June 15: Ashleigh Johnson ’17 Steps Into Trailblazer Role

As she prepares to compete again in the Olympics, water polo goalkeeper Ashleigh Johnson ’17 is stepping further into a trailblazer role established when she became the first Black woman to represent the United States in the Olympics for her sport five years ago. — USA Today

Bob Hollander ’55, one of the world’s leading Dante scholars and the author, with his wife, of what is considered by many to be the smoothest English translation of The Divine Comedy, died this spring at 87. —The New York Times
 
On Slate’s Slow Burn podcast, Judith Miller *72 defended her reporting on the Iraq War, saying her sources were “the very same people who were warning us about [Al] Qaeda and 9/11.” — Slate
 
Robin Givhan ’86, senior critic-at-large for The Washington Post, said the fashion industry is showing “much looser silhouettes” as people return to the office but don’t want to give up the comfort of dressing for home. — NPR
 
Alice Gast *84 is hoping a mentoring program will help boost the number of Black students at Imperial College London, where she’s the college president. — The Voice
 
Berkley law professor Orin Kerr ’93 said a recent Supreme Court ruling goes a long way toward clarifying the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s prohibition on accessing parts of a computer without authorization. — Lawfare
 
As psychologists struggle to replicate studies that appeared to show subtle influences have an outsize impact on human behavior, wrote author Jesse Singal ’13, “it’s probably time to be a little bit more skeptical of these quick-fix ideas.” — The New York Times

Data journalist Danielle Ivory ’05’s team at The New York Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Rund Abdelfatah ’13 worked on NPR’s coverage of the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani that was a Pulitzer finalist for audio reporting. Stephen Engelberg ’79 of ProPublica is co-chair of the Pulitzer board. — Pulitzer.org 

Karen Karniol-Tambour ’06, co-chief investment officer for sustainability at Bridgewater Associates, said sustainability factors can be integral to high returns, and investing has three dimensions: “risk, return, and impact.” — Business Insider

“It’s a lot of change. Again. This time for the better. But nonetheless, change is hard. Pandexit is a word for all of this. The messy, hard, exciting, confusing, unfair, hopeful, maddening, joyous end stage of the pandemic.”

— University of Wisconsin-Madison professors Christine Whelan ’99 and Malia Jones explaining why naming this final phase of the pandemic will help us get through it. — The Cap Times

Luke Gamble ’18 will run SportsFun(d), a new program created by the nonprofit Louisville Sports Commission to grow recreational sports leagues in the city, particularly in underserved neighborhoods. — Spectrum News 1

Building on the viral success of its nap dresses, Nell Diamond ’11’s Hill House Home brand has an expansion scheduled, “notable in that it marks the first time Hill House Home dabbles in apparel more broadly.” — Fashionista
 
Bruce Springsteen decided to restage his hit Broadway show after his manager Jon Landau and Jordan Roth ’97, owner of Broadway’s Jujamcyn Theaters, pitched him the idea. — app.
 
Actress Ellie Kemper ’02 condemned white supremacy and apologized on Instagram for participating when she was 19 in a debutante ball that has a racist history. “I believe strongly in the values of kindness, integrity and inclusiveness,” she wrote. — The Washington Post

Broderick Johnson ’90 and Andrew Kosove ’92 are producing a 13-episode television anime series based on Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to the 1982 Blade Runner film. — Anime News Network
 
Stacy Rukeyser ’91, creator of the new Netflix series Sex/Life, said films about desire typically take the male point of view, and she chose to have this project “play out entirely from the female gaze.” — Entertainment Weekly

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