| 1994Peter Caster has published a book titled Prisons, Race, and Masculinity in Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature and Film (Ohio State University Press). Caster is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Carolina Upstate. • Eileen (Mize) Clisham married Andrew Clisham in September in San Rafael, where the two natives of Marin County now live. Eileen has worked as the director of communications at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco for the past seven years. She recently retired from Irish step dance competition after a 25-year run that took her to the World Championships in Ireland twice. • Jonathan Essner was married to Evren Saraç of Ankara, Turkey, last July. The wedding took place on the Bosphorus River in Istanbul, and attending were alumni Christopher Brumfiel ’94, Jeremy Mears ’94, Matt Jordan ’95, Soo (Bae) Masson ’95, Todd Masson ’95, Michael McDonald ’95, Margaret Snow ’95 and John Nussbaum ’96. • Lindsey (Litchfield) Mann and her husband, Chris, welcomed their first daughter, Clara, in February. The family lives in Bethesda, Md. |
| 1995John Thios Jr. has written Hispanic Intermarriage Counseling: A Guidebook for Practitioners and Couples (Trafford Publishing). Thios works for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C., and lives with his wife and daughter in northern Virginia. • Ginger Welsh has joined the UC Davis School of Law as associate director of alumni relations. |
| 1996Carl Switzer has been elevated to partner in the San Francisco-based law firm Farella Braun + Martel. He maintains a construction litigation practice, as well as assisting other businesses with partnership, real estate and contractual disputes. • Erwin Taganas works as a senior electrical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. He recently married Andrelee Garcia, a physician, and braved a 450-foot bungee jump in New Zealand in 2007. • Melissa Veselovsky is the director of Healing Through the Body of Christ Cancer Ministry for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, as well as director of a chapel being built by Christ the King Catholic Church in Mesa, Ariz. The chapel will support people affected by cancer and feature a healing garden, cancer-related resource material and prayer services. |
| 1997Matthew Smith, Ph.D. ’06, is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the Farlow Herbarium at Harvard University, studying the ecology and systematics of fungi, focusing primarily on truffles and truffle-like fungi. He has described five new species and one new genus of truffles and is now working on several more. Smith is married to Erin Smith ’95, who works as a nurse-midwife. The couple has two sons, Finnigan and Obidiah. They live in Arlington, Mass. |
| 1998Laura (Hand) Barlow, a kindergarten teacher for the Long Beach Unified School District, was named a Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year for 2007–08. She has also achieved National Board Certification as an early childhood generalist and is currently working on her reading and language arts specialist credential and master’s degree from California State University, Long Beach. In addition, she was recently married to Bruce Barlow. • Joseph Mills, Ph.D., has published his second volume of poetry, a collection of over 50 wine-related poems titled Angels, Thieves, and Winemakers (Press 53). He also recently edited A Century of the Marx Brothers (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). Mills teaches writing and humanities courses at the North Carolina School of the Arts. |
| 1999Katharine Kobayashi and her husband, Frank Kobayashi ’00, welcomed their first child, Kailee Ann Toshiko, in April. • Kristen Klari Reis is an internationally known artist who has had solo exhibits in London and Munich and has recently signed with a San Francisco art gallery. More information about Reis can be found at www.klarireis.com. |
| 2000The U.S. Army awarded Marlon Cobar, J.D., the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, an award comparable to the military Army Commendation Medal, for his work on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice in Iraq. |
| 2001Alonzo Garcia and Irma Erika (Nevarez) Garcia welcomed their first baby, Jazmin Erika, in March. Alonzo is a senior component design engineer at Intel Corp., and Irma is a consultant manager at Accenture. The family currently lives in West Sacramento. Juan Nevarez ’05 of Modesto is the proud uncle. • Kristen Richardson is soon to be married to John Faber. The wedding will take place this July in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. • Kevin Standish, M.S. ’03, and Abbi (Black) Standish had their first child, Nathan James, in November. |
| 2002Cesilio Mercado, a combat medic with the U.S. Army Reserve, returned home to Dixon after a year of service in Baghdad. As a civilian, Mercado is a firefighter with the UC Davis Fire Department. He and his wife have a 3-year-old child. • Nicole Rabaud, Ph.D., and husband Mike Webb, Ph.D. ’04, announced the arrival in December of Sophie Caroline, who joins an older sister, Chloé. The family lives in Durham, N.C., where Nicole is a full-time mom and Webb is a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University. |
