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 2000s
| 2004Diane Geng was honored for excellence as a young entrepreneur as one of five winners of a fundraising challenge hosted by the Global Engagement Summit and Northwestern University. Geng raised more than $8,000 for a project she co-founded that provides year-round professional development support for teachers in rural Chinese schools. (appeared in the Fall 2008 issue) • Jennifer Heguy, M.S. '06, is the new UC dairy advisor for San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. (appeared in the Fall 2008 issue) • Emily Beth Winston, M.S., was joined in civil union in August to Elinor Ann Granzow, D.V.M. '07 in New Jersey. Granzow is a veterinarian at the Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Tinton Falls, N.J., and Winston is the former manager of the Toyota fuel-cell vehicle demonstration program for the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. (appeared in the Fall 2008 issue) • Jennifer Barker and David Tucker '05, were married in July. Barker is a fundraising professional, and Tucker is attending graduate school at San Jose State University. They are living Palo Alto. (appeared in the Winter 2009 issue) • Emilio Soltero, Ph.D., edited the new book John Buscema: A Life In Sketches (Pearl Press), which features over 300 previously unpublished sketches by the comic book illustrator. Soltero is currently teaching advanced placement and international baccalaureate art classes at Santa Ynez High School. (appeared in the Winter 2009 issue) • Dan Franklin is the assistant vice president and business banking relationship manager for River City Bank. Previously, he was the assistant vice president and relationship credit manager at Presidio Bank. He lives in Sacramento. Andrew Mcmullin was featured in the Rocky Mountain News for a house he is building in Nederland, Colo., with shipping containers, roof-mounted solar voltaic panels, wood stoves and other environmentally friendly materials. McMullin, who once biked from San Francisco to the southernmost tip of the United States, is a home remodeler. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • Irene Zurko, J.D. ’08, a first-year associate at McDonough Holland & Allen PC in Sacramento, passed the California Bar exam. Before her current job, Zurko interned at the Yolo Country Superior Court and for U.S. District Judge Garland Burrel Jr. in Sacramento. (appeared in the Spring 2009 issue) • BEVERLY (BOVEY) GARBER has been accepted to the University of California, San Francisco, to pursue a master’s degree in nursing. Upon completion, she will be an adult nurse practitioner specializing in occupational and environmental health. She is currently a nurse at the UC Davis Medical Center in the neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit. She lives in downtown Sacramento with her husband, James. (appeared in the Summer 2009 issue) • TOBHIYA HOLMES has been accepted into the Peace Corps to teach English at a Chinese university. He left in June to begin his 27-month commitment in China, which entails three months of training before he begins his two-year teaching assignment. (appeared in the Summer 2009 issue) • ANTHONY PINATA earned an M.A. in Italian literature from the University of Connecticut. Recently, Pinata worked as a curatorial assistant at the Oakland Museum of California. As a visual artist he participated in an exhibition called Vivid Wonders of a Startled Imagination at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ Gallery 51. (appeared in the Summer 2009 issue) • Adam Davis and Amy Johnston ’05 recently celebrated their first year of marriage. Davis is a mechanical engineer and Johnston works in communications and public relations. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Tom Koehnle, Ph.D., was given the Paul E. Martin Award in October for his outstanding contributions to the academic program and educational life at Hiram College in Ohio. He is an assistant professor of biology and has been a leading faculty member in their neurosciences program. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Michael Kurland received a master’s degree in educational psychology and instructional technology and has started the doctorate in education program at USC, where he is also an academic adviser. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • John McCoy became the director of alumni relations for Holy Names University in Oakland in September. He previously worked as a senior event marketing representative and development consultant for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (appeared in the Winter 2010 issue) • Eric Ladouceur and Caitlin Braginsky ’05, planned a summer solstice wedding this June. They recently purchased a house in Pinole, where they live with two cats and three chinchillas. (appeared in the Summer 2010 issue) • Lauren Robertson Junker By Elizabeth Stitt Occupation: “Chief Tubular”—owner, designer, sewer, sales and marketing rep of Totally Tubular Design. Another woman’s treasure: Lauren Robertson Junker ’04 has made a career out of taking people’s trash. “I think the best thing to do is repurpose. Take something you already have and do something else with it. It’s using what we have instead of going to get something to be happy,” Junker said. Currently based in Santa Cruz, Totally Tubular Design takes tossed-out inner tubes from bike shops and creates something completely different—bags. “The best part is watching someone get a kick out of our product. It’s something that would have gone in the trash can.” Upholstery, tires and purses: In 2009, Junker’s company used about 300 inner tubes, 100 tires and an endless supply of car and drapery upholstery. “I’ve always liked making something out of what other people consider to be nothing,” she said. Since 2006, she has been designing, sewing and selling her bags with the help of only one to two other people working at Totally Tubular. Her products can be found at www.totallytubebags.com, and in stores as far away as Canada, Japan and Ireland have began promoting her bags. LA girl: Junker got her first exposure to the bike culture when she joined the UC Davis triathlon club her sophomore year. During this time she was exposed to more green issues, and she became less wasteful. “Davis is a really easy place to recycle and be excited about the environment,” she said. “It sort of opened the LA girl’s eyes to being eco-friendly, and it helped mold me to be the person I am today.” She currently lives with her husband and “vice tubular” of Totally Tubular, Scott Junker, in Santa Cruz, and she continues to participate in triathlons. “The environment is our home. We need to remember to take care of it for our own wellbeing and the happiness of those around us.” (appeared in the Spring 2010 issue) • Sarah Otterstrom was featured in the 2007 fall edition. Sarah Otterstrom by Erin Loury Occupation: Founder and executive director of Paso Pacífico, a nonprofit group that connects and conserves the tropical dry forests of Nicaragua (www.pasopacifico.org) Central American connection: After receiving her Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis in 2004, Sarah Otterstrom decided not to join an existing nonprofit group but to start her own. This road less traveled lead her back to the tropical forests of Central America, an ecosystem she grew to love while completing her undergraduate studies in Costa Rica. Fluent in Spanish after her Costa Rica stay, Otterstrom conducted her dissertation research in Nicaragua on the fire ecology of seasonal dry forests, which she now works to protect. Creating corridors: Otterstrom’s group, Ventura-based Paso Pacífico, collaborates with Nicaraguan landowners to link waterways and patches of forest that are separated by pastures and farmland. “Wildlife needs habitat to survive over the long term—habitat that is connected and functional,” Otterstrom says. Preserving a habitat network for highly mobile endangered species like the spider monkey benefits other plants and wildlife in the process, from precious Spanish cedar to brilliant yellow-naped parrots. Homegrown change: In her visits to Nicaragua, Otterstrom holds community workshops and discussions to foster environmental responsibility and pride in the inhabitants of conservation corridors. Her projects include helping farmers plant rare trees on their deforested land and teaching children to connect with birds through binoculars rather than slingshots. Otterstrom believes that changing attitudes and behaviors in the community will ensure the long-term success of her group’s conservation efforts. It is work that earned her, in 2006, the Emil M. Mrak International Award from the Cal Aggie Alumni Association for her distinguished service outside the United States. ”[Farmers] are happy because they have new trees or new wildlife species have returned because of our actions. I like seeing hope for tomorrow.” (appeared in the Winter 2008 issue) • Emmanuel Dela Cruz earned his doctorate in optometry in June from the State University of New York College of Optometry. He received the Most Outstanding School Service Award. He is now practicing optometry in the San Francisco Bay Area. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Henry Tsai and Christie Harrington ’06 were married at Tilden Park in Berkeley in June. After honeymooning in Kona, Hawaii, they moved to Concord. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) • Matt Casto, who was a champion swimmer while attending UC Davis in 2003-04, died in June of an enlarged heart while biking to swim practice in Sacramento. He was 28. He first started swimming when he was 2. While at UC Davis, he set school records in five events and was named the 2004 Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Swimmer of the Meet, where he helped the swim team win the conference title. In 2005, he became the head coach of Cosumnes River Aquatics. He enjoyed building bikes, creating ceramic sculptures and swimming competitively—he swam in the Santa Clara International Invitation meet in June. He is survived by his parents, Catherine and Warren Casto of Sacramento. (appeared in the Fall 2010 issue) |