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Class Notes Archive 1931-2014: Fall 2012

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1995Erike Young, the environmental, health and safety director for the UC system, was named Safety Professional of the Year in June by the American Society of Safety Engineers. He oversees safety policies and programs at 10 campuses, five hospitals and a national laboratory.
1996Liz Warren, Ph.D. ’03, was inducted into the Space Camp alumni Hall of Fame class of 2012 for her career as a physiologist at NASA and her educational outreach efforts to schoolchildren. She is an expert on the effects of space flight on the human body.
1997The Rev. Neal Presa was elected in June to a two-year term as moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Pittsburgh. The position is the highest elected office in the 1.9-million member denomination. While serving as a pastor in Middlesex, N.J., Presa was appointed to join the New Brunswick Theological Seminary as an affiliate assistant professor for preaching and worship. He can be reached at ndpresa@gmail.com, via Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn at twitter.com/nealpresa, or at www.nealpresa.com.
1998Napa High School Assistant Principal Annie Pivniska-Petrie was named a regional Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators. She and her husband live in Napa with their two children.
1999Novelist Anthony Swofford, a Gulf War veteran, examines his relationship with his father, also a veteran and Marine, in his second memoir, Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails (Twelve, 2012). His first memoir, Jarhead, about his life as a Marine sniper in the first Gulf War, was made into a movie.
2000Michelle (Hand) Huffman, a West Virginia restaurateur, died in July after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. She was 35. She and her husband, Alan, opened Spicy Gringo’s Mexican Restaurant in Wellsburg, W.V., in 2011. She was an avid supporter of the Relay for Life organization.
2001Kirk DeClark and his wife, Kristin, welcomed their first child, Kolby Dennis, in March. They live in New York City.
2003Kellie (Norton) Andersen received her doctorate in aerospace/mechanical engineering from Rutgers University. She lives in South Plainfield, N.J., with her husband, Kevin, a chemical engineer and project manager for BASF chemical company. • Sara Cook became assistant registrar for academic services at UC Santa Barbara in June. • Neda Shakoori joined the McManis Faulkner law firm in San José in July. A civil litigator, she specializes in intellectual property disputes, securities fraud claims and personal injury cases. She earned her law degree from Lincoln Law School in 2007.
2004A debut novel by Melanie Thorne, M.A. ’06, Hand Me Down (Dutton Books, 2012), has been selected by the School Library Journal for its “Adult Books 4 Teens” list. The book tells the story of a girl who travels between California and Utah in search of a safe home after her mother marries a register sex offender.
2005Ryan Clark and Lynda Tran, who met on an alumni trip in Europe, married in September in Yountville. They live in Napa, where Ryan is general manager of Kelly Fleming Wines and Lynda is a family dentist and partner at Redwood Dental. Several Aggies attended the wedding, including bridesmaids Keri Rannachan ’06, Jennifer Carabez ’06 and Amy Banham ’06.
2006Elizabeth (Sanchez) Pane married Justin Pane in July 2011 in the mountains overlooking Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand. They took a helicopter to the site, had the ceremony, and heli-boarded the rest of the day. (Powderroom, an online women’s snowboarding magazine, posted an article, “A Heli of a Wedding,” with photos and a video at www.powderroom.net/2012/01/a-heli-of-a-wedding). In December, Elizabeth graduated from NASA’s Foundations of Influence, Relationships, Success and Teamwork program, a selective leadership program for junior-level professionals in the agency. She works at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View.
2010Robert Machoian, M.F.A., began filming his first full-length feature movie, Forty Years from Yesterday, this summer. The script imagines how his mother’s death would unfold for his family. His company, 433 Pictures, has launched a fundraising campaign at Kickstarter.com to help finance the production. His short film, Charlie and the Rabbit, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
2011Amanda Epple is an engineer in the construction management division of San Diego-based Simon Wong Engineering. She is currently working on projects for Caltrans.
2012Giselle “Gigi” Ross, a former UC Davis Dance Team member, auditioned for and made the 2012 Raiderettes, the Oakland Raiders’ cheer/dance squad. She was depicted as one of the hopefuls in a Comcast Bay Area special in May.

1995Erike Young, the environmental, health and safety director for the UC system, was named Safety Professional of the Year in June by the American Society of Safety Engineers. He oversees safety policies and programs at 10 campuses, five hospitals and a national laboratory.

1996Liz Warren, Ph.D. ’03, was inducted into the Space Camp alumni Hall of Fame class of 2012 for her career as a physiologist at NASA and her educational outreach efforts to schoolchildren. She is an expert on the effects of space flight on the human body.

1997The Rev. Neal Presa was elected in June to a two-year term as moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Pittsburgh. The position is the highest elected office in the 1.9-million member denomination. While serving as a pastor in Middlesex, N.J., Presa was appointed to join the New Brunswick Theological Seminary as an affiliate assistant professor for preaching and worship. He can be reached at ndpresa@gmail.com, via Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn at twitter.com/nealpresa, or at www.nealpresa.com.

1998Napa High School Assistant Principal Annie Pivniska-Petrie was named a regional Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators. She and her husband live in Napa with their two children.

1999Novelist Anthony Swofford, a Gulf War veteran, examines his relationship with his father, also a veteran and Marine, in his second memoir, Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails (Twelve, 2012). His first memoir, Jarhead, about his life as a Marine sniper in the first Gulf War, was made into a movie.

2000Michelle (Hand) Huffman, a West Virginia restaurateur, died in July after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. She was 35. She and her husband, Alan, opened Spicy Gringo’s Mexican Restaurant in Wellsburg, W.V., in 2011. She was an avid supporter of the Relay for Life organization.

2001Kirk DeClark and his wife, Kristin, welcomed their first child, Kolby Dennis, in March. They live in New York City.

2003Kellie (Norton) Andersen received her doctorate in aerospace/mechanical engineering from Rutgers University. She lives in South Plainfield, N.J., with her husband, Kevin, a chemical engineer and project manager for BASF chemical company. • Sara Cook became assistant registrar for academic services at UC Santa Barbara in June. • Neda Shakoori joined the McManis Faulkner law firm in San José in July. A civil litigator, she specializes in intellectual property disputes, securities fraud claims and personal injury cases. She earned her law degree from Lincoln Law School in 2007.

2004A debut novel by Melanie Thorne, M.A. ’06, Hand Me Down (Dutton Books, 2012), has been selected by the School Library Journal for its “Adult Books 4 Teens” list. The book tells the story of a girl who travels between California and Utah in search of a safe home after her mother marries a register sex offender.

2005Ryan Clark and Lynda Tran, who met on an alumni trip in Europe, married in September in Yountville. They live in Napa, where Ryan is general manager of Kelly Fleming Wines and Lynda is a family dentist and partner at Redwood Dental. Several Aggies attended the wedding, including bridesmaids Keri Rannachan ’06, Jennifer Carabez ’06 and Amy Banham ’06.

2006Elizabeth (Sanchez) Pane married Justin Pane in July 2011 in the mountains overlooking Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand. They took a helicopter to the site, had the ceremony, and heli-boarded the rest of the day. (Powderroom, an online women’s snowboarding magazine, posted an article, “A Heli of a Wedding,” with photos and a video at www.powderroom.net/2012/01/a-heli-of-a-wedding). In December, Elizabeth graduated from NASA’s Foundations of Influence, Relationships, Success and Teamwork program, a selective leadership program for junior-level professionals in the agency. She works at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View.

2010Robert Machoian, M.F.A., began filming his first full-length feature movie, Forty Years from Yesterday, this summer. The script imagines how his mother’s death would unfold for his family. His company, 433 Pictures, has launched a fundraising campaign at Kickstarter.com to help finance the production. His short film, Charlie and the Rabbit, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

2011Amanda Epple is an engineer in the construction management division of San Diego-based Simon Wong Engineering. She is currently working on projects for Caltrans.

2012Giselle “Gigi” Ross, a former UC Davis Dance Team member, auditioned for and made the 2012 Raiderettes, the Oakland Raiders’ cheer/dance squad. She was depicted as one of the hopefuls in a Comcast Bay Area special in May.

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