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Spring 2024

Alumni

Fall 2003

Software system enables precise radiation treatment for tumors

Seldom do software engineers get to see their work save lives. But new software developed by Washington State University alumnus Thanos Etmektzoglou is making a difference for cancer patients.

For the past 13 years Etmektzoglou has worked at Varian Medical Systems in Palo Alto, California, to develop a software control system that allows for more precise delivery of radiation to cancerous tumors.

Radiation is used in cancer treatment, because it more negatively affects cancerous cells than healthy ones. Doctors work to provide sufficient radiation to kill the cancer cells, while keeping injury to the surrounding healthy cells and organs at a minimum. With some cancers, … » More …

Fall 2003

Don't be afraid to stumble

In her May 10 commencement address, Kathi Goertzen (’90 Comm.) provided words of advice to new graduates of Washington State University’s College of Liberal Arts.

“As you go out into the world and pursue your careers or the next step in your lives, don’t worry when you stumble. Just remember that success is really nothing more than a succession of failures.”

The news anchor for Seattle’s KOMO-TV added, “Believe in something larger than yourself and get involved in some of the big issues of your time. . . . Give back. Serving the community is an honor. It’s a privilege.”

Some 2,250 students-2,000 undergraduates and … » More …

Summer 2003

A tale of many cities

As a boy Clint Borgen dreamed of having an interesting life, radically different from the humdrum sleepiness of Anacortes, Washington, his commercial-fishing-oriented hometown. He played spy games with a seemingly fearless older brother and best friend. At 20, Borgen became a firefighter. No small wonder that the next year (1999) he hopped a flight to Macedonia for a month of volunteer service, simply because he had watched television images of Albanian refugees and wanted to see the war zone for himself.

Returning safely to another somnolent community, this time Pullman, Borgen (’03 Comm.) published a book late last year about his four-year, 13-country marathon of … » More …

Summer 2003

Adjusting to life during college and after

By the time he graduated from Washington State University, Terry Arndt (’93 Horticulture) had accumulated $20,000 in student loans, $5,000 in credit card bills, and car payments.

Fortunately, he found a job right away, and a financial advisor. She suggested he pay off his high-interest credit cards first. Then he began making extra payments on his student loans, some with a 10-year payback period. There were other budget considerations. Health insurance premiums. Income tax. A vacation. A year after marrying Melissa Segars (’94 Music), he enrolled in the University of Florida’s M.B.A. program. More expenses.

Adjusting to life after college was not the smooth transition … » More …

Summer 2003

Picha, Herrick, Murdock honored by WSU Alunmi Association

Washington State University created the Alumni Achievement Award in 1969 to honor alumni who have provided significant service and contributions to their profession, community, and/or WSU. In recent months, three individuals have been recognized.

Douglas T. Picha

Douglas T. Picha, founding executive director of the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Children’s Hospital Guild Association, was honored at the November 23, 2002 Apple Cup rally on the Pullman campus.

Picha is responsible for planning, managing, and directing a comprehensive effort to attract volunteers and private financial support for Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Gifts in fiscal 2000-2001 totalled more than $36 million. The foundation has been listed … » More …

Winter 2006

Jeff Clark: Elegant antiques

The object of Jeff Clark’s desire once belonged to the Shah of Iran. The shiny black 1939 Bugatti Type 57C was originally commissioned by the French government and given to the Shah as a present on the occasion of his first marriage. Today the roadster is part of the Petersen Automotive Museum collection in Los Angeles, and in September spent a night in a covered concrete parking garage in Kirkland.

Clark is there when a driver brings it in and parks it next to Fred Astaire’s Rolls-Royce, just up the ramp from the Porsche 917 Steve McQueen drove in Le Mans.

“It’s my favorite,” says … » More …

Winter 2006

Barbara Novak: Business as ministry

After Barbara Novak ’72 received an M.A. in bassoon performance from Southern Illinois University, she became second bassoonist in the Spokane Symphony. “I really got a chance to play everything from the great second bassoon parts to the great contra bassoon solos. I had a great time . . . . I think that the training I got in the orchestra here [Washington State University] was superb. It probably was the catalyst that . . . launched me into performing as a career.”

Novak’s life was changed, though, by the tragic death of her son, Steve, in a mine exploration accident.

“When my son died, … » More …

Winter 2006

John Gross: Walking in both worlds

During his nearly two decades as a forester, there were days when John Gross would gladly have traded jobs with his wife, a teacher.

Yet, after he realized his dream and started teaching in 1997, he would occasionally find himself glancing out the classroom window during a math or state history lesson, longing to be tromping through the woods again.

When Gross (’77 Forest Mgt., Bus.) gave up his first professional passion, forestry, to indulge a long-growing love of teaching, he made the type of trade-off many people face during their careers. But it’s a sacrifice he no longer shoulders. Three years ago, he started … » More …

Winter 2006

Vicki Owens: Into Africa

Twenty-one years ago Vicki Owens stepped off an airplane into the hot air of Kampala, Uganda, thinking she had come for a brief stay, just long enough to help Christian missionary pastors start a primary school.

“I thought I’d do my little thing for humanity and then go home,” she says. It was her first time traveling overseas, and she really had no idea of what she would face in this country in the center of Africa.

Owens, who admits she was naïve to the culture, dangers, and challenges of living in a place like Uganda, had arrived two months after one military coup and … » More …