Class Notes

D. Mara Lowenstein, LW96, was named the head of legal affairs for Beacon Platform Inc., a Wall Street firm that helps companies unlock the potential of modern technology. Lowenstein and her husband, Martin Schmaltz, a professor, live with their two dogs in Boston.

Qiu Xiaolong, GR92, GR94, received the 2022 Tradition of Literary Excellence Award, funded by the Municipal Commission on Arts & Letters of University City, Mo. A mystery writer, poet, translator and critic, Xiaolong has written 14 novels in his award-winning Inspector Chen series, which has been praised for its accurate portrayal of contemporary life in China.

Birgit Lennertz Sarrimanolis, GR92, authored a memoir, Transplanted (Cirque Press, 2022), which chronicles the trials of battling cancer against the backdrop of Alaska’s northern landscape. Her work has also appeared in Cirque Journal, Five on the Fifth, 49 Writers, Shark Reef and Medicine and Meaning. She lives in Alaska where she writes overlooking the Tanana Valley.

Beth Hendler-Grunt, BU92, the founder and president of Next Great Step, penned The Next Great Step: The Parents’ Guide to Launching Your New Grad Into a Career(Merack Publishing, September 2022). As the mom of a recent college graduate and a college sophomore, she has firsthand experience. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Craig L. Finger, LA92, a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, was selected to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Best of the Bar list featuring top lawyers in the Greater Philadelphia area. He was named to the pro bono category for leading a team that represented Philadelphia Youth Basketball, Inc., in the real estate acquisition, financing and corporate structuring of a $30 million basketball and community empowerment center in North Philadelphia.

Catherine Rankovic, GR90, published an essay, “Medusa’s Metadata: Aurelia Plath’s Gregg Shorthand Annotations,” in The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sylvia Plath. The essay is based on a paper Rankovic presented at the 2017 International Sylvia Plath conference held in Belfast, Ireland. For the paper, Rankovic cataloged and transcribed more than 200 Gregg shorthand annotations in books and letters held in Sylvia Plath archives at Indiana University and Smith College, which yielded new information about poet Plath and her mother, Aurelia.

Sandra Lin, LA90, in August 2022 began a new position as professor and chair of the Division of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Earlier, she worked 20 years in the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology, holding multiple leadership roles. She writes that she is excited to be living in Madison and back in the Midwest.

Rob Goldsteen, LA90, an internal medicine physician, transitioned from military medicine and as a flight surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to a 12-year stint as a professor at University of Texas Southwestern. He then became a residency director for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in South Carolina. For the past four years, Goldsteen has been the chairman of the Division of Clinical Medicine at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, New Mexico State University. He resides with his wife, Anne Weinberg, and their two daughters in Las Cruces, N.M.

Brian Gilbert, LA90, was hired by Village Roadshow Entertainment Group (VREG) to oversee newly launched Village Roadshow Sports. Gilbert, who is responsible for the development of VREG’s original slate of sports content, is working closely with VREG’s film and television divisions to amplify relevant sports themes in their respective slates.

Creig Houghtaling, EN86, SI91, and Kay Berra Houghtaling, EN86, proudly announce the birth of their first grandchild, Audrey June Devine, born in February 2022 to daughter Jessica Houghtaling, GM21, UC23, and her husband, Stephen Devine. Creig and Kay are enjoying retirement from Boeing and having time to be with their granddaughter. They write that “maybe someday, she will be the third-generation family member to attend WashU.”