Books
The Land Has Memory
Tanya Thrasher, ’95, and Duane Blue Spruce have edited The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes, and the National Museum of the American Indian.
The book features the unique landscape surrounding the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington. Thrasher, of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has worked for the museum since 1998. She served on the project team that opened the museum on the National Mall in 2004, and she is now the museum’s assistant head of publications.
The museum’s landscape features four distinct habitats that portray the Chesapeake Bay region before European settlers arrived—hardwood forest, wetlands, meadows, and traditional croplands. The museum and the book introduce indigenous ways of thinking about land and its uses.
“Mother earth is the ultimate giver,” according to the book’s forward. “She reveals her beauty in countless variations.”
More alumni books
Abraham’s Bay & Other Stories. Jack Greer, G’73. Greer spins tales of people seeking adventure aboard sailboats in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
The Federal Art Project and the Creation of Middlebrow Culture. Victoria Grieve, ’94. Grieve explores how intellectual trends, government forces, and the New Deal’s Federal Art Project redefined American taste in visual art.
Invisible Scars. Catharine Dixon Dowda, W’70. Dowda examines all aspects of psychological abuse, offering insights and suggestions to both victims and abusers.
Some Worthy Women. Michael Foreman, R’63. Foreman provides biographical sketches of 115 notable women from the Winchester, Va., area, including singer Patsy Cline and author Willa Cather.
Reunion
Alumni win awards for distinguished service
The University of Richmond Alumni Association honored four of the University’s most outstanding graduates during Reunion Weekend.
Recipients of Awards for Distinguished Service are: Stephen Kneeley, R’85, Holly Payne, ’94, Amy O’Neill Richard, W’87, and Walter Stosch, B’59 and GB’84.
Kneeley is a senior partner of Logan Circle Partners, an asset management firm based in Philadelphia.
Payne is a novelist, screenwriter, and writing coach in the San Francisco Bay area. Her novels include The Virgin’s Knot, The Sound of Blue, and Kingdom of Simplicity.
Richard advises the director of the state department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in Washington.
Stosch has represented Henrico and Goochland counties in the Virginia General Assembly for more than 20 years. Last year he was named Republican leader emeritus.
Also during Reunion Weekend, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies presented its Tenth Year Reunion Recognition Award to Ben Wallerstein, ’99. He is a managing director of Dutko Worldwide, a Washington-based lobbying and public affairs firm.
The Jepson School also gave its Award for Leadership and Service to Greg Efthimiou, ’99, and Jonathan Zur, ’03, for co-chairing 150 Days in a Lifetime of Service, a campaign to promote and recognize community service among Jepson alumni.
Efthimiou is a communications manager for Duke Energy in Charlotte, N.C. Zur is chief operating officer of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
URAA
Alumni association elects new president
On July 1, Tracey Holgren Ivey, B’82, will become president of the University of Richmond Alumni Association (URAA).
Ivey lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and is director of consultant relations for Thompson, Siegel & Walmsley, an investment advisory firm based in Richmond. She has served the URAA Executive Committee as treasurer and most recently as a member-at-large.
Other URAA officers for 2009–10 are: Tripp Perrin, ’95, immediate past president; Rebecca Hancock Powers, B’76, vice president for outreach; Kelly Gribbin, ’02, vice president for membership; Sam Kaufman, ’99, vice president for planning and operations; Bill Ranson, R’64, secretary; Ryan FitzSimons, ’01, treasurer; Betty Ann Dillon, W’48 and G’49, historian; and three members-at-large, Craig Flinn, R’87, Matt Marrone, ’95, and Brandt Portugal, ’02.
New members elected to the URAA Board of Directors are Gayle Goodson Butler, W’73, and Wendy Haynes Eastman, B’76. Members elected to a second, three-year term include Otis Brown, R’56, Carla DeLuca, ’93, and Ken Kraper, ’05.
