1950s
Richard P. Kim (’51 Pharm.) led the charge to build a Korean War Memorial at the Vancouver division of the Portland, Oregon, Veterans Administration Medical Center. He and his fellow volunteers raised about $16,000 for the project. He did most of the design work, public communications, and paperwork. Kim’s father Chan Jay Kim was born in South Korea and graduated from WSU in 1922. His brother Chan Jay Park Kim Jr. attended Washington State in 1947 and was killed during the Korean War. During the war Richard Kim served as a Corpsman in the U.S. Navy, primarily at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He has worked as a pharmacist for 50 years, 27 of which he worked as a chief pharmacist in VA Hospitals around the country.
Audrey Hurley Murray x’55 and Harold Murray (’56 Civ. Engr.) were friends at WSU. They met up again after their spouses passed away. They are now married and live in Arizona.
1960s
John N. Terrey (’64 EdD), widely recognized as the builder of the state’s community college system, was honored with the Washington State University Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in April. He spent 15 years teaching English in various school districts in Washington before becoming Tacoma Community College’s first dean of instruction in 1964. In 1969, he became deputy director of the Washington State Board for Community College Education; he was promoted to director in 1978 and held that post until 1987.
Stephen Fausti (’65 Speech and Hearing Sci.) received the 2010 James Jerger Career Award for Research in Audiology. Founder of the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research at the Portland VAMC, he currently serves as director. The NCRAR is now the country’s leading research center in rehabilitative audiology. After graduating from WSU, he went on to study at the University of California at San Francisco, and received his PhD from the University of Washington. Fausti is also a professor in the Departments of Otolaryngology and Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University and has taught at various universities throughout the state of Oregon.
Steven L. VanAusdle (’66 MA, ’68 Ag. Econ.), president of Walla Walla Community College, was presented with the Washington State University Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in May for his dedication to higher education and many contributions to the economic vitality of the Walla Walla Valley and the state. An Elks Lodge member since 1969 and a Rotary Club member since 1982, he has served on the United Way Board of Directors and was president in 1984 and has served as president of the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce.
James Aho (’68 Soc., ’71 PhD) retired from Idaho State University in December 2009 and has been working on his ninth book, Sociological Trespasses: Interrogating Sin and Flesh. Aho has also authored numerous articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and reviews. He came to Idaho State University during the 1969-70 school year and became a full professor in 1982. His research interest has ranged from comparative religions and warfare to right-wing extremism in Idaho and the sociology of suicide in Idaho. His work has been featured in a number of prominent broadcast interviews including on the PBS McNeil/Lehrer news program and National Public Radio.
1970s
Marcia Whitney-Schenck (’73 Comm.) recently published What God Gives, a photo essay of Cameroon and Congo.
Sue McGill (’76 Ed.) will retire in November from her position as deputy superintendent of Olympic National Park. McGill began her 31-year career working for the National Park Service as a student intern at Mount Rainier. She has since worked at parks across the country including Mesa Verde, Everglades, Carlsbad Caverns, USS Arizona Memorial, and Great Smoky Mountains. In addition, McGill served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and earned several awards for service.
John Armenia (’78 PhD Ed. Admin.) has joined the board of directors of Phi Delta Kappa International, a professional organization for educators. Armenia has worked in a number of leadership roles including serving as the president of the PDK Washington State chapter from 2005 to 2009. He was also named a World Affairs Council Fellow in 2004. Armenia was awarded the title of professor emeritus in 2008 upon his retirement as director of City University of Seattle’s Educational Leadership Program, where he continues to teach in the superintendent and administrator certification programs.
Dan Youmans (’78 Polit. Sci.) has been named State President-Washington, AT&T External Affairs.
Suzanne Brooks (’79 Engl.) co-founded March 1st as Women of Color Day and now is CEO of the International Association for Women of Color Day. She is also bandleader of The Jazz Generation with seven CDs. Brooks is releasing two new books after more than 30 years of human and civil rights activities. The newest is The Constructive Extermination of Women of Color: Consequences of Perpetual Socio-Economic Marginalization. In March 2010, she produced and performed in a new show, I Believe I Can Fly featuring 112-year-old Mother Ruby Muhammad.
1980s
Rhoda L. Altom (’80 Const. Mgmt.) was awarded the Washington State University Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award. Altom is the first woman to graduate from Washington State University’s construction management program. Today, she is president of Milestone Properties and oversees its portfolio of properties across the country. She is also a philanthropist and community volunteer with a special affinity for health care and women’s issues. Among her many efforts, Altom founded the Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Fund and established the Pediatric Epilepsy Foundation at the University of Washington. Together with her husband Cory Carlson, she established the Altom+Carlson Foundation to support various organizations.
Cary Pillo Lassen (’80 Fine Arts) is a Seattle illustrator whose latest book was just published by Parenting Press. Where Is My Mommy? Coping When A Parent Leaves (And Doesn’t Come Back) shows a small child working through abandonment by his mother. She is the mother of Seth Lassen, a new WSU alum.
Doug Hammond (’82 Const. Mgmt.) has been hired by Graham Construction & Management Inc. of Spokane as Business Development Manager. He previously worked for Empire Health Services.
Robert Hoon (’82 Poli. Sci.) is the new general counsel at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Hoon served as UNCW’s deputy general counsel for more than five years. Hoon’s previous experience in higher education includes serving Washington State University as an assistant attorney general, real estate officer, public finance officer, and director of business services. After relocating to North Carolina, Hoon worked at NC State University for three years before moving to UNCW.
John “JD” Sicilia (’84 Psych.) has been named Director of Strategic Management and Performance for the Department of Defense. He previously served as the Chief of Performance Management for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He is certified as a black belt, master black belt, and master black belt trainer. Prior to joining the DIA, Sicilia served as an officer in the United States Army. He retired from active duty after 21 years of service.
Jenny L. Hitch (’85 Geol. Engr.), director of marketing at Full Circle Solutions Inc. in Jasper, Georgia, has received the ASTM International Award of Merit and accompanying title of fellow. The Award of Merit is ASTM’s highest recognition for individual contributions to standards activities.
Carl Wommack (’88 Soc. Sci.) has been a police officer at the Moscow Police Department for just over 20 years. In 1995 he was selected for a specialty position of Campus Community Policing Officer at the University of Idaho. He has also served as a detective, a crime prevention officer, a patrol officer, and coordinator of the citizen’s police academy.
Dennis P. Maguire (’89 PhD Ed.) is the associate superintendent of curriculum and instruction for the Pasco School District. In May he was recognized by the Washington Association of School Administrators with the Robert J. Handy Most Effective Administrator award. Maguire has worked as a school administrator for 36 years, 11 of which he has served in Pasco.
1990s
Brian F. Kuhn (’90 Zool., ’91 Anthro.) is one of the scientists who found and described the geological setting around the newly found hominid Australopithecus sediba. Among his discoveries at the site in South Africa were the fossil remains of an infant around 12-18 months old. Kuhn is a researcher for the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He is one of the co-authors for the paper published in Science, “Geological Setting and Age of Australopithecus sediba from Southern Africa.”
Chris Aker (’91 Bus.) bowled for the Cougar bowling team from 1988 to 1991. During that time the team placed second in the nation and Aker was named a collegiate All-American (honorable mention). Recently he bowled a sanctioned 900 series for 3 games in a league in Winnemucca, Nevada, where he now lives.
Matt Kirsch (’95 Crim. J.) is Court Operations Supervisor with the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He lives with his wife Susan and two children, Kade and Kiera, in Clearwater, Florida.
Matt Saski (’97 Comm.) welcomed daughter Olivia Noelle in March. Her big sisters Maria (8) and Annika (5) are excited and helping out.
2000s
Sarah Houghton-Jan (’00 MA Engl.) has published her first book: Technology Training in Libraries. Houghton-Jan is the Digital Futures Manager for the San Jose Public Library and blogs at LibrarianInBlack.net. She was named a Trendsetting Mover & Shaker in 2009 by Library Journal, and won the UIUC Library School Alumni Association Leadership award. She lives in San Rafael, California, with her librarian husband and decidedly non-librarian cat.
Andrew J. Miller III (’06 Psych.) welcomed his son Andrew Jackson Miller IV in November.
Casey M. Jones (’08 Bus. Admin.) recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois.
Neil Padrick Wilson (’08 Philosophy) received the Sam Wilkins Criminal Law Award, given to an exceptional student in Criminal Law at Mississippi College School of Law.
Nathaniel I. Clark (’09 Comp. Sci.) recently completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois.