Class Notes

Alison Small, LA04, is head of film at Brownstone Productions and helped the studio produce Cocaine Bear and Bottoms. The successful movies helped Brownstone play a significant role in bringing back the R-rated comedy, which has struggled to gain traction in the past years. Small told Variety magazine that the challenge of an R-rated movie “is that whenever there’s something that’s perceived as a failure, it just makes it harder and harder to get similar types of movies made.” Small had previous roles at Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks SKG and Warner Bros. Television Group.

Ashwin Unnikrishnan, LA03, was awarded an inaugural “Breakthrough Fellowship” by the Leukemia Foundation to support his lab’s research to develop more effective treatments for the blood disease. The valuable funds will help his lab pursue cutting-edge research for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by targeting RNA slicing, a molecular pathway that Unnikrishnan’s lab has discovered is frequently altered in people with AML. Unnikrishnan is a renowned cancer researcher and the head of the molecular mechanisms in the leukemia laboratory at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

Jason Simon Sheinkopf, EN03, is completing a master’s degree in computer science at Georgia Tech with a specialization in machine learning.

Renée Robichaux, LA03, penned a debut novel, Agent Gatz: A Great Gatsby Prequel (Loredan Publishing, September 2023). In the book, which Goodreads called “amazing historical fiction,” a young Jay Gatsby finds himself working as a foreign spy. The unexpected appearance of a woman from his past, famed journalist Ella Kaye, soon complicates his mission. Robichaux lives in Los Angeles and writes under the pen name R.M. Spencer.

Robin Wenneker, EMBA02, was elected chair of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, on which she has served since being appointed in 2020 by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson. Wenneker is managing partner of CPW Partnership, a family business that owns commercial, residential and agricultural land holdings. Earlier, she worked for Procter & Gamble, the 1996 Paralympic Games and Marketing Mix.

Tescha Hawley, SW02, was a finalist for the CNN Hero of the Year award in 2023. She was nominated for founding the Day Eagle Project, a nonprofit started to help Native Americans living on a reservation fight cancer. The nonprofit has since expanded to help with other medical needs and a food pantry to promote better nutrition. Hawley founded Day Eagle Project after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and faced the daunting challenges of navigating and receiving the health care she needed. She is a member of the Gros Ventre tribe.

Tobias T. Gibson, GR01, GR06, co-edited Red Reckoning: The Cold War and the Transformation of American Life (LSU Press, November 2023) with Mark Boulton. The book explores an array of topics, including the Cold War’s impact on national security, race relations, gun culture and masculinity, law, college football, advertising, music, film, free speech, religion and even board games. One review says, “Red Reckoning brings an important era back to life for those who lived through it and for students and scholars wishing to understand it.”

Shyam Bishen, PMBA99, was appointed head of the Centre for Health and Healthcare at the World Economic Forum. Bishen is a senior health-care executive and board member with over 25 years of global experience in health-care public-private partnership and strategy development. He joined the World Economic Forum in early 2022 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he was a regional/deputy director for seven years and was responsible for partnering to harness advances in health care to save lives. For a profile on Bishen, visit source.wustl.edu/2024/02/a-global-view-of-human-health.

Jennifer Sloop, LW98, was named senior director of legal recruiting and integration at the national law firm Quarles & Brady. She is based in the firm’s recently opened St. Louis office. Sloop leads the legal recruiting department, setting its strategic direction and objectives, while maintaining and strengthening its culture, diversity and quality standards.

Christine (Galofre) Allen, BU98, opened a new school building for Ark of the Rainbow, a school in India that she co-founded to help families overcome extreme poverty and prevent human trafficking.