| 1994Kathryn Boor, Ph.D., began a five-year term as the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in July. She is also a professor and past chair of Cornell’s department of food science and director of the university’s Milk Quality Improvement Program, as well as secretary and scientific adviser to the New York State Cheese Manufacturers’ Association. • Scott Griffin, a rare coin and precious metals dealer, opened Griffin Coin Co. in the San Francisco Bay Area. He recently organized a coin show and auction at the Old San Francisco Mint building. He is the founder of Yerba Buena Historical and Numismatic Society. • David Palecek died from complications of a staphylococcus infection at Stanford Hospital in February at 37. While attending UC Davis, he served as controller for the ASUCD government in 1993–94, and was instrumental in acquiring Unitrans buses that run on compressed natural gas, and in opening the U.S. Post Office on campus. He also earned his pilot’s license. After graduating, he took a job with the management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, in Prague, Czech Republic. He left for two years to earn an M.B.A. from Stanford University, then rejoined the firm and, in 2003, became a partner. A skiier from age 2, he spent 20 years as an Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol volunteer. He also windsurfed, waterskiied, sailed and was a certified dive master. At 14, he became an Eagle Scout with 28 merits. He is survived by his wife, Melissa, whom he met during business school; daughters, Katrina and Caroline, 7, Sierra, 5, and Annika, 1; his parents Peter and Hana; and his brothers, Misha and Tom ’99. Friends may contact Tom at tompalecek@gmail.com. |
| 1996Melissa Stein, M.A., won this year’s APR/Honickman First Book Prize for her poetry collection, Rough Honey (American Poetry Review/Copper Canyon Press). Her poems have been featured in the New England Review, Best New Poets 2009 and the Harvard Review. She works as a freelance editor and writer in San Francisco. |
| 1997Marc Facciotti received the Young Alumnus Award from the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. A UC Davis assistant professor of biomedical engineering, he mentors local high school, undergraduate and graduate students, and advises a student design team. The first course he designed and taught, protein engineering, received high remarks from students. • Monterey Gardiner, Ph.D. ’04, was awarded the Mike Mansfield Fellowship by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in July. It is a two-year governmental exchange program. Beginning in the fall, he will spend his first year learning about Japan and its language in Washington, D.C., followed by a year in Japan working for a Japanese agency or ministry. There he plans to study sustainable energy solutions. Gardiner is a physical scientist and technology development manager at the U.S. Department of Energy. • Hilary Mark and Aaron McCarty welcomed daughter Penelope Sarah Jane to their family in May. She joins her big brother, Sam, and two dogs, Yolo and Mustang Sally. They regularly attend the Davis Farmer’s Market on weekends. • Alison DeJung and her husband, Jason Goldheim, welcomed their first child, Samuel, in March. Alison received a Master of Nonprofit Administration degree from the University of San Francisco in 2007, and is now a program officer for education at the Stuart Foundation. |
| 1998Tim Anenson was selected in June to be a vice president of GEI Consultants, a group of geotechnical, environmental, water resources and ecological science and engineering firms. Anenson is the Pacific Region manager located in the Sacramento office. |
| 2000Erica Johnson, Ph.D., was granted tenure with a promotion to associate professor of English at Wagner College in New York. She has written Caribbean Ghostwriting (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press 2009) and Home, Maison, Casa: The Politics of Location in Works by Jean Rhys, Marguerite Duras, and Erminia Dell’Oro (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press 2003). Last year she won Wagner College’s Outstanding Teacher Award. |
| 2001Melissa Davis and her husband since 2003, John Cordes, welcomed their son Julius James Cordes, in December. He was born three months early and came home to the family ranch in Nebraska in March. • Alonzo Garcia and Irma (Nevarez) Garcia welcomed their second daughter Liliana “Lilly” Irma in June. She joins sister Jazmin Erika. The family lives in West Sacramento. Alonzo is a senior component design engineer at Intel Corp., and Irma is a consultant manager at Accenture. Juan Nevarez ’05 is the proud uncle. • Ryan Sanchez spent the past nine years at Genentech and earned an M.B.A. from Sacramento State University in 2009. He is now a first year law student at UC Davis. |
| 2004Emmanuel 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. • Henry Tsai and Christie Harrington ’06 were married at Tilden Park in Berkeley in June. After honeymooning in Kona, Hawaii, they moved to Concord. • 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. |
| 2006Jonathan Karpel, Ph.D., began an assistant professor of biology position at Southern Utah University this past summer. He and his wife, Rebekah Karpel, M.S. ’05, live in Cedar City, Utah, with their children Joseph, Elizabeth and Elijah. |
| 2007Carleen Baldwin earned her Ph.D. in physical therapy from Western University of Health Sciences in Pasadena in May. She received the Outstanding Clinical Performance Award. |
