1960s
Sam Hunt (’67 English) announced his retirement after a 24-year career in the Washington state legislature. He has served as a state senator since 2017 and as a state representative from 2001 to 2016. He pushed for education and transportation improvements while serving on the House Appropriations, Natural Resources, Rules, Labor, and K-12 Education committees and Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education and Ways & Means committees.
1970s
James Donaldson (’79 Socio.) has been inducted to the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame. Donaldson played basketball as a center for Washington State from 1975 to 1979 and is still the all-time career leader in blocked shots. He was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979, traded first to the Los Angeles Clippers, then the Dallas Mavericks, and later the New York Knicks and the Utah Jazz, where he finished his career. He was inducted to the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.
1980s
Edward Lee Lamoureux (’80 MA Speech Comm.) has retired after 37 years at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He cofounded the Department of Interactive Media and was recently elected to the board of the Bix Beiderbecke Museum and Archive in Davenport, Illinois. Lamoureux and his wife, Cheryl, have four adult children and four grandchildren.
Liz Pritchard (’80 Comm.) is an Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2024 Hall of Achievement Award recipient. Pritchard retired as vice president of sales training and development at Fox Television Stations Sales in New York after 40 years in media sales. She held pivotal roles at KCPQ Television in Seattle and with ABC/Disney and CBS Television in Chicago. She serves on the WSU Foundation Board and the Murrow College Professional Advisory Board.
Robert Dove (’83 Comm.) is senior vice president and market manager for Alpha Media’s Portland, Oregon, broadcast stations. Previously, Dove was the Pacific Northwest regional president for iHeartMedia.
Tom Holmberg (’83 Comm.) is an Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2024 Hall of Achievement Award recipient. Holmberg is executive producer at the sports channel SWX-TV in Spokane and began his career at KHQ-TV in 1983, working as a director, producer, and manager. He directs Gonzaga University’s men’s basketball games, a critical role in Spokane’s sports culture.
Jon Serbousek (’83 Mech. Eng.) is senior advisor for Permira, a global private equity firm. He has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare and previously worked as president, CEO, and director at Orthofix Medical, a medical device company based in Lewisville, Texas.
Galen Culver (’84 Comm.) is one of 12 new members inducted to the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. Culver is honored for his feature segment “Is This a Great State or What!” The 25-year-old program showcases Oklahoma stories. Culver is a reporter and photographer for Oklahoma News 4.
1990s
Dan Gaulke (’90 Busi.) is president of Yakima Federal Savings and Loan Association. He joined the bank as a management trainee in 1990 and has worked as an auditor, compliance officer, and chief financial officer. He sits on the Yakima Federal Board of Directors.
Janet Caldwell (’92 Ed.) sits on the board of directors of the Clover Park School District in Lakewood. She works for the Bethel School District in Pierce County and is Bethel Education Association president.
Kathleen Galioto (’93 Elem. Ed.) is vice president and deputy general counsel at Dairyland Power Cooperative, which provides wholesale electricity to distribution cooperatives and municipal utilities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Previously, Galioto was deputy director of legal services at Dairyland and assistant general counsel and legal services manager for Energy Northwest, based in Richland.
Rick Plummer (’93 Comm.) is vice president of marketing and communications for the DCH Health System, which operates three medical centers in west Alabama. Previously, Plummer was a news reporter for KEPR-TV in Pasco and a news producer for KLAS-TV in Las Vegas. After switching his focus to health care, Plummer was assistant vice president of marketing and branding for Wellstar MCG Health in Georgia and coordinated brand development and marketing strategies for Dignity Health in California.
Tiffany Paup Sanders (’95 For. Lang. & Lit., ’96 Comm.) is an Edward R. Murrow College of Communication 2024 Hall of Achievement Award recipient. She is the corporate affairs manager and spokesperson for the Fred Meyer and QFC Divisions of Kroger. Previously, she was a chief weather meteorologist and news reporter in Seattle, Tri-Cities, and Tucson, Arizona. She was named one of the Top Women in Grocery by Progressive Grocer Magazine in 2023.
Tamara Muruetagoiena (’97 Poli. Sci.) is vice president of sustainability at the International Fresh Produce Association. Previously, she was sustainability director at IFPA and also led Great Mountain Forest, a nonprofit that manages more than 6,000 acres of forest in Connecticut. She has worked in agriculture and environment for more than 20 years.
Michael Baumgartner (’99 Econ.) is senior advisor for eastern Washington at Washington Policy Center, a nonprofit that promotes public policy based on free-market solutions. He serves as treasurer of Spokane County and was a state senator for the sixth legislative district from 2010 to 2018. In 2018, WPC named Baumgartner a “Champion of Freedom” for his work in the senate.
Yi Charlie Chen (’99 PhD Entom.) received a grant to continue his cancer research with Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Chen is a visiting associate professor of biology at West Virginia Wesleyan College. Previously, he taught at Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi, West Virginia, for 23 years.
2000s
Bryan Bartsch (’05 Ag. Tech. & Mgmt.) is CEO of Ecotex Healthcare Linen Service, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company that supplies linens to hospitals across North America. Bartsch, who is succeeding his father Randy, is the third generation of the Bartsch family to lead Ecotex. Bartsch joined the company in 2002 and worked his way up from the plant floor.
Tawny Dotson (’02 Comm.) received the 2024 Adult and Higher Education Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Education at Oregon State University. Dotson has been president of Yuba College in Marysville, California, since 2020 and serves as a lieutenant colonel in the California Air Force National Guard. She was an active-duty air force officer at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County before working at postsecondary education institutions in Oklahoma, Washington, and California.
Lisa Kelley (’03 Busi.) is president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. Kelley was BCBSMT’s general counsel for four years, and she has worked in the legal department since 2010. Previously, she clerked for Justice Jim Rice on the Montana Supreme Court and was an attorney at Hughes, Keller, Sullivan, and Alke of Helena, Montana. Kelley is an adjunct professor of health law at the University of Montana’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law.
Spokane mayor Lisa Brown appointed Dawn Kinder (’05 Human Dev.) as director of the city’s Neighborhood, Housing, and Human Services division. Previously, Kinder was chief stabilization officer for Catholic Charities Eastern Washington and director of Spokane’s Neighborhood and Business Services division.
Scott Mitchelson (’06 History) is senior vice president of global development at the Corcoran Group, an international real estate firm. Previously, Mitchelson was the regional president of Windermere Real Estate, a luxury brokerage based in the Pacific Northwest. He has held professional roles in sales, strategic marketing, business management, and client relations.
Ben Thiele (’08 Soc. Sci.) is managing director at Noelle, a historic hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Previously, Thiele served as general manager of Alila Marea Beach Resort in Encinitas, California. He was named in San Diego Business Journal’s Top 500 Most Influential People in San Diego.
Lindsey (Kimble) Brown (’09 Food Sci. and Human Nutrition, ’11 MS Food Sci.) will lead WSU’s Office of Assessment for Curricular Effectiveness. Brown joined ACE in 2014 as a research data analyst and later worked as an assessment and data specialist. She became assistant director in 2021 and received the WSU Crimson Spirit Award in 2022.
2010s
Nicki Wise (’10 MA Vet. Sci., ’18 PhD Immunology & Infectious Diseases) is associate dean of academic affairs for the College of Veterinary Medicine at Clemson University.
Michael Day (’13 Spanish) has been appointed to the Bank of Idaho Board of Directors. Day is operations and account manager at Sunfair Marketing, where he ensures the delivery of top-grade fruit like apples, cherries, and pears to companies specializing in juice and cider processing. He also manages the company’s leasing activities as corporate vice president at Sunfair Commercial Leasing.
Tony Illes (’19 Soc. Sci.) started Tony Delivers, a local alternative to major food delivery companies in Seattle. Illes rides his electronic bike to deliver food in certain Seattle neighborhoods. Previously, Illes was a delivery driver for DoorDash and UberEats in Los Angeles.
2020s
Governor Jay Inslee appointed Aaron Wheeler (’20 EMBA) as director of the Washington State Broadband Office. Wheeler is tasked with developing and implementing a five-year plan to create universal and reliable high-speed internet across the state. Previously, Wheeler coauthored a National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant application on behalf of the Suquamish Tribe, securing funding to rebuild the network infrastructures of the Suquamish Chief Kitsap Academy and Early Learning Center Head Start buildings