Alumni Stories

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.

Humboldt State has been named a top vegan friendly school by peta2, the youth animal rights program at PETA.

The Humboldt State University Career Center is ramping up its employment assistance efforts to connect students and local businesses during the holidays.

HSU Sociology student Rachelle Irby (’12) has received a 2012 Sustainability Leadership Award from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the national organization that advances sustainability in higher education.

A Clubs Fair & Carnival, Athletics Hall of Fame dinner, Food Truck Festival and Saturday football game headline Humboldt State University’s Homecoming & Family Weekend, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19-20.

The melody may have sounded like a cacophony of random notes, but to the musicians, it may as well have been Bach. Using rubber mallets and a little imagination, the preschoolers had managed to create a schoolyard symphony.

Humboldt State University’s First Street Gallery will exhibit new paintings by alumna Susanna Bluhm (’98) Oct. 2 to Nov. 4.

Emmy-award winning cinematographer Rick Rosenthal (’67, Zoology) will return to Humboldt State May 1-2 to premiere his latest film about the bluefin tuna.

Local radio DJ Mike Dronkers (’99, Journalism) says that HSU is like a "sandbox." “You can get in, you can get dirty, it’s kind of fun, you can make mistakes, nobody gets hurt, but at the end of the day, you learn what works and what doesn’t,” Dronkers says.

Humboldt State University recognized the year’s distinguished alumni, faculty, students and staff during its first Humboldt State Honors Dinner.

Several of HSU's 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients will be presenting talks across campus on Friday, April 20.

During a recent film shoot in the Anza-Borrego Desert, HSU Film Professor David Scheerer stumbled upon something rarely caught on camera.

Engineers at Humboldt State’s Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) are using their expertise in sustainable technology to increase clean water access in the developing world.

On Tuesday, Andy Lewis (’08, Recreation Administration) was base-jumping from the Fisher Towers rock formations in Utah, at altitudes of more than 500 feet. Just two days earlier, the adrenaline-junkie was in Indianapolis, Ind., showing off his sport and sharing the stage with pop-icon Madonna at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show.

Last spring, senior business students formed Humboldt State Business Consulting; a class run like a business, as part of Professor Nancy Vizenor’s Small Business Consulting Class, or BA 417. This fall, the current group of students will work with their first clients.