Class Notes

SPRING 2015 / CLASS NOTES

1960s

MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH (’63, ’67 M.A.), Los Angeles County supervisor for the Fifth District, was honored by the Los Angeles County High School for the Performing Arts with the opening of the new Antonovich Amphitheater at LACHSA.

GARY BEST (’61, ’65 M.A.), recently published two books: Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War and Tink's Tank; Chronicles the WW II Adventures of a U.S. Eighth Air Force B-17 and Its Crew.

MARX CAZENAVE II (’62), co-founder and former CEO of Progress Investment Management Company, received the Human Dignity Award from the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles.

RONALD SKYERS (’63) has retired as superior court judge.

JAMES STEELE (’66 M.A.) has retired as Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

NAT TRIVES (’68), former mayor of Santa Monica and professor emeritus of criminal justice at Cal State L.A., has been awarded the 2015 Mark J. Benjamin Community Impact Awards by the Human Relations Council of the Santa Monica Bay Area.

1970s

THOMAS E. BLANDFORD (’70) published his first book, A Dented Badge.

MOLLY CARRILLO-WALKER (’71) was appointed to the board of Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara.

MICHAEL HENIGHAN (’75) has been appointed chief financial officer of WaferGen Bio-Systems, Inc.

DAVID F. HOLMAN (’74) was named 2014 Engineer of the Year by Professional Engineers of Oregon (PEO).

GABRIEL LEYVA (’79) is senior acquisition manager in the U.S. Department of Defense at the Pentagon.

FABIAN LIZARRAGA (’77) has been hired as chief of the Fort Bragg Police Department.

PAUL QUICK (’72) has retired after working for 35 years as a software engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense.

AL RIOS (’76, ’81 M.A.) retired in June of 2014 after serving Los Angeles Unified and Capistrano Unified school districts for a combined 37 years as a teacher, assistant principal and principal.

LUIS PABLO SANCHEZ (’76) is the new president of Moorpark College.

SHARON SHAHID (’78) is the online managing editor at the Newseum, an interactive museum of news and journalism, and managing editor of Newseum Productions. Prior to Newseum, Shahid was a writer and editor for USA Today.

JEFFERY “JEFF” SHIMIZU (’77) has been appointed the interim superintendent-president of Santa Monica College.

1980s

JUSTO AVILA (’84, ’91 M.A.) is the chief human resources officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

ROBERTA ARMIJO (’87) is celebrating 25 years at Ameriprise Financial as a certified financial advisor.

JAMES BUTTS (’80), mayor of Inglewood, has made Inglewood a strong contender in the competition to bring an NFL team to Los Angeles County.

ALLEN DOOLEY (’87 M.B.A.) has been named chief executive officer of INTELECOM Intelligent Telecommunications.

CLAYTON DREES (’87), professor of history at Virginia Wesleyan College, has published his third book, Bishop Richard Fox of Winchester: Architect of the Tudor Age.

MARK STEVEN GREENFIELD (’87 M.F.A.) has selected works displayed in a solo exhibit at the California African American Museum.

TOM GRIEGO (’84 M.S.) is a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

SUSAN M. HORNER (’83) has published her first novel, Second Place Sister.

WILLIAM NICHOLS (’81) is the president and chief executive officer of Anywhere Commerce, Inc.

LINDA THOR (’80 M.A.) will retire this summer as chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

ROB B. VILLEZA (’84) is a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

DARLA WEGENER (’88) is the new Tulare County librarian.

MICHAEL YOSHIDA (’84 M.B.A.) is the principal accounting officer and interim chief financial officer of U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc.

1990s

SUDESH BAJAJ (’94) is a cloud services executive with IBM India, Ltd.

TIMOTHY S. BROOKS (’91), pastor and co-founder of Walking in the Spirit Ministries Church, received a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

ROBERT MICHAEL CARTER (’90 M.A.), superintendent of the Rainier School District, was selected as the Oregon Small Schools Association Administrator of the Year for 2014.

BRYAN COOK (’95) is the city manager for Temple City.

PANKIT J. DOSHI (’99) has made partner at the San Francisco office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP.

TIM ENGLISH (’93) was app-ointed to the board of governors of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Conejo Valley.

GABRIEL GRIEGO (’90, ’98 M.A.) is the principal of Bassett High School in La Puente.

LATOSHA GUY (’99, ’08 M.A.) was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for her distinguished teaching at King Drew Medical Magnet High School in South Los Angeles.

JOHN INCONTRO (’94) is the chief of the San Marino Police Department.

ANTHONY KIM (’96) is the supervising child support officer for the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department and president of the Cambodian American Business Association.

KENNETH A. LEE, Esq. (’93) has joined Tully Rinckey PLLC as a senior associate in the firm’s San Diego office.

NICHOLAS LOUIZOS (’96) has been promoted to vice president of legislative affairs with the California Association of Health Plans.

KAZ OSHIRO (’98, ’02 M.F.A.), a Los Angeles-based artist, held a talk and book signing for the new book, Kaz Oshiro: Essays by Ed Schad and Michael Duncan, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

HAROLD SCOGGINS (’96) is the chief of the Seattle Fire Department.

RUTH TRINIDAD-GALVÁN (’94 M.A.) has received the Fulbright Scholar’s Award to teach and conduct research in Mexico for the 2015-16 year under the Fulbright-Garcia Robles program. She is also the author of Women who stay behind: Pedagogies of survival in rural transmigrant Mexico (University of Arizona Press, 2015). Trinidad-Galván is associate professor in the Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies Department in the College of Education at the University of New Mexico.

LUIS VALENTINO (’92 M.A.) was selected as superintendent of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

DALE VANDER JR. (’97) is a certified and licensed social worker for the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Long Beach.

2000s

DAN BARAHONA (’01) has been appointed controller of Coronal Group LLC, an alternative energy firm.

JENNIFER CLARK CALOYERAS (’04 M.A.) has written her second young adult novel, Strays.

WENDY CARRILLO (’05) joined the team at reported.ly, a global news organization.

CAROLINE GOTSCHALL (’06) is corporate counsel for the NFL Players Association.

DARRIN G. HASHAM (’08 M.S.) is vice chair of AEG, a national organization that provides advocacy, professional development and networking opportunities for professionals working in the applied geological sciences.

LOVELYN MARQUEZ-PRUEHER (’07 M.A.), an eighth grade English teacher at Dodson Middle School in Rancho Palos Verdes, is a 2015 California Teacher of the Year.

SHANT MINAS (’08 M.S.) is the chairman of AEG, a national organization that provides advocacy, professional development and networking opportunities for professionals working in the applied geological sciences.

FELIZA ORTIZ-LICON (’09 ED.D.), senior director of K-16 education for the National Council of La Raza, was appointed to the state Board of Education by Gov. Jerry Brown.

TAMI PEARSON (’03 M.A.) is the superintendent of La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program.

RONDA ROSS (’05 M.B.A.) teaches business education at Michigan City High School.

WENDY SAMUELS (’07) is a licensed physical therapist at The Corvallis Clinic.

SUSAN SANCHEZ (’06) is working as an associate veterinarian at Pine Animal Hospital in Long Beach.

STEPHEN SHAM (’02), owner of Plaza Printing, won re-election to the Alhambra City Council.

NATASHA SPOTTISWOODE (’08) is finishing up a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences through a joint program between the University of Oxford and the National Institutes of Health. She starts medical school at Columbia University this year.

LEANA WEN (’01) is the commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department.

2010s

JENNIFER CHEN (’10) at 24 years old was the youngest person ever to receive a medical degree from Florida International University.

MARIAGNEE MORENO (’12) interned in the Office of Presidential Correspondence at the White House during spring of 2014.

JONATHAN PALACIOS-AVILA (’12) is CEO of StratosFuel, which has received state funds to build a hydrogen station in Ontario, Calif.

KENISHA SHIPLEY (’14 M.S.) received a fellowship at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

AARON WEATHERSBY (’13 M.A.) is the chief technology officer for Bonita Unified School District.

IN MEMORIAM

VIC BRADEN (’57 M.A.) was a tennis coach, commentator and advocate.

HARLEY RANDALL BUTLER, emeritus associate university librarian, was campus librarian from 1954 to 1985.

WILLIAM MANNING COLE (’60 M.A.), emeritus professor of safety studies, taught courses in the Department of Criminal Justice and Safety Studies.

DANIEL CRESPO (’92) was mayor of Bell Gardens. JOAN C. FRANK (’92, ’94 M.A.) was employed by the Monrovia Unified School District.

GUS JOSEPH GERSON, JR. (’70 M.S.) worked as a superintendent of recreation for the city of Pasadena and later became a professor at Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona.

JUDITH GRUTTER (’67, ’76 M.S.) worked for 40 years as a career development professional. She was a vocational specialist for Los Angeles County schools, a community college counselor, and a professor of career education and counseling at Cal State Northridge.

JUNE HARWOOD (’58 M.A.) was an abstract painter who was part of the so-called “hard edge movement” of the 1950s and ’60s.

DONALD EDWIN HUDSON, professor emeritus in physics, helped acquire Cal State’s cyclotron. Before teaching, Hudson helped develop the first atomic bomb and America's first satellites.

RUSSELL LOCKNER (’66 M.A.) was a professor of human anatomy at Sonoma State University. After leaving academia, he became a partner of Commercial Investment Brokerage Company in Santa Rosa.

FRANKLYN ARTHUR JOHNSON took over as the fourth president of Los Angeles State College (now Cal State L.A.) in October of 1963. Johnson came to the college from Jacksonville University in Florida, where he served as president for seven years. He received his Bachelor of Science magna cum laude from Rutgers University in 1947. While working on his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University, he was chosen as a faculty scholar and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for study at the London School of Economics. During Johnson’s term at LASC, the football team was ranked number one nationally and the campus became part of the California State College System in 1964. Johnson left the college after President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to serve as director of Job Corps.

FRED PYRCZAK, JR., professor emeritus of education, taught courses in statistics, testing, research methods and computer literacy and later established Pyrczak Publishing.

DAVID REYES (’96 M.A.) taught as a lecturer in the English Department for 20 years.

RAY SHACKELFORD (’74 M.S.) was a retired fire chief and faculty member in the Technology Department. He was the director of the Fire Protection Administration program at Cal State L.A. and a pioneer in distance learning.

PATRICIA BATES SIMUN, professor emerita in the Division of Educational Foundations and Interdivisional Studies, was an expert in statistics and research methodology.

GERALD WILSON was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer/arranger, and educator. He taught jazz courses at Cal State L.A.

EMIL PETER WROBLICKY, emeritus professor of physical education, was coach of the football team.

JAMES D. YOUNG, a former professor of language arts at Cal State L.A., went on to become the founding chair of Cal State Fullerton's Theatre Department.