Class Notes

William (Bill) F. Tate IV, GM11, president of Louisiana State University, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Earlier, he served for 18 years as a professor and academic administrator at WashU.

Alexander Esche, EN10, earned a fellowship in the Society of Actuaries. He lives in Noblesville, Ind., with his wife, Melissa, a rabbit and four guinea pigs.

Jillian L. (Strominger) Schumacher, LA09, was named Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston, an annual award given to one attorney in Houston under the age of 36 who best demonstrates professional proficiency and service to the bar and the community. These same accomplishments earned Schumacher the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas award.

Amanda Bennett, LA08, is a licensed mental health counselor and qualified supervisor for mental health counselor interns in Florida, as well as a licensed professional counselor in South Carolina and West Virginia. She and Jon C. Calhoun were married Feb. 22, 2022, and after their big “2s Day” moved to South Carolina, where Jon teaches at Clemson University.

Judge Gardner III, EN07, was promoted to assistant to the president and CEO of Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas. Previously, he was director of corporate safety at Nicor Gas. Gardner, his wife, Dominique, and their two young daughters, Isabella (6) and Lindsey (1), have relocated from Chicago to Atlanta.

Anne Wynter, LA06, created her first picture book, Everybody in the Red Brick Building, and it has received an Ezra Jack Keats Honor award for writing. The book also received honors and recognition from the Junior Library Guild, the Writers’ League of Texas, The Boston Globe, and the Texas Institute of Letters, among others.

Robyn d’Avignon, LA06, assistant professor of history at New York University, wrote A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa (Duke University Press, August 2022). The book tells the history of West Africa’s centuries-old indigenous gold mining industries and its shared practices, prohibitions and cosmological engagements.

Karen Mayfield-Jones, LW05, litigation council for PRA Group, Inc., raised over $40,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and was awarded the nonprofit’s Community Involvement Award. She also was the runner-up for Illinois Woman of the Year. Mayfield-Jones first became involved with LLS over 15 years ago when she ran a marathon to fundraise for the organization. She has since completed multiple marathons, half marathons and century bike rides to raise money in addition to serving the organization as a running coach and fundraising mentor.

Jeff Maurer, BU04, was a Libertarian can-didate for Indiana secretary of state in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election. He says he ran “to give Hoosiers a verifiable, printed receipt for their vote, so they can see for themselves that their votes were counted as cast.”

Ross Linzer, LA04, joined King & Spalding LLP’s new Miami office as a partner in the firm’s trial and global disputes practice group. Linzer represents clients in commercial litigation, the defense of class actions and other transactional matters. He and his wife, Lindsey, live in Davie, Fla., with their sons, Noah and Zach.