Every three months, a magazine appears in my mailbox. It’s not one I subscribed to, and most of the time, I have no idea what to expect in terms of the articles inside. But it’s one that I look forward to reading: The Brandeis magazine.
If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably heard about the Heller magazine (shout out to Heller’s amazing communications team!), but you might not realize that Brandeis puts out a magazine every quarter too. And unlike what I’m sure of the majority of recipients do (leaf through a few pages, read an article or two that catches their eye, reads the class news for their class), I can proudly say that I read each Brandeis magazine cover to cover. My favorite part, however, might not be what you’d expect. Even though I myself never attended Brandeis, and even though the articles for Brandeis magazine are always fascinated, I love the class news section.
I love it because I get a glimpse of what some of our Heller graduates are up to. You see, once students enroll, we hand them off to their program directors, professors, advisors, and program managers. Sure, a current student or even an alumni might occasionally stop by to chat with us, but for the most part, once a student is enrolled, we fall off the radar. Reading through the class news lets me know what became of the shy prospective SID student I talked to at a graduate school fair, or the PhD applicant whose statement of purpose blew me away.
Today, I thought it might be helpful to share some updates from Heller’s graduates: not so that you can catch up with them, as I do, but so you can get a sense of where you might be post-Heller.
Medani Bhandari, SID’04, is a professor and advisor to the chancellor at Gandaki University (Nepal), professor at Sumy State University (Ukraine), and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Akamai University (Hawaii, USA).
Jill Baren, MBA’19, is the 14th president (and first woman president) of Lake Forest College.
Devan Quinn, MPP’17, is director of policy at the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation.
Jeanette Takamura, PhD’85, is a professor and dean emerita of the Columbia School of Social Work, where she served as the School’s first female dean. Dr. Takamura served as the assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1997 to 2001.
Javaid Iqbal Sofi, MA SID/MS GHPM’21, is a fellow at the Harvard Public Health Review.
Leandre Waldo, MBA’02, is the chief of staff for the president of Saint Michael’s College.
Emmanuel Obasuyi, MS GHPM’15, is building a mobile-first electronic health record system for healthcare providers in emerging markets, which is being piloted in Nigeria.
Michael Ames, PhD’15, is president and CEO of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Alliance, a human-service organization. He’s also the president of the Massachusetts Association of Approved Special Education Schools’ board.
Jessica Sanon, MBA’18, founded sySTEMic Flow, a nonprofit which works to break down barriers for BIPOC women who study or work in STEM fields.
Amanda Kiessel, SID’03, is the co-creator of Good Market, a marketplace commons that makes it easier to connect with social enterprises, civic organizations, and businesses working to create a better world.