1950s
Marguerite “Peg” Motley (’55 MS, ’64 Ed.), a retired Pullman school teacher and businesswoman, is Washington State University’s 2012 Woman of Distinction in the alumna category. After teaching she started Wheatland Travel, which became the motor coach charter business Wheatland Express.
1960s
Wade Lundstrom (’65 Mech. Engr.) and his wife Diana (Hudkins) will celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary on September 9.
Jeannine Rogel (’65 Ed.), recently retired after teaching for 47 years. She also travelled to India on a Fulbright Fellowship, to Oxford University to present a paper, to Poland to study the impact of the Holocaust on that region, and Kenya to help build a school for Maasai students.
Joy Broom (’67, ’75 MFA) was the March artist-in-residence at the de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
1970s
Diane Davis Letsch (’71 Engl.) is retiring from Springdale Schools in Springdale, Arkansas, after 40 years as an English teacher, school counselor, and counselor coordinator.
James H. Clark (’75 Civil Engr, ’76 MS Env. Engr.) spoke at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France, in March 2012. Clark was presented with the WSU Alumni Achievement Award in 2004.
Janet Finke (‘75 Elem. Ed., Comm. Disorders) made a second trip to South Sudan to train teachers at a girl’s school in Akon and distribute books and clothing donated by Ellensburg Rotarians.
Patricia Leedy (‘75 Ed.) has finished her second children’s book Shemsu: A Story Told in Comic Verse. It joins The Shemsu Alphabet (2011). Both books were inspired by a shelter rescue dog.
Evelyn Rodewald (’77, ’82 MA Hist.) and Neil Sickle coauthored The Indian Way: Indians and the North American Fur Trade, in which they explain the specific Native American cultures and their influence on development of the European fur trade in Canada and the United States.
Mary Lauwereins (’77 Bus. Admin., Mktg.) was appointed by Nissan America as director of credit services for the Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation.
Michael J. Stratton (’77 Comm.) is a member of The Boeing Project Management Community of Excellence, which sends Boeing employees across the world to teach management workshops. He co-founded the organization about 15 years ago.
James D. Lincoln (’79 MS Vet. Med.) retired after 34 years teaching veterinary surgery at WSU.
Bruce Titus (’79 Finance), of Bruce Titus Eastside Subaru in Kirkland, was nominated for the prestigious TIME Dealer of the Year award for 2012 for exceptional performance in his dealership and distinguished community service.
Mary Westendorf (’79 Elem. Ed.), a 27-year educator in the Fruitvale School District in Bakersfield, California, was selected by the Board of Trustees to be the district’s next superintendent.
1980s
Robert Hanson (‘82 Bus. Admin.) of Tacoma bowled a 300 in the Regular Singles of the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships. Hanson, proprietor of Tacoma’s Tower Lanes, led the Washington State University bowling team to a national championship in 1982.
Brad LeaMaster (’82 DVM) is Oregon’s State Veterinarian. His office monitors infectious animal diseases in Oregon and maintains disease control plans throughout the state.
Ross Dalbey (’83 PhD Biochem.), a scientist at Ohio State University, was among 80 microbiologists elected to fellowships in the American Academy of Microbiology.
Ron Richards (’83 Social Sciences) is an assistant coach for men’s basketball at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. Richards began coaching at WSU under George Raveling and Harold Rhodes. As an assistant coach he helped Moscow (Idaho) High School win back-to-back 2A Women’s state titles (1980-1982).
Stacy Taylor (’83 Economics) is the branch manager of the Tri Counties Bank in Truckee, California.
Nancy Ross Sutherland (’84 MS Chem. Engr.) was named 2012 TAPPI Fellow, an honorary title given by the leading association for the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, and converting industries.
Alex Guenther (’86 MS, ’89 PhD Civil Engr.) received the American Geophysical Union’s 2011 Yoram J. Kaufman Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award.
Leslie E. Wong (’86 PhD Ed. Psych.) is the president of San Francisco State University. He was formerly the president of Northern Michigan University.
Timothy Yeomans (’86 Phys Ed., ’90 MA) is superintendent of the Puyallup School District. He previously served as superintendent of the Meridian School District in the Bellingham area.
Shelley Redinger (’89 Ed., ’92 MEd) is superintendent for Spokane Public Schools. She was the superintendent of Spotsylvania School District in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Lisa Teske (‘89 Comm.) is the director of marketing and business development at Kennewick General Hospital. She has 23 years of experience in marketing and has worked at Battelle at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Key Technology, Inc., based out of Walla Walla.
Karen Weathermon (’89 MA, ’99 PhD Engl.) was named 2012 Outstanding First-Year Advocate by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. She was recognized for her leadership of WSU’s living-learning community program Freshman Focus and the University’s Common Reading program.
1990s
Jeff Niesz (’90 Ag. Econ.) is on the domestic sales team for Columbia Marketing International, one of Washington state’s shippers of apples, pears, and cherries. Niesz has 16 years experience selling produce in the Northwest.
Mark Springer (’90 Music, Ed.) was appointed dean of the College of Liberal Arts at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. He has been a faculty member at the university for 16 years and interim dean for a year.
Mike Thoren (’90 Agribus., ’91 Ag. Econ.) received the Colorado Ag Hall of Fame’s first “Rising Star In Agriculture” award. He is currently the president and CEO of JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, LLC.
Andi Day (’91 History) has returned to the county of her childhood to head up the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau as executive director. She will be responsible for supporting and growing the region’s tourism industry.
Eric Shanks (’93, Comm.) is the senior vice president of personal insurance underwriting for Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. Shanks will be based in the company’s Chicago office. He has 19 years of experience in insurance.
Bill Marsh (‘94 Ed.) The five-time Metro League football coach of the year was hired by Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett to be its new football coach. He is also the executive director of Beecher’s Flagship Foundation, an organization that helps children make healthy eating decisions.
Eran Mahrer (‘95 MS Env. Sci.) is vice president, utility strategy at the Solar Electric Power Association and will lead SEPA’s efforts in engaging utilities to develop solar strategies and practices.
Meiyin Wu (’95 MS Env. Sci., ’99 PhD Env. & Nat. Resc. Sci.) is director of New Jersey’s Montclair State University’s Passaic River Institute for Environmental Research and Education. Prior to taking the position, she was an associate professor of biology and microbiology at the school.
Paul (PJ) Creelman (’96 Comm.) published his first novel, Phoenix Flight: Rise of the Phoenix Flight in October 2011.
Hank Jacky (’96 Civ. Engr.) is a project manager at Everett-based Kirtley-Cole Associates. He has worked in the construction industry for 16 years.
Jennifer Merschdorf (’96 Bus. Admin.), a breast cancer survivor, is the chief executive officer of the Young Survival Coalition, the first nonprofit organization to focus exclusively on the needs of young women affected by breast cancer.
Michael Tidwell (‘96 MA, ‘02 PhD Liberal Arts) is dean of the College of Business at Eastern Michigan University. He is the former dean of the College of Business at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.
Jeanett Castellanos (’97 MEd, ’98 PhD Ed. Admin.), director of the Social Sciences Academic Resource Center at the University of California, Irvine, is the recipient of the Outstanding Support of Hispanic Issues in Higher Education Award.
Debra Sutphen (‘97 PhD Hist.) is the interim vice president of instruction at the Sierra College, where she is also dean of liberal arts.
Leonard Mudachi (’98 Hotel & Rest. Admin.) is founder of Blanco’s Holdings, a restaurant management company in the Republic of Kenya.
Colleen Quinn (’99 Comm.) is an account supervisor for the Fearey Group, a public relations firm in the Pacific Northwest.
Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap (‘99 Engl., ‘11 PhD Ed. Admin.) is the vice president for student services at South Seattle Community College where she has worked since 2000.
2000s
Janie Darby (’00 Nurs., ‘02 MN) has joined the orthopedic practice of Dr. Lotfi Ben-Youssef and Dr. James Scott as a family nurse practitioner at the Sidney Health Center in Sidney, Montana.
Steve Broussard (’01 Soc. Sci.) has joined the UCLA football coaching staff as the new running backs coach. Before taking this position he was wide receivers coach at Arizona State, and running backs and special teams coach at WSU.
Michelle Anderson (’02 Comm.) is digital editor/producer of TheHorse.com. She started her career at Appaloosa Journal and has since worked and written for several top equestrian publications and websites.
Shelly Michalak (’03 Human Dev.) recently passed the Behavior Analyst Certification at the Florida Institute of Technology.
Blythe A. Duell (‘04 MS, ‘08 PhD Psych.) received the Professor of the Year award at Southeastern Oklahoma State University where she has worked since 2008.
Cortney Franklin (‘04 MA, ‘08 PhD Crim. J.), a criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University in Texas, received the inaugural “New Scholar Award” from the Academy of Criminal Justice Science’s Victimology Section.
Kimberly Van Der Beek (’04 Comm.) is blogging for People magazine on celebrity parenting. Kimberly and her husband, actor James Van Der Beek, had their second child Joshua in early March. He joins 18-month-old Olivia in the Van Der Beek household.
Melanie Swanson (’05 Soc. Sci.) received an MBA in strategic management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Scott Walter (’05 PhD Higher Ed. Admin.), former head education librarian at WSU, has been appointed university librarian at DePaul University in Chicago.
Tyler Freed (‘06 Bus. Admin.) is branch manager of Windermere Real Estate’s Bonney Lake office. Freed played rugby at WSU and now serves as the coach for the Rainier Highlanders rugby team.
Allyson Beall (’07 PhD Env. & Nat. Res. Sci.) spoke at the World Water Forum in Marseille, France. Beall is an instructor in WSU’s School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences.
Brian Hanson (’08 Principal Cert.) was named Steilacoom High School’s new principal. He has 11 years of experience in the district teaching English and drama.
Rachel Lewis (‘08 Ag. Econ.) was recently appointed by the Quincy City Council as the new manager for the Quincy animal shelter.
Patrick Kelly Shea (’08 Sup. Cert.) is superintendent of the Sequim School District. Shea previously was the human services director at Mead School District in Spokane.
Donna Drader (’09 MS Nat. Res. Sci.) helped start a school in Uganda. On a recent visit Drader was honored by the school naming one of the buildings after her.
2010s
Patrick Murphy (’12 EdD) is assistant superintendent for secondary schools in the Edmonds School District. He has been executive director of secondary education for the Issaquah School District.
Lauren O’Neal (’12 Nurs.) was chosen by Wine-By-Cougars and the WSU Alumni Association as the artist of the 2012 Artist Expression on a limited-edition wine offering.