Vassar People

The new president and general manager of KNBC, NBC’s Los Angeles, CA, affiliate station is Paula Williams Madison ’74, who stepped into the position last November. Madison was formerly news director at WNBC, New York City’s NBC affiliate. She also currently serves as NBC’s vice president of diversity. She presently serves on the board of trustees of Vassar College and the board of directors of AAVC. Madison was featured in the Fall 2000 VQ.

Jane Lipsitz ’87 has been promoted to vice-president of series development for VH1 Music Channel. She is responsible for the development of the series Pop-up Video, Rock Candy, Rock of Ages, and Video Timeline.

Psychologist Jay Belsky ’74 was quoted in an article on early puberty among girls in the December 24, 2000, edition of the New York Times Magazine. A developmental psychologist now working at the University of London, Belsky was cited for work that correlates early girlhood maturation with family situations in which relationships are distant.

Amy Brienes ’94 recently starred in the independent feature film A Holiday Affair, which won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at its premiere during the Brooklyn Film Festival.

Jonathan Friedman ’87, a research scientist in the field of quantum physics at SUNY Stony Brook, is part of a team that is studying the feasibility of "quantum computing." The team’s work, which indicates practical applications of quantum particles are possible in the macro world of building computers, has been described in Nature, the Economist, the New York Times, and on MSNBC.

In October Alice Huyler Ramsey ’07 was posthumously inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, MI, for her 1909 trip from New York to San Francisco in a Maxwell touring car. She was the first woman to drive across the continent, with three women companions, and the first woman to be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

Jazz singer Dominique Eade ’81 was called "an impossibly versatile vocalist, composer, lyricist, and instrumental arranger" by writer David Jahdu in a December 31, 2000, article on the state of jazz for the New York Times Magazine. Jadu called for more attention to artists such as Eade, who writes "her own sinuous, poetic songs."