Class Notes

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.”

Michael B. Cosmopoulos, GR86, GR91, the Hellenic Government-Karakas Foundation Professor of Greek Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in May 2022. Cosmopoulos has spent more than 30 years in research and scholarship on ancient Greece and is known for his work with the Iklaina Archaeological Project, which he directs.

Jim Avery, LA86, HS93, after 28 years as a general internal medicine physician at WashU, left in spring 2022 to devote more time to bone and mineralization disorders. Avery has been interested in this subject since 1983, when Louis Avioli, MD (1931–1999) and his research team at WashU hired him as an undergraduate biology student. A flight surgeon for the United States Air Force, Avery maintains and directs a wellness clinic at Nestlé Purina PetCare in downtown St. Louis.

Nancy K. Peterson, LA85, was honored with the 2022 Don Fiedler Excellence in Criminal Defense Award, bestowed annually to a member of the Nebraska Criminal Defense Bar by the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. Peterson was recognized for “her tireless dedication, boundless compassion and battle-honed wisdom.”

Pete Woods, LW84, a managing partner at St. Louis law firm Haar & Woods, LLP, was recognized in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the practice areas of commercial litigation and family law. He was also inducted into the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in November 2022.