Alumni Stories

Leading people and caring for fish have a lot in common. Designing an office is like creating a fishpond; taking care of an office is like nurturing a habitat; and running a business is like fostering an ecosystem. This is the business world according to Po Chung (‘69 Fisheries Management), who founded and led DHL International and is now leading an effort to reform education in Hong Kong.

Humboldt State University has been recognizing the achievements of alumni since 1960 when it launched its annual Who’s Who Award. Distinguished alumni are individuals recognized as leaders in their fields, and/or outstanding contributors to their community, nation, or Humboldt State University. Here are this year's winners.

Local firefighters and law enforcement officers are benefiting from a fitness program developed by Kinesiology Professor Young Sub Kwon. Read about it in the fall edition of Humboldt magazine.

Four alumni of Humboldt State University were recognized at the annual Honors Dinner recently with the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award.

When Deven Smith and TC Maiero graduated from Humboldt State with degrees in computer science, they never thought they’d be working for a local flower farm.

Humboldt State University received more than $7.1 million in voluntary support in 2013-14, an increase of nearly 29 percent over the previous year.

Humboldt State University will host its annual Fall Graduate Fair for students graduating in fall 2014 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11 in the Great Hall, above the College Creek Marketplace.

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.