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1970s
Retired public school secondary language arts teacher Suzanne Cofer (’71 English) published a book in 2013 about her maternal grandmother, Ruth A. Haworth, and early pioneer life in the state. She donated a copy of the book to the WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. Recently, she was informed that her book will be online at the Legacy Washington website.
Gene Estabrook (’76 Police Sci., ’77 Poli. Sci, ’79 MA Crim. Jus.) retired in December after more than 35 years of public service as a juvenile probation officer and counselor in Oregon. During his career he served youth and families affected by abuse, unsafe living conditions, crime, addiction, mental illness, and poverty. Estabrook plans to continue his studies while hiking and going on other carefree travels, and after that he has arranged to leave his house and his library to a WSU scholarship in his name.
The YMCA of Greater Seattle recognized Jeff and Tricia (’78 Comm.) Raikes with the A.K. Guy Award in November for their dedication to community service and volunteerism. Proud to hold the distinction of being the first Microsoft couple, Jeff and Tricia met there as colleagues in the early 1980s. The Raikes’s were involved with organizations including United Way of King County, Boys and Girls Clubs of King County, the Washington State University Foundation, University of Nebraska Foundation, and Stanford University. They launched the Raikes Foundation in 2002 in the areas of education, out-of-school time, and youth homelessness.
1980s
The University of California Los Angeles appointed Jayathi Murthy (’81 MS Mech. Eng.) as dean of UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. She was previously chair and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin. Prior to that, she held faculty positions in mechanical engineering at both Purdue University and Carnegie Mellon University. Murthy is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the author of more than 280 technical publications.
Hyatt Vacation Ownership appointed Jim Hansen (’84 HBM) as senior vice president of sales and local marketing. An industry veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Hansen is responsible for all sales activities, as well as local marketing at Hyatt Residence Club’s six current sales centers in the continental United States.
Starbucks picked top Adobe executive Gerri Martin-Flickinger (’85 Comp. Sci.) to become its first chief technology officer. Martin-Flickinger served as Adobe’s senior vice president and chief technology officer, and she helped migrate that company’s business to the cloud. A Silicon Valley veteran, Martin-Flickinger was also CIO at VeriSign, Network Associates and McAfee Associates. At Starbucks, Martin-Flickinger will mind the infrastructure underpinning the company’s digital forays.
The Northwest Golf Media Association recognized longtime golf course superintendent Steve Kealy (’87 Agro.) of Seattle with the association’s “Local Legend” award. Kealy began his career in golf as a caddie at Seattle’s Broadmoor Golf Club in 1972. He has been the golf course superintendent at Glendale Country Club in Bellevue for over 25 years. He currently serves on several golf industry boards including the Northwest Turfgrass Association, Western Washington Golf Course Superintendents Association, and The First Green Foundation. Since 2000, he has hosted over 100 field trips to his golf course to teach schoolkids hands-on environmental education through the First Green program, and serves as a mentor to golf course superintendents and clubs in setting up their First Green field trips. Kealy is a past recipient of two national awards from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the Excellence in Government Relations Award, and the President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship.
1990s
Kathleen Pritchett-Corning (’90 Vet. Sci., DVM ’93) was chosen as the 2015 Pravin N. Bhatt Investigator from the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, which honors an outstanding scientist who has made significant contributions to laboratory animal science and medicine. This award highlights Pritchett-Corning’s work in improving the care and well-being of animals, particularly by informing the lab animal community how to properly select, house, evaluate, care for, and use laboratory rodents. She has held positions at the University of Washington, the Jackson Laboratory, and Charles River, and is currently senior clinical veterinarian at Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences and an affiliate assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the University of Washington.
The WSU Carson College of Business announced Suzi Billington (’91 Busi.) as the new director of the Carson Center for Student Success. She will oversee the center’s operations, which serve more than 2,000 students per semester, including academic advising, career and professional development, student involvement, international experience, and scholarships. Billington held leadership roles at the University of Idaho, where she earned her master’s degree in business education in 1995. She also received the 2015 Leadership in Career Development Award from the Idaho Career Development Association.
Rob Phillips (’91 MED) has been named as principal for Elementary School #15 located at the Sagecrest development in Kennewick. Phillips had served as the principal at Washington Elementary since 2008. Prior to Washington Elementary, he was the principal at Park Middle School and Amistad Elementary. He started his career in education as a fourth grade teacher at Southgate Elementary and began his administrative career as an assistant principal and principal in the Othello School District.
Michael Zaro (’93 Crim. Jus.) became police chief for the city of Lakewood last October. Zaro’s career includes 21 years in law enforcement, the last 11 with the Lakewood Police Department. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar.
Will Hoenike (’97 Comm.) joined United Dairymen of Idaho as a consumer confidence manager. In addition to promoting the state’s dairy industry through events and publicity, Hoenike will manage the organization’s website and social media presence.
Ian Minielly (’97 Psych.) quit the Defense Intelligence Agency and planted Catalyst Baptist Church in Ironwood, Michigan. In addition to starting the new church, he accepted a position at the Lakeland Times as area reporter.
Ruppert Landscape has hired Brian Shadrick (’97 Land. Arch.) as project manager in the company’s Maryland landscape construction branch. He has more than 15 years of landscape industry experience and is a certified professional landscape architect.
Accounting company Moss Adams named Ryan Sturgis (’97 Busi.) as a partner in the firm’s Portland office. Sturgis provides financial and operational audit services to clients in the financial services industry, specializing in credit unions.
2000s
Jeff Evans (’00 Comm.), who has been in athletic communications at the professional and collegiate levels for over fifteen years, including the last nine with the Seattle Mariners, has been named sports information director at Western Washington University.
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) presented Jocelyne Gray (’00 Civ. Eng.), director of operations for water at Mason County Public Utility District No. 1, with their Emerging Leader award in October for her impact on the society and the engineering community.
Garment finishing equipment manufacturer Colmac Industries recently welcomed Reg Davenport (’01 Mech. Eng.) to their engineering department. He has a professional engineering license for Washington state and brings work experience in design, quality engineering, combustion research and development, control integration, and structural engineering.
The Louisville, Kentucky Convention & Visitors Bureau promoted Proscovia Mattas (’02 HBM) to senior sales manager in the convention development department. Mattas has 21 years of hotel management experience, with nearly 10 of those in European hotels. She is a graduate from Washington State University at the University Center Cesar Ritz in Brig, Switzerland.
Marcus L. Michelson (’02 Comm.) has been named associate news editor of the Yakima Herald-Republic. He will focus on design coaching and systems management. He has worked for the Herald-Republic since 2003 as a sports copy editor and page designer.
Brian Dotter (’03 DPH) joined the St. Luke’s Boise, Idaho, inpatient pharmacy as director of pharmacy operations. Dotter has more than 12 years of experience in hospital pharmacy.
Tammy Thueringer (’05 Comm.) joined C-SPAN in May as a politics producer and video journalist covering the 2016 presidential campaign. She continues to work as a weekend White House reporter for Bloomberg News.
Sean Treasure (’05 Agribusiness) published his first book The Farmer’s Guide to Grain Marketing. The book is written to assist grain and oilseed producers successfully market their crops. Treasure has worked as a grain merchandiser in Washington and Montana.
Will Hughes (’07 Music) and his father are featured in Finding Noah, a documentary about finding the final resting place of Noah’s Ark.
Matthew Vissotzky (’08 Fin.) joined Wyse Real Estate Advisors as director of corporate services. Vissotzky brings more than seven years experience managing lease transactions and providing leasing advisory services to local and national companies in the office, medical, and industrial sectors.
2010s
Thomas Lee Elhart (’11 Communication) and Michelle Anne Carrougher (’14 Nursing) were married August 22, 2015, in Tamarack, Idaho. The couple met fall 2008 while attending WSU. Elhart currently works at an engineering firm managing the company’s engineer development program. Carrougher is an emergency room RN in a local hospital. They live in Pullman.
Michele Donohue (’12 Zool.) participated in Miami University’s Earth Expeditions global field course in Baja this summer.
Katie Stephens (’12 Hist., Women’s St.) is the new Pacific Northwest regional sales manager at The McGowan Companies. She is a certified insurance counselor and a certified programs leader.