GS Class of 1999
Jasmine L. Tyler ’99 AM assumed the role of executive director at the Justice Policy Institute in February 2024. A seasoned and influential advocate for justice reform, her advocacy has played pivotal roles in the passage of landmark legislation such as the federal Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and the District of Columbia’s Good Samaritan Overdose Prevention Amendment Act of 2012. She also helped to repeal the federal syringe exchange funding ban in 2016 and contributed to the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016.
Keren McGinity ’99 AM, ’05 PhD, writes that her new book #UsToo: How Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Women Changed Our Communities, is available to read or download for free via Open Access.
Diane Greco Josefowicz published a novella through Regal House’s new Fugere series. L’Air du Temps (1985) is set in the fictional suburb of Maple Bay and follows a prickly, foul-mouthed, but mostly good-hearted teenager named Zinnia Zompa whose life is upended when her family is implicated in the fatal shooting of a neighbor. Diane writes: “The early press coverage for the book has been encouraging. In a recent review for Motif RI, Mara Hagen-Spath described it as ‘a layered novella about the juxtaposed relationships we have with our family, our communities, and ourselves.’ It also earned glowing advance praise from Clare Beams, Robin McLean, and Kirstin Allio ’99 MFA.”
Christine Gray Faust ’99 AM was promoted to executive editor of Cruise Critic. The website part of TripAdvisor, Cruise Critic remains the world’s largest cruise information source, despite the pandemic shutting down the cruise industry for 15 months. Christine is an award-winning travel writer and speaker and has been working at Cruise Critic since 2013. When not on a ship, she lives in Yardley, Pa,. with her husband, Don Faust, and two papillon pups, Monet and Manet. Follow her on social media @ChrisGrayFaust.
Timothy J. Cooley ’99 PhD was elected president of the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2019. He succeeds Gregory Barz ’97 PhD. Cooley is professor of ethnomusicology at UC Santa Barbara and Barz is the director of the School of Music at Boston University. In addition, Cooley’s edited volume Cultural Sustainabilities: Music, Media, Language, Advocacy, was published this past spring by the University of Illinois Press. The volume pays homage to Brown emeritus professor of ethnomusicology, Jeff Todd Titon.
Obituaries
Joseph H. Shieber ’99 AM, ’03 PhD, of Wallingford, Pa.; Apr. 7. He taught philosophy at Lafayette College. At the time of his passing, he was the James Renwick Hogg Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy and was working on his book Knowledge for Zombies: A Naturalistic Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. He published scholarly articles, wrote a column for the online journal 3 Quarks Daily, and published Testimony: A Philosophical Introduction. He is survived by his wife, Lesa; a daughter; a son; his parents; and two brothers.
Marisa Huerta ’99 AM, ’05 PhD, of Austin, Tex.; Apr. 24. She had several academic positions, including student advising, before changing careers and enrolling in law school. She earned a JD degree from Rutgers University School of Law in 2020. She served as a law clerk for Judge Thomas W. Sumners of the New Jersey Appeals Court, then accepted a position as an attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., where she was employed at the time of her death. She is survived by her father, two brothers and sisters-in-law, three nieces, and extended family.
Joel A. Firehammer ’90, ’99 PhD, of Chestnut Hill, Mass.; Feb. 4. After several years in New York City, he moved to Massachusetts and was director of software engineering at TriNetX, Inc., in Cambridge. He excelled at collaboration in the software design process and relished the excitement of new start-up projects, most notably during his years at DataSynapse throughout the 2000s. He enjoyed cooking and entertaining, cycling, skiing, and spending time on Cape Cod. He is survived by his wife, Elisabeth Preis ’01; three children; his parents; and three brothers and sisters-in-law.
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