Fall 2021

September 17, 2021

Terp Group’s Virtual Performance Earns First Place in International A Cappella Competition

September 17, 2021

Jones-Hill House, Named for Athletics Trailblazers, Features Tech-Filled Training Areas, a Tricked-Out Locker Room and Plenty of Maryland Pride

Campus Life

September 17, 2021

New Program Enrolls UMD Students With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Program to Make Barbers and Stylists Ambassadors for Public Health Goes Nationwide

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Professor Helps Discover Site of Eastern Shore Cabin Owned by Abolitionist’s Father

Post-Grad

September 17, 2021

Alum Leads Renovation of NSA Museum—and Shares Some of its Treasures

Post-Grad

September 17, 2021

Nyumburu Celebrates Milestone Anniversary as Center for Black Culture on Campus

News

September 17, 2021

Pyon-Chen Hall Opens, Honoring Pioneering Terps

Campus Life

September 17, 2021

Terps to Build Sustainable Structures Near Burning Man Festival Site

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Geographical Sciences Researcher Shapes New Way to Understand Offenses Against the Earth

Explorations

September 17, 2021

New Lab Detects Subtle Differences in Methane to Pinpoint Sources of Pollution

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Business Research Finds Everyday Unpleasantries Affect Doctors’ Performance

Post-Grad

September 17, 2021

Alum Finds Success With Debut Novel on Vietnamese Family Immigrating to U.S.

Post-Grad

September 17, 2021

Entrepreneur Creates Taste of Mountain Adventure in Midwest

Explorations

September 17, 2021

Where Should Infrastructure Investments in the U.S. Start?

Class Notes

News on Friends and Classmates

See all Class Notes from this issue

10s

Mark A. Johnson M.A. ’11

Mark A. Johnson M.A. ’11 wrote the book, “Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877–1932,” a look at the earliest Black efforts to overcome disfranchisement in the Jim Crow South. He is a lecturer in the Department of History at…

90s

Utpal Koppikar ’91

Utpal Koppikar ’91, chief financial officer of Atara Biotherapeutics, joined the board of directors of Flexion Therapeutics Inc. Before starting at Atara in 2018, he held senior financial leadership positions at Gilead Sciences and Amgen. Koppikar…

80s

Brenda Freeman ’87, MBA ’91

Brenda Freeman ’87, MBA ’91 joined the board of directors of Looking Glass Factory, a producer of holographic light field display technology, and WM Technology Inc., a tech and software provider to the cannabis industry. Freeman has 25 years of executive…

90s

Jon Schwartz ’97

Jon Schwartz ’97 was named senior vice president of communications, marketing, digital and social media of the Big Ten Conference. Prior to this, Schwartz served as senior vice president, communications and public affairs, for the National Football…

Passings

William Mahlon Purdin Jr. ’72

William Mahlon Purdin Jr. ’72, a longtime resident of Marblehead, Minn., died on July 15 after battling colon cancer. He was 73. Born in St. Paul to William Mahlon Purdin Sr. and Ida Katherine DeWitt Purdin, he and his family moved several times before…

00s

Franco Gentile MBA ’08

Franco Gentile MBA ’08 was named vice president/general manager of KPTM (FOX) in Omaha. Gentile has held several leadership positions across Sinclair Broadcast Group, most recently as director of sales at WSYX/ABC 6, FOX28 and WWHO/CW, in Columbus, Ohio.…

00s

Matt Tarascio M.A. ’02

Matt Tarascio M.A. ’02 joined Booz Allen Hamilton as a senior vice president in the strategic innovation group, leading the analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) business in support of the U.S. Department of Defense. In his most recent role, he…

70s

Gerald Boarman ’70, M.A. ’77

Gerald Boarman ’70, M.A. ’77 was named deputy head of school at Springdale Preparatory School in New Windsor, Md. He most recently served as president and head of school at the Bullis School in Potomac, Md., and before that as chancellor of North Carolina…