy, business counseling and creditors’ rights matters. She is a member in the firm’s Strategic Advisory and Restructuring Department.

Eva Dossier, JD, of Metairie, La., was selected in September 2023 as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Dossier’s appointment is pending completion of a successful background investigation. She was a law clerk to Judges Lance M. Africk of the Eastern District of Louisiana and James B. Loken of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals before entering private practice as a litigator. She was most recently a member of Stanley Reuter Thornton & Alford.

Claire McKeever-Burgett, MDiv, has written Blessed Are the Women (Chalice Press, 2024), which celebrates the influential women of Christianity through a blend of storytelling, poetry and prayer. McKeever-Burgett celebrated her book release at Parnassus Books in Nashville on Feb. 28.

Amaobi Enyinnia, BA, has been named to the partnership at law firm Lightfoot Franklin & White in Birmingham, Ala. Enyinnia’s practice focuses on commercial litigation, transportation, personal injury and product liability. In addition, he defends physicians confronting medical malpractice claims. Enyinnia plays a key role in the firm as a member of Lightfoot’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and serves as a resource for recent law graduates through his work with chapters of the Black Law Students Association.

Jason F. Lovvorn, PhD, was promoted to professor of English at Belmont University in Nashville, where he has served as assistant director of the Teaching Center and director of the Writing Program. He is the English Department’s internship coordinator.

Claire Coenen, MEd, MTS’17, of Nashville had poetry exploring the theme of faith and justice published in Salvation South in September 2023.

Miranda Diebel, BA, and Aaron Houghton were married Feb. 3 in Charles Town, West Virginia. The intimate ceremony was attended by Vanderbilt alumni Camille Maginas Adams, BA’12, and Vanessa Arredondo, BA’12. Miranda and Aaron reside in Alexandria, Va.

Tracey Elizabeth Gilliland, MBA, and Shawn Stephen Shirley were married in Cape May, N.J., Oct. 21, 2023, with several Owen 2013 and 2014 alums in attendance. Tracey also recently joined the Energy & Resources leadership team at Baringa Partners in Houston.

John Leezer, EMBA, and his wife, Claire, have purchased a Bruster’s Real Ice Cream franchise in Brentwood, Tenn. Their ice cream is made fresh in the store every day by their ice cream makers. He writes, “If you are ever in the Brentwood or Nolensville area, stop by, grab a scoop and know you’ll be helping to support our 5 kids—6th grade down to 17 months.”

Racquel “Roxy” Martin, BA, recently joined PepsiCo Inc., as a legal director in Employment Law and Human Rights based in Plano, Texas. She will manage single-plaintiff and class action employment litigation for all U.S. sectors and provide advice and counsel to Human Resources business partners.

Anne Marie Mills, MBA, of Indianapolis started a new business in 2023 as a travel advisor with Cruise Planners. She’s booking trips such as an all-inclusive in Mexico, a cruise through the Caribbean, a land tour around Italy and a well-being cruise in the Mediterranean. She writes, “If you want to learn more, give me a shout!”

10th Reunion November 7–10, 2024

Andrea Katherine McClain, EdD (Peab), of Vista, Calif., was recognized as the 2023 recipient of the University of California–Davis C-STEM Elementary Distinguished Principal award. Her first book, Educating the Military Connected Child: A Professional Development Handbook for Educators and Policy Makers, was published in October 2023 and is available on Amazon.

Whitley O’Connor, BS, of Oklahoma City is the director of Curbside Enterprises, a series of nonprofit social enterprises providing employment and job training to people experiencing and transitioning out of homelessness in Oklahoma City. In May 2023, Whitley launched his fourth social enterprise, Curbside Apparel, a full-service screen printing shop. Since launching this organization in 2013 during his senior year at Vanderbilt, Curbside Enterprises has housed nearly 400 people and helped clients earn more than $6 million. It currently employs 175 people across all four programs.

Alexandra Cammarota Smith, BS, and Austen Smith, BS’15, of Houston announce the birth of their daughter, Beatrice Lois Smith, in August 2023.

Anders Carlson-Wee, MFA, of Los Angeles published his poetry collection Disease of Kings (W.W. Norton) in October 2023.

Kendra Osborn Delaney, BA, MSN’17, PhD’21, and her husband, Patrick Delaney, BA’14, MBA’21, of Nashville welcomed a daughter, Caroline Adams Delaney, on Sept. 19. They write, “Caroline is already enjoying cheering on the ‘Dores!”

Edgar Kunz, MFA, of Manchester, Conn., published his poetry collection Fixer (Harper Collins) in August 2023.

Nicole Altamirano, BA, and Patrick Mullin, BA, were married on Sept. 30 in New York City.

Lydia Jane Harmon, MS, PhD’22, of Sugar Land, Texas, had a large portion of her research for her Ph.D. published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research in a pair of papers. Part one was published through ScienceDirect in January; part two followed in March. The work focuses on a supereruption in New Zealand called the "Whakamaru group eruptions" that occurred 350,000 years ago. The co-authors include Guilherme Gualda, professor of Earth and environmental sciences, and international collaborators Darren Gravley and Sarah Smithies of the University of Canterbury.

Lucy Rahner, BA, of New York City recently had two large-scale paintings permanently installed in St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village, one of the oldest Catholic churches in New York City. The paintings flank what is thought to be the oldest fresco in the United States.

Austin Vitaliano, BMus, of Springfield, Va., was invited to sing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Dec. 14–17, 2023, for Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Jay Harper, MBA, of Decatur, Ga., is director of Industry Operations for Healthcare, Education and Government at Workday. Previously, he was a principal value manager at Workday.

Zheng Huang, MBA, of Nashville recently caught up with his friend, Daniel Haase, MBA, at M.L. Rose Craft Beer and Burgers.

Emma Noyes, BA, and Peter Burke, BS, of Dorchester, Mass., were married Sept. 16 on Cape Cod. They write that they “celebrated with numerous family and friends, including many fellow Vanderbilt graduates from their respective fraternity (Sigma Nu) and sorority (Delta Delta Delta), as well as programs like ASB, and even a freshman-year roommate or two!

Thomas Sheeren, MBA, and his wife, Elena, announce the birth of their second child, Julia, in June 2023. He writes that Julia “and our oldest, Lucia, are both healthy and keeping us busy.”

5th Reunion November 7–10, 2024

Julianna Darby, BMus, is in a new position with Atlanta Symphony as second clarinet for a year and a half term. She earned her master’s at Eastman and has been a clarinet fellow at New World Symphony since January 2022.