1970s
Art Tasker (’71 Forest Mgmt.) manages the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ operations in the south Puget Sound region. Tasker manages 73 permanent employees and 24 seasonal employees. He has been with the DNR since 1973.
Larry Lewis (’72 Arch.) is an architect and photographer who lives in Visalia, California, where he recently had a show displaying his nature photography. His images portray the landscape of central California and the Sierra Nevada.
Jo Ann Washam (’72 Ed.) was recently inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame. Washam played on the LPGA Tour from 1973 to 1990, where she won three individual tour titles and two team titles. She currently lives in Olympia and is an LPGA teaching pro at The Home Course in DuPont.
Dick Boysen (’74 MA Child & Family Studies, ’75 MA Continuing Ed.) is the executive director of the Spokane Guilds’ School and Neuromuscular Center, and was chosen as the 2011 Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital Advocate of the Year.
Lindsay Fiker (’75,’77 MEd) has been appointed to the Skagit Valley College Board of Trustees. She is the Burlington Edison School District work-based learning coordinator and has served as the Burlington-Edison career center specialist for the past 15 years.
Bertha Lynn (’77 Comm.) and Ana Cabrera (’04 Comm. and Spanish) work as news anchors for Denver’s ABC affiliate KMGH 7NEWS. Bertha has worked in the Denver news market for 30 years and currently serves as a trustee for Regis University and is a member of the Denver Art Museum’s African American Outreach Task Force.
Roger Woodworth (’78 Wildlife Biology) is the vice president of Avista Corp. as well as chief strategy officer. In 32 years with Avista, Woodworth has not only served as vice president for sustainable energy solutions, but also as vice president of corporate development and operations.
Katherine S. Ankerson (’79 Arch., ’94 MS Arch.) has been appointed head of the Department of Interior Architecture and Product Design at Kansas State University. She was the associate dean and professor of interior design in the College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and taught at Radford University in Virginia and at WSU. She founded The Ankerson Design Group in 1990.
1980s
Paul Willis (’80 MA Engl., ’85 PhD Engl.) was chosen by the Santa Barbara, California City Council to be the Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara until April 2013. Willis is a professor at Westmont College where he has been teaching since 1988. He has been published in over 100 literary journals, and published a book of poetry, Visiting Home, which was released in 2008.
Duane Yecha (’80 Industrial Ed., ’87 MA Ed. Admin.) is superintendent of schools for the Crook County School Board in central Oregon. He has worked as superintendent for the Winston-Dillard School District and the Reedsport School District in Oregon, as well as high school principal in Boardman, Oregon.
Dick Hanlin (’81 Comm.) is chief professional officer of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Spokane County. Hanlin has more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in the Boys and Girls Club. In his new position, he intends to promote sustainability, maintain good facilities, and expand the club to include more locations.
Terry Kelly (’81 Account.), a tax attorney with over 25 years of legal experience, recently joined Lee & Hayes after working for many years at the Lukins & Annis law firm. In addition to his legal work, Kelly has served on the boards of directors of Holy Family Foundation, Spokane Country Club, and Gonzaga Preparatory School. Kelly played on the varsity basketball team at WSU from 1977 to 1981.
Scott MacDonald (’82 Broad./Theater) plays the part of Blackie in the recently released film Water for Elephants. MacDonald has worked in television and films since the late 1980s, and he has been in many commercials, TV episodes, and movies, including Star Trek and the movie Jarhead.
Craig Ehlo ’83 has been hired as assistant coach for the men’s basketball team at Eastern Washington University. After 14 years as a player in the NBA, he spent three seasons as a high school basketball head coach and six years working with Nike Skills Academy. Ehlo has worked as a television analyst, doing broadcast for WSU, Gonzaga, and the Seattle SuperSonics.
Sam Regalado (’83 MA Hist., ’87 PhD Hist.) received the California State University Stanislaus Outstanding Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Professor Award for 2010-11. He has been working at California State University since 1987 and has written a book called Viva Baseball!.
Jon Maesner (’84 Pharm.) is CIGNA’s chief pharmacy officer. In his new position, he will lead the company’s coordinated approach to integrating medication therapy with its medical, health, and wellness programs to improve health outcomes and lower overall health care and disability costs. He has held various positions at Prudential HealthCare, Genentech, and Group Health Cooperative, and was an adjunct faculty member in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington.
Ruth Medsker (’84 Ed.) has been appointed the principal of West Seattle High School, where she served as interim principal. She has been education director for Seattle Public Schools and assistant principal and principal at Mercer Middle School. She was given the Alliance for Education’s Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence in 2004 and has been honored twice by the Association of Washington School Principals.
Susan Rauch (’84 Sociology) has served as activity director at Martha & Mary in Poulsbo for the last 14 years and has been reelected as president of the National Association of Activity Professionals. Her previous experience includes serving as co-chair of the Local Arrangements Committee for the 1990 NAAP conference and serving on the NAAP Board in the capacity of public relations and convention and professional development trustee.
Cynthia B. Dillard (’87 MS Voc. Tech. Ed., ’91 PhD Ed.) is a professor of multicultural education at The Ohio State University and the first Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Georgia. She will join the UGA faculty in January 2012. Her research interests include critical multicultural education, spirituality in teaching and learning, epistemological concerns in research, and African/African-American feminist studies. She recently established a preschool and elementary school in Ghana, West Africa, and published a book in 2007.
Carol Lindahl (’88 Nursing) is a registered nurse in the Patient Resource Department at Mason General Hospital in Shelton, Washington, and was named employee of the month for December 2010. Lindahl has previously worked at Providence SoundHome Care as a First Steps Nurse, in pediatric care at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles, at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Tacoma, and as a school nurse.
Allison Coats Nelson (’89 Elem. Ed., ’90 MEd) is Kansas Teacher of the Year for her school district. She is the reading specialist at Clear Creek Elementary in Shawnee. Nelson recently earned her reading specialist endorsement through the University of Kansas, and her past experience includes teaching 4th grade in Tennessee and being a substitute teacher in Seattle.
1990s
Rick Bates (’90 Ed. TC) has served as the principal of Sunnyside Elementary for four years and is also a DJ for local radio stations Z-Fun 106.1 and Bull Country 99.5. Bates got involved with radio as a college DJ at WSU and has worked in the radio business for 21 years.
Russell Miller (’91 Eng.) is a law professor at Washington and Lee and has been named a non-resident fellow at the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. Miller will write publications and essays for the institute’s website and newsletter, and lend his expertise in comparative and German constitutional law to various projects and events. Miller is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the German Law Journal.
Gretchen Souza (’92 Nursing) is in her sixth year at Olympia Medical Center in Port Angeles and has joined the center’s education department in order to focus on staff learning initiatives. Souza will continue working part-time in her current position as supervisor of the hospital’s medical/surgical/pediatric unit.
Greg Woods (’92 Psych., ’95 Elementary/Secondary Teaching Cert.) has been appointed as principal/superintendent of Griffin School District near Olympia. He is currently the principal of the school.
Mike Sandmann (’93 Comm.) is account manager at International Paper in Moses Lake and has been given the 2010 Container the Americas Sales and Marketing Award of Excellence. In the past, he has worked for Weyerhaeuser and Willamette Industries.
Matthew J. Fox (’94 Crim. J.) has been named principal of Marblehead Veterans Middle School in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Fox has served as principal at Hamilton Wenham Regional High School and the Miles River Middle School, as interim principal at Penn Brook Elementary School, and as assistant principal at the Middle High School, both in Georgetown.
Matthew Caires (’97 Soc. Studies) is the dean of students at Montana State University. He was assistant dean of students for leadership development at the University of Wyoming and assistant director for student activities and leadership development at Saint John’s University, Minnesota. While an undergraduate at WSU, Caires was a city councilman in Pullman, WSU student body president, and assistant mayor pro-tempore.
Adam Eltinge (’98 Bus., ’99 Const. Mgmt.) was hired by the San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild to be the construction manager for the Brickworks Project in Friday Harbor. His recent projects include commercial development near Seattle and renovating historic carriage houses in Portland. Eltinge previously had his own general contracting business and prior to that he had a residential construction firm in Seattle.
John Pigman (’99 Ed.), Peter Tingstrom (’94 Bus.), and Nadia Daud (’00 Polit. Sci.) work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. None of them realized that there were other Cougar alumni at the embassy until they saw each other wearing WSU t-shirts around the compound. Pigman is a special agent in the Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. State Department’s federal law enforcement bureau. Tingstrom is a lieutenant colonel with the Department of Defense, supporting Operation NEW DAWN. Daud is a supervisory refugee officer with
the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS Refugee Affairs Divison.
Jeff Snell (M.Ed. ’99), principal of Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, was recently appointed to be deputy superintendent of technology and education services for the school district in Camas, Washington. Snell is also an adjunct professor at Concordia University’s School of Education in Portland.
2000s
Matthew Canterbury (’01 Psych. ’05 Econ.) is engaged to Beth Kleweno (’02 Vet. Med). The couple lives in Alaska.
Joel Ragan Enevold (’03 Bus. Admin.) is senior electrical engineer at MW Consulting Engineers of Spokane and has earned his California professional engineer license. Enevold has worked for MW Consulting Engineers since 2003.
Christopher Gibeault (’03 Bus. Admin.) has been named the 2010-2011 Community Volunteer of the Year by the United Way of Pierce County.
Veronica S. Gunderson (’03 Poli. Sci.) joined the law firm of Miller Barondess LLP in Century City, California. Her experience includes working at the litigation group at Richards, Watson & Gershon P.C. in Los Angeles and as a law clerk for the Hon. Robert L. Hess and the Hon. John Shepard Wiley Jr. of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Gunderson attended law school at UCLA and was admitted to practice in California in December 2007.
LaToya Harris (’03 Hum. & Women’s Studies) is head volleyball coach at Lewis-Clark State College. At WSU she earned All-Freshman PAC-10 Conference honors her first season and first-team All-PAC-10 her final three seasons, along with being the MVP her sophomore and senior seasons. Harris served as assistant coach at WSU and then coached at San Leandro High in California and Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon. Harris and her fiancé have a 5-year-old son.
Brian MacMillan (’03 Comm.) has been awarded the 2010 Oregon Associated Press first place award for “Best Weathercast.” He currently works at KPTV-FOX 12 in Portland, Oregon, as a meteorologist and reporter for the station’s top-rated morning and evening shows. Previously, he worked at ABC affiliate KOHD in Bend. MacMillan has a broadcast meteorology certification from Mississippi State University, and while he was at WSU, he was involved in Cable 8 and STAGE.
Christina E. Raschko (’04 Interior Des.) has earned her lighting certification from the National Council on Qualifications for the Lighting Professions. She works as senior lighting designer for ESCENT, the architectural lighting design division of MW Consulting Engineers.
Carli Schiffner (’04 PhD Hist.) is the new provost and vice president for academic affairs at SUNY Canton. Schiffner’s research has focused on women’s groups in the Pacific Northwest during the Progressive Era and she has been published in Columbia Magazine and the Pacific Northwest Quarterly. During her time at SUNY Canton, she created a U.S. women’s history course, and she is a member of the American Historical Association and of the Humanities Washington Board of Trustees.
Karen Kellar (’05 BS Nursing) is vice president for patient care services at Tillamook County General Hospital. She has clinical experience in cardiac, labor and delivery, post-anesthesia recovery, medical surgery, emergency, and home care.
Jason Blazevic (’06 MA History) received a 2011 Outstanding Student Award given by Idaho State University and the ISU Alumni Association. Blazevic received a doctoral degree in political science from ISU in May, and served as a graduate assistant to the International Affairs Council.
Jaclyn Gotch (’07 MEd) is one of the authors of the children’s book The Itty Bitty Guide to Trees: A Children’s Identification Guide to Trees of the Inland Northwest. The book was created to inspire children and promote learning in a forest environment.
Julie Pickler (’07 Human Dev.) won the Best Public Health Video award from Kansas State University’s Master of Public Health program. While at WSU, Pickler was a varsity letter winner in track and placed second in a heptathlon at NCAA Championships in 2006.
William D. Guitard (’08 Account. & Info. Services) is an Army National Guard Specialist who graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina.
Kelsey Meyers (’09 Ed., ’10 TC) teaches first grade at North Bend Elementary and was named Teacher of the Week on April 1 by Seattle’s Star 101.5 KPLZ.
2010s
Kimmi Devaney (’10 Animal Sci. & Ag. Comm.) is the producer relations program coordinator at Milk Promotion Services of Indiana Inc. Devaney was the 2009 national president of the American Dairy Science Association Student Affiliate Division. While at WSU, she was the president of the Washington State University Dairy Club and was named Outstanding Senior in Dairy Science. Devaney is the granddaughter of dairy farmers, a member of the Chinook (WA) 4-H Club for eight years, and is a former Dairy Princess.