Eve Aschheim (MFA, Studio Art, ’87) was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design. Aschheim has taught at Princeton University since 1991 and served as art program director from 2004 to 2007. Aschheim’s work is shown internationally and been included in the textbooks Drawing, Structure and Vision and Drawing, A Contemporary Approach. She has won awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Stunt pilot Vicky Benzing (B.S., chemistry, ’80), an accomplished aerobatic performer and air racer, was recently featured in a Tacoma News Tribune story about her flying career. Benzing performed aerial stunts for the Tacoma Freedom Fair and flew over a Fourth of July parade in Steilacoom, Washington, during the 2017 holiday weekend. She currently holds the record for fastest woman ever at the prestigious Reno Air Races.
Mike Jameson (B.A., economics, ’85) recently joined TH Real Estate's as a senior executive. A managing director based in San Francisco, he is responsible for originating commercial real estate debt transactions in the western U.S. He previously spent 26 years with Prudential Mortgage Capital Company. In addition to his UC Davis degree, he earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. TH Real Estate, an investment affiliate of Nuveen, is one of the world's largest real estate managers.
Douglas A. Girod (B.A., chemistry, ’81) was named the 18th chancellor of the University of Kansas on May 25. A head and neck surgeon, Girod joined the University of Kansas Medical Center faculty in 1994 and was named executive vice chancellor of the Medical Center in 2013. Girod grew up in Oregon and attended two years of community college in the Bay Area before transferring to UC Davis in 1979. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Girod attended medical school at UCSF, earning his medical degree in 1985. Girod completed his residency and an NIH research fellowship at the University of Washington. Between 1991 and 1994, Girod worked at the Naval Medical Center in Oakland. A veteran of the Navy Reserve, Girod rose to the rank of lieutenant commander and earned the Meritorious Service Medal. Girod is scheduled to replace retiring chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little in July 2017. Girod and his wife, Susan, have three adult children and live in the Kansas City area.
Chris Petersen (B.A., psychology, ’87), head coach of the University of Washington football team, was recently featured in a Washington Post article, "At Washington, Chris Petersen is making noise with a quiet approach." The Dec. 28 story—published a few days before the Huskies lost their first College Football Playoff game to No. 1-ranked University of Alabama—traces Petersen's successful career back to his days at UC Davis, where he played for and assisted legendary coach Jim Sochor. The Post describes Petersen as "one of the best coaches of his era, a West Coast answer to Nick Saban and Urban Meyer."
Marc Greendorfer (B.A., economics and psychology, ’86) practices corporate law in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, he established the Zachor Legal Institute, a nonprofit foundation combating the Palestinian-based boycott movement against Israel. He also filed amicus curiae briefs in two U.S. Supreme Court cases — Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores in 2014 (where the court ruled family-owned companies cannot be forced to provide contraceptive coverage against their religious beliefs) and Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015 (which made gay marriage a national right). Language in his second brief was used by Chief Justice John Roberts in his dissent. Greendorfer has had several papers published in prominent law reviews. One article, “The BDS Movement: That Which We Call A Foreign Boycott, By Any Other Name, Is Still Illegal,” was cited by Israel’s Supreme Court in its 2015 decision upholding the nation’s domestic anti-boycott law.
Anil Kashyap (B.A., economics and statistics, ’82) will begin a three-year term in October as an external member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee. In announcing the appointment on Sept. 1, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, called Kashyap "one of the leading experts on financial risk." Kashyap is the Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he teaches classes on central banking and financial crises.
A Village in the Fields, a novel by Patty Enrado (B.A., English, `85), was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing given by the Stanford University Libraries. The historical novel features an elderly Filipino farm worker who looks back on his long and costly struggle for civil rights.
Rabbi Yonason Goldson (B.A., English, ’83) recently published the book Proverbial Beauty: Secrets for Success and Happiness from the Wisdom of the Ages (Timewise Books). Goldson’s book examines how to find tranquility in the midst of chaos, how to savor the moments of everyday life and how to resolve the paradoxes of the human heart. He lives in St. Louis, teaches and writes the blog Proverbs and Providence.
