Alumni News

From SESP to Showtime

It’s no coincidence that Dan Perlman (BS12) plays a teacher in Showtime’s off kilter comedy series Flatbush Misdemeanors. School settings and the tangled relationships among students, educators, and communities have long influenced his writing and comedy.

“The show emphasizes the community aspect,” says Perlman, who cocreated, writes, and stars in the series with fellow comedian Kevin Iso. “We’re all coexisting and interconnecting, which forces the characters into relationships and dynamics they wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Flatbush Misdemeanors tackles race, gentrification, and mental health in a rapidly changing New York neighborhood. Described as “raw” and praised for its authenticity, the 10 episode series follows fictionalized versions of Perlman and Iso as they try to carve out their place in the city.

The characters have “at least three sides” to their personality and are deliberately complicated, Perlman says. It’s a perspective that he honed while studying human development and social policy at SESP.

“People play multiple roles in seemingly unrelated worlds within their own lives,” Perlman says. “But we’re all linked in some way. SESP helps encourage that kind of thinking, understanding, and empathy.”

At Northwestern, Perlman tutored, produced shorts for Northwestern Sketch Television, and completed several independent projects with SESP professor Dan Lewis. He researched and wrote about suburban homelessness and learned to take field notes—a skill he still uses today—during his practicum.

“Dan was a great student, and now he is a funny and insightful performer,” Lewis says. “His ability to observe the human condition with grace and empathy shines through in all his work.”

In 2014, Perlman and Iso, who met at a New York open mic night, started posting short YouTube videos they called “Moderately Funny.” Then, on virtually no budget, they produced three web episodes of Flatbush Misdemeanors. The first installment won the 2018 Florida Film Festival’s Grand Jury Award for best narrative short.

Perlman, who also performs stand-up comedy, released his debut standup album, Emergency Contact, in May 2020. He also wrote and directed the short film Cramming, which won an audience choice award at the 2020 Brooklyn Film Festival and first prize at the 2020 Rhode Island International Film Festival.

Cramming follows eighth graders Alex and Yan Bo, whose friendship is threatened when they’re accused of cheating off each another. The film grew out of a conversation Perlman had with Alex, his tutee at the time.

“I tried to go into it with the skills that SESP teaches: not being insensitive with the content you’re making, asking hard questions, doing research, and talking to people to find out the best way to be creative and still drive the story,” he says.

Perlman showed reporting chops from an early age. As a 12 year old, he wrote letters to famous comedians, asking them how to do stand up or to name their favorite performers. (Bob Newhart wrote back.) Each received a different question because “I was afraid they all knew each other,” he says.

Perlman also wrote jokes, which he told to “exactly nobody” or hid under his bed. “It took years of working up the courage to try it,” he says. “But I’ve also always enjoyed education and public service—the kind of stuff that makes you feel like you’re leaving something a little better than you found it.”

He feels slightly guilty for not pursuing education professionally, so “pretending to be a teacher is the next best thing,” he says. “Also, making my character a lousy teacher feels funnier and more honest, so it’s not self-congratulatory. My character’s not saving anyone. But hopefully people laugh.”

“I Am a Woman with a Trans Background”

Q&A with Karen Topham

In 1998 Karen Topham (MS79) became the nation’s first openly transgender teacher to transition on the job. From 1983 until her retirement in 2016, she taught English and drama and directed 37 plays at suburban Chicago’s Lake Forest High School. Currently a theater critic and transgender advocate, she spoke with SESP magazine about coming out publicly and taking pedagogical risks.

What was it like to transition in the late 1990s?

In 1998 I had three little kids under age 12. The word “transgender” had basically just been invented, and most people didn’t even know the previous word, “transsexual.” Those who did know it usually had confused and negative reactions. My colleagues at the high school uniformly said, “That’s wonderful and we support you, but you can’t [transition] here.” I thought they were probably right. It was big news at the time. Oprah wanted me on her show, but I turned her down to protect my kids.

How did you announce it?

I let friends and colleagues know individually at first. Even after I was publicly out, there were pockets of my life where I was not. One was at church. When my daughter Julianne was 13, she gave a presentation in church on LBGTQ identities while I sat in the congregation. I was so embarrassed that I was still hiding my identity that I called her down from the podium and said, “Honey, call on me. I’m going to do this.” She said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Yeah. I’m sure.”

You learned about transgender identities by age 11. At that point, what did you decide to do?

I had known my own identity from age 3, though I only discovered at 11 what to call it. Still, I felt I needed to live as a guy because I didn’t have any choice. I was really bad at being a guy, but I was a good parent and teacher and I got by. But in my 30s, everything broke down. Someone I had known as a woman transitioned to a man. Just meeting him opened the door. I began devolving into an anxiety and depression ridden mess. Finally, when I was 39, I had a massive epiphany: the problem was this gender dysphoria that I thought I had under control.

You have a transgender child. Did your experience make it easier or harder to accept?

My instant reaction was not to believe him. I was fueled by the knowledge of how hard this thing is when you do it publicly, and I just couldn’t want that for my child. I was so scared that it would destroy him, that he wasn’t strong enough because of other emotional issues. So I said, “OK, that’s fine. You’re trans. I’ll work with that, but I’m not going to fully accept it until you’re 24.” I pulled that number out of a hat. I accepted it long before that.

What were you like as a high school teacher?

I was an experimenter in the classroom. I had always been skeptical of the value of grading and spent the last two years of my career working in a gradeless classroom.

How did that work?

I gave my students a huge end of year project that allowed them to focus on whatever interested them, made them happy, or was part of them. Those projects—they rocked my world!

How were the projects ultimately assessed?

They told me what grade they thought they deserved at individual conferences. If they were able to justify it, that’s the grade they got. Most undervalued themselves. But the one student who said to me, “I deserve an F,” was right. He failed himself.

Do you have a favorite classroom memory?

After my students and I watched a video of their end of year presentations, I asked them to talk about what they gained and to fill out class evaluations. At the end of class, when I was saying goodbye, they stood up and spontaneously applauded. That was huge to me! It told me how well that kind of classroom situation—where you’re not focused on arbitrary grades but on individual students learning what they can learn—can work.

How do you identify yourself now?

I like the phrasing, “I am a woman with a transgender background,” because it was a background, something that is now over and done. I like that the prefix “trans” means moving beyond.

Alumna Receives Shinae Chun Prize  

Northwestern alumna Rocio Mendez-Rozo was awarded the $20,000 Shinae Chun Prize to begin her studies in SESP’s Master of Science in Higher Education Administration and Policy Program this fall.  

Mendez -Rozo, one of three student speakers at Northwestern’s 2017 Commencement, had a distinguished undergraduate career as a student leader and activist, scholar, and community builder. In addition to winning a Mellon Mays Fellowship, the English and Latina and Latino studies double major completed a senior honors thesis, assisted faculty with research, and volunteered both on and off campus.  

Mendez -Rozo chose SESP’s MSHE program over comparable programs at Harvard, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan. She plans to use her degree to advocate for underserved populations, particularly women of color, who are some of the most vulnerable students on college campuses.  

“The SESP program immediately felt like community, and I really wanted that, along with a one -year master’s program,” she says. “I wanted to make sure the dean, advisers, faculty, and staff were invested in me as a student. And it felt like they were really going to cheer me on throughout the process.”  

For her first internship—a critical piece of the MSHE program—Mendez -Rozo will work with Student Enrichment Services on programs for lower -income Northwestern students, including the Compass program, a yearlong peer -mentorship initiative for incoming first -generation, lower -income, and undocumented students.  

Mendez -Rozo was herself a first -generation, lower -income student at Northwestern. Her mother, who immigrated from Colombia, worked as an elementary school clerk for Chicago Public Schools and was “a relentless investigator and advocate for her children,” Mendez -Rozo says. “My parents were invested in trying to give me the best education possible.”  

During her second internship, Mendez-Rozo will be working on strategy and policy in the provost’s office. “That opportunity is a big deal for someone like me who could see themselves working in policy someday,” she says.  

The Shinae Chun Prize honors the late Shinae Chun (MA71), who shaped policy in leadership roles in state and federal government. She was director of the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau from 2001 to 2009, where she led the only federal agency charged with advocating on behalf of women in the workforce.  

IN MEMORIAM

Carol Adele Gaetjens (1944–2021)

SESP alumna Carol Adele Gaetjens (PhD91), a teacher, social worker, and tireless advocate for accessibility and inclusion, died on February 27 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was 76.  

Gaetjens was among the School of Education and Social Policy’s most beloved instructors from 1999 until 2010, when she relocated to Arkansas. Students flocked to her classes on adulthood and aging, observing human behavior, and moral values in human development, which usually filled up an hour into registration.  

“I’ve always been interested in the art of teaching,” she told SESP in 2009. “When it’s going well, you feel like you’re the orchestra leader and everyone is playing in tune.”  

Gaetjens taught history at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, and spent a decade working as a social worker at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. She earned her doctorate in human development and social policy with a focus on psychosocial development in later life and went on to direct the gerontology program at Northeastern Illinois University.  

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 20s, Gaetjens championed accessibility issues for both the Northwestern and Evanston communities, where she led efforts to make a local church accessible. She also pushed to include a disability studies elective in the curriculum.  

Later, she continued working to improve accessibility and inclusion in Fayetteville and “opened herself and her home to others, especially adolescents and young adults who needed a boost,” her obituary read.  

ALUMNI NEWS  

20s  

Gabby Nicholas (MSHE20) is assistant director of the Center for Cultural Liberation at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She joins Lisa Malvin (MSHE14), Dominican’s new assistant director of career programs and internships, and Jamie Shaw (MSHE14), executive director of career programs and employer relations in the university provost’s office.  

Eric S. Wohl (CERT20) was appointed chief human resources officer at National CineMedia, the largest cinema advertising network in the US.  

10s  

Scott Topal (BS10), director of operations at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, married Sarah Ariel Attermann on December 10, 2020, in Bethesda, Maryland. Attermann is director of youth and family engagement at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, Illinois.  

Jacob Schmidt (BS11, MSHE17) has been promoted to director of football operations at Northwestern. Schmidt, a former Wildcats running back, has been with the program’s personnel department since 2012.  

Kim Waller (MS11) joined Korn Ferry as a senior client partner in the firm’s organizational strategy practice. She is based in the Chicago area.  

Kristine McKinney (MSLOC13) was named COO of global intellectual property law firm Fish & Richardson. She oversees operations of the firm’s 14 offices in the US, Europe, and China. McKinney previously served as the firm’s first chief legal talent and inclusion officer.  

Kristin Vonder Haar (MS13) was named assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for Mount Prospect School District 57 in Illinois.  

Iva Aminuddin (MSLOC17), head of the Learning Future Group in the Civil Service College of Singapore, was named to the Agile 50 list of the most influential people revolutionizing governance. The list celebrates politicians, civil servants and entrepreneurs driving agility in governments all around the world. Aminuddin has two sets of twin boys.  

Caroline Gholson (MSLOC19), a senior recruiting and development manager for the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, married Andrew Fallon on March 6 in Austin, Texas.  

00s  

Dilara Sayeed (MSED00), founder and CEO of peer mentoring platform vPeer, will serve on the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.  

Hazeen Y. Ashby (BS01) was appointed senior vice president for congressional and intergovernmental affairs and White House liaison at the Export -Import Bank of the United States.  

Aaron Hosmon (BS03, MSHE07) is associate executive director for compliance and governance at the Ivy League. Previously he worked for 16 years in a variety of roles at Northwestern, including as director of compliance and ethics.  

Mark Thompson (MA03) was named interim CEO for the Gage Center of Forensic Excellence, an operation center within the state of Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services that will provide state -of -the -art mental health services.  

Bobbi Burgstone (MSED04) was appointed executive director of Literacy DuPage, one of Illinois’s largest volunteer tutor literacy organizations.  

Erica Halverson (SOC97, PhD05), professor of education at the University of Wisconsin– Madison, published How the Arts Can Save Education: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Instruction. As an undergraduate, Halverson codirected Griffin’s Tale Children’s Theatre Repertory Company. The experience provided the foundation for her research and teaching. Her new book calls for a change in what counts as good teaching and learning, redefined by building learning environments with the arts at the center. She will be speaking on campus on April 13, 2022.  

Patrick McGrath (MSED06), president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, was named pastor of Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago’s West Loop Gate neighborhood.  

Kristin Yates Thomas (MSED07) is director of communication for the On Your Feet Foundation, a nonprofit that provides support for people who place their children for adoption.  

Emily Machado (BS09) was appointed assistant professor of early childhood education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  

90s  

Karen Cunningham (MSED90), an award-winning educator at suburban Chicago’s Glenbrook North High School, died on September 20 after a four -year battle with lung cancer. Even after her diagnosis, she continued to live life to its fullest, teaching, traveling, laughing, learning, and raising awareness about lung cancer among nonsmokers.  

Nadine Moore (BS90), managing director at Boston Consulting Group, was named to the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Food Group.  

Jeanne M. VanBriesen (BS90, McC93, McC98), the Duquesne Light Company Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, was appointed to lead the chemical, bioengineering, environmental, and transport systems division at the National Science Foundation.  

Bryan Saltzburg (BS92) was named chief operating officer of Aspiration Inc., a fintech company offering sustainable banking and investing products and tools. He was previously a global president for Trip Advisor.  

Richard (Rick) Settersten (PhD92) was named University Distinguished Professor of Human Development and vice provost for faculty affairs at Oregon State University. He is the lead author of the new book Living on the Edge: An American Generation’s Journey through the 20th Century, written with Glen Elder and Lisa Pearce.  

Erin Allen (BS93) joined Franklin Madison, a provider of insurance products and marketing services, as enterprise sales regional vice president.  

Mary Anne Talotta (BS96) was appointed senior vice president and chief development officer of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has spent over 23 years in arts fundraising, most recently at the Guggenheim Museum. Prior to that, she was with the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Deborah W. Brooks (BS97) stepped back into the role of CEO of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. She cofounded MJFF in 2000 and served as CEO until 2007 and subsequently as executive vice chairman.  

Jimmie Sanders (BS97) is executive director of the Pre -College TRIO Programs at the University of California, Berkeley, which provide low -income, first -generation -to -college students with academic preparation and support services. Last year he received the University of Notre Dame’s inaugural Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, Distinguished Contributor Award. “My SESP education was key in making me the successful access and equity activist that I am,” he says.  

Allyson L. Bear (BS99), a global health expert, was named regional vice president for West Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa at the research company Abt Associates.  

80s  

John Fiacco (BS83, MBA86) was appointed chief growth officer at AVIA, a digital transformation partner for healthcare organizations.  

Ken Graboys (BS85), CEO of the Chartis Group, was appointed strategic adviser at Riordan, Lewis & Haden Equity Partners, a middle-market growth equity investment firm.  

Aryka Radke (BS89) moved across the country after she was appointed Vermont’s deputy commissioner of the family services division of the Department for Children and Families within the Agency of Human Services. She was previously vice chief administrative law judge for the Industrial Commission of Arizona.  

Phillip Styles (BS89) was appointed Inclusive Partner Network specialty practice leader at consulting firm Mercer.  

70s  

Ernie Adams (BS75), the New England Patriots’ director of football research, announced his retirement, “capping a 46 -year career in football, in which he has both seen and done it all,” Sports Illustrated reported.  

60s  

Roycealee Wood (MS62, MS64), regional superintendent of schools in Lake County, Illinois, retired after a 50 -year educational career.