Alumni Assoc. Announces Honorees

The HSU Alumni Association has announced that Wesley Chesbro, Ken Fisher and Michelle Kelly will be honored as the university's Distinguished Alumni for 2007 at a dinner and awards ceremony Thursday, April 19. The event will be held at the Kate Buchanan Room on the HSU campus, cocktails will be served at 6 p.m., dinner is scheduled for 7 p.m., with awards ceremony to follow. The Distinguished Alumni Awards Banquet is the most significant annual event produced by the Alumni Association with a heritage dating back to 1960.

Wesley Chesbro attended HSU from1969 to 1973 and majored in Natural Resources. For the past 37 years, he has represented California's north coast communities and proven to be a strong advocate of the environment. Chesbro's career in politics began at HSU, in student government, and eventually led to an eight-year term as a state senator. Chesbro chaired the Senate Budget Committee, where he was a champion for higher education, K-12 education, environmental protection, local government and rural health care. As a founding member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, Chesbro is now working to help the state reduce its waste stream, with a focus on decreasing the contribution waste management makes to global warming.

Kenneth L. Fisher, class of 1972, earned a degree in Economics. He is one of the world's leading financial advisors. Fisher Investments, the global money management firm he founded less than a decade after graduating from HSU, manages more than $35 billion for Fortune 500 companies, prominent institutions and affluent individuals. Fisher is #297 on 2006 Forbes “400 Richest People in America ” list, with a $1.3 billion net worth. Beyond serving as Fisher Investments’ CEO, Ken is a prolific author. His Portfolio Strategy column has run in Forbes magazine for 22 years. He has written four finance books, including his new New York Times Business Bestseller, “The Only Three Questions That Count (Investing By Knowing What Others Don't), which was released December, 2006.

Michelle D. Kelly RN, MN, FNP earned a B.S. Nursing in 1985. As a nurse, educator and expert in war zone relief operations, Kelly has helped civilians affected by war over the last 20 years. Her volunteer humanitarian efforts has taken her from the first jobas an RN in nearby Hoopa reservation to Afghanistan, Angola, Iraq, Kasmir, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Kosovo and Uganda. Somehow, despite an incredibly busy schedule of ongoing humanitarian work, Kelly also manages to inspire a new generation of HSU students as a dedicated lecturer in the Department of Nursing.

If you are interested in attending, contact the Alumni Association at alumni@humboldt.edu or call (707) 826-3132. For a printable reply card go to: http://www.humboldt.edu/~alumni/docs/DA07.pdf