From air to land to the political sea
Dennis Kelleher ’84
Majors: Politics, English and American LiteratureChief Counsel and Senior Leadership Advisor
Washington, D.C.
Many students arrive at Brandeis after four years of high school; Dennis Kelleher arrived after serving four years in the Air Force as a firefighter and medic. Following his Brandeis graduation with honors, he graduated from Harvard Law School with honors and became a litigation partner with the international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. His practice, focused on securities and financial markets as well as corporate conduct, spanned the United States and Europe. Now chief counsel and senior leadership advisor to the chairman of the Senate’s Democratic Policy Committee, North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, Kelleher oversees a range of leadership activities, including developing Dorgan’s national political, policy and legislative agenda for economic policy, international relations, foreign policy, defense, intelligence, counter-terrorism and energy issues. His work related travel has included Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
Previously, Kelleher was deputy staff director and general counsel to the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and served as legislative director for Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski.
Active for decades in national, state and local elections and politics, Kelleher was also a member of the executive committee for the Massachusetts Democratic Party and chaired its rules committee. His charitable and nonprofit activities over the years have focused on the needs of the mentally ill, treatment centers for troubled adolescents, food pantries and shelters, as well as support of community and national service organizations.
Where education is necessary to life
Beth Anderson '91
Major: SociologyFounder and Executive Director, Phoenix Charter Academy
Lynn, Mass.
Beth Anderson is the first member of her family to graduate from university, an achievement her parents were so intent she make that “they talked about going to college as necessary to life,” she says.Accepted everywhere she applied, she chose Brandeis primarily because she was interested in becoming a doctor. But she gravitated to women’s studies and sociology, where faculty and students were, in her words, “asking good hard questions about making the world a better place for more people.”
On graduating, Anderson enlisted in Teach for America in Los Angeles and returned to Massachusetts to work in the state Department of Social Services, a top Boston charter school and a pregnancy prevention program.
Her parents’ education ethic and all those experiences combined to make her what she is now: founder and executive director of Phoenix Charter Academy, a Chelsea, Mass., high school dedicated to educating extremely disadvantaged youth. The measure of the program’s success? College acceptance is required for graduation.
A Heart and Soul for Education
Xiomara Gonzalez '05
Major: EconomicsPublic school teacher
Bronx, N.Y.
Coming to Brandeis as a Posse scholar, Xiomara Gonzalez put her heart and soul into her education. But when it came to shaping her career aspirations, she drew on what she learned not just in the classroom, but outside it as well.
After honing her instinct for social justice as an Ethics Center fellow and intern for a foundation working with poor rural families in Guatemala, Gonzalez returned home after graduation to teach math at the Bronx School of Law and Finance. The small school was founded in 2003 through the city’s New Visions initiative to create a greater sense of community and foster meaningful teacher-student relationships.
Now in her fifth year of teaching, Gonzalez recently earned a master of education in mathematics. Still active with the Posse Foundation, she also volunteers with New York Cares and works with area organizations to secure internships that provide students with meaningful out-of-classroom experiences.
Fall will be a busy season for Gonzalez. Not only will she assume a new position as finance coordinator at the Bronx School, she will be a student again — this time earning an advanced certificate in school building leadership.
Bringing Strategic Planning to the Classroom
Joshua B. Spero ’85
Major: PoliticsAssociate Professor of Political Science, Fitchburg State College
Acton, Mass.
Joshua B. Spero used his Brandeis education in politics and Soviet studies to build an impressive career as a strategic planner in Washington, D.C.
After completing an M.A. in Soviet studies at the University of Michigan, Spero went on to serve in the Pentagon as deputy assistant for Europe and USSR in the Office of Secretary of Defense; as national security analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies of the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.; and as senior civilian strategic planner in the Directorate for Strategic Plans and Policy, European/NATO Division, of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon.
Like many Brandesians, Spero returned to his first love, scholarship. He earned a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 2000, and was recently awarded tenure at Fitchburg State College, where he teaches courses on international politics, American foreign policy, and government decision-making. He also directs Fitchburg State’s new Regional Economic Development Institute.