Class Notes

Name: Donald Kingston

Class Year(s): 1964

Note: Don Kingston ’64 (SCB) has retired after serving 14 years as the Mayor, Town to Duck, NC. The main stage in Duck was renamed the ’Don Kingston Pavilion’ to honor his service to the town. Don has relocated to Ashburn, Virginia.

Submitted on: May 18, 2026

Eva Palatova, Acting Head of the EU in Kosovo handing over the award to Shqipe Neziri Vela ’07 (CAST)

Name: Shqipe Neziri Vela

Class Year(s): 2007

Note: At this year’s Europe Day Reception, the European Union in Kosovo has honored Shqipe Neziri Vela ’07 (CAST) with the prestigious “European of the Year Award 2026” in recognition of her contributions to advancing gender equality, women’s empowerment, and sustainable energy governance in Kosovo and beyond. This recognition reflects many years of work and commitment in the energy and mining sectors, as well as ongoing efforts to expand opportunities for women’s leadership in traditionally male-dominated industries. It is both a personal honor and an important acknowledgment of the broader need for inclusive and equitable leadership in shaping our societies and economies. Full post: https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanUnionInKosovo/posts/pfbid0U5zCvp72JVcfF4obgi2hTCGsYeXHod5S7BoVk9CiN3xYcnS2UDfD4qTan6H4JuvMl

Submitted on: May 12, 2026

Name: Yunus Lowenthal

Class Year(s): 2012

Note: Yunus Lowenthal ’12 (CIAS) currently teaches applied arts that includes: woodwork, clay scultpure, pottery, stone carving, weaving, and chair-making to 5th-12th graders. Yunus is on Instagram under the name @Lionvalleycrafts!

Submitted on: May 11, 2026

Tom Klinkowstein ’71 (GAP) at the opening of NOT ALL WHENS ARE TIME, Kolding, Denmark.

Name: Tom Klinkowstein

Class Year(s): 1967, 1971

Note: Tom Klinkowstein ’71 (GAP) exhibited his art , NOT ALL WHENS ARE TIME at the Design School Kolding (Denmark), March 2026. It is ongoing. NOT ALL WHENS ARE TIME is speculative design fiction presented as a quasi-narrative diagram. It is not meant to be read in full or in sequence. Instead, it asks to be entered, navigated, and revisited. The diagram is structured around three core concepts: Differences, Accidents, and Affordances. Differences mark encounters with the other, not as opposition but as irreducible presence. Accidents are structures that stand in for stories, especially when repetition turns interruption into infrastructure. Affordances push, pull, enable, and constrain, defining which futures are reachable from a given position. Not All Whens Are Time does not offer predictions or solutions. It invites attention, proximity, and questioning—proposing that design might engage time not as something to manage, but as something to listen to. It is Martin Buber’s dialogue of “fulfilled difference” not between two people but between this observer and time.

Submitted on: May 11, 2026

Name: Larry Martell

Class Year(s): 1982

Note: Larry Martell ’82 (CAST) is working at an amazing startup, https://www.rationalexponent.com. They are changing the way banks work—and the way banks need to grow with their AI-driven Operational Intelligence Platform built for banking.

Submitted on: May 11, 2026

'Change in the Weather' oil on canvas, 24 x 33', 2025

Name: David Leonard

Class Year(s): 1985

Note: The painting of David Leonard ’85 (FAA), Change in the Weather, will be exhibited in the 2026 SAMA Biennial at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Bedford, PA. The show dates are July 24-October 18, 2026. For more information, visit the artist’s website: www.davidleonardpaintings.com.

Submitted on: May 11, 2026

Name: Nart Madi

Class Year(s): 2024, 2026

Note: Nart Madi ’25 (GCCIS), MS ’26 (SOIS) just graduated with a master’s degree in data analytics. His thesis, “3D Deep Learning for Pulmonary Nodule Malignancy Classification in CT Imaging,” involved designing, training, and evaluating AI models for lung cancer detection. He is currently building his AI startup, Senro, which he founded in April 2025.

Submitted on: May 9, 2026

Name: Lee Green

Class Year(s): 1974

Note: Lee Green MFA ’74 (FAA) will be recognized by the City of Rochester on the 50th anniversary of the City Mark he designed while working as a designer for the city. He culminated his career as a corporate vice president overseeing global design and branding for IBM Corporation.

Submitted on: April 16, 2026

Sam Rueby ’11 (GCCIS) at the Microsoft Build Conference in 2025

Name: Sam Rueby

Class Year(s): 2011

Note: Sam Rueby ’11 (GCCIS) recently joined Microsoft as a solution engineer, where he works with organizations to design and implement cloud and AI-driven solutions. Prior to this role, he built a career in software and cloud architecture, specializing in .NET and Microsoft Azure. He has led the design and delivery of scalable applications and advised clients across a range of industries on best practices in cloud adoption and system design. Sam lives in Fairport, New York with his wife and three children. Outside of work, he enjoys staying involved in the tech community and exploring opportunities to share knowledge through speaking and mentorship.

Submitted on: April 16, 2026

John Metzger ’82 (GAP) setting up a round radar system at Diavik

Name: John Metzger

Class Year(s): 1982

Note: John Metzger ’82 (GAP) pivoted from his photography major and is now the earth monitoring manager and counselor at AssetAssurance Monitoring LLC. With more than 19 years of experience in remote and ground-based radar and multispectral data practice, he works with imagery from global locations to support mining, natural resources, infrastructure, engineering, and environmental and social governance initiatives across a range of professional practices.

Submitted on: April 15, 2026