Alumni Stories

Cal State University will see its living alumni pass the 3 million mark with commencement in the spring.

With a creative flare, Humboldt State’s Homecoming & Family Weekend marches into the spotlight Friday with a parade through campus and the community.

Julie Brusaw (’91, Psychology) and her husband Scott are paving the way to a more sustainable future.

It was a foggy morning on the Pacific Ocean, resulting in a traffic jam of ships waiting to cross the bar and enter Humboldt Bay. But instead of venting frustration and impatience, the captains of vessels ranging from a U.S. Navy frigate to an oil barge, to Humboldt State’s own Coral Sea, joined together in a symphony on the sea.

Running’s personal rewards have long been documented – improved health being the most prevalent. But recent Humboldt State alum Armando Ibarra-Espinoza (’14, Kinesiology) has focused his fitness on benefitting others.

Humboldt State University’s charitable foundation has adopted an expansive new policy to strictly limit its holdings in a variety of industries, including companies directly or indirectly involved in fossil fuels. And through its “Humboldt Investment Pledge” is urging other foundations to do more to clean up their investments.

Humboldt State University is making a special effort to raise funds for two new memorial scholarships this week until the end of Founders Day on Friday, April 25. The scholarships are named for the admissions counselor and two alumni who perished in the April 10 bus accident, and will support low-income and first-generation college students.

Dressed in elk hide and necklaces of abalone, the dancers made a scooping motion from ground to sky, symbolizing the healing of Mother Earth.

Addressing the future of their alma mater, Humboldt State’s alumni ambassadors play a prominent role in educating prospective students about the opportunities available at California’s northernmost state university.

In the world of journalism–that ever-evolving entity that keeps an eye on the greater world for us–Dan Morain (’77, Journalism) plays a prime role. From his seat in the capital of the wealthiest and most influential state in the union, Morain takes a good, hard look at everything from business practices to social issues, from the minimum wage to the mental health system.

To celebrate the university’s 2013-14 centennial year, HSU Alumni has traveled to 25 cities around the country engaging with more than 2,000 alumni and supporters.

As part of its 2013-14 Centennial Celebration, HSU created a documentary celebrating the people and spirit of Humboldt State.

In celebration of Humboldt State University’s centennial year, the Reese Bullen Gallery at Humboldt State University invites the community to an exhibition celebrating the return of seven HSU alumni artists and their achievements a decade after graduation.

Humboldt State University will screen two films produced for the California Environmental Legacy Project—a statewide multimedia initiative designed to raise public awareness about environmental change in California—Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Van Duzer Theatre.

In 1996 and 2008, two men were famously cured of HIV. Their stories reached millions, inspiring HIV patients around the world and spurring new ways of treating the disease. But years later, what have their stories taught us? And are we any closer to finding a lasting cure?

Michael Kauffmann ('12, M.S. Biological Sciences), adviser for Humboldt State’s Redwood Science Project, has published _Conifers of the Pacific Slope_, a contemporary field guide for identifying Pacific Slope conifers.

In biology, some creatures are simply evolutionary oddities. Take the aardvark, for example, or the duck billed platypus—animals with distinct, unusual features that make them unique in the mammal world.

Lucia Boyer picked up the tiny jellyfish with tongs and dunked it into a bath of liquid nitrogen. With the cauldron still smoking and sizzling, she transferred the frozen organism into a freeze dryer, where low temperature and a vacuum would eventually transform the ice directly into gas.

Humboldt State University’s family-geared 100th Birthday Festival will be held on Saturday, Aug. 24 from 4-7 p.m. on the Arcata Plaza. The event is free and open to the public.

In celebration of Humboldt State University’s centennial year, HSU's First Street Gallery in Old Town, Eureka presents a faculty and staff exhibition showcasing artists who currently teach and work in Humboldt State’s Art Department. The exhibit will display a wide range of themes, styles and media August 20 through September 15.

Humboldt State University's yearlong Centennial Celebration kicks off Saturday, Aug. 24, with a 100th Birthday Festival on the Arcata Plaza from 4-7pm. The free event is hosted by the Arcata Chamber of Commerce, Arcata Main Street and the City of Arcata.

It was 2003 and James Adams (’13, Music) had just earned a certificate in electronics technology from College of the Redwoods. He was ready to re-enter the workforce, he recalls, but felt as though something was missing.

Humboldt State University's 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Clifford Allenby ('59, Economics, Psychology), Ellie Cachette ('06, Political Science), Robert Henry ('67, Social Science) and Rick Rosenthal ('67, Zoology).

Jon Dohlin (’92, Biology) remembers the moment Hurricane Sandy struck the New York Aquarium vividly. Shortly before 8 p.m., an 11-foot storm surge hit the Coney Island complex, engulfing the entire building with salt water.

Gregory Manata knows firsthand the kind of difference just one teacher can make.