Alumni in the News: January 12, 2026

Lions were recognized at the 2026 Golden Globes, including Dede Gardner ’90 as executive producer of Adolescence, winner for Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television. The Pitt, which won for for Best Television Series – Drama, features actress Supriya Ganesh ’19.

On Jan. 7, Julie Jacobs Menin ’89 was unanimously elected speaker of the New York City Council; she has pledged to work with Mayor Zohran Mamdani on universal childcare. Menin has served Manhattan’s 5th district since 2022.

Two alumni authors made Best Books of 2025 lists in December: Jennie Erin Smith ’95’s Valley of Forgetting: Alzheimer’s Families and the Search for a Cure was named to the top 10 by The Wall Street Journal; and ¡¿Ropa Vieja Para la Cena?! by Nathalie Alonso ’08 was included in The New York Public Library’s selections of Best Books for Kids.

Rabbi Sharon Brous ’99, GSAS’01 wrote the Dec. 15 New York Times guest essay “The Humanity Amid the Horror at Bondi Beach.” Brous is the founding and senior rabbi of Ikar, a Jewish community based in Los Angeles, and the author of The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World. “I urgently need the silver lining,” Brous wrote after the mass shooting in Sydney. “The quiet insistence that there is more light than darkness in this world, that tenderness and love can prevail over even the most virulent hatred.”

Jerrold L. Nadler ’69 (D-N.Y.) was the subject of the Nov. 19 Times article “Who’s Running to Replace Jerry Nadler? 9 People and Counting.” Nadler, who has served a number of New York’s congressional districts since 1992, announced in September that he would retire in 2026.

On Dec. 3, it was announced that Daniel W. Savin ’85, senior research scientist in the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, was awarded the 2026 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize by the American Astronomical Society. The award recognizes Savin’s contributions to studies in X-ray astrophysics and early universe star formation, as well as his extensive service to the laboratory astrophysics community.

David Stanton ’77 won a gold medal for 2 Kilometer Individual Pursuit in the 70–74 age group at the UCI Masters Track Cycling World Championships in Roubaix, France, held Oct. 4–11. Stanton completed the eight-lap velodrome race in a personal-best time of 2:32.69. His competition in the final, last year’s world champion Ian Humphreys of Great Britain, finished in 2:37.05.

Also in October, Hedge Fund Journal’s annual list of top women leaders in private markets included Nina Tannenbaum ’99, a principal at Investcorp in New York City; and Amy Duffuor ’09, co-founder and general partner at Azolla Ventures in Boston.

The latest from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mike Wallace ’64, Gotham At War: A History of New York City From 1933 to 1945, was reviewed in the Times on Sept. 30. The article, “These New Yorkers Hated Fascism Before It Was Cool,” calls Wallace’s new book “a stupendous study … it spans everything from bebop to comic books, from the New Deal to the America First movement.”