1960s

Equine surgeon and former WSU faculty member Barrie Grant (’67 DVM, ‘73 MS Vet. Sci.) has been appointed to the California Veterinary Medical Board.

1970s

Brad Gingerich (’76 Pharm.) retired from Pomeroy Pharmacy, one of the oldest independently owned and operated pharmacies in Washington. Gingerich sold the store to Tory Knebel (’19 Pharm.) and Sean Thurston (’10 Pharm.).

Retired Virginia Commonwealth University associate professor Mary Jeanette Clement (’77 PhD Socio.) wrote Peace: Spiritual Insights from Mystical Sites to Promote Peace, a book about her experience teaching at Beirzeit University in Palestine in 1998.

Oliver Pierce (’77 Comm.) is a new member of the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame. He spent 33 years in college athletics communication, with 26 years as assistant athletic director and sports information director at Gonzaga University. He received the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s 2011 Katha Quinn Award for outstanding service to the media and college basketball.

1980s

Shari Freidenrich (’82 Busi.) is president of the California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors. Freidenrich has been the treasurer for Orange County since 2010.

Robert Dove (’83 Comm.) is a 2023 recipient of the Murrow College of Communication Hall of Achievement Award. Dove spent 36 years in broadcasting management, serving most recently as the Pacific Northwest president of I Heart Media before his retirement in 2020.

Deborah Gracio (’85, ’95 MS Elec. Eng.) is a 2022 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Gracio is associate laboratory director of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s National Security Directorate. She also serves on the Voiland College Executive Leadership Board.

Tanna (Pulse) Edler (’88 Busi.), owner and founder of Tanna by Design in Yakima, is one of eight Praiseworthy Picks for the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s 2022 Person of the Year Award.

1990s

Roger Nyhus (’90 Comm.) is a 2023 recipient of the Murrow College of Communication Hall of Achievement Award. He is the founder and former CEO of Nyhus Communications and was recently nominated by President Joseph Biden to serve as the next US ambassador to Barbados and the nations of the eastern Caribbean.

Cindy Brunson (’96 Comm.) is a recipient of the Murrow College of Communication Hall of Achievement Award. Brunson has more than 25 years of experience in television broadcasting, including roles as an ESPN SportsCenter cohost, Pac-12 Network commentator, and more.

Governor Jay Inslee appointed Marcus Glasper (’97 MA Eng. Mgmt.) as director of the Washington State Department of Licensing. Glasper has been the director of Washington’s Lottery since 2017 and a director of the board of the Washington State Employees Credit Union since 2012.

Brian Sherick (’97 Busi.) is president of Flow International Corporation, a manufacturer of high-pressure water-jet cutting systems. Sherick has worked for Flow Waterjet since 1997 and previously served as global vice president of sales.

Jen Greeny (’99 Ed.) was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame. Greeny is head coach of WSU women’s volleyball and a two-time Pac-12 women’s volleyball Coach of the Year. She was the seventh player in WSU history with 1,000 career kills and was named Athlete of the Year in 1998-1999.

Faith (Allen) Zaslavsky (’99 Busi.) is president and chief operating officer at Theralink Technologies.

2000s

Mike Mallahan (’02 Busi.) is president of AIM Consulting Group in Bellevue. Before joining AIM in 2018, Mallahan was vice president of technology and communications at iSoftStone in Kirkland.

Saonee Sarker (’02 PhD Busi.) is the next dean of the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business. She is a professor in the Department Of Informatics at Lund University in Sweden. Previously, Sarker was chair of the Department of Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship at WSU.

Charles Trost (’02 Crim. Just.) was recently featured on the MeatEater Podcast. Trost is the Tucson Sector public lands liaison agent and program manager.

Donald Sublett (’03 Mech. Eng.) is vice president of engineering and quality at Pexco Aerospace.

Jeremey Williams (’03, ’05 MA Comm.) is a senior vice president and community relations manager executive at Bank of America in Seattle, where he has worked for more than 15 years in a variety of roles. Williams was a defensive tackle for Cougar football and played in the 2003 Rose Bowl.

Carli Schiffner (’04 PhD History) is the first woman to lead Grays Harbor College. Schiffner has served as deputy director of education at the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, vice president of instruction at Wenatchee Valley College, and dean of arts and sciences at Yakima Valley College.

Kevin Lahmers (’05 PhD Vet, Sci.) is the 2022 recipient of the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence. Lahmers and his team identified the genotype of a novel tick-borne cattle disease that affected economies in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand before its arrival in Virginia in 2017. Lahmers is a clinical associate professor of anatomic pathology at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He worked at WSU from 1998 to 2013, earning the Faculty Excellence Award in 2008.

2010s

Shavana Howard (’10 Soc. Sci.) is a senior advisor for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the US Department of Agriculture.

Catherine Budinger (’12 MA Accounting) is a principal with FBCPA Group PS, Inc., in Auburn.

Mac Thomsen (’16 Crim. Jus., ’17 Poli. Sci.) joined the commercial litigation team at the Seattle law firm of Helsell Fetterman.

Kevin Simeon (’17 Chinese), an enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe, is the 2023 recipient of the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, funded by the US Department of State and administered by Howard University. He will participate in two 10-week internships with the US Congress and a US embassy.

Sarah Jensen (’18 Elem. Ed.) represented Idaho in the 2023 Miss America pageant, winning $13,500 in scholarships toward a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration at Boise State University. Jensen was also Miss Washington 2017. She is a math teacher at a charter school in Meridian, Idaho.

2020s

Jahad Woods (’20 Hum.) is a defensive high school scout for WSU football. As a Cougar football player, Woods had nearly 430 career tackles and tied with Justus Rogers (’20 Accounting, ’21 Hum.) for most games played in school history.