Alumni Class Notes

Harry Remer has been living in a college town in western Massachusetts for 15 years, practicing psychotherapy privately and founding a local professional group working to improve therapy quality and access for clients of color. Harry also started writing and performing songs again in 2021 after 18(!) years away. His family consists of his wonderful wife, Emily, and their dog and cat, Poncho and Izzy. Contact him via harryremermusic.com, or hear his music on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.

Bailey James' play Reflections, co-written with her friend and collaborator Obum Ukabam, was produced at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in Tulsa, Okla., and ran for nine performances. The show featured 38 local actors and explored the history of Tulsa's 1921 Race Massacre woven together with stories from the modern day, creating a mirrored narrative that explores race relations in the past and present. “I was a creative writing, English, and history major at Oberlin and applied what I learned for all three of those degrees to write this play!” Bailey says. Reflections is under consideration for repeat performances elsewhere in the region.

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs published her first book, Prison Capital: Mass Incarceration and Struggles for Abolition Democracy in Louisiana (University of North Carolina Press) in November 2023.

Christina Graves is the new chief program officer (CPO) of Mainstay Life Services, a nonprofit organization providing life-long, high-quality support services for people with intellectual disabilities and autism (ID/A) in Pittsburgh. As CPO, she oversees the evaluation plan for all programs, ensuring the organization efficiently responds to the changing needs of the people and families served. Christina also provides executive leadership for legal, compliance and regulatory matters, and is responsible for the development and management of Mainstay’s program efficiency, quality service delivery, and fiscal accountability.

Herm Beavers, the Julie Beren Platt and Marc E. Platt President’s Distinguished Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has been elected second vice-president of the Modern Language Association (MLA), the 20,000-member professional organization of professors of language and literature. Herm, who is the author of five books and has taught African American literature at Penn since 1989, will assume the role of president of the MLA in 2026. He and his wife, Lisa, a New Jersey Superior Court judge, live in Burlington Township, New Jersey, and have two children. Email: hbeave@gmail.com

Jon Kingdon, who spent decades as a scout and executive with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, has been writing for Bay Area newspaper The Lamorinda Weekly. The California News Publishers Association awarded first place to his story “Donna de Varona – Olympic Gold Medalist Swimmer and Title IX Crusader,” in the category for newspapers with a circulation up to 25,000.

After teaching special education on the Navajo Reservation, Ann Harbison has moved to Syracuse, New York, to be closer to family. Her brother and sister-in-law, Burt Harbison ’66 and Sue (Crissey) Harbison ’66, and their son David flew to Flagstaff to help. “Just picture Three Old Farts and a Truck…with a nephew/son driving the truck,” Ann writes. During the trip they stopped in Oberlin so David could see where he was born. Ann had not been back there in 45 years and was amazed by the changes—and “can’t wait for our 50th reunion in 2025!”

Bob Atlas left his job as CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association in 2023. That five-year stint was preceded by several decades as a leader in health care consultancies, focused on health care payment and delivery strategy and policy. Bob now works a schedule of his choosing as an independent consultant and serves on the board of an organization dedicated to facilitating organ donation and transplantation in Maryland, Washington D.C., and northern Virginia.

David Smukler was named president-elect of the board of the Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS), a network of people and affiliate organizations who love participatory dance, music, and song traditions. CDSS supports events such as Oberlin's Dandelion Romp. David takes over from the current Board President, Gaye Fifer, in April 2024. Email: dsmukler@verizon.net

Mark Maier received the 2023 American Economic Association (AEA) Distinguished Economic Education Award, which acknowledges excellence in economic education at a national level.