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Cavalier Travels Offers a Lifetime of Learning All Around the Globe

• By Katie McNally , [email protected]

A group of boisterous sea lions played in the water and lounged on the rocks as the Cavalier Travels zodiac passed by.

By tradition, University of Virginia students are referred to by their year of study and never as seniors because founder Thomas Jefferson believed you could never be “senior” in education. There is always more to discover.

U.Va. alumni of all ages continue to prove Jefferson right by embarking on new educational journeys all around the world. By joining the University’s nonprofit Cavalier Travels program, they continue to broaden their horizons long after graduation.

“We plan and organize every aspect of the trip for our participants,” said the program’s director, Kevin Conley. “I only work with the best local companies and people we have longstanding relationships with.”

In addition to a high-quality travel experience, a University faculty member accompanies each trip and provides important context for the surroundings.

Past excursions have included a Tanzanian safari with biology professor emeritus Fred Diehl, a tour of Italy with art history professor Larry Goedde and a trip through Ireland with English professor Stephen Arata.

The largest portion of attendees are alumni and their spouses, though parents and friends of the University are also invited to join the trips.

“We usually have about 50 percent alumni and spouses, with 25 percent U.Va. parents and 25 percent friends,” Conley said.

On one of their most recent trips, Cavalier Travels teamed up with multiple educational institutions to explore the wonders of Alaska by cruise ship. U.Va. environmental sciences professor Howie Epstein joined them on board to discuss climate change and the unique Alaskan environment.

“The lecture component is so important because people want it. They want to learn,” Epstein said. “The average age of this trip was probably between 60 and 70, but many of them were in there taking notes even though there wasn’t going to be an exam or anything.”

For many participants, having the added layer of education made the beautiful surroundings all the more meaningful.

“I do think having the aspect of academic approach was appealing because there are a lot of trips to Alaska, but we wanted to avoid a huge cruise ship and I was very intrigued by the focus on the environment,” said Rebecca Maguire, a 1976 alumna of the College of Arts & Sciences . This was the first Cavalier Travels trip for her and her husband, Davis.

Epstein, who specializes in the Arctic tundra in North America and Russia, explained the various interactions of the plant and animal life around them and the environmental significance of the glaciers they visited.

“I asked if I could speak early in the trip because I wanted to give a general climate-change talk and I thought it would be good for people to have that information early on,” he said, adding that this was an important place to discuss and show the impacts of climate change. After his lectures, Epstein said he believes more of the participants are prepared to act on climate change and to share facts about it with others.

The smaller size of these U.Va. expeditions offer travelers the rare opportunity for in-person, up-close learning.

“One day, we went out on a little raft and saw a whole colony of sea lions, which are really large animals in person. It was thrilling to see them in their natural habitat with no infringement by humans,” Maguire said. “It’s a very different experience than seeing animals in a zoo.”

Nor were sea lions the only animals to pay the Wahoos on board a visit. The group saw numerous blue whales pass by and even had the rare experience of seeing four of them leap fully out of water and dive back in.

One afternoon, traveler and family medicine professor emeritus Sim Galazka and his wife, Donna, witnessed a special treat while whale watching on board. A distinctive formation of little dark animals passed by in the water just beneath them.

“Do you know that sea otters hold hands?” Sim Galazka asked. “A large group of them floated past us while we were on our deck and they were all laying on their backs and every one of them was holding hands with the one next to it.”

The Galazkas went to the Galapagos Islands with Cavalier Travels last year, so Alaska was their second trip. They said it won’t be their last.

“Both trips were so well-organized,” Donna Galazka said. “Sim was a little nervous before our cruise in the Galapagos because we didn’t know what to expect. Once we got there, we felt completely at ease and trusting because Kevin and the U.Va. team have everything so well-prepared.”

Anyone interested in future trips can find out more through the Cavalier Travels website . Highlights from the fall schedule include journeys to Costa Rica, Australia and New Zealand, and Northern Italy.

Media Contact

Katie McNally

Office of University Communications

[email protected] 434-297-6784

Article Information

August 11, 2015

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Event views navigation, june career virtual drop-in featuring guest host raabia shafi (col ’05).

Whether you are planning a job search or career transition, applying to grad school, or polishing your resume, we know you have questions! Our monthly series, ACE Virtual Drop-Ins, offers alumni an opportunity to have your questions addressed by UVA Alumni Career Engagement Director, Liz Sprouse. Participation is free and open to all alumni. Registration […]

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UVA Career Services and the UVA Alumni Association invite you to attend the UVA Tech Networking Reception. This event is part of a series of industry-focused summer receptions taking place in cities around the country. Current students and alumni in the San Francisco area are invited to attend for an evening of connection and networking […]

UVA Career Services and the UVA Alumni Association invite you to attend the UVA Tech Networking Reception. This event is part of a series of industry-focused summer receptions taking place in cities around the country. Current students and alumni in the Palo Alto area are invited to attend for an evening of connection and networking […]

UVA Career Services and the UVA Alumni Association invite you to attend the UVA Tech Networking Reception. This event is part of a series of industry-focused summer receptions taking place in cities around the country. Current students and alumni in the Seattle area are invited to attend for an evening of connection and networking around […]

UVA Biotech & Life Sciences Networking Reception

UVA Career Services and the UVA Alumni Association invite you to attend the UVA Biotech & Life Sciences Networking Reception. This event is part of a series of industry-focused summer receptions taking place in cities around the country. Current students and alumni in the Boston area are invited to attend for an evening of connection […]

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UVA vs. Richmond Before every home game of the 2024 football season, join us at Alumni Hall for Charlottesville’s biggest tailgate party! The festivities begin 3 hours prior to kickoff, and end 30 minutes before the start of the game so fans can make it to Scott Stadium on time. Each tailgate features a complimentary […]

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Topic: Alumni

From the Publisher: Supporting students, strengthening UVA

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From President Ryan: A Letter of Thanks

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From the Publisher: A Reinvigorated Honor System, a Reimagined Honor Week

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Letters to the Editor: Spring 2024

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From the Editor: Feast Your Eyes

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From the Publisher: Telling Our Story Through the Numbers

While it would be impossible to capture the breadth and depth of the Alumni Association’s work on one page, we’re going to highlight some of it—and its impact—by the numbers.

Letters to the Editor: Winter 2023

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12 Must-See Places At UVA

With Spring rapidly approaching and the Rotunda looking more beautiful than ever, families will soon begin to make the drive, whether it’s seven hours or 30 minutes, to what Niche calls the fifth best big college in the country .

While the University of Virginia is not offering any tours at the moment, here are several places on Grounds all prospective students should visit independently before making the decision to apply.

1. The Rotunda

The Rotunda is an obvious choice, but it is obvious for a reason. This building that is constantly associated with the University and its designer Thomas Jefferson, is widely recognized as a hub for student life. Regardless of their year, students are drawn to this renowned building, one that is filled with historic architecture and study spaces that offer anyone who enters them a sense of solidarity with the students surrounding them.

2. The Lawn

Even more impressive than the Rotunda is the lawn that peacefully sits directly in front of it. Referred to by every student quite literally, ‘ the Lawn ’, this wide open, green space is a perfect way to observe and gain a holistic view of the student body. The Lawn is an eclectic meeting place where students gather year round to eat, play a sport, do work, listen to music, hold club meetings and everything in between.

3. Madison Bowl

Another popular meeting place and another crucial stop on this personalized tour is called Madison Bowl . Along Rugby Road, “Mad Bowl” is a symbol of Greek Life, one of the prominent social gathering places for these groups on campus. Greek Life has been a part of The University of Virginia since 1852. There are currently 32 fraternities on grounds and 15 sororities. If these organizations are not for you, take a trip to The Corner instead. The Corner in Charlottesville is filled with different restaurants, bars, shops, and other places for students to meet.

After visiting these cannot-miss sites, there are some lesser-known spaces that first-years have come to love:

4. Einstein Bros. Bagels

Einstein Bros. Bagels is a bagel chain and while it’s not Bodo’s, this bagel shop, located in both the Newcomb Bookstore and Rice Hall, is a location that many first- year students frequent. With the patio outside, students can get work done or finish their everything bagel before class.

5. Beta Bridge

Beta Bridge is a longstanding tradition at the University. It is an outlet for students to express themselves by painting a message on the bridge.

6. The Fralin Museum of Art

The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA , while closed now, is another unique and creative place on Grounds. It is a museum filled with contemporary art.

7. Food Trucks

There are also other popular places to eat on campus. The Food Trucks by The Amphitheater are where many first-years go to get food when they lack the motivation to eat dining hall food. Many also work beside it in the amphitheater when it is warmer outside.

8. Newcomb Starbucks

The Starbucks near Newcomb Dining Hall, which accepts Flex Dollars , is another place where students study, take classes, or sit on the patio while eating. Newcomb Dining Hall itself is also a great place to visit. It’s one of the main dining halls on campus along with O’Hill and Runk.  

9. The Aquatic & Fitness Center

The Aquatic Fitness Center or the AFC is a great place to see students working out and staying active. For UVA students it’s very important that they stay active, which is also reflected in the intramural sports clubs on campus.

10. Memorial To Enslaved Laborers

The University’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers is a new addition to Grounds and as stated by the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University, is meant to “capture the tenure of those community conversations, honor the lives, labor, and resistance of the 4 to 5000 enslaved people who lived and worked at UVA at some point between 1817 and 1865.” 

11. The Library

When it is cold and people need a place to work, many students spend hours at the libraries on Grounds. While Alderman is currently under construction, both the Clemons Library   (affectionately known to students as “Clem” )  and the Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library (also known as the “Brown Library” ) are both great spaces to study.

12. Scott Stadium

If you are not tired from visiting each of these amazing places on Grounds, take a drive past Scott Stadium . This massive arena makes you feel as though you are a part of something larger than yourself, which is exactly what The University of Virginia is all about.  

With the COVID-19 pandemic making these locations emptier than usual, it’s a great time to mask up and explore these places safely. Here’s our Guide to Grounds series if you prefer to tour the University in the comfort of your home!

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Being a Guide

Guides come from all around the world, across all the schools at UVA, and from any program of study. We are involved in so many different groups, organizations, and clubs at the University, but what brings us together is our love for giving tours. Beyond that we also strive for Guides to be a community that members love to be a part of.

Members of the University Guide Service (“Guides”) have the incredible opportunity to serve as keepers of our University’s history and to also act as ambassadors of UVA to prospective students and their families. As they give admissions tours, we encourage our Guides to share their personal UVA experience with prospective students in a candid and constructive way. Every member gets to write and continually update their own tours with their lived experiences just as we craft our paths at UVA! Likewise, all Guides give historical tours of our University, integrating stories from across our school’s 200-year history into a unique and cohesive narrative that speaks to both the Guide and their tourists. Members of the University Guide Service give hundreds of tours each semester to prospective and current students, faculty and staff, alumni, community members, and visitors from all across the world!

Why We Do It

Every Guide chooses to join for so many different reasons and being a member of UGS has benefits that reach beyond what you may expect. As a member, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Give admissions and historical tours of the University. The opportunity to serve as the "face of UVA" to so many visitors leaves an indelible impact on our Guides and to the visitors that they have the privilege of interacting with.
• Collaborate with other organizations across Grounds to spread a passion for and understanding of our University’s multi-faceted history. For example, we recently worked with other organizations and students on Grounds to establish the History of Enslaved African American Laborers (HEAAL) tour for first years to learn about the University’s history.
• Dive into a topic of history that very specifically speaks to you. Some of our members have chosen to do deeper research and work relating to topics such as the history of women, the history of Asian Americans, LGBTQ+ history, the history of African Americans, and the history of medicine at UVA.
• Develop friendships that last a lifetime. So many of our members have found best friends, mentors, roommates, or even just a friendly face in class. UGS feels like a family to us all and the relationships we make here last us for years beyond our time on Grounds.
• Attend the unforgettable Colonnades Ball! The University Guide Service hosts the Colonnades Ball, a formal event for the University and Charlottesville community to raise money to support the community around us. The event is open for anyone to attend, but is a wonderful way for all the Guides to get together and dress up for a good cause.
• Join a community that goes back decades and now eagerly awaits to welcome you too!

Shreya and Mahdin make the most of golden hour on Carter’s Mountain

Guides visit the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum

Mandy, Alexia, and Rachel on their way to Colonnades, our annual charity event!

Guides enjoying the view!

Follow us on Instagram to see a closer look at the regular happenings of UGS and be able to see students spotlights and takeovers to hear from current Guides themselves.

Interested in joining Guides? Learn about the Spring 2024 recruitment process here and feel free to reach out to our Recruitment Co-Chairs Jack Giese ( [email protected] ) and Hewan Kasie ( [email protected] )  with any questions you may have.

100 Notable alumni of University of Virginia

Updated: February 29, 2024

The University of Virginia is 46th in the world, 24th in North America, and 23rd in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Virginia sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

Robert F. Kennedy

Robert Francis Kennedy, also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy, he was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and is an icon of modern American liberalism.

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials as RFK Jr. and the nickname Bobby, is an American politician, environmental lawyer and activist who promotes anti-vaccine misinformation and public health conspiracy theories. He is the chairman and founder of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, and an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election. A member of the Kennedy family, Kennedy is a son of U.S. attorney general and senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and senator Ted Kennedy.

Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American comedian, actress, writer, and producer. Fey was a cast member and head writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1997 to 2006. After her departure from SNL, she created the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013, 2020) and the Netflix sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020), the former of which she also starred in. Fey is also known for her work in film, including Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), Date Night (2010), Megamind (2010), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), Sisters (2015), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016), Wine Country (2019), Soul (2020), A Haunting in Venice (2023), and Mean Girls (2024).

Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore Kennedy was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party and the prominent Kennedy family, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died. He is ranked fifth in U.S. history for length of continuous service as a senator. Kennedy was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the father of U.S. representative Patrick J. Kennedy.

Alexis Ohanian

Alexis Kerry Ohanian is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former executive chairman of the social media site Reddit along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz. He also co-founded the early-stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital, helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk, and started the social enterprise Breadpig. He was also a partner at Y Combinator.

Ben McKenzie

Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan is an American actor, author and commentator. He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama The O.C. (2003–2007), Ben Sherman on the crime drama Southland (2009–2013), and James "Jim" Gordon on the crime drama Gotham (2014–2019). McKenzie made his film debut in the Academy Award-nominated film Junebug (2005), before appearing in films including 88 Minutes (2007), Goodbye World (2013), Some Kind of Beautiful (2014), and Line of Duty (2019). In 2020, he made his Broadway debut in the Bess Wohl play Grand Horizons.

Leslie Bibb

Leslie Louise Bibb is an American actress and model. Bibb first appeared on television in 1996 with minor roles in a few series, and on film in 1997 with a small role in Private Parts. Her first recurring TV role was in The Big Easy (1997). For her role as Brooke McQueen on the WB Network dramedy series Popular, she received a Teen Choice Award for Television Choice Actress. She has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Christine Everhart in Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), What If...? (2021), and several viral marketing campaigns in which the character hosts WHIH Newsfront. She appears as Grace Sampson / Lady Liberty in the Netflix series Jupiter's Legacy (2021).

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of his life. A Nobel laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and often is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.

Robert Mueller

Robert Swan Mueller III is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.

Laura Ingraham

Laura Anne Ingraham is an American conservative television host. She has been the host of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette. She formerly hosted the nationally syndicated radio show The Laura Ingraham Show.

Milos Raonic

Milos Raonic is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on November 21, 2016, making him the highest-ranked Canadian player in history. Raonic is the first Canadian man in the Open Era to reach the Australian Open semifinals, the French Open quarterfinals, and the Wimbledon final. He has won eight ATP Tour titles.

Sarah Drew is an American actress and director. She played Hannah Rogers in The WB family drama series Everwood (2004–2006) and Dr. April Kepner in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy (2009–2018, 2021–2022).

Katie Couric

Katherine Anne Couric is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, Wake Up Call. From 2013 to 2017, she was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Couric has been a television host at all of the Big Three television networks in the United States, and in her early career she was an assignment editor for CNN. She worked for NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News from 2006 to 2011, and ABC News from 2011 to 2014. In 2021, she appeared as a guest host for the game show Jeopardy!, the first woman to host the flagship American version of the show in its history.

Christopher Howard Long is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. The son of Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and older brother of NFL guard Kyle Long, he played college football at the University of Virginia and won the Ted Hendricks Award as a senior. Long was selected by the St. Louis Rams second overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, where he spent eight seasons. He later played one season for the New England Patriots and two for the Philadelphia Eagles, winning a Super Bowl title with each.

Emily Swallow

Emily Swallow is an American actress. She is best known for her role as The Armorer in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian. She is also known for her roles as Kim Fischer on The Mentalist and as Amara / The Darkness in the 11th season of Supernatural. She also had a minor role as Emily in the video game The Last of Us Part II.

Steve Huffman

Steve Huffman, also known by his Reddit username spez, is an American web developer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, a social news and discussion website, which ranks in the top 20 websites in the world. He also co-founded the airfare search engine website Hipmunk, which shut down in 2020.

Richard E. Byrd

Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr., an American naval officer, was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader crossed the Atlantic Ocean, a segment of the Arctic Ocean, and a segment of the Antarctic Plateau. He is also known for discovering Mount Sidley, the largest dormant volcano in Antarctica.

Kirstjen Nielsen

Kirstjen Michele Nielsen is an American attorney who served as United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Christina Tosi

Christina Tosi is an American chef and cookbook author. She is founder and co-owner with Momofuku of Milk Bar and serves as its chef and chief executive officer. Food & Wine magazine included her in their 2014 list of "Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink".

David Baldacci

David Baldacci is an American novelist. An attorney by education, Baldacci writes mainly suspense novels and legal thrillers.

Malcolm Brogdon

Malcolm Moses Adams Brogdon is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers under Tony Bennett. As a senior in 2015–16, he was a consensus first-team All-American. He was also named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first player in conference history to earn both honors in the same season. He was selected in the second round of the 2016 NBA draft by the Bucks with the 36th overall pick. He went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first second-round pick in the NBA to win the award since 1965. In 2019, Brogdon became the eighth player in NBA history to achieve a 50–40–90 season. In the 2019 off-season, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers before being traded to the Boston Celtics in 2022, where he won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2023.

John Kennedy

John Neely Kennedy is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Louisiana since 2017. A Republican, he served as the Louisiana State Treasurer from 2000 to 2017, as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue from 1996 to 1999, and as special counsel and then cabinet member to Governor Buddy Roemer from 1988 to 1992.

Ralph Sampson

Ralph Lee Sampson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A 7-foot-4-inch (2.24 m) phenom, three-time college national player of the year, and first overall selection in the 1983 NBA draft, Sampson brought heavy expectations with him to the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Danielle Collins

Danielle Rose Collins is an American professional tennis player. She has reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 7 in singles and No. 79 in doubles. Collins has won two WTA Tour singles titles, at the 2021 Palermo Open and the 2021 Silicon Valley Classic, and one WTA Tour doubles title at the 2023 Charleston Open with Desirae Krawczyk. She reached her first major singles final at the 2022 Australian Open.

Tiki Barber

Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virginia. Barber was selected by the Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft, and played his entire professional career for the team. Barber retired from the NFL at the end of the 2006 NFL postseason as the Giants' all-time rushing and reception leader. He is one of only four players with 5,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards. Barber was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Bill Nelson

Clarence William Nelson II is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States senator from Florida from 2001 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1972 to 1978 and in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991. In January 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of U.S. Congress to fly in space, after Senator Jake Garn, when he served as a payload specialist on mission STS-61-C aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. Before entering politics he served in the U.S. Army Reserve during the Vietnam War.

Angus Stanley King Jr. is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Maine since 2013. A political independent, he served as the 72nd governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003.

Claudio Reyna

Claudio Alejandro Reyna is an American former professional soccer player and former executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC.

John Cornyn

John Cornyn III is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served on the Texas Supreme Court from 1991 to 1997 and as the attorney general of Texas from 1999 to 2002.

Dawn Staley

Dawn Michelle Staley is an American basketball Hall of Fame player and coach who is currently the head coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Staley won three Olympic gold medals with Team USA as a player and later was head coach of another U.S. gold-medal winning team. Staley was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics. After playing point guard for the University of Virginia under Debbie Ryan, and winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, she went on to play professionally in the American Basketball League and the WNBA. In 2011, fans named Staley one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. Staley was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. She was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel, sometimes credited as Jack Lingo, is an American voice actor, director, and writer. He is a regular cast member of the web series Critical Role, in which he and other fellow voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. He is best known for voice roles as Donatello in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney games. For Nickelodeon, he was the voice director for Fresh Beat Band of Spies and Sanjay and Craig, as well as the voice of Riven in the revival of Winx Club.

Marvin P. Bush

Marvin Pierce Bush is an American businessman. He is a son of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush and the brother of former U.S. President George W. Bush, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the late Robin Bush, Neil Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch.

Andy Beshear

Andrew Graham Beshear is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 63rd governor of Kentucky since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the son of former Governor Steve Beshear.

John Warner

John William Warner III was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 2009. Warner served as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1999 to 2001, and again from 2003 to 2007. He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee from 1995 to 1999.

Krystal Ball

Krystal Marie Ball is an American left-wing political commentator and media host. She was previously a political candidate, as well as a television host at MSNBC, a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and a co-host of The Hill's Rising along with Saagar Enjeti. In May 2021, Ball and Enjeti announced that they were leaving the show in order to launch their own independent project titled Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar. Ball is a co-host with her husband Kyle Kulinski on the podcast Krystal Kyle & Friends. She has made guest appearances on networks such as CNN, CNBC, Fox News and programs including Real Time with Bill Maher.

Linda Fairstein

Linda Fairstein is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.

Jason Winston George

Jason Winston George is an American actor and model. He is best known for his roles as Michael Bourne on the NBC daytime soap opera Sunset Beach, as Jeremiah Thurgood "J.T." Hunter on the UPN television sitcom Eve, as Dr. Otis Cole on ABC's Off the Map, and as Dr. Ben Warren on Grey's Anatomy and its spinoff Station 19.

Jerry Falwell, Jr

Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. is an American attorney, former academic administrator, and evangelical. Starting with his 2007 appointment upon the death of his father, televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., Falwell served as the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, until resigning in August 2020 amidst a sex scandal.

Robert Aldrich

Robert Burgess Aldrich was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick auteur working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed mainly films noir, war movies, westerns and dark melodramas with Gothic overtones. His most notable credits include Vera Cruz (1954), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956), Attack (1956), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967), and The Longest Yard (1974).

Francis Collins

Francis Sellers Collins is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents.

Teddy Sears

Edward M. Sears is an American actor, known for his roles as Richard Patrick Woolsley on the TNT legal drama series Raising the Bar, Patrick on the first season of FX anthology horror drama American Horror Story (retroactively titled Murder House), Dr. Austin Langham on the Showtime period drama series Masters of Sex, and DC Comics supervillain Hunter Zolomon / Zoom / "Jay Garrick" / "The Flash" / Black Flash in the television series The Flash (2015–2023).

Sasheer Zamata

Sasheer Zamata Moore is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. Zamata is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2014 to 2017. Since her departure from SNL, she has garnered wider attention for her leading roles in the TV series Woke (2020–2022) and Home Economics (2021–2023). She has served as a celebrity ambassador for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Pap Ndiaye is a French historian and politician who has been serving as France's Ambassador to the Council of Europe since 2023.

Jennifer Lilley is an American actress and singer. Lilley played a supporting role in the 2011 film The Artist, temporarily portrayed Maxie Jones on the ABC soap opera General Hospital from September 2011 to August 2012, and has played the character of Theresa Donovan on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives from July 2013 to November 2016 and again from May to July 2018. She has also starred in several television films from Hallmark Channel.

Schuyler Fisk

Schuyler Elizabeth Fisk is an American actress and singer-songwriter.

Joseph Malcolm Harris is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers, before being selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, He spent one-and-a-half seasons with the team before being traded and waived due to injury. He was signed by the Brooklyn Nets in 2016, and is one of three players to make 200 three-pointers in one season in the history of the Nets franchise. The longest-tenured Net as of 2021, Harris led the NBA in three-point shooting accuracy in 2018–19 and repeated the feat in 2020–21. Also in 2021, Harris surpassed Dražen Petrović as the Nets' all-time leader in three-point field goal percentage, and surpassed Jason Kidd as the Nets' all-time leader in three-point field goals made. Harris also ranks fourth in NBA history in career three-point field goal percentage (as at December 27, 2023).

Mark Sanford

Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019, and also as the 115th governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Janet Napolitano

Janet Ann Napolitano is an American politician, lawyer, and academic administrator. She served as president of the University of California from 2013 to 2020, the United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 2013 (during the administration of President Barack Obama), and the governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009. She joined the faculty at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley in 2020.

Sheldon Whitehouse

Sheldon Whitehouse is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1993 to 1998 and as the 71st attorney general of Rhode Island from 1999 to 2003.

Alexander Britton Hume, known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. He had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline, and This Week. Hume served as the ABC News chief White House correspondent from 1989 to 1996.

Matt Schaub

Matthew Schaub is an American former football quarterback who played for 17 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is now a football analyst for the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, and was selected by the Falcons in the third round with the 90th pick of the 2004 NFL Draft.

Patrícia Abravanel

Patricia Abravanel Faria is a Brazilian television presenter and businesswoman. She is the daughter of television presenter, businessman and owner of SBT, Silvio Santos.

Travis Lane Stork

Travis Lane Stork is an American television personality, emergency physician, and author best known for appearing on The Bachelor, and as the host of the syndicated daytime talk show The Doctors from 2008 to 2020.

Margaret Brennan

Margaret Brennan is an American journalist based in Washington, D.C. The current moderator of Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on CBS News, she is also a fill-in and substitute anchor for CBS Evening News, and the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent. Brennan was previously a White House correspondent for CBS and has covered Washington since 2012.

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NATO (1995–1999), leading the alliance during Operation Allied Force, he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union and Secretary-General of the Western European Union and held these posts from October 1999 until December 2009.

Alben W. Barkley

Alben William Barkley was an American lawyer and politician from Kentucky who served as the 35th vice president of the United States from 1949 to 1953 under President Harry S. Truman. In 1905, he was elected to local offices and in 1912 as a U.S. representative. Serving in both houses of Congress, he was a liberal Democrat, supporting President Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom domestic agenda and foreign policy.

Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the eighth district and a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Sean Patrick Maloney

Sean Patrick Maloney is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from New York's 18th congressional district from 2013 to 2023. The district includes Newburgh, Beacon, and Poughkeepsie. A member of the Democratic Party, Maloney ran for New York Attorney General in 2018, coming in third place to Letitia James in the primary.

Sheila Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee is an American lawyer and politician who is the U.S. representative for Texas's 18th congressional district, having served since 1995. The district includes most of central Houston. She is a member of the Democratic Party and served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council before being elected to the House. She is also co-dean of Texas's congressional delegation.

Paul Tudor Jones

Paul Tudor Jones II is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, conservationist and philanthropist. In 1980, he founded his hedge fund, Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Eight years later, he founded the Robin Hood Foundation, which focuses on poverty reduction. As of April 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$7.3 billion.

Bruce Lipton

Bruce Harold Lipton is an American writer and lecturer who advocates various pseudosciences, including vaccine misinformation. By his own admission, Lipton's ideas have not received attention from mainstream science. Lipton has not published original scientific research in a peer-reviewed medical journal in 30 years.

Shelley Moore Capito

Shelley Wellons Moore Capito is an American politician and retired educator serving in her second term as the junior United States senator from West Virginia, a post she has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Capito served seven terms as the U.S. representative from West Virginia's 2nd congressional district from 2001 to 2015. The daughter of three-term West Virginia governor Arch Alfred Moore Jr., she is the dean of West Virginia's congressional delegation.

Ronald Coase

Ronald Harry Coase was a British economist and author. Coase was educated at the London School of Economics, where he was a member of the faculty until 1951. He was the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, where he arrived in 1964 and remained for the rest of his life. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991.

De'Andre Hunter

De'Andre James Hunter is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers and was named the NABC Defensive Player of the Year for 2019.

Kyle Joseph Guy is an American professional basketball player for Lenovo Tenerife of the Spanish Liga ACB and the Basketball Champions League. He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers as a shooting guard for three years and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player during his junior season before declaring for the draft. In high school, he was Indiana Mr. Basketball and a McDonald's All-American.

Ryan Zimmerman

Ryan Wallace Zimmerman is an American former professional baseball infielder who played 16 seasons for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Zimmerman graduated from Kellam High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and played college baseball at the University of Virginia. Nicknamed "Mr. National", he was selected in the first round as the fourth overall pick by the Nationals in the 2005 Major League Baseball draft, then played for the team from its 2005 inaugural season in Washington, D.C., through 2021. Known for his clutch hitting and walk-off hits, Zimmerman was primarily a third baseman before moving to first base in 2015. He was twice selected as an MLB All-Star, won one Gold Glove and two Silver Slugger awards, and was a World Series champion with the 2019 Nationals.

Eugene Scalia

Eugene Scalia is an American lawyer who served as the 28th United States Secretary of Labor during the final 16 months of the Trump administration from 2019 to 2021. Scalia previously served as the United States Solicitor of Labor under President George W. Bush. He is a son of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

Stephen Malkmus

Stephen Joseph Malkmus is an American musician best known as the primary songwriter, lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Pavement. He performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Pavement, and as a solo artist.

Ana Belén Montes is a former American senior analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency in the United States who spied on behalf of the Cuban government for 17 years.

Thomas Jones

Thomas Quinn Jones is an American actor and a former football player. He was a running back who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, earning consensus All-American honors in 1999. Jones was selected by the Arizona Cardinals seventh overall in the 2000 NFL Draft, and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in addition to the New York Jets, Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs. He retired among the top 25 leading rushers in NFL history (currently 26th, after LeSean McCoy passed him), and a member of the 10,000 rushing yards club. In September 2019 he was nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.

Paul Bowles

Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier in the Interzone, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life.

John Dickerson

John Frederick Dickerson is an American journalist and a reporter for CBS News. His current assignment is anchoring “CBS News Prime Time with John Dickerson” on the news division’s streaming network. His previous roles include 60 Minutes and CBS News' Election specials. Most recently, he was co-host of CBS This Morning along with Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King. He served as an interim anchor of the CBS Evening News until Norah O'Donnell took over in the summer of 2019. Previously he was the host of Face the Nation on CBS News, the political director of CBS News, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News, and a political columnist for Slate magazine. Before joining Slate, Dickerson covered politics at Time magazine for 12 years, serving the last four years as its White House correspondent, and he is also a fill-in and substitute anchor for CBS Mornings, CBS Evening News, and Face The Nation.

Abigail Spanberger

Abigail Anne Spanberger is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative from Virginia's 7th congressional district since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Spanberger is a former CIA officer.

Michael Jones, better known by his ring name Virgil, is an American former professional wrestler and actor. He is best known for his eight-year tenure in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), primarily as Ted DiBiase's personal assistant.

Joseph D. Morrissey

Joseph Dee Morrissey is an American Democratic politician, businessman, and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico County, Virginia. He represented Virginia's 16th Senate district from 2020 to 2024, having been elected during the 2019 election. He represented much of southern Richmond, as well as all of the cities of Petersburg and Hopewell and portions of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George counties. He lost the 2023 Democratic primary for his district.

Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III is an American politician who served as the 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997 and as a United States senator representing Indiana from 1999 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he currently serves on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, Roy took office on January 3, 2019. Before his election to Congress, he served as chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz and as first assistant attorney general of Texas. Roy is considered a member of the far-right faction of the House Republican Conference.

Robert Neller

Robert Blake Neller is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 37th Commandant of the Marine Corps. He assumed his assignment on September 24, 2015 and retired on July 11, 2019. He was succeeded by David H. Berger.

Mark Brzezinski

Mark Francis Brzezinski is an American lawyer serving as the United States Ambassador to Poland since 2022. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to Sweden from 2011 to 2015 under President Barack Obama.

Lyon Gardiner Tyler

Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. was an American educator, genealogist, and historian. He was a son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States. Tyler was the 17th president of the College of William & Mary, an advocate of historical research and preservation, and a prominent critic of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

Walter Reed

Walter Reed was a U.S. Army physician who in 1901 led the team that confirmed the theory of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species rather than by direct contact. This insight gave impetus to the new fields of epidemiology and biomedicine, and most immediately allowed the resumption and completion of work on the Panama Canal (1904–1914) by the United States. Reed followed work started by Finlay and directed by George Miller Sternberg, who has been called the "first U.S. bacteriologist".

Chris Taylor

Christopher Armand Taylor Jr., nicknamed "CT3", is an American professional baseball utility player for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners. He played college baseball for the Virginia Cavaliers. Taylor was selected in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB draft, and made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2014. Traded to the Dodgers, Taylor won the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award in 2017, was a member of the World Series champions in 2020, and was an All-Star in 2021.

Ken Cuccinelli

Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli II is an American lawyer and politician who served as the senior official performing the duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the Principal Deputy and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and was Attorney General of Virginia from 2010 to 2014.

Monica Wright

Monica Ashante Wright Rogers is an American basketball coach and former player. She played college basketball for Virginia and was selected second overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010 WNBA draft. Outside of the WNBA, she played professionally in Poland, Turkey, Australia, South Korea and Iceland. She is currently the assistant general manager for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.

Julien Green

Julien Green was an American writer who lived most of his life in France and wrote mostly in French and only occasionally in English. Over a long and prolific career, he authored novels and essays, several plays, and a biography of Francis of Assisi, produced a four-volume autobiography, and for decades maintained a daily journal that he edited and published in nineteen volumes. The posthumous publication of the unexpurgated text of his journals presented a different version of his personality and sexuality, revealed details of the lives of many of his prominent contemporaries, and documented the gay subculture of 20th-century France.

John C. Stennis

John Cornelius Stennis was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from the state of Mississippi. He was a Democrat who served in the Senate for over 41 years, becoming its most senior member for his last eight years. He retired from the Senate in 1989, and is, to date, the last Democrat to have been a U.S. senator from Mississippi. Furthermore, at the time of his retirement, Stennis was the last United States senator to have served during the presidency of Harry S. Truman.

Jim Gilmore

James Stuart Gilmore III is an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and former attorney who served as the 68th Governor of Virginia from 1998 to 2002. A member of the Republican Party, Gilmore also chaired the Republican National Committee in 2001 and served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during the Trump administration.

Raymond Moody

Raymond A. Moody Jr. is an American philosopher, psychiatrist, physician and author, most widely known for his books about afterlife and near-death experiences (NDE), a term that he coined in 1975 in his best-selling book Life After Life. His research explores personal accounts of subjective phenomena encountered in near-death experiences, particularly those of people who have apparently died but been resuscitated. He has widely published his views on what he terms near-death-experience psychology.

Justin Anderson

Justin Lamar Anderson is an American professional basketball player for Valencia of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers before being selected with the 21st overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks.

Harmeet Dhillon

Harmeet Kaur Dhillon is an American lawyer and Republican Party official. She is the former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, and a National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California. She is the founder of a law practice called Dhillon Law Group Inc. In 2018, she helped launch the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Center for American Liberty, which does legal work related to civil liberties. She is a regular guest on Fox News.

Marie Elizabeth Harf is an American political commentator for the Fox News Channel and former deputy campaign manager for policy and communications for the Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) presidential campaign. She served as the Senior advisor of Strategic Communications to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the United States Department of State, leading the Iran nuclear negotiations communications strategy. Harf also was Acting Spokesperson and Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department.

James Michael Scott is an American professional basketball player for LDLC ASVEL of the French LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers, before being taken in the second round of the 2012 NBA draft, and spending ten seasons in the NBA.

Charles Spittal Robb is an American former U.S. Marine Corps officer and politician who served as the 64th governor of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and a United States senator representing Virginia from 1989 until 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Robb sought a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2000, but was defeated by Republican George Allen, another former governor.

Leland D. Melvin

Leland Devon Melvin is an American engineer and a retired NASA astronaut. He served on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis as a mission specialist on STS-122, and as mission specialist 1 on STS-129. Melvin was named the NASA Associate Administrator for Education in October 2010.

Ty Jeremy Jerome is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers, where in 2019 he was the starting point guard on their national championship team. Jerome was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA draft but was traded to the Phoenix Suns.

Alexander Vandegrift

Alexander Archer Vandegrift, was a U.S. Marine Corps four-star general. During World War II, he commanded the 1st Marine Division to victory in its first ground offensive of the war, the Battle of Guadalcanal. For his actions from August 7 to December 9, 1942, during the Solomon Islands campaign, he received the Medal of Honor. Vandegrift later served as the 18th Commandant of the Marine Corps. He was the first four-star general on active duty in the Marine Corps.

Edward Andrews

Edward Bryan Andrews Jr. was an American stage, film and television actor. Andrews was one of the most recognizable character actors on television and in films from the 1950s through the 1980s. His stark white hair, imposing build and horn-rimmed glasses influenced the roles he received, as he was often cast as an ornery boss, a cagey businessman or other officious types.

Joyce White Vance

Joyce Alene White Vance is an American lawyer who served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017. She was one of the first five U.S. attorneys, and the first female U.S. attorney, nominated by President Barack Obama.

Russian interference in UK general election will likely ramp up dramatically, warns senior US senator

R ussian interference in the UK general election will likely “ramp up dramatically” over the next fortnight, the chair of the United States senate intelligence committee has warned.

Washington has witnessed “egregious efforts” by Moscow to interfere in the democratic process across the globe, similar to those alleged in the 2016 US presidential election, said Mark Warner .

The senior senator, who is regularly briefed on secret US intelligence, said he had been closely monitoring the situation in the UK, adding: “I think the next big test of the state of play will be the British elections in a few weeks.”

While US intelligence services are yet to see much activity indicating Russian interference in the ballot due on 4 July, Mr Warner said on Tuesday: “The chances are, as we saw in the past, this activity ramps up dramatically the closer it gets to the election.”

Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor event, the Virginia Democrat was reported as saying: “Clearly, Russia does not like the fact that the UK has been as stalwart as they have been in terms of defence on Ukraine .”

He added: “It clearly meets [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s plans if he can lessen the British or the Americans’ resolve for supporting Ukraine – he can save some money on his tanks, guns, ships, and planes if he can diminish support.”

The warning comes a month after Westminster’s national security committee urged that Britain “must be prepared for the possibility of foreign interference” in the upcoming general election

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, committee chair Dame Margaret Beckett said the UK had experienced a “pattern of attempted foreign interference from countries such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea” in recent years.

The UK government has previously said it is “almost certain” that Russian actors tried to interfere in 2019’s general election.

Dame Margaret said hostile actors could use cyberattacks, target political candidates in a bid to retrieve and exploit sensitive information, spread disinformation online, and capitalise on controversial topics where there are already “domestic divides” in order to sow further division.

While the infamous Internet Research Agency troll farm – linked to the late Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin – was reportedly disbanded last July following his mutinous march on Moscow, there are similar Kremlin-linked groups still active, Mr Warner noted on Tuesday.

Russia and China’s disinformation tactics have both improved, Mr Warner noted on Tuesday, echoing Dame Margaret as he said Moscow was intent on exacerbating social divisions by “sowing discontent or trying to pit groups against each other”.

Describing Putin’s potential efforts to exploit political differences over the defence of Ukraine, Mr Warner reportedly referenced former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who said this week that his new Reform UK party would “like to see” Kyiv negotiate with Russia.

Discussing US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s colder stance towards funding Ukraine’s defence, Mr Warner said: “I’m not sure where Mr Farage is at this week on that issue or whether he’s continuing to follow Mr Trump’s lead.”

Mr Farage told reporters on Tuesday: “If there is a change of American president, Trump will push for these negotiations to happen and my guess is they would happen.”

The remarks came as Putin used his first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years to announce a new Russian-North Korean pact , which he said included a mutual defence clause.

The Independent stands for many things, often uniquely so. It stands independent of political party allegiance, and makes its own mind up on the issues of the day. The Independent has always been committed to challenge and debate. It launched in 1986 to create a new voice and in that time has run campaigns for issues ranging from the legalisation of marijuana to the Final Say Brexit petition.

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DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

• Spring 2024

Alumni News

Presenting alumni news as you read through the news below, you may recognize a name or two. we hope you learn something new, and again, thank you for connecting with us. if you are curious to see what else the history department is up to, we reccomend you check out previous newsletters and view our  youtube channel..

Alumni Highlight: Fiona Maxwell (BA ‘18)

I am entering my final year in the History PhD program at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, "Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920,” grew out of the History senior thesis I completed at Northwestern. I published two scholarly articles this year: “‘Expression is Power’: Gender, Residual Culture, and Political Aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870-1900” in Gender & History , and “Site of Social Justice Advocacy, or Home of Godly Women? Interpreting Women’s Work at the Frances Willard House Museum” in Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals . I received the Debra Mesch Doctoral Fellowship for Research on Women’s Philanthropy in support of my dissertation project, as well as the Anna Award, Recognizing Extraordinary Service and Dedication to the Center for Women’s History and Leadership.

I am working as a research consultant for the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s Radical Craft exhibition and contributed an original essay, “The Old and the New: Immigrant Women and Intergenerational Connection at the Hull-House Labor Museum,” to the accompanying catalog. I also work as a career advising intern and oral and written communications specialist for UChicagoGRAD, and I designed and led two public programs for the University of Chicago’s Center on Democracy: a workshop on improv and democracy, and a women’s suffrage bus tour. This spring I will be giving an invited talk at Northwestern’s upcoming Winifred Ward Symposium.

1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s |  2020s

Judith (Westlund) Rosbe (BA ‘63) - Judith Westlund Rosbe was selected as the recipient of the 2024 Massachusetts History Alliance Star Award. MHA Star Awards are granted to an individual who has made a lasting impact on their local history. Rosbe has written six books on Marion MA history and has conducted over 50 oral histories of Marion residents, the latest focusing on Marion's Cape Verdean community. She has been a director of her local historical society for over 45 years and has served as its president for 15 years and its treasurer for five years. She has also been a leader in its preservation efforts in the Town of Marion, including enrolling her home in the National Register of Historic Places.

Greg Paus (BA ‘68) - After my career at NU, I moved to Boston, discovered architecture, and attended the 5year program at the Boston Architectural Center. It is the only night school of architecture in the world, and a requirement is that every student work full time for an architectural firm. I loved the entire experience! Then I moved to Vermont and started my own firm, Silver Ridge Design, Inc., Architects. I'm still working full time and love the projects I work on. Redesigning Vermont is a large, exciting project that I enjoy with passion!

Donald McPherson (MA ‘71) - Don McPherson (BA ’69) recently published articles about Peanuts creator Charles Schulz in the Kenwood Press (CA) and Pétanque Pulse , the magazine of the Federation of Pétanque USA. Schulz lived and worked in Santa Rosa, CA, where Don, a pétanque aficionado, lives in retirement. This year is the 20th anniversary of a January 16, 1994, Schulz comic strip homage to Pétanque, the classic French boules game.

Snoopy, the World War I flying ace, sits atop his doghouse (his Sopwith Camel) in aviator gear and queries “Pétanque?” Marcie, as the “beautiful French lass” who has fallen for him, offers to teach him to play. She cautions the Flying Ace not to drop the heavy metal boule on his foot which, of course, Snoopy promptly does. Marcie then carries him to the field hospital, where he imagines his chagrin at having to explain that during the Great War he was wounded – playing pétanque.

Through interviews with living participants including Schulz’s widow, Jean Schulz, CEO of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Don was able to document Schulz’s personal experience as the genesis of the cartoon. At an August 1993 picnic, Schulz was taught to play pétanque by members of Don’s club, the Sonoma CA Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club. After the event, Schulz wrote to thank club members “for teaching Snoopy to play pétanque.” The documentation included previously unknown photographs of the event found in the archives of the Schulz Museum.

Mac Banks (MA ‘73) - I am retiring in July 2024, after 13 years as dean of the UNC Greensboro Bryan School of Business and Economics and Margaret and Harrell Hill Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. I am also completing my term as past chair of the Board of Directors of AACSB, the world’s premier accreditor of business schools.

John F. Reiger (PhD ‘70) - John Reiger contributed analysis and photographs to the producers of the Ken Burns historical documentary on the American buffalo that appeared last fall on television and is cited in the credits. The Selected Bibliography of the volume accompanying the television production includes Reiger's first book on environmental history, which was an outgrowth of his Northwestern dissertation directed by George M. Fredrickson.

William Willingham (PhD ‘72) - The past few years have been busy with research and writing. My book entitled, Civil Works for the Public Good: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Deal,1929-1941 just came out in January 2024. Next year, another book I have written for the Army Corps of Engineers, From Revolution to West Point: Engineering for the U. S. Army, 1775-1802 is due for publication. Finally, I have just completed a manuscript for the Oregon State University Press, titled Golden Dreams: Precious Metals and the Development of Oregon, 1862-1910 . My history graduate years at NU in the late 1960s have served me well. I hope others from those years send in their news.

Carol Zink (BA ‘77) - Happily retired after teaching history at a high school for 14 years (after a career in software and Naval service). Now teaching a variety of history classes online for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in Hawaii and New Hampshire, teaching English to Spanish speakers, guiding first gen college aspirants through the byzantine college application process, and enjoying 5 grandkids and recreational pursuits.

Jim Schmotter (PhD ‘73) - Proving once again that historians can do nearly anything, I'm serving this year as an Executive in Residence at Florida Gulf Coast University's School of Entrepreneurship. In December 2023 I received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters degree from Muskingum University, my undergraduate alma mater in Ohio.

Barbara M. Posadas (PhD ‘76) - Barbara M. Posadas is CLAS Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at Northern Illinois University where she taught from 1974 to 2015.  Of late, her response to questions about what she has been doing is usually “not much.”  She is currently writing a semi-autobiographical invited piece for the FANHS [Filipino American National Historical Society] Journal that is due too soon. She continues serving on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society and The Journal of American Ethnic History and as a consultant for Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) on US Department of State Foreign Service examinations. Most of all, after commuting from 1973 to 2015, she enjoys living with Roland L. Guyotte (PhD 1980), her husband of forty-two years, at their homes in DeKalb, IL, and Morris MN. Both Barbara and Roland entered the PhD program in 1967 – Sigh!

David Gaynon (BA ‘73) - For the last several years I have served as Curriculum Chair of the Senior Studies Institute, a Portland OR area senior studies group affiliated with the Portland Community College. In the last year I presented two lectures – one on Lincoln's second inaugural address and a second on the Forum for Dialogue, a nonprofit in Poland involved in promoting open and honest communication with contemporary Poles and the worldwide Jewish community, especially the descendants of Jews who once lived in Poland.

Peter Coddington (BA ‘84) - Celebrating my 40th reunion year with a NU History degree gives perspective on the value of a History degree. In 1984 my 2.43 grade point average was hardly considered stellar by NU standards. My academic performance did not reflect a lack of interest, or intellectual curiosity, but more a lack of discipline and general disregard, if not outright rebellion, for what was expected. I preferred interaction with my fellow students in discussion.

Upon graduation and seeking a profession, law school was considered the logical pathway. I had interned at a law firm in the Loop. I noticed none of the attorneys ever looked happy while at work. They never interacted with anyone – just looked at their documents.  I halfheartedly signed up for the LSATS, everyone quiet and working on their tests – just like in the law firm. I looked out the window onto a beautiful early summer day and wondered who would be on the lakefront and whom I might meet if outside. I got up and simply walked out.

Fortunately, 33 years later I sold two Tech companies that I started in my basement, never needing to work again. I never studied computers – as a matter of fact, I hate passwords! My NU history degree taught me all I needed to be successful – how to study people. I hired the best and brightest computer scientists. I interacted with prospective customers. Made the companies successful and sold them. There is no better education than understanding humanity and that is best done while studying history.

Scott Olson (BA ‘80) - I've been appointed Chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. In this role I oversee seven state universities, twenty-five community and technical colleges, and one tribal college.

James Sanders (PhD. ‘80) - In 2023, I published two poems – “Where…,” appeared in Gatherin g, an obscure poetry journal, and “Mr. Prickly,” debuted in NOVA Bards , a small northern Virginia publication. The first poem criticizes the annual World Economic Forum meeting at Davos; the second celebrates the much-maligned leatherleaf mahonia, unfairly regarded as “invasive” in some states. The Children’s Librarian at Hershey Public Library (PA), affirmed that, “All publishing counts.” Amen! Most recently, I’ve been supporting an instrumental music program for youth in La Victoire, Haiti. Started by a retired Iowa band director, after he experienced an epiphany one Sunday morning in church, the program is thriving—good news in a troubled country and yet more evidence that music can sustain and heal. To date, I have failed to spur Congressional hearings on failed U.S. Africa policy. The reappearance of coups, civil war, high levels of food stress, deep economic distress, and prominence of transnational actors in current events, indicates that U.S. policy clearly needs innovative ideas and better leadership. The 1990s were over a long time ago. Presently, transnational networks are surpassing governments in power, global reach, flexibility, and creative thinking. How to cope? Finally, I continue as a trumpeter in Derry Presbyterian Church’s brass ensemble here in Hershey PA. Hershey Presbyterians remain dubious about the long-term influence of the Great Awakening.  

Dennis Hickey (PhD ‘85) - I presented the paper "Globalization and the Conceit of the Present: Thomas Kuhn's *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions* as Corrective” at the 12th Global Studies Conference, Krakow, Poland, in June 2019. I am now retired, and I look forward to further conference and travel opportunities after my knee replacement in several months’ time.

Daniel Sack (BA ‘84) - I have recently been named deputy director of the Division of Research Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities. I help to administer several programs that support innovative scholarly research across the humanities. I have been at the NEH for almost 14 years.

David Pratt ( BA ‘85) - I moved back to the Chicago area in 2020 after 14 years in Dallas-Fort Worth. Last year I retired after 25 years in financial services (Sears, Citi and SoFi). After nine months of retirement, my boss from Citi and SoFi asked me to join him at his new company, so I am un-retiring on 4/15 and working for Goldman Sachs in their credit card area.

Stephen Reichard (MA ‘85) - I had always hoped to parlay my degree in African History into working for an NGO doing nation building. After a circuitous journey through the private and nonprofit sectors, I have come full circle, consulting with tribes and tribal organizations to leverage tribal sovereignty to improve health and well-being.

Barbara Kancelbaunm (BA ‘87) - I am the VP of Communications & Marketing for Henry Street Settlement. The organization, one of the largest social services agencies in New York City, was founded by the social reformer Lillian Wald in 1893. One of the great joys of my job is to supervise a public historian and to oversee a permanent history exhibition in our headquarters, which welcomes 2,000 visitors each year and uses history to give our team a sense of belonging to this legacy and a deep commitment to the mission.

Mark Roth (BA ‘80) - After a more than 30-year career in the U.S. Intelligence Community, I became a Practitioner Professor in the Intelligence Studies program at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. I am also an adjunct faculty member teaching classes remotely in the Security & Intelligence Studies program at Chicago State University.

Katherine Tower (BA ‘84) - Promoted to Deputy General Counsel for the Illinois State Lottery.

Roland L. Guyotte (PhD ‘80) - Roland L. Guyotte continues as Professor of History and All-University Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris, where he has taught since Fall 1969.  He continues to write reviews, most recently for The Journal of American History and The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society . In recent years he has developed and taught classes, new to him, on “The American West” and “The American Experience in World War II,” an event in which he was a product of the victory celebration. He also regularly offers classes on “The Civil Rights Era” and “The U.S. Presidency since 1900.”

Rebecca Shumway (BA ‘95) - I'm working on my second book about the history of Ghana, as a faculty member at UW-Milwaukee, and enjoying watching my nephew pursue his bachelor's degree at Northwestern!

Bradley Bouten (BA ‘91) - Bradley Bouten is a practicing Lutheran living in Escondido CA. My email address is on file with NU Alumni Services. Don't have a car so don't travel much. Maybe I'll make it back for Homecoming one of these years. I was a DU. Go Cats!

Robert C. Wolcott (BA ‘91) - I'm pleased to share the launch in May 2024 of my new book from Columbia University Press entitled, PROXIMITY ( www.proximitybook.net) I'm currently an Adjunct Professor of Innovation at both Kellogg and Chicago Booth and a venture investor. We live in Ridgewood NJ, near New York City, in case anyone would like to reconnect. I'm always available on LinkedIn at Robert C. Wolcott.

David Gellman (PhD ‘97) - My book Liberty's Chain: Slavery, Abolition, and the Jay Family of New York was awarded the Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship by the New York Academy of History. I am about to complete my 25th year teaching at DePauw University.

Rachel Barkow (BA ‘93) - I have a book coming out in spring of 2024. Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration will be published by Harvard/Belknap. Most of the cases are from the 1960s-1980s, so it was fun going through the history of that period to set the stage for the decisions.

Geoffrey Deibel (BA ‘02) - Geoffrey Deibel was awarded tenure and promotion to Associate Professor of Saxophone at Florida State University. He has recently been awarded several internal grants at FSU and looks forward to future recording projects.

Thanh Nguyen (BA ‘05) - Since graduating from NU two decades ago as a history major, I became a lawyer (litigator at AmLaw 100 firms Clifford Chance and Latham & Watkins), went in-house as one of PepsiCo’s lawyers building out the company’s anticorruption compliance program globally, got married, and after our first child was three  years old, we sold our house and quit our jobs for a yearlong fantastic adventure abroad traveling and living in 12 countries together. We came back to the US in 2021, relocated to California, had our second and third kid and I became a legal recruiter helping companies of all sizes build their legal team. So many adventures ahead!

Joshua Furman (BA ‘04) - In January 2024, I was appointed the Jeanne Abrams Endowed Director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society and Affiliate Faculty of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Denver. In the press release, I thanked one of my undergraduate teachers at NU, Professor Edward Muir, for sparking my interest in history:  https://www.du.edu/news/du-welcomes-joshua-furman-first-jeanne-abrams-endowed-director-rocky-mountain-jewish-historical-society .

William Thomas (BA ‘01) - In August 2023, the American Institute of Physics appointed me to the role of Spencer R. Weart Director of Research in History, Policy, and Culture. I am the fourth director of AIP's Center for History of Physics in its six decades of documenting the history of the physical sciences, and the first tasked with connecting the history of the profession to the concerns of the present.

Lane Demas (BA ‘02) - I am still a history professor at Central Michigan University. In 2023, I was appointed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the state's Historic Preservation Review Board. I recently published my first book, The Dharma of the West last year. It is available on Amazon.

Lauren Greenwood ( MA ‘07 ) - Graduated with a Doctorate in Leadership and Education from Trevecca Nazarene University (Nashville) and continues as faculty in a Physician Assistant program in Nashville TN.

Patricia Yu (BA ‘07) - After practicing law for nine years, I finally made the career change I wanted to become a therapist. I started my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy in May 2022 and am thrilled to share that I was just accepted to a position as a Child and Family Therapy trainee at Maple Counseling Center in Los Angeles. I recently celebrated my three–year anniversary of living in LA and love it so much! I live a few minutes from the ocean in Venice and spend a few times a week by/in the water. I’ve also been active in the NU LA Club as the Secretary since August 2023.

Edward Gadient (BA ‘08) - This spring, I will complete my 9th year teaching in Chicago Public Schools. I currently work at Lincoln Park High School and lead Junior and Senior classes in the school’s IB Career-Related Program. Most exciting for me recently was a teaching fellowship from the Pilot Light Foundation, which provided materials and support to integrate food education into my classes.

Melissa Vise (PhD ‘15) - Beginning Fall 2024, I will join the University of Virginia History Department as the John Nau III Associate Professor in the History and Principles of Democracy.

Lindsay Jagla (BA ‘15) - I just completed three years as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State. I previously served in Managua, Nicaragua, for two years, and I just completed eight months of Albanian language training before being posted to Pristina, Kosovo in the summer of 2024. I think about my history courses and academic experience at Northwestern often in my work!

Austin McCredie (BA ‘16) - After completing my MTS at Boston University’s School of Theology, I will be moving to Philadelphia to begin my PhD at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on Syriac Christianity.

Isabel Robertson (BA ‘17) - I'm living in Chicago and working remote as a podcast producer for Marvel Entertainment – the limited series I created last year for them was nominated for Best Entertainment Podcast at the 2024 Podcast Academy Awards! I also work as a freelance producer, writer, and fact-checker, using my History Department research skills. And I'm working on my first novel!

Fiona Maxwell (BA ‘18) - I am entering my final year in the History PhD program at the University of Chicago. My dissertation, "Democratic Ensembles: Spoken Art and Politics at Chicago Settlement Houses, 1890-1920,” grew out of the History senior thesis I completed at Northwestern. I published two scholarly articles this year: “‘Expression is Power’: Gender, Residual Culture, and Political Aspiration at the Cumnock School of Oratory, 1870-1900” in Gender & History , and “Site of Social Justice Advocacy, or Home of Godly Women? Interpreting Women’s Work at the Frances Willard House Museum” in Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals . I received the Debra Mesch Doctoral Fellowship for Research on Women’s Philanthropy in support of my dissertation project, as well as the Anna Award, Recognizing Extraordinary Service and Dedication to the Center for Women’s History and Leadership. I am working as a research consultant for the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s Radical Craft exhibition and contributed an original essay, “The Old and the New: Immigrant Women and Intergenerational Connection at the Hull-House Labor Museum,” to the accompanying catalog. I also work as a career advising intern and oral and written communications specialist for UChicagoGRAD, and I designed and led two public programs for the University of Chicago’s Center on Democracy: a workshop on improv and democracy, and a women’s suffrage bus tour. This spring I will be giving an invited talk at Northwestern’s upcoming Winifred Ward Symposium.

Lewis Raven Wallace (BA ‘10) - I have turned in a manuscript for my second nonfiction book, this one on the subject of Radical Unlearning . I asked, what creates the conditions to help us let go of deeply held beliefs and ideologies? The book will be published by Beacon Press in 2025. My first book, The View from Somewhere , which is about the history of objectivity, continues to be taught in journalism and history courses.

AJ Tedeschi (BA ‘12) - AJ is happy to announce that he is joining Local Deal Flow Hub (LDFH) in the role of Chief Legal Officer. LDFH is a FinTech startup that is dedicated to improving access to capital for high-quality Main Street businesses across the country.

Emily Gerst (BA ‘13) - This spring, I graduated with a master's in dispute resolution from the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University and moved to Virginia to work as the Director of Conflict Resolution & Peer Mediation at the College of William & Mary.

Ruby Ray Daily (PhD ‘21) - I am finishing up my first (delightful) year as Assistant Professor of History, Modern Britain, and the British Empire at the University of Arkansas.

Sarah Han (BS ‘21) - Since graduating, I have been working at a private wealth management firm in San Francisco. This fall, I'm excited to be attending law school at Duke University and to start the next chapter of my life. I'm grateful for the skills I learned and guidance I received during my time at Northwestern!

Sophia Scanlon (BA ‘22) - I’m excited to share that, after finishing my master’s in education from Penn this spring, I will be starting my PhD in History at Columbia this fall! I’m looking forward to building on the skills and knowledge I gained while in the Northwestern History Department. Go ‘Cats always!

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