Alumni Stories

Humboldt State alum Thomas Joshua Cooper (’69 Art, Secondary Education) has been awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for 2009. The award will help him complete the North American portion of his wide-ranging project to photograph “the beginnings of civilization” around the Atlantic Ocean.

Arcata – An oceanographer, a newspaper editor and an international counsel make up the trio of 2009 Distinguished Humboldt State University Alumni who will be honored at campus ceremonies April 17.

Arcata – Humboldt State University’s Alumni Association will host its 2009 Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner and presentation on Friday, April 17, honoring Francisco Chavez (’77), senior scientist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; John Diaz (’77), editorial page editor, San Francisco Chronicle; and Richard E. Winnie (’69), Alameda County Counsel and legal advisor to international governments.

Arcata – The state senate has confirmed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nomination of Humboldt State University alum Del Walters (’77) to be director of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Connecting Africa to America through ritual and language ??Jagun Fly?? by HSU graduate John Oluwole ADEkoje, opens in Gist Hall Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 26 for two weekends.

When we think of air pollution we usually think of smog clouds covering places like Los Angeles or Mexico City. But how many people actually consider the consequences of indoor air pollution? Not many, according to Dr. Richard Corsi, HSU alum and architectural and engineering professor at University of Texas at Austin.

Despite growing up in a dense urban area, Nurit Katz remembers having a keen interest in the outdoors and environmental science as a child. Now, as sustainability coordinator for the University of California, Los Angeles, Katz is able to pursue her passions and help the campus become more ecologically friendly by applying what she learned at Humboldt State.

Taking the show on the road has international meaning for two clowns from Humboldt State University. Shea Freelove, a senior in the Theatre, Film and Dance Department at HSU and alum Steven Dimon (’08, Political Science) recently returned from a trip to Kenya where they shared the circus arts with the Mbaranga parish.

Arcata—Humboldt State alum Hank Kashdan ('73) has been named associate chief for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service based in Washington, D.C.

With the growing concern over climate change and because the lack of pre-existing federal regulations, California has struck out on its own to reduce its carbon emissions. The Golden State is known for being the country’s environmental trendsetter and is now setting the pace for carbon emissions policy with the California Climate Change Solutions Act (AB 32). AB 32 is a mandate to lower carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to have an 80 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2050.

A Humboldt State alum is the recipient of a national fellowship designed to advance the work of individuals with outstanding potential to help shape a brighter environmental future.

Eureka — After five years of searching the Humboldt Bay Sustainable Living Center has found a home along the Eureka waterfront, near Halverson Park. The center will feature an eco-hostel, a conference center, office space for green businesses and non-profits as well as a 100-mile café.

In the foggy Maya Mountains of western Belize there is a salmon colored mushroom growing on the sides of fallen logs. While the mushroom has an interesting appearance, it’s notable for another reason: it represents a new genus of polypore, a group of mushrooms bearing significant medical potential. Dr. Timothy Baroni, a mycology professor at "State University of New York, Cortland":http://www.cortland.edu/ and a Humboldt State alum, discovered the new genus during a recent research expedition to Belize.

The dim, stuffy room was packed with excited students. Strains of conversations continued from the earlier "Renewable Energy Student Union":http://resu.humboldt.edu/~resu/ meeting floated through the air. These conversations were not your typical engineering talk; they were revolutionary engineering talk.

The new $44 million Kinesiology and Athletics Building, designed by Yost Grube Hall Architecture, ushers in a new era in education and athletic competition for Humboldt State students, faculty, staff and alumni. The campus and the community will benefit from top-notch educational spaces, labs, health programs and a spacious, modern arena. Kiewit Building Group constructed the 91,598 square-foot facility using 325 tons of structural steel, 400 tons of rebar and 4,800 yards of concrete.

For some high school students, nothing is quite as terrifying as cracking open an algebra book to find a dizzying array of numbers, letters and peculiar Greek symbols peering back at them.

For Humboldt State photography Professor Tom Knight (’50, ’54), light was everything. Whether it was illuminating the crescent outline of a subject’s face or highlighting the opalescent luster of a common washbasin, Knight made finding the right light at the right moment his life’s passion.

Christy Laird (’77), entrepreneur of Rose Court Cottage and Arcata Stay, “The Lodging Network of Exceptional Accommodations," describes her alumni colleagues this way: “Entrepreneurial people with a multitude of different skills who share the HSU connection and a love affair with Arcata.”

For Carol Stieger ('58) dreams of international travel were in the works from the day she started as a teacher in Sacramento.

Fútbol is wildly popular in Spain. You know, fútbol, that game with a soccer ball the entire world plays without cease, working itself into a universal frenzy every four years over crowning the sport’s global champion. Football, on the other hand, is not quite as popular in Spain. You know, football, that game where big, strong guys ram into each other and toss around an oblong ball on a 100-yard field.

Kalindi Rogers and Erin Slattery have nothing personal against burritos. Like countless generations of students before them, the two have sampled more than their fair share of taco truck offerings.

Geology alum Dave Bazard’s first love is teaching. To begin with, “there was this very dynamic earth science teacher I had in middle school.” Dave Bazard (’82) was smitten with geology right then and there, scarcely a teenager.

Arcata - The Humboldt State University Alumni Association will celebrate the accomplishments of its 2008 Distinguished Alumni with a gala dinner on Friday, April 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Kate Buchanan Room at University Center.

He’s on a first name basis with John Travolta, he’s acted alongside Mel Gibson, and Bono (you know, the lead singer of U2) says he smells like rain.

Arcata – Humboldt State alumnus Bruce Appelgate (’85) has been named associate director of Ship Operations and Marine Technical Support at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.