1960s

Donald J. Darensbourg (’64), a professor of chemistry at Texas A&M University, has been selected from among the nation’s finest researchers as the 2010 recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Inorganic Chemistry.
Diane Watson (’67 MS), congresswoman for the 33^rd district of California, announced that she will retire from her seat in November. She has served in the Legislature since 2001, and before that was a California state senator from 1978 to 1998.
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Rungsun "Sunny" Apinchapong (’74) was the background supervisor for animation in the new Disney film The Princess and the Frog.
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Dave Carrier (’80) was appointed as fire chief of the Ontario Fire Department after a 30-year career with the agency, previously serving as a fire engineer, captain, battalion chief and deputy fire chief.
Thomas J. Griego (’84), the Los Angeles deputy city attorney, is running for judgeship on the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Lindel Hodge (’83), a two-time Olympic competitor in track and field, will be carrying this spring the Queen’s Baton—the symbol of the Commonwealth Games, which like the Olympic torch makes an international tour before the start of the games—through the Virgin Islands, his native country.
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Eduardo Cabrera (’90, ’92 MA) was promoted to the position of professor of Modern Languages for the 2010-11 academic year at Millikin University in Illinois.
Dean Gialamas (’99 MS) recently became the director of the Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab located on the campus of Cal State L.A., a facility also shared with the University and the Los Angeles Police Scientific Bureau. Prior to his new role with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Office, Gialamas was the director of the Orange County Crime Lab.
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Ernesto Arredondo (’00) is the new community banking president for the North Inland Empire market for Wells Fargo & Company.
Wendy Carrillo (’05), a multimedia journalist in East Los Angeles and the host of the weekly “Knowledge is Power” radio show on Power 106 FM, was honored in April by Senator Gloria Romero for being the 2010 Woman of the Year of the 24^th Senate District.
Marina Leigh Duff (’04, ’09 MA) has published her first poetry book, Markers & Erasers: Poetry about Teaching in Los Angeles Public High Schools. The book includes a collection of poems that she wrote for her master’s thesis.
Julie King (’04) is part of a team of biologist on Catalina Island who have successful brought the wild fox population back from extinction.
Fred Ortega (’07) is the district director for Congresswoman Judy Chu in the 32nd Congressional District. Prior to making the move into politics, Ortega worked for nearly a decade in journalism, covering politics and city government for papers throughout the Southland.
Brian Urias (’06), field deputy for the 32^nd Congressional District, has also been appointed as the planning commissioner for the city of Baldwin Park.
Thom Vernon (’00) recently wrote and published The Drifts, a novel that takes on gender, history and memory during a blizzard in a rural Arkansas town.
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Jaime Escalante (’73, ’77) a beloved East Los Angeles high school math teacher, who earned national fame through the 1988 film Stand and Deliver—based on his powerful and successful teaching approach—died in March after a battle with cancer. Escalante changed hundreds of students’ lives during his 17-year tenure at Garfield High School, and motivated his inner-city students to master advanced concepts in math and science. He eventually built an Advanced Placement calculus program that had more students enrolled than all but three other high schools in the country.
Charles E. Lloyd (’60), one of the city’s most prominent criminal defense attorneys, died in March. Lloyd began his career as one of Los Angeles’ first African-American deputy city attorneys, and worked for many years in a practice with the late Tom Bradley, before Bradley became mayor of Los Angeles. He was honored in 1992 by the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section as trial lawyer of the year.
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