Class Notes Archive 1931-2014
Class Notes are searchable back to our spring 2000 issue. You can browse the notes by decade (click on a decade to view its class notes):
Class notes from the 1990s
| 1991Jeff Randall was elected to the Dry Creek Joint Elementary Board of Trustees in November. Randall and his wife, Jeanine (Barbour) Randall ’89, live in Sacramento County with their two children, ages 12 and 8. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • Jennifer Lee Zeka died unexpectedly in Woodland in August. She was 40. A native of Davis, she had worked in client support services at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s large animal clinic for 14 years. She is survived by her father, Timothy Zeka. (appeared in the Fall 2009 issue) • Vim Mahadevan was named vice president of technology and product management at Outlook Amusements. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Belinda, and their three children. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Eric Paul Shaffer, Ph.D., wrote his first novel, Burn & Learn, or Memoirs of the Cenozoic Era (Leaping Dog Press), released this fall. Lahaina Noon, his fifth book of poetry, received the Award of Excellence in the Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Awards, presented by the Hawaii Book Publishers Association. Shaffer teaches literature and composition at Honolulu Community College. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Brian Victor received his Juris Doctor degree from the Concord Law School of Kaplan University in August (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Susana (Suzanne) Chávez Silverman, Ph.D., has written second bilingual memoir, Scenes from la Cuenca de Los Angeles y otros Natural Disasters (University of Wisconsin Press). She discusses her latest book in an interview with “La Bloga” (abloga.blogspot.com/2010/04/interview-with-susana-chavez-silverman.htm). (appeared in the Summer 2010 issue) • Vince Verde was recently tapped by labor and employment law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart to become co-managing shareholder of its new Orange County office. He represents management in employment cases and handles commercial litigation. He earned his law degree from Boston University in 1995 and serves on the board of the Philippine American Bar Association of Los Angeles. (appeared in the Summer 2010 issue) • Jeff Hoover ’91, an assistant football coach for Eastern Illinois and former member of Aggie conference championship football teams, died in a car crash last November on his way home from a playoff game against Southern Illinois. He was 41. His car swerved to miss a deer and rolled over. His wife, Penny, and their two children, Lauren and Cole, and Eastern Illinois strength coach Eric Cash and his family were also in the car but survived. Mr. Hoover was in his third season as Eastern Illinois’ offensive line coach. He had previous assistant coaching positions at Portland State, Utah State, Henderson State and UC Davis, and briefly coached the Arena Football League’s Sacramento Attack. (appeared in the Summer 2010 issue) • Shawn Lani ’91 by Kristin Abkemeier Occupation: Senior exhibit developer at the Exploratorium, the hands-on museum of art, science and human perception in San Francisco. Tinkerer, artist: Magnets hang in mid-air and liquefied sand undulates hypnotically in two of the over 20 exhibits that Shawn Lani has created. They’re designed to help viewers understand how the world works, but they have beauty as well as brains. Lani frequently incorporates found objects such as an old lathe mount or rusted tree grate into his designs to evoke a mood. Steppin’ out: In addition to his work with the Exploratorium, Lani has collaborated with scientists and educators across the country and in Austria, Switzerland and Hungary to translate new ideas into hands-on experiences. His online portfolio is at www.shawnlani.com. Thinking ahead: Even after 10 years at the Exploratorium, Lani responds to the emotional content of an exhibit first. The actual scientific content is less important to him, he says, than what science means for him: the process of asking credible, thoughtful questions. “That critical thinking for me is what this place can really be about.” “I want these things to look like wondrous devices that you can actually experiment with. (appeared in the Spring 2006 issue) • Elizabeth (Marshall) Dubrulle recently wrote Goffstown Reborn (History Press), about a New Hampshire town successfully reinventing itself over the course of 300 years. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Mary Lewis was named professor of history in July at Harvard University, where she has been on faculty since 2002. She was previously the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences. Lewis is working on her second book, Divided Rule: Sovereignty and Empire in French Tunisia. Her 2007 book, The Boundaries of the Republic: Migrant Rights and the Limits of Universalism in France, 1918–1940 (Stanford University Press), has received widespread praise. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Wayne Owen, Ph.D., was selected in June to lead the Wildlife, Fisheries, Ecology, Watershed and Subsistence program for the U.S. Forest Service in Juneau, Alaska. He was previously the ecosystems planning biologist for the Forest Service’s main office in Washington, D.C. He first began working for the service in Berkeley in 1987. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Troy Dalton, M.F.A., artist and teacher, died in June in Yolo County at 57 after years of declining health. He was well known for his large paintings of nude figures, often depicting biblical and mythological subjects. His work has been on exhibit in the U.S., Europe and Australia, and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento honored him with a special exhibit in 2007. He taught at UC Davis, Chico State and San Francisco City College. He was also a photographer, sculptor, writer and poet. Mr. Dalton is survived by his daughter, Aven of Woodland; his sisters, Tory Green of Scotts Bluff, Neb., and Tana Farrar of Billings, Mont.; and his former wife, Donna Halverson. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Joe Jaramillo was elevated to partner at his law firm, Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian, in Oakland in January. His practice focuses on wage and hour and employment discrimination class actions, and his firm represents plaintiffs in complex litigation in those areas as well as civil rights, disability access, environmental law and attorneys’ fees disputes. (appeared in the Spring 2011 issue) • Brian Pacheco, a fourth-generation dairy producer, was elected as the 2010–11 president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. He runs his family’s dairy farm in Kerman, and serves as a trustee of the Kerman Unified School District, chairman of the board for California Dairies and a board member for Community Regional Medical Center. (appeared in the Spring 2011 issue) • JOE JARAMILLO was made a partner at Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian law firm in Oakland in January. His practice focuses on wage and hour and employment discrimination class actions. (appeared in the Summer 2011 issue) • DAVID MARTIN, M.F.A., won the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival Award in the “Feature Screenplay” category for his screenplay, Winslow and the Emperor, about an 11-year-old time traveler. (appeared in the Summer 2011 issue) • James “J.B.” Hay received the Kermit O. Hanson Award of Excellence for graduating first in his class at the Pacific Coast Banking School in Bellvue, Wash. He is a vice president for Farm Credit West in Bakersfield. He and his wife, Victoria Erikson ’95, M.S. ’01—whom he met on Picnic Day at an Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity barbecue—have three children from toddler to age 6. Hay recently termed off the Cal Aggie Alumni Association board of directors after six years of service. (appeared in the Winter 2012 issue) • William Muñoz, a shareholder with Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney law firm, was recently certified by the California State Bar as a specialist in legal malpractice law. His Sacramento practice focuses on the defense of professionals, including attorneys, real estate agents/brokers, real estate appraisers and insurance brokers. (appeared in the Spring 2012 issue) • John Murphy retired from the U.S. Navy Reserve as a lieutenant commander last July. He recently upgraded to captain at Southwest Airlines on the Boeing 737. (appeared in the Spring 2012 issue) |