Alumni Stories

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.

Two Humboldt State alumni and two students recently teamed up to create a series of videos highlighting the work of the Small Business Development Centers of Northern California, a national program that helps local entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed.

Victory came down to the wire for the HSU Jacks on Thursday, as the team took on the Central Washington Wildcats. The game was nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

Humboldt State debuted a new commercial on Sept. 8 during the nationally televised football game against Central Washington University.

“Fight! Fight! Fight for Humboldt State!” HSU Jacks and students shouted during the Associated Students Pep Rally, Wednesday night.

A Humboldt State University team in Bhutan has completed the first installation of Smart Grid devices called GridShares with the specific purpose of enabling rural electricity users to stabilize their own electricity grids and curb damaging brownouts.

Five Humboldt State University alumni will join other experts in the waste management field and luncheon presenters Assemblyman Wes Chesbro and Maggie Gainer of Gainer & Associates at a Zero Waste Innovation Forum at noon on Friday, Aug. 19, at Arcata’s D Street Neighborhood Center at 13th & D Streets.