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Class Notes Archive 1931-2014: Spring 2008

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1979Katherine (Naugle) Wood-Copa was certified as a dressage instructor and trainer from training level through fourth level by the U.S. Dressage Federation. She is one of only about 50 people who have been awarded this highest level of certification. She and her husband, Sergio, a photographer, run a horse farm south of Rochester, N.Y. • Edward Weber, M.S. ’82, was the Napa County director and viticulture farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension until his sudden death in December 2007 due to a heart condition. He was 51. Mr. Weber began his winemaking career with the Riecine Winery in Gaiole, Italy, and then worked with the Joseph Phelps Winery before joining Cooperative Extension. He married his college sweetheart, Anne Jungerman, in 1985. The couple had three sons, Reid, Grady and Owen. • Oran Hesterman was featured in the 2008 winter edition. Oran Hesterman by Rachael Bogert Occupation: President and chief executive officer of the newly established Fair Food Foundation, which ensures that locally grown foods are more readily available in low-income areas. Change at the corner store: Regardless of their unnaturally long shelf life, Hostess Twinkies still do not count as fresh food, and Oran Hesterman ’79, M.S. ’81, knows it. According to Hesterman, high-quality produce and other fresh foods should be available to everyone. To that end, the Fair Food Foundation awards grants to nonprofits and other organizations to bring fresh foods to inner city areas where locally grown produce is usually spare. Not afraid to get his hands dirty: As a former program director of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Society Initiative and as a former professor of crop and soil science at Michigan State University, Hesterman has long studied cropping systems and advocated sustainability. In the early ’90s he helped initiate the Kellogg Foundation’s sustainable agriculture program. This was achieved in a time when sustainability was still an emerging field and lacked widespread credibility. Hesterman brings these ideas to the Fair Food Foundation, which aims to creat, as he says, “a food system that reconnects us to the food we eat, our families, communities and the earth.” “Where I live in Ann Arbor, a person with economic means has access to high-quality produce. If I go 40 miles east to the city of Detroit, it’s a very different situation, one that’s been described as a 'food desert.'”
1980Pam Fair, former vice president of customer operations with San Diego-based Sempra Energy Utilities, has assumed new duties as vice president of environmental, safety and facilities.
1981Patricia (Koker) Rozee, M.A., Ph.D. ’84, professor of psychology and women’s studies at California State University, Long Beach, was awarded the 2007 Christine Ladd Franklin Award from the Association for Women in Psychology for outstanding service to the organization.
1982David Nathanson, director of the Breast Care Center at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, was awarded a chair in breast cancer research. Additionally, he received the system’s Distinguished Career Award in recognition of his contributions to patient care, education, research and community service.
1983A competitor at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and a five-time Olympic Trials qualifier, Linda Somers-Smith, J.D. ’86, has once again qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials, which will be held in Boston this April. She is one of only two women to have qualified for six Olympic Trials. Somers-Smith lives in Arroyo Grande.
1984Harris Lewin, Ph.D., animal geneticist, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology and a professor and Gutgsell Endowed Chair holder in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Illinois, has been named to the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Lewin is the only American among the seven newly appointed foreign members. • James Nolan was promoted to full professor of sociology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Nolan’s interests include comparative law, culture and technology. His new book, Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement, will soon be published. • Philip Smith owns the Atlanta firm Global Staffing Associates, which specializes in health care staffing and consulting nationwide. He and his wife live in Atlanta with their two children.
1985Bruce Carstens, D.V.M. ’91, and Suzie (Campbell) Carstens ’84, M.S. ’86, write that their oldest son, Christopher, is a freshman at UC Davis and is a member of the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh. Bruce and Suzie met at a Band-uh retreat in 1981, where Bruce played trombone and Suzie played clarinet. In 1997, they opened Willow Rock Pet Hospital in Rocklin where Bruce is the sole veterinarian and Suzie is the business manager. Bruce is also the executive and musical director for the city of Rocklin’s theater and arts program. Suzie is the costume designer for the theater, which produces four musicals per year. • Shira Rohde, M.S., who has worked at Pfizer Inc. for the past decade, founded the nonprofit organization Flip Flop Foundation in Zambia in 2006 following a six-month fellowship there as a Pfizer Global Health Fellow. The organization provides “flip-flop” sandals, school and hygiene supplies and other necessities to Zambian orphans and vulnerable children. Rohde lives in New York City, but returns to Zambia three times a year to work with the Zambian team. For more information, visit www.flipflopfoundation.com.
1986Todd Toepfer, a math and physical science teacher at Fairdale High School in Louisville, Ky., received the Ashland Teaching Achievement Award from chemical company Ashland Inc., in October. This award, given in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education to honor exemplary teachers, qualified Toepfer as a semifinalist for the Kentucky Teacher of the Year Award for 2008. The nomination came from a group of his students.
1987Amy Podmore, M.F.A., was promoted to the rank of full professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Podmore, a member of the studio art department, teaches sculpture and drawing classes. Her own artwork has been exhibited widely.
1989Julie Treppa became a partner with Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, a San Francisco law firm where she practices in the tax group.
1990Kim (Darling) Loisel is in her 10th year of teaching elementary school and is currently at Ardenwood Elementary in Fremont teaching first grade. She would like to hear from 1985–87 residents of Tercero’s D building at forherda@yahoo.com.
1991J.B. Hay, his father, Tim Hay ’61, and his brother, Chris Hay, joined more than 60 volunteers who barbecued 12,000 Harris Ranch steaks for members of the U.S. armed forces this past fall. The volunteers, made up of citizens of Kern County and Miami, put on barbecues for the troops in Florida and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. • David Martin, M.F.A., works at Sacramento City College and has created a TV series about the college titled Hidden City. The series highlights people and programs at the college and airs on the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium channels throughout the week. • Kimberly (Myers) St George was named one of last year’s Top 40 Under 40 in the produce industry by Produce Business magazine. St George works for Salinas-based River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC as senior marketing manager and has been in the produce industry for over 15 years. She previously served on the board of directors for the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. St George lives in Salinas with her husband, Marty, and their two children. • Mark Wisniewski, M.A., took first place in the competition for the 2007 Gival Press Short Story Award. In addition to writing fiction and poetry, Wisniewski is also a freelance “book doctor,” as he puts it, revising and editing other writers’ novels and stories.

1979Katherine (Naugle) Wood-Copa was certified as a dressage instructor and trainer from training level through fourth level by the U.S. Dressage Federation. She is one of only about 50 people who have been awarded this highest level of certification. She and her husband, Sergio, a photographer, run a horse farm south of Rochester, N.Y. • Edward Weber, M.S. ’82, was the Napa County director and viticulture farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension until his sudden death in December 2007 due to a heart condition. He was 51. Mr. Weber began his winemaking career with the Riecine Winery in Gaiole, Italy, and then worked with the Joseph Phelps Winery before joining Cooperative Extension. He married his college sweetheart, Anne Jungerman, in 1985. The couple had three sons, Reid, Grady and Owen. • Oran Hesterman was featured in the 2008 winter edition. Oran Hesterman by Rachael Bogert Occupation: President and chief executive officer of the newly established Fair Food Foundation, which ensures that locally grown foods are more readily available in low-income areas. Change at the corner store: Regardless of their unnaturally long shelf life, Hostess Twinkies still do not count as fresh food, and Oran Hesterman ’79, M.S. ’81, knows it. According to Hesterman, high-quality produce and other fresh foods should be available to everyone. To that end, the Fair Food Foundation awards grants to nonprofits and other organizations to bring fresh foods to inner city areas where locally grown produce is usually spare. Not afraid to get his hands dirty: As a former program director of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Society Initiative and as a former professor of crop and soil science at Michigan State University, Hesterman has long studied cropping systems and advocated sustainability. In the early ’90s he helped initiate the Kellogg Foundation’s sustainable agriculture program. This was achieved in a time when sustainability was still an emerging field and lacked widespread credibility. Hesterman brings these ideas to the Fair Food Foundation, which aims to creat, as he says, “a food system that reconnects us to the food we eat, our families, communities and the earth.” “Where I live in Ann Arbor, a person with economic means has access to high-quality produce. If I go 40 miles east to the city of Detroit, it’s a very different situation, one that’s been described as a 'food desert.'”

1980Pam Fair, former vice president of customer operations with San Diego-based Sempra Energy Utilities, has assumed new duties as vice president of environmental, safety and facilities.

1981Patricia (Koker) Rozee, M.A., Ph.D. ’84, professor of psychology and women’s studies at California State University, Long Beach, was awarded the 2007 Christine Ladd Franklin Award from the Association for Women in Psychology for outstanding service to the organization.

1982David Nathanson, director of the Breast Care Center at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, was awarded a chair in breast cancer research. Additionally, he received the system’s Distinguished Career Award in recognition of his contributions to patient care, education, research and community service.

1983A competitor at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and a five-time Olympic Trials qualifier, Linda Somers-Smith, J.D. ’86, has once again qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials, which will be held in Boston this April. She is one of only two women to have qualified for six Olympic Trials. Somers-Smith lives in Arroyo Grande.

1984Harris Lewin, Ph.D., animal geneticist, director of the Institute for Genomic Biology and a professor and Gutgsell Endowed Chair holder in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Illinois, has been named to the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry. Lewin is the only American among the seven newly appointed foreign members. • James Nolan was promoted to full professor of sociology at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Nolan’s interests include comparative law, culture and technology. His new book, Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement, will soon be published. • Philip Smith owns the Atlanta firm Global Staffing Associates, which specializes in health care staffing and consulting nationwide. He and his wife live in Atlanta with their two children.

1985Bruce Carstens, D.V.M. ’91, and Suzie (Campbell) Carstens ’84, M.S. ’86, write that their oldest son, Christopher, is a freshman at UC Davis and is a member of the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh. Bruce and Suzie met at a Band-uh retreat in 1981, where Bruce played trombone and Suzie played clarinet. In 1997, they opened Willow Rock Pet Hospital in Rocklin where Bruce is the sole veterinarian and Suzie is the business manager. Bruce is also the executive and musical director for the city of Rocklin’s theater and arts program. Suzie is the costume designer for the theater, which produces four musicals per year. • Shira Rohde, M.S., who has worked at Pfizer Inc. for the past decade, founded the nonprofit organization Flip Flop Foundation in Zambia in 2006 following a six-month fellowship there as a Pfizer Global Health Fellow. The organization provides “flip-flop” sandals, school and hygiene supplies and other necessities to Zambian orphans and vulnerable children. Rohde lives in New York City, but returns to Zambia three times a year to work with the Zambian team. For more information, visit www.flipflopfoundation.com.

1986Todd Toepfer, a math and physical science teacher at Fairdale High School in Louisville, Ky., received the Ashland Teaching Achievement Award from chemical company Ashland Inc., in October. This award, given in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education to honor exemplary teachers, qualified Toepfer as a semifinalist for the Kentucky Teacher of the Year Award for 2008. The nomination came from a group of his students.

1987Amy Podmore, M.F.A., was promoted to the rank of full professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. Podmore, a member of the studio art department, teaches sculpture and drawing classes. Her own artwork has been exhibited widely.

1989Julie Treppa became a partner with Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, a San Francisco law firm where she practices in the tax group.

1990Kim (Darling) Loisel is in her 10th year of teaching elementary school and is currently at Ardenwood Elementary in Fremont teaching first grade. She would like to hear from 1985–87 residents of Tercero’s D building at forherda@yahoo.com.

1991J.B. Hay, his father, Tim Hay ’61, and his brother, Chris Hay, joined more than 60 volunteers who barbecued 12,000 Harris Ranch steaks for members of the U.S. armed forces this past fall. The volunteers, made up of citizens of Kern County and Miami, put on barbecues for the troops in Florida and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. • David Martin, M.F.A., works at Sacramento City College and has created a TV series about the college titled Hidden City. The series highlights people and programs at the college and airs on the Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium channels throughout the week. • Kimberly (Myers) St George was named one of last year’s Top 40 Under 40 in the produce industry by Produce Business magazine. St George works for Salinas-based River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC as senior marketing manager and has been in the produce industry for over 15 years. She previously served on the board of directors for the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. St George lives in Salinas with her husband, Marty, and their two children. • Mark Wisniewski, M.A., took first place in the competition for the 2007 Gival Press Short Story Award. In addition to writing fiction and poetry, Wisniewski is also a freelance “book doctor,” as he puts it, revising and editing other writers’ novels and stories.

< Previous Showing 21 to 40 of 67 Next >