Class Notes

Zachary Goldman, LA19, SW20, is in the doctoral psychology program at George Washington University.

Jacob Levitan, LA18, completed a master’s in international relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 2023. Prior to that, he lived and worked in Kazakhstan from September 2019–February 2020 working in think tanks focusing on international relations, specifically Russia. After Kazakhstan, he worked at the Caspian Policy Center and International Conflict Resolution Center. Levitan was one of three winners of the Munich Security Conference’s annual international Junior Ambassador Essay Competition for his short essay, titled “A Wasted Opportunity,” analyzing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Marina Peng, FA17, and Mee Jey, GF19, both were selected as a Craft Alliance’s Artist-in-Residence for the 2023–24 cohort. Their two-person exhibit Where to Begin When to End ran at the Staenberg Gallery at Craft Alliance in July. Peng and Jey’s work focuses on Asian American and Pacific Islander narratives and stories of immigration, cultural identity and isolation through textiles and videography.

Yifan Diao, SI17, GR21, was named to the Top 30 Under 30 list by the 2023 All-American Chinese Youth Federation (AACYF). The honor recognizes outstanding Chinese American innovators, entrepreneurs and future leaders. Diao was selected for AACYF’s list in the Academic Research Individual Achievement category for his accomplishments in materials research and innovation, including work in energy storage, conducting polymers and flexible electronics. He is a senior scientist at solar technology company LONGi.

Yvonne Osei, GA16, has her work on display through Jan. 1, 2024, at the Saint Louis Art Museum’s The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century. Osei is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans performance art, video, photography, textile design, garment construction and site-specific installations. In demand as a speaker, she has been a visiting scholar at universities in Ghana, Kansas and Indiana and given a TEDx talk in St. Louis. Osei also leads training sessions for business professionals at COCAbiz.

Emma Tyler, LA15, started work at the Environmental Protection Agency as the deputy associate administrator for house affairs.

Jeffrey Lee, GA15, Christopher Taurasi, GA15, and Lexi White, GA15, founders of Level Studio Architecture, recently won the 2023 Forge Prize for their EV Charging Infrastructure Concept. Their concept is defined by striking steel canopies that offer shade and vistas in an engaging space that loops and takes about 15 minutes to explore. The trio has been working together since meeting at WashU 10 years ago and is a little over a year into formalizing their office. They state there is no doubt that their dedication to materiality and craft shares a lineage to their time studying at Sam Fox.

Britt England, LW13, took a new role as commercial attorney and director for Flagship Facility Services, Inc., after more than 10 years of legal, contracts and business experience. She has a law license in D.C. and recently volunteered with the WashU Law 10-year reunion committee as class giving leader, raising donations from alumni for the annual fund.

Dennis James Sweeney, LA10, penned You’re the Woods Too (Essay Press, May 2023). Formally inventive and grounded in personal story, You’re the Woods lives in the thicket where the forest becomes human and the human becomes a journey into intimacy, flight and the need to find ourselves in the natural world.

Lauren Elizabeth Peters, LA10, wrote Fashion Before Plus-Size: Bodies, Bias, and the Birth of an Industry (Bloomsbury Academic, July 2023). It is the first book to trace the origins and history of plus-size fashion and the nature and evolution of weight bias in the fashion industry. Peters is an assistant professor in the Fashion Studies Department at Columbia College Chicago.