Class Notes

Video artist, photographer and performance artist Jenna Maurice (MFA) was chosen to project her large-scale experimental video on the wall of the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Her work, “Non-Verbal Secret Confession Booth,” explores people’s nonverbal reactions to the secrets that they keep. In June, Jenna told Westword magazine that by showing her work she was “opening up a whole new genre for the audience that the Still [Museum] gets.”

After serving as a judicial clerk in the U.S. district court for the Southern District of New York, Samantha Smith (Psych) established her insurance recovery and commercial litigation practice at Anderson Kill. In February 2021, she joined Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna, a boutique insurance recovery law firm, as an associate.

In May 2020, Christine Thai (Fin, IntPhys;MBA’17) co-founded and became the CEO of Therapeasy, a mental health organization helping people find therapists. To date, the platform has on-boarded over 140 Colorado mental health providers and facilitated over 830 client matches. 

This year, Kumar Thurimella (ApMath) was awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which is presented to students with outstanding leadership and academic skills who wish to pursue a post-graduate degree from the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is worth $250,000, and will help Kumar obtain a PhD in biotechnology. After graduating from CU, Kumar went West, becoming a software engineer for Uber. His desire to practice medicine pushed him to receive a master’s degree from Cambridge in 2018, and he is scheduled to complete medical school at CU Anschutz after his scholarship period.

As a project manager of a global procurement fund, Katie Razavi-Shearer (ArtHist) helps expand access to hepatitis treatment and diagnostics around the world. She will receive her master’s degree in public health from CU Anschutz. Katie also founded Azghadi Body Shop, a small-batch beauty product company based in Lafayette, Colorado. 

It’s no surprise that Savannah Sellers (Jour) considers herself a news junkie. Since graduation she has become host of NBC’s “Stay Tuned,” a twice-daily news show on Snapchat, and is a correspondent for MSNBC. Savannah is based in New York City. 

In 2018, best friends and former members of the CU Boulder equestrian team Carolyn Likas (Advert) and Brittany Lloyd (Jour) founded the company Town’s End Outfitters, an online destination for luxury women’s activewear. The company focuses on empowering women to participate in golf, tennis and equestrian sports. “Our friendship formed during our time in Boulder, and our experience in the advertising program enabled us to build a marketing plan which eventually became the foundation for our company,” wrote Carolyn.

Subini Ancy Annamma (MSpecEd; PhD’13) is an assistant professor of special education at the University of Kansas. Her research and pedagogy focuses on increasing access to equitable education for historically marginalized students and communities, particularly students of color with disabilities, by linking the ways the intersections of race, gender and disability are under surveillance and susceptible to punishment in public schools and juvenile incarceration.

Kate Harris (Comm) is an assistant professor of organizational communication at the University of Minnesota. Earlier this year, she published her first book, Beyond the Rapist: Title IX and Sexual Violence on US Campuses. In the text, Harris urges schools to recognize that sexual violence is a systemic injustice that injures not only individual students, but also entire educational institutions. Her related research has won awards from the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender; the National Communication Association; and the International Communication Association.

In September, a group of five CU alums hiked the “Haute Route” in Switzerland — a 12-day, 112-mile hike from the Chamoix Valley in France to Switzerland’s Zermatt Mountain Resort. The hike included a stop on the Euroweng, the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, to unfurl the CU flag they had carried for 100 miles. “Coincidentally, we even bumped into another Buff alum on the route,” writes Michael Ton (CompSci’12; MS’13). Bruce Deakyne (MEngr’12), Max Bohning (ApMath’12, MEngrMgmt’15), Hannah Steketee (MechEngr’17), and Alex Kessock (Mgmt’15) also participated.

Wei Wu (MMus’13) won a Grammy Award in February for his work in the Mason Bates opera “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.” Wu played the role of Jobs’ spiritual adviser, Kobun Chino Otogawa, and took the prize for Best Opera Recording. The opera premiered in Santa Fe last year. Wu was also a nominee in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category. Last March, he appeared in the Eklund Opera Program production of “Sweeney Todd.” His upcoming performances include “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” with Washington National Opera and Verdi’s “Requiem” with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Jackie Fortier (MJour) accepted a position as a public radio reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma, a collaboration of public radio stations. Jackie travels around the state to report on energy and the environment, education, health and criminal justice.

Since graduation, Wisdom Amouzou (Comm) has worked with Teach for America and the African Leadership Academy. In 2015, he co-launched his own venture called the HadaNõu Collective, which aims to create resource centers and schools that partner students directly with the community to help solve real-world problems. 

In June, former Buffs track and field athlete Aric Van Halen (Film) competed in the steeplechase at the USA Track and Field Championships. Last year he made it to the Olympic trials. Aric lives in Boulder.

Debby Sneed (MClass) was named one of 21 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows for 2017 at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Debby is completing her dissertation, “The Life Cycle of Disability in Ancient Greece,” in the archaeology department at UCLA.

Amanda Laviage (Comm, PolSci) joined McGlinchey Stafford’s Houston office as an associate in the law firm’s commercial litigation practice. Amanda has experience in appellate matters, including those assigned by the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section Pro Bono Committee. She lives in Houston.

In January, Susan Whitehead (PhDEPOBio) joined the department of biological sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Science as an assistant professor. Susan focuses her research on ecology and the evolution of interactions between plants and other organisms. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University

Brian Ash (Econ) has lived in Kenya for the past three years. In 2013 he co-founded the organization Arrive. The nonprofit organization aids vulnerable children around the world by providing shelter, promoting good health and offering access to education. Brian, a Connecticut native, has raised thousands of dollars for Arrive through fundraisers with his CU fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon.