1980

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan, professor of modern languages and literature, directs the italian studies program at Fairfield University—not a bad gig for a govy major. She just published The Transatlantic Gaze: Italian Cinema, American Film, which tracks the influence of Italian cinema on American film from the postwar period to the present.Mary Ann opted for a subject of greater interest than your usual scholarly fare after discussion with the first person she met on campus, Sue Kahil. Emily Katz Anhalt, Debbie Wolk Berger and Joni Von Herrmann helped her persevere through the lengthy slog of researching, writing and seemingly endless rewriting. teaching undergraduate and grad stu- dents, lecturing in Italy and spending time with husband Jim and daughters maria ’12 and anna Barnard ’14 keep mary ann running.mary ann fondly recalls that her incredible journey started when she, Peggy Stewart and 10 others went to Rome for the classics foreign study program with professor Edward Bradley.

Our dean of freshmen and honorary class- mate Karen Blank passed away of cancer this past December 31. Karen spent her last 28 years serv- ing as dean for Columbia university and Barnard College. Ross Jaffe reconnected with Karen when his daughter Brooke transferred to Barnard three years ago. Ross and wife Eve helped Karen set up the Karen Blank Scholarship Fund so that her legacy might be continued at Barnard. As Ross noted, “throughout her illness Karen was her usual calm and positive self, wanting to focus more on others than herself.”

Ross continues to work as managing direc- tor of Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999. He is currently working with the FDA on improving the regulation of medical device innovations. He lectures at Tuck on healthcare venture capital and serves on the Geisel School board of over- seers. Ross still skis and plays tennis and recently added a new hobby: racing a Lotus Elise sports car in the West Coast Lotus Cup race series.

The 35th reunion pregame festivities have begun. In January Merle Adelman, Jeff Demers, Laura Prescott, Kenji Hayao, Ann McNay, Eric Pfei- ffer and Cathy McGrath gathered at the Bull Run Tavern in Shirley, Massachusetts. Eric assures us that the Bull Run II will be equally successful. In February Paul Elmlinger and Regina Ketting hosted a larger gathering at the Yale Club in New York. Cathy, Beth Baron, Bill Helman, Chris Sawch, Dan Zenkel, Guy Dietrich, John Cholnoky, Hans Morris, Lori Zelikow Florio, Lisa Shanahan, Bob Garry, Sally Sandercock Michler, Sean Wilson, Laura Schnell, Stuart Bell, Victoria Sturgis Neely, Scott Bechler and Meg Blakey toasted noky’s retirement and lisa’s birthday.

The common thread that ties together Scott, Meg, Barry Krumm, Dave McQueeny, Earl Grossman, Lauri Livesy Sandusky and Frank Fesnak? They all took jobs with IBM upon graduation. Frank will report on who figured it out next column.

Check out the dartmouth class of 1980 Face- book page for mini-reunion photos and more; everyone looks virtually the same on Facebook as in the Freshman Book.

3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; robdaisley@me.com; 111 Ar- bor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com