Alumni Success: Careers after Completing an Education at St. John's College

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Public interest litigator, law school lecturer, writer, Oakland, California

About

As a deputy attorney general in the Office of the California Attorney General’s Public Rights Division, Rose Carmen Goldberg (SF06) litigates complex civil cases to protect vulnerable communities in her native California—cases that can affect potentially millions of people. “My cases have the reach of class actions, and I play a lead role in how they are fought,” she says. “Having a big impact as an individual is very fulfilling.” Rose also teaches veterans law at UC Berkeley School of Law and is a prolific op-ed writer on veterans, sexual assault, and mental health‐related topics in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and more. Rose’s background includes work in all three branches of the federal government: health policy at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, a stint at the White House working on Native American Affairs, a fellowship in the U.S. Senate, and a federal appellate clerkship. Before joining the Office of the California Attorney General, she represented homeless and low—income veterans in administrative proceedings.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Public Rights Project Affirmative Leaders Fellowship
California Women Lawyers Fay Stender Award for humanity, courage, and commitment to the underrepresented
California Young Lawyers Association Jack Berman Award of Achievement for distinguished service to the public
Skadden Fellowship to launch a program that integrates legal and mental health services for veterans kicked out of the military consequent to sexual assault or discrimination
Board of Directors for the Historical Society for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Board Member, American Indian Cultural District San Francisco

Further Study

JD, Yale Law School; MPA, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lawyer, San Francisco, California

About

Over more than three decades, Joan Haratani (SF79) has honed practical, goal oriented, strategic thinking and courtroom skills in high-exposure cases. A co-lead counsel on some of the largest mass tort litigations, Joan defends her clients in class actions, from product liability litigation to complex licensing agreements to trade secret indemnity issues. She is currently a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2020 Amel Zenoune-Zouani Rights & Leadership Award by the International Action Network for Gender Equity & Law, which honors individuals who have achieved professional excellence and have worked to promote women's rights, social justice, and gender equality.
Top 100 Lawyers in California and a Top 75 Women Litigator by the Daily Journal

Further Study

JD, UC Davis

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lawyer, Toronto, Ontario

About

Joanna Baron (AGI09) runs a legal charity tasked with defending the rights and freedoms of Canadians in courts of law and public opinion; her responsibilities range from litigation oversight to media communications, staff management, and more. “Constitutional law is ground zero for the tangible experience of liberty in a given state, and in my role I am able to bring the law to life by making Canadians more aware of the rights they possess and how those rights really intersect with their daily lives,” says Baron. “The Constitution limits the scope of government action, and it is a great privilege to ensure that it remains coherent and relevant to all Canadians.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Gertrude Kennedy Jurisprudence Prize, McGill University
Asper Centre Graduate Scholarship to study law abroad at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Law Clerk, Court of Appeal for Ontario

Further Study

BA, McGill University; BCL/LLB (Law), McGill University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lawyer and educator, Kew Gardens, New York

About

Derek Alexander (A99) leads his firm’s institutional legal team, providing corporate governance counsel and investment banking regulation advice. He also guides distressed businesses through reorganizations and teaches contract law at Cardozo Law School. “I am a specialist: it is good to be part of a small professional world in which honor and reputation matter,” he says. “And I think about debt and risk-taking. They are what bankruptcy is about. Debt and risk are among those ‘great ideas’—fundamental aspects of humanity that always have shaped us as individuals, in groups, and over time. They always will.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Harvard Law Review Editor and Business Manager, 2006–2008

Further Study

JD, Harvard Law School

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Judge and law professor, Lawrence, Kansas

About

Now District Court Judge of Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and a law professor at University of Kansas, Shawn Watts (SF00) was previously the associate director of the Edson Queiroz Foundation Mediation Program at Columbia Law School. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, he developed and teaches a course on Native American Peacemaking, a traditional form of dispute resolution, and he has mediated in the New York City Civil Court, Harlem Small Claims Court, and the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Jane Marks Murphy Prize for clinical advocacy
Strine Fellow
Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
Managing editor of Columbia Law’s Journal of Law and Social Problems
Past president of the National Native American Law Students Association

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Magistrate judge, El Prado, New Mexico

About

A seasoned public defender and advocate for domestic abuse victims—with experience ranging from immigrant representation at Lawit and Kitson to DWI and domestic violence prosecution as an assistant district attorney—Sara Blankenhorn (SFGI07) was appointed magistrate judge for New Mexico’s Eighth Judicial District in March 2020. “Though [law is] imperfect and progress too slow for those suffering injustice,” Blankenhorn chooses to practice “because it represents our greatest potential as moral beings.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Dean’s Award (2011) from University of New Mexico
Governor’s judgeship appointment; winner of the Magistrate Judge seat election for Taos County in 2020

Further Study

JD, University of New Mexico; BA with Distinction in Philosophy and Minor in International Studies, University of Washington

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Prosecutor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

About

As an assistant district attorney (prosecutor) for the City of Philadelphia, Joseph Lanuti (SF14) works alongside seasoned investigators, criminal analysts, and other experienced assistant district attorneys on the city-wide Gun Violence Task Force—a joint task force with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office that investigates and prosecutes firearm trafficking, straw purchase of firearms, the movement of illegal guns, and violent gun crime. On a day-to-day basis, that means appearing in court, reviewing case files, and communicating and assisting GVTF agents and other law enforcement; Lanuti also represents the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the prosecutor in criminal trials. “My work is meaningful to me because I'm able to take part in complex investigations with various law enforcement partners … with the ultimate goal of making Philadelphia safer,” Lanuti explains, adding: “While other lawyers may shy away from technical subjects, St. John's gave me the confidence to get a solid grasp of nonlegal subjects such as: DNA analysis, ballistics analysis, cell site location analysis, etc. St. John's gave me the ability to be introspective about the goals of prosecution; I am always trying to think about ways I could serve Philadelphians better.”

Digital Presence

“Two Johnnies, One Law Office”

Joseph Lanuti LinkedIn Profile

Further Study

JD, Georgetown University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Professor + scholar, Chicago, Illinois

About

Jide Nzelibe (A93), a professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, takes an approach to the study of law that likely sounds familiar to fellow Johnnies; throughout his 15 years of teaching and scholarship, his research has touched on everything from war and the World Trade Organization to the legal ramifications of political partisanship. In addition to regularly publishing articles in various publications and teaching law, Nzelibe spent 1998–99 as a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and has taught at the University of Chicago. Of his interdisciplinary attitude towards international law, he says: “The Johnnie experience gives you more confidence in saying, ‘look, I can see these things are connected, I can see that there’s a philosophical element and an identity element, and I can see that the stakes are maybe higher than the economic issues that are being debated.’”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, 1998–99
Fellowship recipient, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the Ford Foundation
Published in numerous legal and scholarly publications

Further Study

Master’s in public administration, Princeton University; J.D., Yale Law School

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lobbyist, Washington, DC

About

At Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, “the scope of my work is as broad and interesting as America itself,” says Brian McGuire (A96). In his role as policy director, he helps forge relationships between government and constituents, sometimes raising a client concern before the government, sometimes crafting solutions for the consideration of legislators or federal bureaus. “Simply put, I help explain government to our clients and our clients to government,” McGuire explains. “More specifically, I help clients solve often complex and high-stakes problems by advocating on their behalf before the federal government in Washington.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Has appeared as a political commentator on Fox, CNN, PBS, NPR, and MSNBC, with writing in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Time, USA Today, and Politico.
Advisor to various high-profile political figures.
Recipient of the Treasury Medal for service to the U.S. Treasury

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Patrick Schaefer helps Johnnies, the college, communities, countries, and the Fulbright program address perennial issues through communication.

Job & Location

General Counsel at the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, Santa Fe, NM

About

A Maryland native, Patrick Schaefer (A00) found his worldview significantly expanded by spending his junior year on the St. John’s College Santa Fe campus. Surrounded by what seemed a foreign land to a young man who had never been “out West,” Schaefer was intrigued by the rich geography, cultures, and systems he discovered in New Mexico.

Whether in Santa Fe or Annapolis, Johnnies can explore real-world intersections of current issues such as climate change, supply chains, and free trade, Schaefer emphasizes. The Annapolis campus borders the state capitol and offers proximity to Washington, DC, the World Bank, numerous embassies, and trans-Atlantic trade. Now general counsel at the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, Schaefer is known for his efforts to find innovative, cross-border legal solutions to shared regional challenges where differing and often opposing legal systems and social values prevail.

To learn more about how the college supports Fulbright applicants and those seeking other internships and fellowships, visit the Santa Fe Office of Personal and Professional Development and the Annapolis Career Development Office.

Digital Presence

https://www.sjc.edu/news/fulbright-patrick-schaefer-translates-st-johns-inspired-affinity-cross-cultural-communication-international-law-public-service

Further Study

JD, University of New Mexico School of Law (br/)LLM (Master of Laws), Universidade Católica Portuguesa

BACHELOR OF ARTS IN LIBERAL ARTS

Job & Location

Associate director, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice, Baltimore, Maryland

About

Gabriela Quercia Kahrl (A02) found her niche in the legal field while working at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender; as the only Spanish-speaking attorney in her office, she quickly became responsible for any case requiring one. Her tenacity in immigration court soon caught the attention of professor Maureen Sweeney, director of the immigration clinic at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law. Sweeney offered Kahrl a job at the school, and together the two successfully pitched biopharmaceutical executive Dr. Marco Chacón the idea of a center for immigrant justice. In 2021 the University of Maryland alumnus gave a $5 million gift to the law school, and the Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice was born.

Today Kahrl serves as co-director of the Chacón Center and as a faculty advisor for the Latinx Law Students Association. "The problem is, you get a lot of ‘no’s’ doing this work," she says. "But you have to believe that if you keep listening, talking, and insisting, you’ll eventually get a ‘yes.’ And you do. You have to also understand that staying with someone through all the ‘no’s’ is important work too. It’s as important as winning, sometimes, to know that someone isn’t going to give up on you.”

Digital Presence

Immigration Attorney Gabriela Quercia Kahrl (A02) on the Power of Persistence in the Courtroom

Gabriela Quercia Kahrl LinkedIn

Maryland Bill Aims To Give Immigrants A Second Chance After A Misdemeanor

Further Study

JD, University of Maryland-Baltimore (UMBC)

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lawyer, Washington, DC

About

Jonathan Tincher (A12) finds himself practicing in the asset management group at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, an international law firm with an emphasis on asset management. He counsels the firm‘s clients on subjects ranging from private fund formations to regulatory compliance. “Securities law is a highly specialized area with a long regulatory history,” Tincher says, also remarking that he “enjoys finding creative solutions when the facts have outpaced the law.”

Digital Presence

Further Study

JD, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Legal researcher and editor, Washington, DC

About

As a research fellow in the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies and managing editor of the Cato Supreme Court Review, Thomas Berry (SF13) conducts research and composes briefs that have drawn attention from outlets such as The Hill and the Washington Post. Before returning to Cato—he spent a year working there previously—Berry was an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation and clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. “Questions of justice were a running theme throughout my time at St. John’s,” he says. “I was attracted to a career in law because it is the practical application of these philosophical questions; every legal dispute involves at least two parties whose wants are incompatible with each other and must somehow be weighed.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Law clerk to a federal appellate judge
Called to testify before the U.S. Senate
Law review article cited by the federal district court in DC

Further Study

JD, Stanford University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Editor-in-chief, Austin, Texas

About

Johnathan Gooch (A14) was the editor-in-chief for the 55th volume of the Texas International Law Journal—which was ranked the number four international law journal in the world, according to Washington & Lee Journal Rankings. Gooch argues that lawyers “are often not capable of the depth of insight and civility exhibited around a seminar table,” and that St. John’s launched him on an invaluable “path toward emotional intelligence.” Of the Texas International Law Journal, Gooch says: “Working with the Journal gave me an opportunity to shape the conversation by choosing what topics we would wrestle with and which authors we would publish. As the number four international law journal in the world, what we publish will be distributed to the top scholars and practitioners of international law across the globe.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Dean’s Achievement Award in Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law
Human Rights Fellow, Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice
V&E Scholarship for International Law

Further Study

JD, University of Texas School of Law

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lawyer, Chicago, Illinois

About

Throughout his law career, Tex Pasley (A11) has dedicated himself to social equity; he has specifically focused on poverty law, with direct and systemic advocacy experience in employment, consumer, healthcare, housing, prison, and criminal justice reform issues. As a fellow at the Shriver Center, Pasley advocated on behalf of children and families facing eviction after a landlord unlawfully accessed a child’s juvenile records.

Digital Presence

Further Study

JD, University of Virginia School of Law

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Legal librarian, Alexandria, Virginia

About

An enthusiastic law librarian and staff attorney, Erin Page (A04) manages a reference team serving lawyers, judges, paralegals, and researchers nationwide, all with the goal of providing industry-leading tools to make legal research easier and more intuitive. “For me, it’s all about the questions,” Page reports. “St. John’s gave me the experience needed to hear what a person is actually asking, instead of assuming, which is vital to fulfilling their needs.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Member, American Association of Law Librarians
Member, Law Librarian Society of DC
Member, Special Libraries Association
Honors in Legal practice award from William and Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law

Further Study

JD, William and Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law; MA, Catholic University of America

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Chief executive, Scottsdale, Arizona

About

As CEO of BASIS Educational Ventures, Peter Bezanson (SF94) leads the company in all of its day-to-day business. What that means in practice is overseeing BASIS.ed (the management company for BASIS Charter Schools, one of the top performing and largest networks of K-12 public schools in the country); The Better Education Company (a company dedicated to helping schools, networks, and districts capture, analyze, and actuate data to improve student outcomes); Academy Partners (a company devoted to developing a seminar-based and ideologically balanced high school history curriculum driven largely by discussion of primary texts); and other related companies. Peter's initial professional academic experience was in the classroom, where he taught numerous courses in calculus, physics, and philosophy, among other subjects; now, he builds on his liberal arts degree from St. John’s (and his MA and PhD in philosophy from the University of Iowa) to help lead educational ventures across the country.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MA, PhD in philosophy, University of Iowa

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Public official, Washington, DC

About

In 2021, Amy Loyd (SF98) joined the Biden-Harris Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education—the culmination of a long and successful career in education and the nonprofit sector. Before the Department of Education, Loyd worked as a vice president at Jobs for the Future, where she designed and led programs intended to improve education and workforce outcomes across the country. Prior to Jobs for the Future, Lloyd served as the director of education at Cook Inlet Tribal Council, where she headed a network of schools providing culturally responsive education, training, and wraparound services to the Alaska Native and Native American communities.

Digital Presence

Further Study

Doctorate in Education Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Educator, Fort Washington, Maryland

About

Anika Prather (AGI09) brings her classical education and deep training as a professional educator to the table whether teaching classes at Howard University or leading The Living Water School, which she founded in 2015. Her passion, she says, is teaching the classics. “Black people have been engaging with [classical] texts literally since they came to America as enslaved people,” she explains. “I am so inspired by their stories and so enlightened by how their connection to these texts helped in their liberation. It is my passion to unveil that fact to others, and in doing that I hope I can create a bridge between people and bring racial healing and unity.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

St. John’s College Award of Merit
Author, Living in the Constellation of the Canon

Further Study

BA, Howard University; MA, New York University; MM, Howard University; PhD, University of Maryland

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Research professor, Cambridge, Massachusetts

About

Mark D. Jordan (SF73) is R. R. Niebuhr Research Professor at Harvard Divinity School whose work encompasses Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies. After completing his undergraduate studies at St. John’s, he earned an MA and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin and has since received a John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a Fulbright-Hays grant (Spain), and a Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology. He is also the author of eight books and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
Fulbright-Hays Grant
Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Further Study

MA, PhD, University of Texas at Austin

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Professor, Poughkeepsie, New York

About

After graduating from St. John’s, Jeffrey Seidman (A93) earned his bachelor of philosophy and doctor of philosophy degrees from Oxford University, then spent two years teaching philosophy at the London School of Economics. Jeffrey has taught at Vassar College since 2004; his current research concerns the intersection of moral philosophy, the philosophy of action, and the theory of practical rationality, and he’s also interested in metaphysics, epistemology, and ancient philosophy.

Digital Presence

Jeffrey Seidman Vassar College faculty profile

Accomplishments

Rhodes Scholar

Further Study

Bphil and Dphil, Oxford University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Educator and researcher, Montreal, Quebec

About

Daryl Haggard (SF95) is at the very top of the international astronomy world, exploring the most extreme endpoints for matter in the universe: black holes and neutron stars. She is a devoted educator and recipient of many awards; in 2020, she was part of a team that won the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, capturing the first image of a supermassive black hole by means of an Earth-sized alliance of telescopes. As an educator, she says, “I aim to train both scientists and citizens to help create a fully engaged, scientifically literate populace with the power to change the world.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2020 McGill Principal’s Prize for Outstanding Emerging Researchers
2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2017–2019)
Canada Research Chair in Multi-messenger Astrophysics, Government of Canada (2019–2024)

Further Study

MS and PhD in Astronomy, University of Washington; MS in Physics, San Francisco State University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Artist and educator, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

As visual arts chair at New Mexico School for the Arts, Karina Hean (A00) oversees “a department similar to a small arts college, but embedded in a tuition-free, state-wide public charter high school;” she balances an enormous range of responsibilities, from daily teaching and developing curricular standards for 70–80 high schoolers to assisting in grant proposals, organizing field trips, exhibitions, guest artists, admissions work, and much more. Her work “completes me; it is my purpose,” she says, and she aims to use her position to teach critical and creative thinking skills and communication to “build a community amongst [her] students that values supportive feedback, vulnerability, confident expression, and responsive change.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

American Artist Fellowship (2008) from Ballinglen Artist Foundation
Ballinglen Contemporary Arts Center, Returning Fellow (2018, 2021)
Exhibitions including: “Locate” Fort Lewis College Art Gallery (2019); “Strata” Gallery Shoal Creek (2018); “a storm, a structure” Furman University Gallery (2015); Alcove Exhibition, New Mexico Museum of Art, Merry Scully curator (2014)
Contributing faculty, Santa Fe University of Art and Design, 2011–2016
Full-time visiting assistant professor of art, University of Montana, Missoula 2009–2010
Visiting professor of art, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado 2005–2008

Further Study

MFA, New Mexico State University; Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Drawing, Studio Art Centers International; Studio Art and Art History continuing studies, Maryland Institute College of Art

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Educator and author, Singapore

About

After receiving his PhD in comparative literature from Princeton in 2012, Andrew Hui (A02) joined the faculty at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, where he’s now an associate professor of humanities. His 2019 book, A Theory of the Aphorism, garnered stellar reviews in The New Yorker, the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, the Times Literary Supplement, and World Literature Today. In addition to teaching, Hui is currently working on his next book, which he says will be “a playful Borgesian encyclopedia entitled A Fragmented Dictionary of the Universal Book.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2019 NUS Young Researcher Award
Author of A Theory of the Aphorism: From Confucius to Twitter and The Poetics of Ruin in Renaissance Literature

Further Study

PhD in Comparative Literature, Princeton

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Writer, scholar, and educator

About

Currently a scholar in residence at Bard College, Cecelia Watson (A01) is a historian, teacher, writer, and a philosopher of science who has worked at institutions including Yale, Bard College Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Her 2019 book, Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark received significant praise from the New York Times, Vulture, and more, with The New Yorker’s Mary Norris calling it “delightful” and Elle writer Estelle Tang naming it one of the best books to read during summer 2019. “Language is a powerful tool to create a more open society, and more opportunities for more people,” she says. “I just want people to have a sense of joy and freedom and fun in writing.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Whitney Humanities Center Fellow, Yale University
American Council of Learned Societies New Faculty Fellowship
IFK Vienna Research Fellowship (declined)
Burnham Early Career Prize, History of Science Society’s Forum for the History of Human Sciences
Fishbein Fellowship, The Morris Fishbein Center for History of Medicine, the University of Chicago

Further Study

PhD in Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, University of Chicago; MA in Philosophy, University of Chicago

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Education researcher, Washington, DC

About

Whether in his role at Hanover Research or as an assistant professor of international education at George Washington University, Kyle Long (AGI10) finds himself immersed in the world of education. “As a research director for a market research firm, I advise college and university presidents, provosts, and deans by designing and leading the execution of custom research projects,” he explains. “As a professor, I teach graduate students, conduct research, and co-administer a master’s (and soon a doctoral) degree program.” His career experience and his PhD in international higher education led him to the top of his field—and to the publication of his first book, The Emergence of the American University Abroad.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Fulbright Specialist, Boren Fellow, and multiple grants and fellowships from the George Washington University, the University of Southern California, and Columbia University.

Further Study

PhD in International and Comparative Education, Columbia University; BA in Classics, Wabash College; Study Abroad in Scotland and United Arab Emirates

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Apiculturist, Taos, New Mexico

About

Melanie Kirby (SF97) is a skilled practitioner of bee cultivation. As founder of Zia Queenbees, she “collaborates with beekeepers and farmers in various regions to research, collect, test, and propagate naturally resilient and adaptable honeybee stock lines.” However, she’s also an educator and a writer—in the spirit of Wendell Berry or The Lorax—who recently won a Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship. “I find that my farming efforts have become more of a call to social justice and action,” Kirby explains, “inspiring others to appreciate where food comes from and the various cultures and creatures who help to cultivate it.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

National Geographic Explorer & Storyteller (2019–ongoing)
Fulbright Fellow (2019–2020)
Western Apicultural Society of North America President (2013)
American Beekeeping Federation State Director (2015–2020) American Honey Bee Germplasm Inaugural Board Member
Carnelian Center Board Member (2013–2017)
Rocky Mountain Survivor Queenbee Cooperative Founder & Lead Facilitator (2012–2014)
Slow Food International U.S. Delegate
Slow Bees USA Cofounder (2020)

Further Study

U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer; USAID Farmer to Farmer Exchange; Center for Human Potential Trainee & Trainer for U.S. Peace Corps

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts
Master of Arts in Eastern Classics

Job & Location

Head of school, Seattle, Washington

About

Matthew Lippart (SF01, EC04) is a specialist in international educational leadership and development, with experience as the leader of elementary schools in Shanghai, China and Egypt. He’s currently the head of school at Bellevue Children’s Academy, where he strives to build the most positive, progressive learning communities possible in matters of hiring, staff development, policy, outreach, and support. “In any given day, I am lucky enough to be a mentor, a colleague, a friend, a teacher, a counselor, and a role model,” he says. “I also get to be around fantastic teachers and students every day, learning and growing alongside them.”

Digital Presence

Further Study

Masters in Educational Leadership, The College of New Jersey; Principal Certification in the states of New Jersey and Washington

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Professor, Austin, Texas

About

Ted Hadzi-Antich Jr. (A04) has made it his mission to bring as many people as possible to the liberal arts. He helped pioneer and still leads the Great Questions Seminar program at Austin Community College, and he recently founded a nonprofit devoted to expanding the number of faculty members and community colleges teaching a liberal arts pedagogy. “We’ve opened the door to liberal education for so many students that would never have gone through it—never have even known that it was there for them,” Hadzi-Antich says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Designed and developed a liberal arts foundational program for Austin Community College.

Further Study

Master of Arts in Political Science, Boston College

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Educator, Redwood City, California

About

At the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Glen Olson (SF07) is the lead instructor and program coordinator for a team that educates immigrants in preparation for their naturalization interviews. Olson relishes the opportunity to share his love of history with others and to learn from a diverse and dedicated group of educators and students. “I’m a sucker for the idea that education empowers, and my current position lets me help people become American citizens through education,” he explains.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MA of Social Sciences, University of Chicago; M. Phil in History, CUNY Graduate Center

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Lecturer, New York, NY

About

Shortly after joining the faculty of City College of New York (CCNY) in 2013, James Hedberg (SF00) discovered a campus basement housing a small planetarium that seated roughly 60 visitors. Built in the 1970s, it had been left untouched for years.

“The planetarium was mostly forgotten,” Hedberg says. With the support of the college, he took on its rehabilitation, securing grants for improvement. In 2018, he also became its director.

Although Hedberg had earned two advanced degrees in physics—an MS from Portland State and a PhD from McGill University—he says that “general familiarity with the night sky was something I didn’t have a lot of.”

So he embarked on a project that would, among other things, remedy that. The free, open-source software the planetarium had been using didn’t have images of constellations. Because “everyone wants to see constellations in a planetarium,” Hedberg set out to draw and map all 88 of them himself.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MS from Portland State, PhD from McGill University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Journalist, Glen Echo, Maryland

About

Kate Bennett (A97) is a White House correspondent for CNN, where her beat focuses on the first lady, the East Wing of the White House, and the first family. A former magazine and fashion editor, prior to CNN Kate worked for Politico, Washingtonian, and Capitol File, among other outlets. She is the author of the book, Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography of Melania Trump, released December 2019.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Vegas magazine editor-in-chief
Head of Washingtonian magazine’s fashion and lifestyle section
Author of Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Journalist, Richmond, California

About

A national reporter with the Wall Street Journal for more than seven years, Zusha Elinson (SF03) has covered nearly every non-financial beat, eventually narrowing his focus to guns, mass shootings, and criminal justice. Currently, Elinson is working on his first book, The American Gun: How a Cold War Invention Became Our Nation’s Most Divisive Weapon, based on his investigative reporting around the history of the AR-15.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Co-author of The American Gun: How a Cold War Invention Became Our Nation’s Most Divisive Weapon

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Opinion Columnist, New York, New York

About

Lydia left the New York Times in 2017 to be editor in chief of HuffPost, leading a team of hundreds of journalists publishing 16 editions across the globe in nine languages. She returned to the Times in 2022.

At the Times she served as deputy international editor and bureau chiefs for West Africa, South Asia, and Johannesburg—and received the 2006 George Polk Award for foreign reporting and the 2008 Livingston Award for international reporting. In early 2020, she left HuffPost to become head of content at Gimlet Media, an award-winning narrative podcasting company.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

15 years as New York Times award-winning journalist
Three years as Editor-in-chief of HuffPost
2006 George Polk Award for foreign reporting
2008 Livingston Award for international reporting

Further Study

MS in Journalism, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Novelist, humanities nonprofit director, New York, New York

About

A 2008 National Book Award finalist and author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Volunteer and The End, Salvatore Scibona (SF97) serves as the director of the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. As director, he cultivates and supports the work of internationally renowned writers and thinkers and creates programming that enriches the broader NYPL community. As a novelist, he continues to write exceptional works of fiction.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Young Lions Fiction Award, New York Public Library, 2009
National Book Award Finalist, for The End, National Book Foundation, 2008
Fulbright Scholarship, Creative Writing, U.S.-Italian Fulbright Commission: Rome and Catania, Italy, 1999–2000
Selection of the New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” fiction writers, 2010
Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Letters, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, 2019
Ohioana Book Award for The Volunteer, 2020

Further Study

MFA, Fiction Writing, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Artist, art teacher, Buffalo, New York

About

Caitlin Cass (SF09) is an artist and New Yorker cartoonist. For the past ten years she has published a bi-monthly comic periodical called Great Moments in Western Civilization Postal Constituent. Cass also teaches art and art history at an independent, all-girls high school. “I make comics, cartoons, and art installations steeped in history, futility, wonder, and irrational hope,” Cass says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2018 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Fiction
2018 Betsy Brown Award for Excellence in Teaching (Humanities Faculty) from Buffalo Seminary
2019 NYSCA REDC grant for Women’s Suffrage project with the Burchfield Penny Art Center
2020 National Endowment of the Arts Artworks Grant

Further Study

MFA in Visual Studies, University at Buffalo, SUNY

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Architect, Albuquerque, New Mexico

About

Devendra Contractor (SF79), founder and principal of the award-winning firm DNCA, specializes in the design of education, fine arts, and performing arts facilities, as well as residential projects—his designs come to life in the galleries of Santa Fe’s Railyard Arts District and in some of Albuquerque and Santa Fe’s most celebrated contemporary residences. In 2018, DNCA was selected as the designer of the New Mexico Museum of Art’s new Vladem Contemporary, an annex dedicated to contemporary art and art education in Santa Fe.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Designer of Vladem Contemporary, New Mexico Museum of Art’s annex dedicated to contemporary art and art education

Further Study

Masters in Architecture, University of New Mexico

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Video game designer, Seattle, Washington

About

As a video game designer at Bungie, Josh Diaz (SF04) makes sure the rules of various high-end video games—including the popular Destiny series—are “interesting and fair.” In practice, that means combining his interests in math, psychology, theater, and storytelling: performing probability and statistical analysis, implementing mathematical models, collaborating with various teams on expansive world-building within the games, and making sure the result is compelling to potential game players. “In my work, I am often doing one of two difficult tasks: I am either explaining dramatic principles to computer programmers, or mathematical principles to narrative artists,” Diaz explains. “The ability to communicate fluently in multiple complex disciplines, respecting the expertise of others and finding common ground, comes straight from conversations with my fellow Johnnies.”

Digital Presence

Joshua Diaz LinkedIn page

Bungie website

Accomplishments

Game Design Workshop, Assistant Lecturer, Game Developer’s Conference 2018
Presenter, Project Horseshoe (2015, 2018)
Partner, Black & Tan Hall Seattle

Further Study

MS, Comparative Media Studies, MIT

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Sports journalist and educator, Ossining, New York

About

As a journalist, Jane McManus (A93) has covered New York sports since 1998—most notably during a nine-year stint as an NFL reporter and columnist at ESPN—reporting on sporting events including 18 U.S. Opens, five Super Bowls, two NCAA Final Fours, and the inaugural season of the New York Liberty. Her work has appeared in Newsday, USA Today, the Journal News, London’s Independent, and the New York Times, and she has appeared on networks including CNN, MSNBC, and more. McManus is currently the director of Marist College’s Center for Sports Communication, where she oversees research, resources, and curriculum for the school’s sports journalism and public relations programs; additionally, she works as a sports columnist at Deadspin.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2018 National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence in Digital Sports Media for “The Racial Divide” with Jason Reid for The Undefeated.
2001 Associated Press Sports Editors enterprise winner for “Bad Fit.”
2001 USTA Eastern Press Service Award

Further Study

Masters in Journalism, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Journalist, New York City, New York

About

Robert A. George (A85) is an editorial writer, blogger, and stand-up comic whose work has appeared in the New York Post, HuffPost, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. He currently serves on the editorial board of Bloomberg Opinion, where he writes regularly on education and other policy issues; previously, as an editorial board member at the New York Daily News, he wrote on politics, entertainment, contemporary culture, and much more.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, Fox, and other networks, and regularly appears on other political affairs programs.

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Director of Communications, Annapolis, Maryland

About

After more than a decade of public service, with a focus on crisis communications and media relations at two state agencies in Maryland, Sara Luell (A09) returned to St. John’s as the college’s Director of Digital Marketing and Strategic Communications. In this role, she oversees the school’s college-wide public relations efforts and presidential communications on the Annapolis campus.

“One of the most important skills you learn at St. John’s is how to boil down complex issues into the truly important key messages,” says Luell. “That skill has served me well in my career with the State of Maryland, and it’s something I’m now able to bring back to tell the story of St. John’s to a wider audience.”

Digital Presence

Sara Luell LinkedIn

Further Study

Emergency Management Institute, Advanced Public Information Officer, 2013
Towson University, Emerging Leaders program, 2017

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Journalist, Maplewood, New Jersey

About

Danny Hakim (A93), an investigative reporter for the New York Times, was one of the lead reporters on the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that reported on the sex scandal that ultimately resulted in the resignation of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. He previously worked as a European economics correspondent based in London, chief of The Times’s bureaus in Albany and Detroit, and a reporter covering investing—among other things, his work has led him to investigate nurses, economic devastation, and illegal coal mining pits in Greece, Ukraine, and Poland, respectively.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2012, along with Russ Buettner, for a series about abuse, neglect and corruption in the care of developmentally disabled people in New York

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Product manager + urban planner, Austin, Texas

About

During his tenure at Sasaki, an interdisciplinary global planning firm, Chris Horne (SF05) led two projects that were separately awarded the Daniel Burnham Award, the highest honor in his field. Horne found gratification in the master planning process, improving lives and space use in cities, regions, campuses, and neighborhoods by leading interdisciplinary teams of design professionals, iterating design proposals, analyzing spatial systems, visualizing alternative scenarios, and much more. He’s now using many of those same skills as a project manager developing software for Keller Williams Realty, focusing “squarely on the intersection of tech and real estate.”

Digital Presence

Chris Horne LinkedIn
Sasaki Associates website
Sasaki Climate Ready Boston project
“Meaning Over Magic: Behavioral Considerations for Data-Driven Planning and Design” presentation by Chris Horne
Sasaki Kabul Urban Design Framework page
Sasaki Vibrant NEO 2040 page
Sasaki Chicago Riverwalk page

Accomplishments

National Planning Gold Award for Resilience, American Planning Association, 2019, Climate Ready Boston
Honor Award, Boston Society of Landscape Architects, 2019, Kabul Afghanistan Master Plan
National Honors in Design, American Institute of Architects, 2018, Chicago Riverwalk

Further Study

Master of City Planning, MIT

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Editor, Anchorage, Alaska

About

Elizabeth Harball (SF09) began her journalism career as an intern, and then a reporter, at E&E News in Washington, DC, before moving to Alaska to cover energy and the environment as a reporter for Alaska Public Media. She’s now a local and state news editor for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning Anchorage Daily News, where she finds herself editing stories on a wide variety of major developments.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MS, Journalism, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Designer, New York, New York

About

Furniture designer Sam Stewart (SF11) got his first big break when he designed a number of tables for the expansion of popular Manhattan restaurant Dimes; the attention he received led to various commissions; a solo show, CRYPTID, at New York’s Fort Gansevoort gallery; and a showing of work at Salone del Mobile, an international furniture design fair in Milan. Since then, his artful, modernist-inflected furniture has attracted recognition from Vice, Architectural Digest, and more.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Work exhibited nationally and internationally

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

CEO, Chicago, Illinois

About

Joshua Rogers (A98) is currently the CEO and founder of Arete Wealth, a Broker-Dealer, Registered Investment Advisor, and insurance firm headquartered in Chicago, IL. After St. John’s, Rogers initially began earning a law degree at Georgetown but left to develop his invention career. He has since coinvented several patents, including the e-commerce concept that drives Priceline. Rogers next rose through the ranks on Wall Street with American Express and Ameriprise Financials, building upon the experience with which he founded Arete Wealth, his own financial services firm with 100 offices and more than 265 advisors across the country.

Digital Presence

Arete Wealth website

Accomplishments

Board member of the Chicago chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization
Board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Member, Economic Club of Chicago
Former Board Member, Board of Illinois Humanities

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Founder, Miyoko’s Creamery, Nicasio, California

About

During her long career as a vegan baker, chef, cookbook author, and entrepreneur, Miyoko Schinner (A79) has revolutionized the vegan food industry; most recently by bringing vegan cheese into the mainstream with the award-winning vegan food company she founded and runs, Miyoko’s Creamery. “We’re not a company with a mission, we’re a mission with a company,” she says. “I am trying to revolutionize the food system to create a world that is more equitable and just, not only for humans but for all living beings.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Author of six cookbooks, including Artisan Vegan Cheese and The Homemade Vegan Pantry—The Art of Making Your Own Staples.
Forbes 50 Over 50 member

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Global head of talent acquisition, Cambridge, Massachusetts

About

Jamaal Sebastian-Barnes (A10) has combined his fascination with science with his love for people by working in talent acquisition for companies like Google and now Novartis, a Switzerland-based multinational pharmaceutical company. As the global head of digital talent acquisition, he leads a large international team of business partners and project managers looking for the new right fit to boost their teams’ productivity and creativity. “I develop and manage global talent strategy for data science and digital talent profiles across the enterprise (data science, artificial intelligence, data governance, and digital product owners),” he says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Recipient of various scholarships and fellowships, as well as a Truman Scholarship

Further Study

Master’s in Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Certificate in Product Management, UC Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Tech entrepreneur, Tanzania

About

As the leader of NINAYO, Jack Langworthy (SF07) oversees the creation of tech products which increase food security in Africa—including NINAYO.com, the largest online trading platform for Tanzanian agriculture. Langworthy is inspired to help smallholder African farmers succeed while reducing food waste. “Smallholder African farmers are some of the hardest working yet poorest people on earth,” he explains. “My company is dedicated to helping them earn more money.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

EMBA Entrepreneur of the Year 2018

Further Study

MBA, Copenhagen School of Business

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Entrepreneur, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

At Meow Wolf, the world-renowned interactive arts space in Santa Fe, cofounder Sean Di Ianni (SFGI13) oversees organizational structure, systems, and logistics, making sure operations run smoothly at the experiential art complex. Recently—after coming in at #4 on Time Out’s Top 50 Things to Do in the World Right Now—Meow Wolf announced its expansion into Denver, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC.

Digital Presence

Further Study

BFA in Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Executive leadership, Napa Valley, California

About

In the span of 25 years, St. John’s Annapolis alum Zach Rasmuson (A95) went from amateur wine enthusiast—thanks to Athletic Director Leo Pickens (A78) and tutor Abe Schoener (A82)—to acclaimed winemaker and, eventually, executive vice president and chief officer of operations at Duckhorn Wine Company, a Napa Valley mainstay since the 1970s that includes eight lauded wineries and 900 acres of vineyards. In March 2021, Duckhorn breached a rare milestone in the wine world when it entered the stock market, marking the first initial public offering (IPO) from a Napa wine company in two decades. “If you pause for a second during bottling and watch all those bottles roll off the line, and think about how each one of those bottles has a destination—on a table for a celebration or a meal—it’s humbling to know that your past and your toil gets carried into the world,” Rasmuson says of his work. “It brings people happiness, and I can’t speak to the impact, the pride, and the sense of commitment that gives you.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Designed and built a LEED Gold Certified Goldeneye winery
Award-winning winemaker
Oversaw Duckhorn Wine Company IPO

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Architect , Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

Devendra Contractor’s independent architecture firm, DNCA, made national headlines when it was selected as the designer of the New Mexico Museum of Art’s new Vladem Contemporary, an annex dedicated to contemporary art and art education, as well as the city’s expanded Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. But Contractor and his firm are also behind numerous other education, fine arts, and performing arts facilities throughout New Mexico, including the Railyard Galleries in Santa Fe, the Tamarind Institute at UNM in Albuquerque, and the Hiland Theater / National Dance Institute in Albuquerque.

Contractor—who was born and raised just outside Mumbai, India, and followed in his Johnnie sister’s footsteps by attending the school’s Santa Fe campus—formed DNCA Architects in 2002 after earning his master’s degree in architecture and planning from the University of New Mexico and then serving as a senior associate for Albuquerque-based architect Antoine Predock. Contractor moved his practice to Santa Fe in 2020 when he received the opportunity to design Shoofly Pie, a live/work-space in the Baca Street neighborhood.

Devendra credits St. John’s with much of his professional success. “I firmly believe every architect should have a liberal arts undergraduate degree,” he says. “Architecture impacts human lives. It needs to respond to human life, human culture, how we see the world. The liberal arts provide you a context with which to do it, a historical context. It also provides you with tools to investigate and question and form new theories. That’s what the design process is.”

Digital Presence

In Santa Fe, a New Museum Brings the Local Art Scene Up to Date

Architect Devendra Contractor (SF79) Describes His Vision for Santa Fe’s New Vladem Contemporary and O’Keeffe Museums

Devendra Contractor (SF79) Talks Santa Fe, Art, and Architecture

DNCA Architects

Further Study

Master's degree in architecture and planning, University of New Mexico

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Social entrepreneur, Oakland, California

About

Tess Posner (SF06), CEO of AI4ALL, is a social entrepreneur who works in artificial intelligence, focusing on increasing equity and inclusion in the tech economy. Through a variety of education and development programs, AI4ALL seeks to help underrepresented young people gain access to the tech world—all with the goal of developing accessible artificial intelligence in a responsible manner. Previously, Posner built and ran Samaschool, a nonprofit that equips low-income people to find work in the digital economy through an online platform that trains more than 50,000 students worldwide. She is also a successful singer/songwriter, using her voice to raise awareness on topics including sexual violence, reproductive freedom, and women’s equality.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Co-author of The People Centered Economy: The New Ecosystem for Work
More than 1.4 million streams on Spotify
Work funded by Melinda Gates, Google, Microsoft, and more

Further Study

MS in Social Enterprise Administration, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Portfolio manager, Albuquerque, New Mexico

About

Lee Munson (SF97) formed Portfolio LLC to provide a more user-friendly wealth management model for investors. Lee is a frequent financial market analyst on networks such as Fox Business, CNBC, and CNN, and the author of Rigged Money: Beating Wall Street at Its Own Game. “I have received many awards over the years, but I find them monuments to mediocrity,” he says. “On Wall Street, money is the measure, and I have done well for a punk rocker with an anti-Wall Street attitude ... do your own thing, always.”

Digital Presence

Portfolio Wealth Advisors website

Further Study

Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Financial Planner

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Investment banker, Boulder, Colorado

About

Neat Capital is a growth stage mortgage lender with a customer-centric approach, using innovative technology to simplify the home financing process. As vice president of finance, Anant Vashi (SF96) leads the finance team at Neat, leveraging deep transaction and corporate finance experience to help facilitate the company’s growth as an industry leader. Previously, Vashi was a director at Capstone Headwaters, where he developed exit strategies for owners of middle market businesses. Vashi put those clients at ease during high-stakes merger and acquisition transactions. “Middle market investment banking is intellectually rigorous and requires a broad skill set,” he says of his work at Capstone. “It is the real work application of financial and economic theory and is an essential part of the efficient function of private financial markets.”

Digital Presence

Further Study

MBA, Case Western Reserve; MA Economics, New School University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Tech entrepreneur, Annapolis, Maryland

About

Johanna Wilson (A90) is the cofounder and CEO of Annapolis-based OpenPath Products, one of the world’s first mobile app development companies. As an entrepreneur in the fast evolving “Internet of Things,” Wilson thrives in seeing and seizing the amazing technology trends that are changing our world. “I lead and support a team of software developers, testers, and technologists who are helping to make the world a better place,” she says. “For 20 years we have worked quietly behind the scenes with some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies, as well as the cleverest of startups.” She credits the liberal arts, books, and a balance in helping her company continuously adapt, innovate, and influence over the past two decades.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Providing training and job opportunities to more than 40 St. John’s students and alumni
Serving on the St. John’s Board of Visitors and Governors
Supporting local nonprofits
Providing meaningful work to hundreds of engineers over the years

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Clean energy technology entrepreneur, Washington, DC

About

Mike Wu (SF07) founded Converge Strategies in 2017, drawing on his strong working relationships within the U.S. military and a deep expertise related to how defense energy business is transacted. He previously served as a senior advisor on energy resilience and clean energy in the U.S. Air Force, where he founded the Resilient Energy Demonstration Initiative (REDI) and helped create the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance. Previously, Mike founded the Defense Energy Program at the Truman National Security Project, which developed and advocated for policy supportive of the military’s clean energy and energy resilience initiatives.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Serves as an officer in the Judge Advocate General Corps of the United States Army Reserves
A Fellow of the Resource Security Program at New America

Further Study

JD, Washington University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Executive leadership, San Francisco, California

About

As the Chief Culture Officer of Articulate, Dino Anderson (A99) leads strategic direction of the Articulate human-centered organization (HCO) framework and its diversity, inclusion, and belonging program; he also holds teaching positions at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Johns Hopkins University's Master of Liberal Arts Program. For Anderson, these roles are the continuation of nearly 10 years of leadership in tech, including global talent & organizational development and inclusion & diversity at Maxim Integrated. He has also worked as the diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for The Coaching Fellowship, a leadership development program for young women leaders of impact, and in his spare time explores the worlds of Hegel and James Baldwin.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Former leadership positions at Mozilla Corporations and First Look Media
Volunteers as a San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected youths in foster care

Further Study

MA in Education and Philosophy, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Portfolio manager, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

Investment adviser Doug Lynam (SF96) helps manage more than $150 million in assets at LongView Asset Management, facilitating environmentally and socially responsible investing for individuals, endowments, and retirement plans. “My work allows me to help individuals and organization achieve their financial goals while helping fight climate change, build a more just society, and combat predatory financial practices,” he says. Additionally, Lynam is a public speaker and the author of From Monk to Money Manager: A Former Monk’s Financial Guide to Becoming a Little Bit Wealthy—and Why That’s Okay.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Benedictine monk (1996–2016)
Built the nation’s first ESG-themed (Environmental, Social, and Governance) 403(b) retirement plan.
Author of From Monk to Money Manager: A Former Monk’s Financial Guide to Becoming a Little Bit Wealthy—and Why That’s Okay
TEDx speaker, 2020

Further Study

Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist™, College for Financial Planning

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Director, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

As executive director of New Mexico Arts—a division of the New Mexico department of cultural affairs—Michelle Laflamme-Childs (SFGI96) helps the state’s Arts Commission pursue its mission “to stimulate opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and other groups for activities or projects to provide artistic or cultural services to the state, to maintain and encourage artistic excellence, and to promote awareness of and access to the arts for all of the people of New Mexico.” What that means in practice is supervising statewide grant programs and state educational endeavors; providing leadership and advocacy for the state’s cultural community; developing various relationships, collaborations, and initiatives to benefit artists and arts organizations; and more. “I think that one of the key things you learn at St. John’s—besides all of the cool stuff that’s in the books—is how to engage, how to debate, how to have a conversation, and how to listen to somebody else and let what they’re saying maybe reshape what you’re thinking,” Laflamme-Childs says. “That has served me very well in my life and career.”

Digital Presence

“Michelle Laflamme-Childs Appointed Executive Director of New Mexico Arts”

Accomplishments

Published poet and essayist, with one published chapbook and a book-length manuscript in progress
Appointed member of the Santa Fe County Arts, Culture, and Cultural Tourism Committee

Further Study

BA, English Literature, University of Massachusetts

Master of Liberal Arts

Job & Location

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs , Washington, DC

About

As the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs in the U.S. State Department, Roger Carstens helps bring home Americans who’ve been wrongfully detained abroad. Notable cases during his tenure have included the returns of WNBA star Brittney Griner, journalist Danny Fenster, and American aid worker Jeff Woodke, among others.

Carstens, a retired army lieutenant colonel who served in special forces and the 1st Ranger Battalion, had been curious about St. John’s Great Books program since touring the neighboring Naval Academy as a teen. Looking to reexamine his military career through the lens of classic literature, Carstens enrolled in the Graduate Institute, where Program authors from Homer to Heraclitus helped clarify his views on the relationship between acquired knowledge and intuition—a duality he’d long contemplated as an army officer.

“If you make a decision in warfare and you’re a senior officer, you want to bring together all the information you possibly can,” Carsten says. “But how many opportunities do you lose by trying to garner all that information? When you know enough? When can you finally make a decision based on something that’s not just mathematical? St. John’s allowed me to tie together a lot of the things that I’ve been pondering for years and make sense of them.”

Digital Presence

Further Study

MA in National Security and Strategic Studies, U.S. Naval War College; B.S., United States Military Academy at West Point

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

United States Ambassador, Khartoum

About

In February 2022 Lucy Tamlyn (A78) was sworn in as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the Republic of the Sudan—the latest step in her career in the Foreign Service, which dates back to 1982 and includes assignments in Central Afrian Republic, Brazil, Mozambique, Colombia, Washington, and more. Prior to her position in Khartoum, Lucy Lucy served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Central African Republic.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MA, Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Clean energy advocate, Baltimore, Maryland

About

Attorney-turned-environmental advocate Melanie Santiago-Mosier (A00) is the managing director of Access & Equity at Vote Solar, an advocacy group working to accelerate America’s transition to 100 percent clean electricity. Her work centers on implementing the organization’s vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion through internal organizational cultural examination and reeducation—she works to build partnerships with underserved communities, working with those communities to design and advocate for programs that spread clean-energy opportunities (and benefits) equitably. She also co-authored the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide, a comprehensive tool for policymakers and community leaders who wish to actualize affordable solar energy equitably. “At Vote Solar, my colleagues and I are working with amazing partners across the country to build out the public policies that are critical for solar deployment,” Santiago-Mosier says. “I’m privileged to have been able to lead the way for the organization to make solar access and equity a key thread that ties together everything we do.”

Digital Presence

Melanie Santiago-Mosier
“Energy Has a Diversity Problem. We’re Calling on the Solar Industry to Fix It” by Rosemary Lytle and Melanie Santiago-Mosier
Melanie Santiago-Mosier in Solar Power World
Vote Solar website
Vote Solar Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page
“Unlocking Clean Energy in Low-Income Communities”
Low-Income Solar Policy Guide

Accomplishments

2020 Top 100 Women Award, The Daily Record
2019 WRISE Honor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy
2018 Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) Initiative Award for Advocacy, U.S. Department of Energy, Stanford University Precourt Institute for Energy, MIT Energy Initiative, Texas A&M Energy Institute
2015 Leading Women Award, The Daily Record
May 2020-present, Immediate Past Chair, Environment & Energy Section Council, Maryland State Bar Association
2019–2020, Chair, Environment & Energy Section Council, Maryland State Bar Association 2018–2019, Vice Chair, Environment & Energy Section Council, Maryland State Bar Association
2015–2018, Environment & Energy Section Council, Maryland State Bar Association

Further Study

JD, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law; Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion, Cornell University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Human rights advocate, Washington, DC

About

As Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, John Sifton (A96) oversees and helps shape advocacy initiatives throughout Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, all with the goal of ending human rights abuses in those regions; he’s also written for the New York Times and published a book in 2015. At Human Rights Watch, “I work with researchers to craft recommendations to policymakers and try to get [abusers] to change their behavior,” he says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Contributes to The Nation, HuffPost, C-SPAN, and other media outlets
Author of Violence All Around

Further Study

JD, New York University School of Law

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

City councilor, Bangor, Maine

About

From 2013 to 2014, Clare Davitt (SFGI07) lived and volunteered in a rural community outside of Leon, Nicaragua, where she was a leader in the building of a new library. That experience prepared her for her return to her hometown of Bangor, Maine, where she engages every human faculty in pursuit of a more just and deliberate world. Previously a digital and reference librarian, Clare now works as a board member for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, constituent services representative for Maine Congressman Jared Golden, and city councilor of Bangor, winning her reelection bid in November 2020.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Recipient Fellow for Dean’s Initiatives, Simmons University

Further Study

BA, Evergreen State College; MS in Library and Information Science, Simmons University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Communications director, Washington, DC

About

Andrew Kolb (A01) develops strategies to connect ideas with audiences for the German Marshall Fund: a policy institution the strengthens transatlantic relations through research and analysis, leadership development, and civil society grantmaking. Kolb’s work makes space for his curiosity to span disciplines and continents, addressing topics as diverse as primatology and the NATO bureaucracy. “[Communications] is a discipline that suits my curiosity and my unwillingness to settle on a single subject to which to dedicate my attention,” he says. “And I have been fortunate to be able to ply my trade in organizations that are contributing something good to the world.”

Digital Presence

Andrew Kolb LinkedIn
German Marshall Fund website
“The story of Indonesia’s Ciliwung River — upstream and down” by Andrew Kolb
“Moldova Elections Aren’t About Europe or Russia” by Andrew Kolb
Cannes Festival Golden Lion-winning campaign that Kolb helped launch
“Frontlines of Democracy” produced by Andrew Kolb
Andrew Kolb Twitter

Accomplishments

Chief Communications Officers Council Member

Further Study

Certificate in Executive Leadership, Cornell University

Bachelor of Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Executive director of the Emporia Public Library, Emporia, Kansas

About

Stacchini, the executive director of the Emporia Public Library since October 2022, is the child of a study abroad romance in France. Because her father is French, she grew up there, but she spent many summer breaks in Iowa with her grandmother.

And whether in France or the United States, libraries were a constant in Stacchini’s life, her mother always close at hand.

“As women, we are kind of doomed to become our own mothers. My mother volunteered and worked in some capacity in every library that I went to when I was a child,” she says.

In Iowa, Stacchini’s library was one of the hundreds of democratizing Carnegie libraries, and she participated in the summer reading program. And though it is not inaccurate, she is quick to point out that she does not wish to be one of the scores of librarians who says, “I became a librarian because I love to read.”

Digital Presence

Johnnie Librarians: Pauline Stacchini Brings Multicultural Background and Service Mindset to Patrons

Accomplishments

In 2016, Stacchini was named an American Library Association Emerging Leader, and later became a co-chair and facilitator for the Emerging Leader classes of 2019 and 2020. She now serves as a Councilor-at-Large, creating resolutions for the Association’s Forward Together initiative and voting on member issues.

Stacchini has experience leading committees for both ALA and the Texas Library Association, as well as presenting at national and local conferences for library workers.

Further Study

Master’s of Library and Information Science, University of Iowa

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Natural resource attorney, Baltimore, Maryland

About

Talley Kovacs (A01) is an assistant attorney general supporting the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. By helping preserve open space, protect waterways, and shepherd the transfer of conservation easements, Kovacs simultaneously scratches her itch for social justice, education, politics, and environmental protection. “DNR and MET [Maryland Environmental Trust] are entrusted with protecting public resources that come under many threats,” she explains. “My part is to help those state entities think through issues and problems in a manner that is transparent, ethical, legal, and in the spirit of protecting the resources for the benefit of the public—now and in the future.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

The Daily Record—Leading Women Award
The Daily Record—VIP Under 40 Award
Super Lawyers Rising Star 2012-2018

Further Study

French Language Certificate, Middlebury College; MBA, University of Baltimore; JD, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Policy advisor, Toronto, Ontario

About

Sonja Friesl (SF04) finds satisfaction in developing policies and programs that have positively affected her community. As the senior policy advisor at Ontario Public Service (OPS), Friesl researches and presents recommendations on key policies across various areas; over the last ten years, she has spent time working in education, economics, and social services. Her previous work includes infrastructure, apprenticeship, social services, and procurement trade policy and programming. “I decided to pursue public policy because I realized that the world is what you make it,” she explains. “If you want to make change, or even just keep things as they are if they are good, you need to participate in that work.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

MPP, University of Toronto, School of Public Policy and Governance
MA in International Political Economy, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Architectural Historian, Lexington Count, S.C.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Virginia Harness (A11) is an architectural historian at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH), where she evaluates buildings to see if they qualify for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. This designation brings recognition to historic sites while granting access to incentives like tax credits and grants.

Harness’s St. John’s coursework regularly informs her current role at SCDAH, where “thinking about ‘What is historic?’ and ‘What makes something historic?’ is important,” Harness says. “The program that we work with, the National Register, has these broad criteria, so it is open to a lot of interpretation.”

Further Study

MA, Architectural History and Historic Preservation, University of Virginia

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Librarian, library department head, Harvard, Massachusetts

About

As a librarian and teen department head at Waltham Public Library—a library on the edge of Greater Boston, serving one of the most diverse communities in Massachusetts—Luke Kirkland (SF07) manages all services for youth in grades 6–12, which includes everything from lending music, movies, and books to facilitating afterschool activities. At the center of his work is a youth-led conversation forum called Real Talk, in which teen leaders create and execute interactive activities that get their peers talking about the issues of importance in their lives. “We offer much of what’s expected in a library: books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, computers, local archives, research assistance, story times, community programming. But we also work hard to provide innovative services that keep libraries evolving,” Kirkland says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Winner of 16 Massachusetts Library Association PR Awards
Community Leadership Award from the Waltham Youth and Community Coalition

Further Study

Master’s in Library and Information Science, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Nonprofit director, Anchorage, Alaska

About

Michael Barber (SF05) serves as the executive director of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit that allocates funds to smaller organizations and communities that are working to protect and improve Alaska’s natural resources. It’s the latest step in Barber’s long career in conservation; prior to his work with the conservation foundation, he cofounded an energy efficiency development company to engage utilities, cities, and military facilities in large-scale efficiency retrofits, and he has also worked as a research economist and treasurer.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Led Anchorage’s LED Lighting Project, saving the city millions of dollars and reducing energy consumption by 60 percent

Further Study

MBA in Sustainable Business Management, Presidio Graduate School

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Communications and outreach director, Denver, Colorado

About

Zoe Collins (A18) first started at The Initiative, a Denver nonprofit providing victim advocacy and support for survivors of abuse with disabilities, as a victim advocate intern. Now, as director of communications and outreach, she oversees all organizational outreach efforts, including rural advocacy programs, an LGBTQ+ program, and bilingual and bicultural outreach. “What you’re doing in an advocacy relationship is taking all these facts or statements about somebody’s life, the situation that they’re in, and what options are available to you or to them—and then you’re trying to combine all of these things into a plan,” she says. “I feel like that’s very similar to what we do in seminar.”

Digital Presence

“Taking the Initiative: Zoe Collins on Victim Advocacy and Support”

Accomplishments

Presenter at Colorado Advocacy in Action conference

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Former U.S. Senator, Nebraska

About

Ben Sasse (AGI98) served as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 2015 to 2023. Before winning his senate seat, Sasse earned a PhD in American history from Yale and at age 37 became president of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. He also served as President of the University of Florida from 2023–24.

Accomplishments

Author of two books

Further Study

BA, Harvard University; PhD, Yale University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Immunologist, researcher, Bethesda, Maryland

About

Martin Gaudinski (A04) is at the forefront of medical research, discovering new tools to prevent infectious diseases. As the medical director at the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center Clinical Trials Program, Gaudinski designs and conducts clinical trials to evaluate safety and immune responses to new vaccines. “Specifically, I design and conduct the clinical trials that put a new vaccine into people for the first time,” he says. “This includes a critical linkage between science, medicine, and teamwork.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2019 NIAID Director’s Award—phase 1 trial of an adeno-associated virus gene therapy delivery of a broadly neutralizing HIV antibody
2019 NIAID Director’s Award—For advancements in VRC Universal Influenza Vaccine Program
2019 NIH Director’s Award—contributions towards addressing the 2018 Ebola outbreak
U.S. Public Health Service Outstanding Service Medal—“For designing and conducting the first‐in‐human clinical trial of a life‐saving Ebola treatment in the midst of an ongoing public health crisis.”

Further Study

Premedical Postbaccalaureate Certificate, Johns Hopkins University; MD, Georgetown University School of Medicine

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Nurse, Boston, Massachusetts

About

Bani Singh (SF09) was first drawn into nursing while working as a medical assistant alongside nurse practitioners after graduating from St. John’s. “I was drawn to their approach to patient care,” she recalls. “I thought their career was a perfect blend of caring for others while relying heavily on evidence-based science.” As a newly minted gerontology primary care nurse practitioner at Boston Hope Medical Center, Singh recently found herself on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, working as a nurse for COVID-positive patients facing homelessness at the Boston field hospital.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

AmeriCorps VISTA member 2015–2016
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Service Research Award (2019)—NRSA awards support the training of biomedical, behavioral, and clinical researchers through individual pre- and postdoctoral fellowships, and institutional research training grants.

Further Study

BS and MS in Nursing, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professionals

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Chief medical officer, Matthews, North Carolina

About

Dr. Omar Manejwala (A93) is dedicated to helping people understand addiction. At DarioHealth, which develops digital solutions for chronic health conditions, Dr. Manejwala leads clinical delivery and quality, and supports sales and product development. As one of the nation’s leading experts on addiction, Manejwala also offers insight and analysis on news developments related to addiction and mental health. “I am passionate about developing and deploying scaled solutions that help people improve their health and reduce the burden of these chronic diseases,” he says.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
Regular contributor on major TV network on addictions

Further Study

MBA, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; Chief Residency in Psychiatry, Duke University School of Medicine; MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Neurosurgeon, Tucson, Arizona

About

On Juy 1, 2021, Dr. Justin Cetas (SF93) began working as the new chair of the department of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where he leads a neurosurgery faculty base of 10 current medical providers, nine college affiliates, and several community partners. Prior to his move to Arizona, Cetas served as chief of neurosurgery at the VA Portland Health Care System and as associate professor, residency program director, and vice chair for education in the department of neurological surgery at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. “I think a broad, rigorous education is the key to success,” he says of his work and his time at the college. “[My St. John’s education] has come in handy my whole career.”

Dr. Cetas was tragically killed in a motoring accident in September 2022.

Digital Presence

Justin Cetas LinkedIn Profile

“Philosophy to Neurosurgery”

Further Study

MD, PhD, University of Arizona

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Surgeon, Albuquerque, NM

About

Carolyn Luppens (SF10) is drawn to work with high stakes and tangible results. Surgery checks those boxes: in addition to operating on patients along the entire spectrum of surgical disease, caring for admitted patients, and more, she quickly became a leading educator of new surgeons during her time at University of Utah Health. “Surgery historically has a very hierarchical culture, which we know to be problematic for patient care,” she says. “The skills I learned at St. John’s make me credible as a leader because I do not have to resort to an authoritarian style.” In July 2021, Luppens returned to New Mexico to work as a trauma/critical care/emergency general surgery fellow at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Digital Presence

University of Utah Health General Surgery website

Accomplishments

University of Utah General Surgery Education Chief
Rhode Island Chapter of the American College of Surgeons Student Award for Excellence in Surgery

Further Study

MD, Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Postbaccalaureate Premedical Certificate, Johns Hopkins University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Pediatrician, Auburn, Alabama

About

In addition to providing health care for an underserved area of eastern Alabama, Matt Carter (A95) and his wife advocate for safe conditions in schools and improved pediatric care during disaster response. Carter also coaches children’s sports and is himself an ultramarathoner. “My years at St. John’s and after have taught me that my life is best spent striving for the greatest good,” he says.

Digital Presence

The Pediatric Clinic website

Accomplishments

Completed pediatric residency in 2004 at National Capital Consortium in Washington, DC
Awarded the Bronze Star for service in Operation Iraqi Freedom as the lead physician at FOB Warhorse, providing preventive and emergency care for soldiers and working with local physicians and nurses to rebuild the healthcare system with an emphasis on pediatric health.

Further Study

MD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Interfaith chaplain, Princeton, New Jersey

About

As an interfaith palliative care and hospice chaplain, Molly Padgett (SF04) offers spiritual support to patients and medical providers; “the training is to support the spiritual and religious coping of the patient in a moment of crisis to find their own inner resources,” she explains. When Padgett was working at Manhattan’s Bellevue hospital, such crises included New York City’s biggest surge to date of COVID-19 infections. Those circumstances, while devastating, invigorated her and reinforced her professional commitment. “There’s something so empowering about being able to work in the hospital,” Padgett says.

Digital Presence

“Medicine and Meaning: Interfaith Chaplain Molly Padgett (SF04)”

PBS Video on COVID Crisis in New York

Further Study

Master’s of Divinity, Union Theological Seminary
Clinical training, hospital chaplaincy, Mt. Sinai in New York City

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Anesthesiologist, Augusta, Maine

About

Nearly two decades after she first began considering a career in medicine while at St. John’s, Natalie Bruno (SF00) now works as an anesthesiologist at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Augusta, Maine. Her path was anything but straightforward—“I faced some challenges when applying to medical school because I hadn’t gone to a ‘conventional’ college,” she acknowledges. Ultimately, though, despite whatever difficulties have arisen throughout her career, Bruno’s chosen vocation has been a powerful and profound one. “I am honored to be a physician,” she says.

Digital Presence

“Profundity in Patient Care: Natalie Bruno (SF00) on Liberal Arts and Anesthesiology”

Further Study

MD, University of Texas

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Palliative care nurse, Austin, Texas

About

Emma Perry (SF04) says her job is “a hundred percent about meaning.” As the palliative care coordinator at North Austin Medical Center, she helps patients with serious diseases focus on quality of life for themselves and their family. For Perry, who worked as an award-winning hospice nurse before transitioning to palliative care in 2019, her work entails a level of listening, nuance, and understanding that ties back to her undergraduate career. “Good palliative care and good medicine and a good St. John’s seminar—all of it begins with a good question,” she explains.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2019 Hospice Nurse of the Year, the Austin American-Statesman

Further Study

Accelerated bachelor’s degree, Johns Hopkins School for Nursing

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Pediatric neurologist, Baltimore, Maryland

About

April Sharp (A07) loves children and brains—as a result, she couldn’t be happier than in her career as a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she guides families through difficult diagnoses and oversees their treatments with empathy and compassion. She shares her passion for neurology by teaching medical students and residents; she also serves on the John Hopkins Ethics Committee to address ethical issues and concerns that arise in the hospital.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MD, Johns Hopkins University; Pediatrics Residency, University of Maryland Medical Center; Pediatric Neurology Residency, Johns Hopkins Hospital; Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program, Johns Hopkins University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Psychiatric nurse practitioner, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

Christopher Jones (SF00) works in a community-based health center, providing care to patients who may lack insurance or financial means to pay for services. “My role entails psychiatric assessment and medication management,” he explains. “This includes the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric disorders and pertinent co-morbidities.” Jones took an Odyssean route to advanced practice nursing, arriving there because he found great need for this profession in which “the clinical approach lends itself to inter-professionalism and collaboration, while also opening up opportunities in healthcare leadership.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Alpha Eta Chapter, 2018–present
NHSC Scholar, National Health Service Corps (NHSC), 2015–2018
Scholarship Recipient, Yale University Divinity School
Baccalaureate Service Reader, year 2000, St. John’s College, Santa Fe, NM
Published in various publications and conferences worldwide

Further Study

MSN, Psychiatric-Mental Health, with a concentration in Genomics, University of California, San Francisco; PhD, Religion, Psychology, and Culture, Vanderbilt University; MA, en passant, Religion, Psychology, and Culture, Vanderbilt University; MDiv, Yale University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Doctor, Tacoma, Washington

About

As a family doctor with more than nine years of experience in Tacoma, Washington, John Okrent (A04) found himself on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in early spring, treating his patients from behind heavy-duty personal protective equipment. He’s also a poet—his “Corona Sonnets” series, published by Poetry Northwest, attracted regional attention and acclaim. “I decided to become a doctor sometime during my freshman year at St John’s,” he recalls. “I think the dissections we did in freshman lab played a big role, as well as reading Plato and Homer and thinking about virtue and being ‘good.’”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Published poet

Further Study

MD, Buffalo State University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Research scientist, Cambridge, Massachusetts

About

Michael Fausnaugh (SF11) is an astronomical researcher advancing the frontier of our understanding of planet formation, supernovae, and strong gravity environments around black holes. Fausnaugh currently works on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), planning observations, monitoring instrument performance, and assuring the quality of TESS data released to the public. “Results from the TESS mission have the potential to transform humanity’s understanding of the Earth and our place in the universe,” he says. “It is exciting and humbling to be part of this research and to enable the astronomical community to pursue these questions.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

NASA Silver Achievement Medal for the TESS Mission, September 2019
OSU Markowitz Award for Excellence in Observational Astronomy 2016–2017
OSU Graduate School Presidential Fellow 2016–2017

Further Study

MS and PhD in Astronomy, Ohio State University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Deputy Dean, Chicago, Illinois

About

In 1995, Leslie Kay (SF83) earned her PhD in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, where she performed dissertation research in the laboratory of renowned neuroscientist Walter J. Freeman III. She did postdoctoral studies at CalTech in neurobiology and computational neuroscience. In 2000, she started as a professor at the University of Chicago, where she teaches in the department of psychology, campus-wide programs in neuroscience, and directs her lab which focusses on the mechanisms and functions associated with intra- and inter-regional oscillatory cooperativity.

Digital Presence

Further Study

PhD in Biophysics, UC Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Information technology executive, Durham, North Carolina

About

In his capacity as vice president of Cloud Networking at IBM, Kit Linton (A97) oversaw more than 400 engineers and developers whose responsibility was to build, run, and enhance the network that ties together massive datacenters on five continents. The dynamic nature of the work was something Linton relished, as well as the process of building effective teams of people who are oriented toward a complex and heady goal. “I have always enjoyed the fast pace and constant change I’ve encountered in information technology,” he says. “Just when you think you have gotten the hang of it, something new comes along to challenge and stimulate.”

Since leaving IBM in 2018, Linton spent two years working on a novel and has recently founded an adventure travel business.

Digital Presence

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Nuclear physicist, cancer researcher, Newport News, Virginia

About

As associate director for Experimental Nuclear Physics at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Cynthia Keppel (A84) oversees more than 170 Jefferson Lab staff members. She has earned professional accolades throughout her career as a nuclear physicist and cancer researcher—recently, she was named a 2020 Department of Energy Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellow, one of three DOE National Laboratory scientist fellows who will receive $1 million for a project of her choosing over the next three years.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

2011 Virginia Outstanding Scientist Award
2016 American Physical Society Francis G. Slack Award
2019 American Physical Society Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics Distinguished Lectureship Award
2020 US Department of Energy Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellow

Further Study

MS and PhD in Nuclear Physics, American University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Scientist, Berkeley, California

About

After graduating from St. John’s, Shannon Hateley (SF07) earned a PhD in molecular and cell biology with a designated emphasis in genomics and computational biology from the University of California, Berkeley. For nearly four years, she worked as a computational biologist and senior staff scientist at Ancestry, where she conducted high-level independent research and managed several research teams; she’s now a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Institution for Science, where she hopes to use genomics methods to understand organismal response to climate change.

Digital Presence

Further Study

PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Software engineer, Denver, Colorado

About

David Reed (SF09) finds that reading Greek and writing code are both “problems of translation: taking a connected set of ideas and expressing them rigorously and accurately in a form that comes with complex rules of grammar, syntax, and style.” As a lead engineer at Salesforce, David uses the skills involved in both Ancient Greek and coding as he builds tools to help software engineers and open‐source community members create nonprofit and education solutions that utilize his company’s platform. He finds great satisfaction in supporting mission-driven organizations to achieve measurable impact against sustainable development goals; “I love working in a context where I can see the impact of what I do,” he explains.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Author and contributor of multiple open‐source projects
University Fellow, Florida State University, 2009‐2011

Further Study

MA in Ancient Greek, Florida State University; Multiple Salesforce Certifications

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Marine Corps major and information system security engineer, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

Skip McGee (SF10) is devoted to cybersecurity and security leadership. After graduating from St. John’s, he joined the Marine Corps, earned a master’s degree in public administration at the University of North Carolina, and graduated with another master’s—this one in cybersecurity and information assurance—from Western Governors University; he has also obtained numerous certifications and is enrolled in separate programs at the University of Oregon and SANS Technology Institute. He works in information security at Los Alamos National Lab and is a major in the Marine Corps; he is currently deployed to the Middle East.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

GIAC Advisory Board, 2020
AT&T Veteran’s Scholarship, 2016
Alpha Kappa Alpha Educational Advancement Scholarship, 2016
Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, 2015
Pi Alpha Alpha National Honor Society, 2014

Further Study

Graduate Certificate in Cyber Defense Operations, SANS Technology Institute; MS in Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, Western Governors University; Master of Public Administration, University of North Carolina

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Astronomer, Washington, DC

About

Right after graduating from St. John’s College, Rachel Dudik (A02) spent the summer researching black holes at George Mason University. She wound up accepting a position at the school as a graduate research assistant and, over the following six years, completed her doctorate in astrophysics. Joining the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) in 2008, Dudik worked on the black hole science associated with the International Celestial Reference Frame, which sets the grid for the universe. She and her colleagues continuously define time based on the location of the sun—so that, for instance, world markets have a standard reference, GPS systems can locate cars and space satellites, and airplanes don’t crash into each other.

“Every day, we update what time is,” Dudik says. “Sometimes the Earth is speeding up, sometimes it’s slowing down. The Earth is rotating around the sun and on its axis, it’s wobbling on that rotation, and the orbit itself is changing based on the mass of the sun, and where the moon is, and the tides. On top of that, the entire solar system is rotating around a black hole in the center of our galaxy.”

Dudik currently serves as the USNO’s head of requirements and assessments, meaning she’s responsible for ensuring that the facility’s scientific programs meet necessary protocols and that their data products are accurate. The astronomer has also held roles as the USNO’s acting scientific director as well as its risk management framework program manager; network migration program manager; acting head of development, security and operations; and acting chief technology officer.

Dudik describes her current position as “kind of the liberal arts of the science world,” she says. “I’m not an expert at anything, but I know a little bit about everything. My strength is that I can use those experiences across multiple disciplines to come up with creative ideas, and use lessons learned from other places to help the development of new programs.”

Digital Presence

Rachel P. Dudik, ResearchGate

Alumni Discuss Careers in Mathematics and Science

Accomplishments

Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award (2016)

Further Study

PhD, George Mason University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Computational biologist, Santa Fe, New Mexico

About

Julie Spencer (SF86) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Information Systems and Modeling Group (A‐1) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She has developed mathematical models to gain insight into the effectiveness of mitigation efforts for a range of respiratory pathogens. She is currently working on statistical models for anticipating outbreaks of mosquito-borne viruses.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

IC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (2020-2022)
National Science Foundation ADVANCE Dissertation Excellence Fellowship (2020)
Second Place Talk, University of New Mexico Department of Biology Research Day (2019)
First Place Poster, University of New Mexico Department of Biology Research Day (2018)
First Place Poster, University of New Mexico STEM Research Symposium (2018)

Further Study

PhD in Biology, University of New Mexico

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Research scientist and educator, Moretown, Vermont

About

Since freshman lab, Andy Mead (SF04) has been curious about the form and function of living organisms. A faculty scientist at the University of Vermont—a university renowned for its research work in molecular physiology and biophysics—Mead’s work in muscular dystrophy has positively advanced the ongoing quest for gene therapy to cure this degenerative disease. Freshman lab at St. John’s also inspired his National Science Foundation‐funded work to make life science education more enriching for early undergraduates. “Science is humbling because you can’t be wrong very long before someone (often yourself) comes along and points it out to you,” Mead says, explaining why he enjoys his profession. “I’m pretty self-skeptical anyway, so I find that most of the time, being wrong about something is quite exciting.”

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

National and foundation research funding; NIH, NSF, CVRI
Research published in: Science, Nature Medicine, eLIFE, and others.

Further Study

PhD, Biology, University of Pennsylvania

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Chief financial officer, San Francisco, California

About

After beginning his career as a newspaper reporter, McDavid Stilwell (A93) worked five years in investment management before moving to the biotech industry, where he has applied communications and finance skills to raise capital for companies developing new medicines. Following four years as the senior vice president of corporate communications and investor relations at Sangamo Therapeutics—a gene editing company in the San Francisco Bay Area—he is now CFO at Coherus BioSciences, a company focused on expanding patient access to important, cost‐effective medicines and delivering significant savings to the U.S. healthcare system.

Digital Presence

Further Study

MBA, Harvard University

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Chief executive officer, San Francisco Bay Area, California

About

Artist, writer, and entrepreneur Mark Stephen Meadows (SF93) created Botanic Technologies in 2011. An artificial intelligence company that designs personalized 3D avatars and chatbots—computer programs that analyze input text from the user and construct a response based on the language libraries to which it has access—Botanic has worked with clients including Fortune 100 companies such as Skype and Logitech, as well as various startups and government agencies.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Author of several nonfiction books
Leadership positions at various tech companies
Six patents
Winner of Ars Electronica, Golden Nica award

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Medical tech entrepreneur

About

At age 27, David Hysong (AGI11)—a member of Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 Class of 2017—received an ultra-rare, untreatable head and neck cancer diagnosis right after he had just completed officer selection for special operations in the U.S. military. Taking fate in his own hands, he founded a medical tech company, SHEPHERD, specializing in cure discoveries for the millions of Americans battling rare cancer. “Our long-term goal is to change the industry,” he says. “We want to change the whole ecosystem.” Hysong believes the critical thinking and reading skills he acquired at St. John’s have benefitted him in his current endeavor.

Digital Presence

Accomplishments

Forbes magazine 30 Under 30

Further Study

Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Philosophy, and French Literature, Transylvania University in Kentucky; Master’s Degree, Harvard Divinity School

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts

Job & Location

Network architect, Denver, Colorado

About

As a senior consulting engineer, Craig Sirkin (A95) does not shy away from handling large and complex IT problems for various organizations, ranging from state and local governments to educational institutions and hospitals. Sirkin is often called upon to address client issues with emerging technology. “From the time I first entered the field, I realized that if I was working on the cutting edge of the field, then I wasn’t at a disadvantage to the folks with more traditional computer science educations,” he says. “Luckily for me, there is always a cutting edge in my field.”

ALUMNI SUCCESS

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Law

Rose Carmen Goldberg

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Gabriela Quercia Kahrl

Jonathan Tincher

Thomas Berry

Johnathan Gooch

Clayton “Tex” Pasley

Erin M. Page

Education

Dr. Anika Prather

Mark D. Jordan

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Dr. Daryl Haggard

Karina Hean

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Melanie Kirby

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Arts & Media

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Business

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Devendra Contractor

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Public Service

Roger Carstens

Lucy Tamlyn

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John Sifton

Clare Davitt

Andrew Kolb

Pauline Stacchini

Talley Kovacs

Sonja Friesl

Virginia Harness

Luke Kirkland

Michael Barber

Zoe Collins

Ben Sasse

Healthcare

Dr. Martin Gaudinski

A.B. Singh

Dr. Omar S. Manejwala

Justin Cetas