Class Notes

Gessica Silverman, AB ’98, an abstract painter, was awarded a prestigious Traveling Fellowship by the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts for her artwork. Silverman will travel to Granada, Seville and Cordoba in southern Spain to tour such sites as Alcazar Palace, Casa de Pilatos and Alhambra. Silverman seeks to observe how Jews, Christians and Muslims used art, architecture, textiles and ceramics to express their coexisting beliefs. See her work at: www.gessicasilverman.com and on Instagram: GessicaSilverman.

Arthur Kwok, JD ’97, joined ­Houston-based Catalyze in April as their executive vice president, structured finance. Founded in 2017, Catalyze is on a mission to accelerate the large-scale transition to clean, renewable energy by making it easy and profitable to integrate smart energy resources into new and existing infrastructure. Backed by private equity firms EnCap and Actis, the company has been in Houston for five years, after spending more than 20 years in New York. Kwok, who sits on Catalyze’s management team and leads capital raising, was previously at Sunnova Energy.

Hunvey Chen, AB ’96, who recently celebrated her 18th year at HOK, was promoted to senior principal. Based in Los Angeles, Chen is the regional leader of health care, and her current work includes UCLA Neuropsychiatric Replacement Hospital, City of Hope Orange County Hospital, and VA Long Beach Inpatient and Outpatient Mental Health projects. She continues to be an avid Los Angeles Kings fan and rec league hockey player, most recently skating with the University of Southern California Women’s Ice Hockey team.

Stacy L. Leeds, AB ’94, was elected to the American Philosophical Society (APS) in 2024. Election to the American Philosophical Society honors extraordinary accomplishments in all fields. The APS is unusual among learned societies because its membership is composed of top scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines. Leeds is dean of Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. (For more on Leeds, see the 2023 Washington Magazine article “Empowering next-generation Indigenous leaders”: https://source.washu.edu/2023/08/empowering-next-generation-indigenous-leaders/.)

Shelli Altopp-Miller, MSW ’94, penned Where Your Treasure Lies (Westbow Press, June 2024), a novel set in rural Eastern Kentucky where Altopp-Miller and husband Phil Miller, MSW ’94, lived after graduating from WashU. The story centers around a young single mother, Candy Ratledge, who works for a home-health agency; an elderly homebound patient, Mr. Solomon, who has a storied past; and Dean, an outsider from Lexington, who is pursuing a relationship with Candy. The story explores themes of cultural norms and identity, betrayal, regional history, family conflict, faith, addiction, forgiveness and what one truly needs to be content. Shelli is a behavioral health therapist, and Phil is a college professor and in private practice. They live in the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Eric Schnall’s debut novel, I Make Envy on Your Disco (Zero Street/UNP, May 2024), has won the 2024 Barbara DiBernard Prize in Fiction. Schnall, AB ’92, is also a theatrical producer who won the Tony Award for the Broadway revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the Lucille Lortel Award for Fleabag. (For more on Schnall, see the 2017 Washington Magazine article “Part of the Broadway Landscape”: https://source.washu.edu/2017/02/part-broadway-landscape/.)

Zachary Hemmelgarn, AB ’92, is director of design and projects for Cipriani. Previously, he worked for 20 years with the designer Thierry Despont in Tribeca, New York. There he was project architect for the renovation of the Hotel Ritz in Paris, along with other prominent commissions. Hemmelgarn has one son who is a junior at Skidmore College in New York.

Marc Jedel, BS ’88, wrote Pride and Principal, his 10th humorous murder mystery (BGM Press, April 2024). The book — the sixth in his Silicon Valley series — is about a fashion-backward, bumbling software engineer, reluctantly turned amateur sleuth, who is armed only with the powers of self-delusion, the complete inability to leave a coherent voicemail message, and good attention to detail. Jedel also has published an Ozarks Lake Mystery series and a Redwoods Country Mystery series. Under the pen-name Marc Wayne, he published a sci-fi thriller called Quantum Reaction.

Irene M. Nigaglioni, AB ’87, MArch ’90, was elevated to the College of Fellows by the American Institute of Architects, the highest honor bestowed by the organization. AIA Fellows are recognized for achieving a standard of excellence in the profession and making a significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.

Alexander “Alex” S. Douglas II, AB ’86, a partner with the law firm of Shuffield Lowman, has been selected for inclusion in 2024 Florida Super Lawyers. Douglas is a founding partner of the firm, which practices in the areas of corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, high net worth planning and tax law, among others.