Brandeis Magazine

Lynn Cominsky, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at California’s Sonoma State University, was named a 2012 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The citation reads, “You are being honored for your work in outreach for X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy (NuSTAR, Fermi, XMM, Swift) and for your inspiration to undergraduate students at Sonoma State.” The AAAS Fellows award ceremony took place in Boston at the organization’s annual meeting in February. Alison Bass recently accepted a tenure-track position in the School of Journalism at West Virginia University (WVU). She writes, “My husband and I moved from the Boston area to Morgantown last summer, and we are enjoying our new life in this college town that sits pretty in the hills of northern West Virginia. We have family here (my brother and his family), and both of our boys are in school in Washington, D.C., an easy three-hour drive away. I’m enjoying teaching at WVU, and we’re looking forward to exploring the ‘wild and wonderful’ terrain of our new state.” Lisa Kubiske is in her second year as U.S. ambassador to Honduras. You can follow her on Twitter at @usambhonduras. Joey Reiman, P’16, the founder and CEO of the global consultancy BrightHouse, has published his fourth book, “The Story of Purpose: The Path to Creating a Brighter Brand, a Greater Company and a Lasting Legacy.” Through his company, Reiman has emerged as a leading expert in the area of purpose-inspired leadership, marketing and innovation. His ideas have been adopted by top firms, including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nestlé, MetLife, SunTrust and Michelin. Fast Company named him one of the 100 people who will change the way the world thinks. But his biggest news is that his son, Alden ’16, is a happy freshman at Brandeis. The Vilna Shul, Boston’s center for Jewish culture, honored Jonathan Sarna, MA’75, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, and fellow Brandeis faculty member Ellen Smith for their scholarship that brings Boston’s rich Jewish history to light. Jonathan also serves as chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History.