Alumni publish and thrive

Alumni publish and thrive

  Office of the Dean April 20, 2016

From new book publications to new leadership positions, UCI School of Humanities alumni have much to celebrate


Jeremiah “Jem” Axelrod, who received his master’s in history (1996) and Ph.D. in philosophy (2001) from UCI, has been named Director of Occidental College’s new Institute for the Study of Los Angeles. Axelrod designed and proposed the new institute dedicated to teaching and research about the city. Learn more here.

Jen Karetnick, who received her MFA in poetry from UCI in 1990, has two books of poetry coming out this spring: American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publishing, May 2016) and The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, September 2016). These books mark her 14th and 15th publications. American Sentencing is an intense examination of the physical body and the various indignities and ailments from which it can suffer, as well as a look at medicine and healing from the spouse of a physician. The Treasures That Prevail is about climate change and its effects on Miami. The poems confront the ills of modern society, mourn both public and personal losses, and predict the difficulties of a post-modern life in a flooded, Atlantis-like lost city.

Ralph Leck, who received his Ph.D. in history and M.A. in critical theory from UCI in 1995, has published Vita Sexualis: Karl Ulrichs and the Origins of Sexual Science, 1860-1900 (University of Illinois Press, 2016). In his book, Leck situates Karl Ulrich’s studies of sexual diversity in a context that includes politics, aesthetics, the languages of science, and the ethics of gender.

Jefferson Parker, who received his B.A. in English from UCI in 1976, has published a new novel. Crazy Blood (St. Martin's Press, 2016) focuses on a complicated family rivalry that pits half-brothers Wylie and Sky against each other in a high-stakes ski race in Mammoth.

Lydia Ringwald, who received her M.A. in comparative literature from UCI in 1972, is an artist who brings together history and mythology in her work. Ringwald currently has 12 paintings on display at the Aliso Viejo Library, 1 Journey, through October. To read her Q&A in the Orange County Register, click here.

Keith Rosten, who completed joint degrees in Russian and social ecology from UCI in 1978, will receive the Distinguished Alumni award from UCI’s Alumni Association on May 12 at the 46th-annual Lauds & Laurels ceremony. In addition to being an attorney specializing in corporate law and the founder and president of Solar Town, a government contractor for solar energy products, Rosten has specialized in Soviet and post-Soviet studies for more than twenty years. He is the author of Once in Kazakhstan: The Snow Leopard Emerges and his articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. The Distinguished Alumni award recognizes UCI alumni whose personal or professional achievements bring honor and distinction to a particular school or discipline, UCI and/or the UCI Alumni Association. Learn more here.

Jenn Alandy Trahan, who received her B.A. in English from UCI in 2006, has been awarded a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford. The fellowship pays for two years within Stanford’s prestigious Creative Writing Program. Trahan was first published in W.W. Norton’s Hint Fiction anthology in 2010. Her short story, “Webb,” was nominated for a Pushcart award by Permafrost at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 2013. Trahan went on to receive her MA in English and her MFA in Fiction at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

If you are an alumnus or alumna of the UCI School of Humanities and have news to share with us, please email us at SOHCommunications@uci.edu