chico statements

www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs CHICO STATEments 1

A mAgAzine from CAliforniA StAte UniverSity, ChiCo Spring 2011

2 CHICO STATEments

The sound of laughter and Bollywood music filled the air April 2 as more than 80 people reveled in Trinity Commons, pelting one another with colored powder. Passersby were quick to toss down their backpacks to join in the festivities. It was also a chance for them to taste authentic Indian food, dance, and let loose while getting covered with brilliant color.

It was Holi, a traditional Hindu “festival of colors” celebrating the coming of spring. Holi came to Chico State through student Kevin Ives—who had expe-rienced the festival while studying abroad in Bangalore, India—and the Indian Students Association.

“Being able to help bring one of these vibrant and culturally rich traditions to Chico State was like being back in India,” says Ives, who is East Asia peer advi-sor in Chico State’s Study Abroad office. “More than that, it allowed me to share a taste of what I experienced in India with my friends and community here.”}

Jaclyn Percy, Public Affairs and Publications. Photo by Sarah Mann.

Photo above: Wadke Nilambari, Kevin Ives, and Sachi Muraoka soak up some color on campus.

F e s t i v a l o f COLORS


A m a g a z i n e f r o m C a l i f o r n i a S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y , C h i c o

S p r i n g 2 0 1 1 I s s u e 1V o l u m e 1 7

ChicoS T A T E M E N T S

D E PA RT M E N T S

2 From the President’s Desk The CSU’s critical role

3 Letters

3 Editor’s Note Who’s your favorite teacher?

4 Campus Collage What’s happening at the University

22 Alumni News Chapter News, Alum Highlights, Wildcats on the Move, and Wildcats in Our Thoughts

32 In Memoriam Faculty and staff remembered

On the COverChapman Elementary student Monserrat Santiago is one of alum Kathy Naas’s fourth-grade students. As part of their schoolwork, she and her classmates perform service projects in the community. Photo by Beiron Andersson

F E AT U R E S

AmAzing EducAtors

Education alums, students,

and professors engage and

inspire students across the

North State and beyond

page 8

rising stAr Chico State alum Chris

Wondolowski is making

a name for himself as a

U.S. soccer phenom

page 14

outstAnding in thE FiEld

Women are finding success

in traditionally male-domi-

nated agriculture careers

page 18

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4 CHICO STATEments

On May 24, with the celebra-tory events of Commencement weekend fresh in mind, I joined

several of my fellow CSU presidents and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed in Sacramento to meet with Governor Jerry Brown. We had been invited to talk about the state budget situation and how it was affecting our campuses. He wanted to know how we were coping with the massive reductions in state General Fund support we have been facing and to tell us about his plans to support higher education if his budget proposals were endorsed by the legislature.

Chancellor Reed began the meeting by emphasizing the critical role that the CSU plays in supporting the economic prosperity of the state, especially through providing a significant portion of the state’s educated workforce. The gover-nor acknowledged this argument but quickly shifted it. He cited some essays he had been reading that emphasized the responsibility of higher education to develop the moral character and civic val-ues of students.

The governor called upon his own Jesuit education and other spiritual and philosophical influences that have shaped his personal values and political agenda. When he asked for comments, I referred him to an article I had once read by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, in which she acknowledged those who had helped shape her view that the goal of education is not just to prepare stu-dents to make a living, but also to make a life. I noted that among those influ-ences was John Henry Cardinal Newman, a 19th-century Roman Catholic cardinal beatified in 2010, with whom I knew the governor was familiar.

What ensued was a brief conversation between the governor and me on what we are doing in the CSU every day to develop students who are oriented to community service, civic engagement, social justice, altruism, sustainability, and other habits of the heart and responsible citizenship. I think he was surprised—and pleased—with this exchange, and we continued it after the formal meeting had ended.

The feature on our alumni teachers in this issue underscores why it was so easy

for me to have this conversation with him and to provide assurance of the qual-ity and kind of education our students are receiving at Chico State. For these stories—stories of dedication and engage-ment, imagination and inspiration—were formed in classrooms and conversations on our campus, where service and civic responsibility are not just abstract con-cepts. They provided a framework to develop the skills of an effective school-teacher and to understand the goals of a good education in a democratic society.

These stories, of course, are myriad, and every issue of Chico Statements contains them. But among the Commencement Week events I most enjoy every year is the ceremony that honors our newly credentialed teach-ers. In fact, Matthew Clough, one of the teachers highlighted in this issue, was the keynote speaker at this year’s event. Like Matthew, these brand new teach-ers are making a commitment to service at a time when the profession they are entering has been under intense scrutiny and criticism. Yet, this does not dismay them. It motivates them. Their answer to Governor Brown and our state is in the eloquence of their commitment and the boldness of their confidence that they will not only touch the future, but also shape it. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish.}

—Paul J. Zingg, President

The CSU’s Critical Role

From the President’s Desk Credits

Editor | Marion Harmon

Senior Editor | Casey Huff

Art Director | Francie Divine

Assistant Editor | Anna Harris

Wildcats on the MoveMelissa Cheatham, Anna Harris, Kate Post

Editorial InternsCassandra Jones, Katie Mills

ContributorsKathleen McPartland, Jaclyn Percy, Luke Reid, Christine Vovakes, Joe Wills

PhotographyBeiron Andersson, Skip Reager, Luke Reid

PrintingRR Donnelley.......

PresidentPaul J. Zingg

Vice President for University AdvancementRichard E. Ellison

Director of Public Affairs and PublicationsJoe Wills

Chico Statements is published for alumni, par-ents, faculty, staff, and friends of California State University, Chico. The magazine is available on audiotape by request.

Readers are encouraged to submit letters, articles, news, photos, and ideas. Please send to

Public Affairs, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0040

e-mail [email protected]

telephone 530-898-4263; fax 530-898-4264

The deadline for submissions for the fall issue is Aug. 1 and for the spring issue is Feb. 1. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and space. All submis-sions—textual, graphic, or photographic—may appear in the online version of Chico Statements.

Please note that your name, address, phone num-ber, e-mail address, school or college, and year of graduation may be used by CSU, Chico for the development of university-affiliated marketing programs. If you do not wish to have this informa-tion used, please notify the Office of Advancement Services, CSU, Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0155.

© 2011, California State University, Chico

Chico Statements is online. Get the interactive version,

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Bei

ron

And

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on


Who’s your favorite teacher?I vividly recall my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Crum. She was a very kind and uplifting person, and she spent the entire school year encouraging my love for reading and writing. She gave me the advanced reading and writing exercises once I had finished the regular assignments, and without telling me, she entered a poem I had written for class in an Oakland Tribune children’s poetry contest.

When I won the contest, she presented me with my poem in the newspaper—my first published piece! I was surprised and thrilled, and I’m grateful to Mrs. Crum and the teachers after her who helped me discover my own special skills and talents.

This spring, our editorial staff met a group of special educators. From alums who are now teachers to Chico State Education students and faculty, they all had one thing in common: they truly care about providing a quality education to their students. The School of Education graduates about 240 credentialed teachers each year, many of whom work throughout the North State, shaping the future of our region by inspiring the next generation to greatness.

Who was your favorite teacher? What made that teacher special? Let us know, and we’ll publish your answer in the next issue of Chico Statements. E-mail [email protected] or write to Marion Harmon; Public Affairs and Publications; CSU, Chico; Chico, CA 95929-0040.}

—Marion Harmon (Master of Public Administration, ’07)

From the Editor

Ryan, to look at the possibility of preserv-ing the unique campus plant life through the creation of an arboretum.

During the next two years, we created two campus guides to introduce students and visitors to the historical and unique plant life on the Chico State campus: the Guide to Woody Plants of the Front Campus, and the 5 Bridges Trail. They were the foundation that brought attention to the significance of the native species, as well as the rare and unique species of plants introduced by General Bidwell in the 1800s. I was not on campus to see the arboretum dedicated in 1982, but I do not believe it would have happened if not for the hours of volunteer work by a handful of students led by Dr. Anthony back in the late 1970s.

There were originally about a dozen students and faculty members who created the two interactive guides of the plant life

at CSU, Chico, and I do not recall all of their names, but I remember they were listed in the introduction in the 5 Bridges Trail guide. To Dr. Anthony and all the original volunteers, I thank you for your dedication toward a cause that helped create the current arbore-tum that is such a large part of the history and heritage of Chico State.

—Eric Moore (BA, Biological Sciences, ’80)

Editor’s note: According to the 1983 guide 5 Bridges Trail, the following stu-dents were responsible for the process of getting the campus grounds recog-nized as an arboretum: Eric Moore, Molly Ryan, Tori Blickle, Doris Everett, Sara Flynn, Nancy Prouty, Kathy Kramnic, and Wendelin K. Smith. In addition, the following students helped prepare the brochure: David Leuck, Denise Devine, and Lynn Johnson, with help from faculty Marge Anthony and Julie Newman.

Remembering Mentors and FriendsI couldn’t agree more with Harlan Hawkins’ comments on Dr. David Lantis [fall 2010 Chico Statements, “Letters,” page 3]. He was a source of inspiration for me to go on to grad school and to learn to enjoy roadside geography so much. My thanks to all the geography department staff at that time.

I also read Russ Gianfortone’s obit in the same issue. Russ was my roommate our first two years at Chico State, first at Bradley Hall and later in a small house near Sandy Gulch. I was in Grass Valley last week, and while waiting for one of my workmates, I decided to give Russ a call to see if he wanted to get together. That was when and how I found out he had passed away.

Here’s to old friendships and all our amigos past and present on our journey through the late 1960s and early ’70s at Chico State!}

—Alan R. Shearer (BA, Geography, ’74; MA, Geography, ’77)

LettersThanks to Wes DempseyI want to express my pleasure in reading the fall 2010 Chico Statements, which fea-tured Professor Emeritus Wesley Dempsey. As a student, I had the wonderful experi-ence of taking his course in genetics and working as a part-time technician on his tomato genetics research.

I had many excellent teachers at Chico State, including especially my long-time mentor Don Wootton, Marge Anthony, and Dallas Sutton. Dr. Dempsey’s course, though, has particularly stood out over the years for me for its rigor and mind-stretching exercises, and for his enthusiasm and concern for his students. The experi-ence has served me well over the years in my own research career, and Dr. Dempsey has provided a role model for my own teaching challenges that have taken many different forms.

After nearly 50 years, Dr. Dempsey may not remember me, but I hope he reads this and recognizes that I am among the many who appreciate what a wonderful teacher he has been and the impact he has had on students. He has helped make the Chico State experience unique.

—K. Darwin Murrell (BA, Biological Sciences, ’62)

More on Campus ArboretumI enjoyed reading how the legacy of the campus arboretum was alive and well but am disappointed in the article “A Heritage of Trees” by Dave Waddell because it lacks the true history of how the arboretum was founded. I was a biology major. During the 1979 school year, I was taking a botany class taught by Dr. Marge Anthony when Dr. Anthony announced to the class that there were plans on campus to move toward a more modern re-landscaping plan that would have removed some of the his-torical trees that make up the current arbo-retum. In a very short time, Dr. Anthony recruited me and another student, Molly

During Founders Week this April, Wes Dempsey helped rededi-cate the 100-year-old Bidwell Grove near Ayres Hall with the planting of a new redwood.

Me in third grade

6 CHICO STATEments

Campus Collage

From Chico to Sharjah: A Life-Changing Experience

Agroup of seven students and faculty from the CSU, Chico Adapted Physical Education program gave a gift of kindness and friendship, and had an experience

that was described as “life-changing,” in the week before Christmas. The group traveled halfway around the world to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dec. 15–23, 2010, to assist in the 21st Al Amal Camp for individuals with dis-abilities.

Professor Rebecca Lytle, instructor Marci Pope, and proj-ect director John-Paul Gonzalez traveled with graduate students Garrett Rieck, Brennan McFadden, Carli Ross, and Danielle Andrade to Sharjah to work with Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services, assisting with their annual camp. The camp serves 40 to 60 campers from 12 to 16 years of age who are deaf or have an intellectual or a physical disability. Campers come from a variety of Middle Eastern countries.

Professor Lytle was invited by Her Highness Sheikha Jameela bint Mohammed Al Qasimi (BA, Psychology, ’82) to bring a cohort of students to assist with activities for the campers. Her Highness was the 2010 Distinguished Alumna for the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. She is cur-rently head of humanitarian services in Sharjah, running many programs for individuals with disabilities.

“The Adapted Physical Education field is very limited and may be nonexistent as a profession in many of the countries sur-rounding the UAE,” says Lytle. The UAE does have strong sport programs for Special Olympics and the Paralympics, however. “Our hope was to share ideas and ways to work with individu-als who need physical activity but might not be interested in competition—ideas to promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles on a daily basis,” adds Lytle.

The Chico group planned to run at least two three-hour programs of physical activities for the campers and to help

with evening events and other areas as needed. The expe-rience was more than any of them imagined, both in the challenges and the rewards. The primary challenge was the language barrier, but with the international language of love and friendship, says Lytle, it all worked.

The campers and staff were treated to a dance performance by schoolchildren, Middle Eastern music, and other cultural events and meals. “We learned and shared so much in our one-on-one exchange about our cultures and about support for individuals with disabilities,” says Lytle. “We were all there for a common purpose: to improve the lives of individu-als with disabilities. In the process, we improved our own lives.”}

Kathleen McPartland, Public Affairs and Publications

Three CSU, Chico computer science students competed against 104 other top computing teams from around the world in the

“Battle of the Brains” held in Orlando May 27–31. They finished 59th among international competitors and fifth among 18 U.S. teams in the IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest.

The participating teams were challenged to solve 11 extremely difficult computer-programming problems in only five hours. Students from Zhejiang University in China finished in top place, solving eight problems in the time allotted.

“The 105 teams in the competition were chosen from a field of 8,305 teams from 2,070 universities in 88 countries competing

on six continents,” says Moaty Fayek, Computer Science chair and the team advisor. “CSU, Chico’s ACM team’s ranking of 59 puts them amongst the top 1 percent in the world. Those kids achieved the impossible.”

Fayek accompanied team members David Stolp, Katherine Gabales, and Abhishek Iyer, and reserve member Jennifer Coryell to Orlando. Ryan Feenstra, president of the CSU, Chico student ACM chapter, also made the trip.

Overall, 18 universities from the United States competed in the ACM World Finals. CSU, Chico was in fifth place behind the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Carnegie Mellon University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Princeton University. Chico finished ahead of 13 other U.S. universities including the University of Miami, University of Oklahoma, University of Chicago, Duke University, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

“We were among the elite, and we were ahead of some very big-name universities,” notes Fayek.

The Chico team won their place in the world finals by finish-ing first in the November 2010 Pacific Northwest Programming Contest, besting 74 other teams representing some of the top western universities in North America, including Simon Fraser University, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley, each of which had three teams.}


Computer Science Students Make a Formidable Showing in ‘Battle of the Brains’

Carli Ross, John-Paul Gonzalez, and Garrett Rieck with two campers at a wheelchair basketball game.

The Chico contingent on the way to the international “Battle of the Brains”


Briefl

y Noted

National Awards for ChicoThree CSU, Chico student teams—sus-tainable manufacturing, Model United Nations, and recording arts—have won national awards this spring. Students from Sustainable Manufacturing won the pro-gram’s 11th Grand Prize at the prestigious 2011 Society of Manufacturing Engineers WESTEC Manufacturing Challenge Contest for a mountain bike chain guide and bash guard. The materials used in this market-ready product were chosen with an emphasis on sustainability and included recycled plastic components and cardboard package inserts, as well as a fully compostable plastic package.

Students participating in the Model United Nations course won both top awards at the 2011 National Model United Nations Conference in New York City. The Chico delegation, represent-ing the Republic of Austria, was named an Outstanding Delegation and won the award for Outstanding Position Papers. This double “outstanding” ranking placed the team in the top 4 percent of all schools attending the competition.

Five recording arts students received the second-highest score in the 2011 Shure Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition. Elliott Eicheldinger, Ian Davidson, Fernando Macias-Jimenez, Mitchell Bohanan, and Todd Simonson produced their winning recording of a song by Sacramento artists The Kinzie Affair, “Everything We Whisper.” The judging panel included Grammy-winning produc-ers and engineers. CSU, Chico team mem-

bers received Shure studio microphones for their own use, and the R e c o r d i n g Arts Program will receive thousands of dollars worth of state-of-the-art recording equipment.

Natural Sciences Dean NamedFrederika (Fraka) Harmsen has been named dean of the College of Natural Sciences. She will start her new posi-tion at CSU, Chico July 1. She replaces Margaret Owens, who has served as interim dean since March 2010.

“Fraka comes to us with outstanding experience as a faculty member, chair,

and associate dean,” says Sandra Flake, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “The extensive interview and search process affirmed that the excel-lent record she will bring us in teaching, research and external support, advance-ment, and leadership is a solid match for the needs of CSU, Chico.”

Harmsen has been associate dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at CSU, Fresno since 2007. Prior to that, she was chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the uni-versity for four years. She joined the CSU, Fresno faculty in 1985.

Chico Benefit for Japan Earthquake Nets $20,000In response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, CSU, Chico faculty, staff, and students partnered with community members to hold a series of fundraisers to support relief efforts in Japan. Throughout April and May, donations were collected on behalf of the American Red Cross of Northeastern California for Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief.

Groups involved include the Chico Japan Friendship Club; the Japanese pro-grams of CSU, Chico, Butte College, and Pleasant Valley High School; CSU, Chico student organizations Japanese Fusion and the Anime Club; and the International Club and Miyabi dance club from Butte College. At the culminating Concert for the Japanese Earthquake Relief Effort on May 5 in Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall, a check for more than $20,000 was presented to the American Red Cross.

Golds for Green BuildingsThe U.S. Green Building Council awarded LEED Gold certification to the Gateway Science Museum at CSU, Chico. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, is an internationally rec-ognized rating system for sustainable build-ing and development practices.

Gateway Science Museum was designed and built with an emphasis on sustainability and the ultimate goal of reducing the impact of construction and operations on our environment. Building features that helped it to achieve LEED Gold include water conservation methods both inside and outside of the museum,

the use of natural light via the volcano skylight and Valley Gallery windows to illuminate the museum’s interior, and the use of wood products that are certified as sustainably forested.

The College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management also received LEED Gold certification, for two homes built in January 2010 during the Catalyst Blitz Build Project. They are the first two homes awarded LEED certifi-cation in Chico.

Faculty and students partnered with local builders and the city of Chico to design and build two homes for Catalyst, a service provider for victims of domestic violence and their children. This January, they completed the project by building two more transitional homes.

Archaeologist Conserves Recovered Whaling ArtifactsArtifacts from a shipwreck recovered by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel Hi’ialakai arrived at CSU, Chico to be document-ed, conserved, and analyzed last August. The artifacts include three whaling har-poon tips, two whaling lance tips, two ceramic shards, and one cast-iron cooking pot from the U.S. whaling ship Two Brothers, from Nantucket Island.

The Two Brothers was captained by George Pollard Jr., whose previous ves-sel, Essex, was sunk by a whale in the South Pacific, inspiring Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick. Pollard went to sea again as the captain of Two Brothers and, once again, his ship met disaster—this time hitting a shallow reef off French Frigate Shoals, nearly 600 miles north-west of Honolulu. Captain Pollard and his crew clung to small boats for survival during a long, harrowing night before they were rescued by another Nantucket whaler.

Professor Georgia Fox, director of the Department of Anthropology’s Heritage Resources Conservation Laboratory, is the archaeological conservator working with the artifacts with the assistance of CSU, Chico students. She plans to complete the project by fall 2011.}

Campus Collage

8 CHICO STATEments

Response to Intervention (RtI) and Continuous School Improvement (CSI): Using Data, Vision, and Leadership to Design, Implement, and Evaluate a Schoolwide Prevention SystemVictoria L. Bernhardt and Connie L. Hébert, Education(Eye on Education, 2011, 320 pages)This book shows schools how to create, implement, and evaluate RtI processes that will improve student learning for all students by starting with continuous school improvement planning.

Between One and Many: The Art and Science of Public Speaking, seventh editionSteven R. Brydon and Michael D. Scott, professor emeriti, Communication Studies(McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2011, 441 pages)This text presents public speaking as a dynamic transaction in which the mean-ing of the message emerges from the relationship between the speaker and the audience. It encourages students to think critically about their communication.

Since When Is Fran Drescher Jewish? Dubbing Stereotypes in The Nanny, The Simpsons, and The Sopranos Chiara Francesca Ferrari, Communication Design(University of Texas Press, 2011, 180 pages)This book examines three popular American TV shows dubbed into Italian. The “translation” of characters provides insight into stereotypes on both sides of the Atlantic and has implications for the issues of identity in a global media marketplace.

What Does Understanding Mathematics Mean for Teachers? Relationship as a Metaphor for KnowingYuichi Handa, Mathematics(Routledge, 2011, 154 pages)This book opens up alternative ways of thinking and talking about ways in which a person can “know” mathematics, leading to a reconsideration of what it may mean to be a teacher of that subject.

Physical Activities for Young People with Severe DisabilitiesRebecca K. Lytle, Kinesiology, co-author with L. Canales(Human Kinetics, 2011, 136 pages)Physical Activities helps teachers provide high-quality physical education for stu-dents with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and other orthopedic impairments that inhibit their ability to function physically. It con-tains 50 activities for working with students of varying abilities.

The Birds of Bidwell Park Roger J. Lederer, professor emeritus, Natural Sciences; illustrated by Carol E. Burr, pro-fessor emerita, English/Multicultural and Gender Studies(Stansbury Publishing, 2010, 84 pages)Bidwell Park’s more than 200 species of birds are active, colorful, and vocal. With this book, readers should be able to iden-tify almost all of the birds they see at the park any time of year.

Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing: Theory and Application, seventh editionBessie L. Marquis, professor emerita, Nursing, and Carol Huston, Nursing(Lippincott Williams Wilkins, 2012, 624 pages) Hundreds of exercises along with discus-sions of theory teach nursing students how to integrate effective management skills with expert leadership skills. This book helps students develop the critical thinking ability needed to apply skills on the job.

Rapid Climate Change: Causes, Consequences, and SolutionsScott McNall, professor emeritus, Sociology(Routledge, 2011, 104 pages)The book reviews the science of climate change and explains why it is one of the most difficult problems humanity has tackled. It explores the politicization of the topic, the polarization of opinion, and why, for some, science has become just another ideology to be contested.

Literacy in Context (LinC): Choosing Instructional Strategies to Teach Reading in Content Areas for Students Grades 5–12Mimi Miller, Education, co-author with N. Veatch(Allyn & Bacon, 2011, 254 pages)Literacy in Context includes instruction-al strategies and a clear-cut process for choosing which ones to use with adoles-cent learners to achieve success in reading content area text.

Japanese Grammar: The Connecting PointKimihiko Nomura, Foreign Languages(UPA, 2010, 490 pages)Japanese Grammar gives readers a firm grasp of the language’s most impor-tant aspect: verb usage. Nomura’s book helps readers conjugate verbs into a variety of formats, construct sentences systematically, and hold conversations in Japanese.

The Invisible Handcuffs: How Market Tyranny Stifles the Economy by Stunting WorkersMichael Perelman, Economics (Monthly Review Press, 2011, 280 pages)Mainstream economics claims to be a sci-ence. Perelman argues that nothing could be further from the truth. The nature of the work we do and the conditions under which we do it profoundly shape our lives. And yet, both of these factors are periph-eral to mainstream economics.

Media, Markets and MoralsAaron Quinn, Journalism, co-author with E. Spence, A. Alexandra, and A. Dunn(Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 230 pages)This media ethics text emphasizes the pres-sure exerted by business market forces on journalists. The authors offer an original theory of communication ethics comple-mented by contemporary case studies.

The Writer’s Way, eighth editionJack Rawlins and Steve Metzger, professors emeriti, English(Cengage, 2011, 448 pages)The Writer’s Way is a process-centered text-book with resources from examples of stu-dent essays to writer’s workshop sections and exercises. The authors lead students step by step through the writing process.

Introduction to American Government, sixth editionCharles Turner, Political Science, co-author with R. Bresler, R. Friedrich, D. Stephenson Jr., and J. Karlesky(BVT Publishing, 2011, 554 pages)This textbook surveys the constitutional framework, political processes, political institutions, and current policy problems of the national government. The authors describe the effect of political decisions on economics and the consequences of eco-nomic decisions for government.

Community Health Nursing: Promoting and Protecting the Public’s Health, seventh editionKristine D. Warner, Nursing, co-author with J. Allender and C. Rector (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010, 930 pages)This text focuses on health promotion and protection, provides nursing application coverage, and addresses timely issues such as disaster nursing, urban clients, and cli-ents with disabilities or chronic illness.}

Buy these books at www.asbookstore.com,e-mail [email protected],

or call 866-282-8422.

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Campus Collage


Campus Collage

Unfortunately, I don’t possess artistic ability; otherwise you would be feasting your eyes upon my first comic book-style

sports story. Alas, the following will have to suffice:Scene 1: Talor Fulfer and Kelly Clancey stand side by side in

superhero poses—staring straight ahead, legs slight-ly spread, hands clenched in fists resting on hips. Their bodies are chiseled from stone. Clancey sports white tights with a cardi-nal “C” across her chest, cardinal boots, and a flow-ing cardinal cape. Fulfer is fitted in a cardinal singlet with a white “C” across the chest, white boots, a white cape, and a big white belt befitting the heavyweight champion of the world.

“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than

a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! We’re not talking about Superman here, we’re talking SuperCats!” reads the text across the top.

Let’s take a step back and mix some facts into the fun. Clancey (below) and Fulfer (above) are two of the top multi-event athletes in the nation. Clancey made her third straight trip to the NCAA Championships May 26–28 in Turlock.

Clancey recorded the fifth-highest heptathlon total in the nation during the regular season, and her 4,937 points at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championships are the second highest in Chico State history. The senior also boasts an NCAA provisional mark in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking a Chico State record time of 1:02.46.

Fulfer’s fourth-place finish in decathlon at the 2010 NCAA Championships netted him All-America honors, and he’s the two-time defending CCAA decathlon champion. His 6,720-point effort this year was the nation’s third best in the regular season. His specialty is the javelin, which he’s heaved better than 61 meters.

Flash back to the SuperCats:Scene 2: Schoolmate in distress. After working on a paper

all night, a student groggily stumbles from Meriam Library. The wind suddenly whips up. WOOOOOOOSH! The papers slip from his hand and go fly-ing. All of his hard work is scattering in the crisp morning air. Suddenly, appearing out of nowhere are the SuperCats. Clancey flings her javelin, and Fulfer follows suit... THWACK! THWACK! Impaled papers are planted safely in the lawn behind the point of the javelins. The stu-

dent says thanks, collects his paper, and goes on to class. A week later, he receives an A.

The SuperCats performed more feats of speed and strength at the NCAA Championships, the final event in a Chico State uniform for the two seniors. And they have certainly put their stamp on the University.}

Luke Reid, Chico State Sports Information

The Adventures of SuperCats

n Chico State’s cross country men and women each finished fifth in the nation at the 2010 NCAA Championships. The men’s top-five finish under Head Coach Gary Towne was its seventh in the past nine years. Freshman phenom Isaac Chavez finished fifth overall, and senior Brent Handa came in seventh.

Colleen Joyce helped carry the Wildcats to their best-ever NCAA Championship performance (see photo above). She turned in the best fifth-scorer finish in Wildcats history to lift the ’Cats to a fifth-place finish. Kara Lubieniecki, who took 16th place, and Shannon Rich, who came in 37th, earned All-America honors as the Wildcats scored an all-time low 161 points.

n Chico State junior Kyle Souza won the 2011 NCAA Division II Golf Championship, knocking in four back-nine birdie putts to force a sudden-death playoff and then winning the title on the third playoff hole. Souza (see photo) is the second Wildcat to win the championship, joining J.J. Jakovac. Souza finished inside the top 10 in 11 of 12 compe-titions and was ranked among the nation’s top 10 players throughout the campaign.

n Men’s soccer player Tyson Crim scored the equalizer with 3:46 to play, and Zach Bradford’s low liner from 35 yards completed the stunning comeback with 1:48 to go as the Wildcats defeated seventh-ranked Grand Canyon 2-1 for the NCAA Championship Tournament West Region title. The Wildcats also knocked off rival Sonoma State 2-0 to advance to the title match.

Visit www.chicowildcats.com for more Chico State Athletics.

Fall/Spring Athletics Highlights

10 CHICO STATEments

When the Chico Normal School graduated its first students in 1891, all were trained to be teachers. And according to an official his-

tory of the campus, A Precious Sense of Place, their responsibilities were pretty straightforward: a “thorough grounding” in the subjects they plan to teach, a “course of study upon the science and art of edu-cation,” and “practice teaching in a training school.”

All of that is still required of students preparing to teach, but being a teacher nowadays often also means more than getting children to the next grade level. It means integrating the latest high-tech equip-ment into teaching, accommodating students’ learning styles and special needs, and knowing how to work in both urban and rural environments, with students from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

It also means caring. In spades. This aspect of teaching has always been present, but with increasingly limited resources and much larger class sizes, it has become more challenging for many teachers, new and experienced. At Chico State, future teachers are taught “to meet the needs of a diverse society through innovation, collaboration, and service,” in the words of School of Education director Deborah Summers.

A nationally accredited NCATE institution and a member of the National Network for Educational Renewal, Chico State’s teacher preparation programs train teachers to effectively respond to the needs of their students while working as agents of educational inno-vation. The following stories illustrate the challenges and triumphs of our education program and our graduates.

EDUCAT RSChico State’s Amazing

Education alums, students, and professors engage and inspire students across the North State and beyond

Photographs by Beiron Andersson


The third-grader in Wendy Crist’s class had never spoken in school. “She

was very shy, sweet, and we developed a rapport quickly using hand signals,” says Crist (Credential, ’96), a teacher at Helen M. Wilcox Elementary in South Oroville.

The girl did speak to friends and fam-ily outside of class. Her selective mute-ness had been the pattern for the past three years, but this year would be dif-ferent. She would have not one, but two teachers to work with her: Crist and Camillea Antoine (BA, Liberal Studies and Linguistics; minors in Special Education and English, ’09), who was assigned to Crist’s class through Chico State’s new Rural Teacher Residency program.

The co-teachers (in photo, Antoine is at left) worked together to break through the communication barrier with the girl.

“Because there were two of us, one of us could teach the other students, and the other would read to her and talk with her,” says Antoine. “We tried to not assume that she’s not going to speak; we gave her chances throughout the day. She started responding ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with a head shake or a nod.”

Then, one day in December, “I asked her to read to me,” says Crist. “Very, very slowly she began to read, and then, as if by magic, she started talking about her dogs, the chickens that laid eggs around her house, and much more!”

Then it was Antoine’s turn. “It took me six weeks,” she says. “Every day I would try to get her to read something. Finally, it was Jolly Ranchers that did the trick. I talked about Jolly Ranchers for 15 min-utes: ‘You know, the grape one’s pretty

good, but you might like the green one because it’s kinda sour, and you like sour stuff. I’d really like to give you one, but I can’t until I get the name right.’ And finally she said ‘apple,’ that she wanted the apple one. I tried not to jump for joy! After that, it was like a floodgate opened.”

The girl was one of the beneficiaries of the 18-month Rural Teacher Residency graduate program designed to meet the staffing needs of rural schools. Part of the five-year, $7.3 million project Co-STARS (Collaboration for Student and Teacher Achievement in Rural Schools), it is one of only 28 funded nationwide by the fed-eral Teacher Quality Partnership Grant.

Through the program, Antoine and eight other Chico State resident teachers gained valuable classroom experience in Northern California schools while earning

a general education creden-tial and engaging in research leading to a master’s project.

Both Crist and Antoine speak fondly of their time as co-teachers. “The relation-ship between Camillea and myself became very strong,” says Crist. “Reflective con-versations were frequent and unplanned. Having each other to bounce ideas off of, to use as a reality check, and to support each other, became the strongest bond for both of us. The co-teach-ing model gave me assur-ance that children didn’t slip through any cracks, and our classroom became a family.”

Antoine says the months of intensive work with the girl taught her the impor-tance of building trust and maintaining relationships with students. She says that previ-ously she thought she’d teach in urban areas, but she’s now interested in teaching in rural schools. “I can also see that I like small classes,” she says. “I really like interacting with students in small groups or even individually, so that I can really meet their needs.”

Marion Harmon, Public Affairs and Publications

Improving Rural Teacher Preparation

EDUCAT RSChico State’s Amazing

12 CHICO STATEments

When Chapman Elementary teacher Kathy Naas passes out paintbrushes

in class or points out a wildflower in the schoolyard, there’s a good chance she has a service project in mind for her Chico fourth-graders. Since graduating from Chico State 31 years ago, Naas has contin-uously looked for ways her students can learn by doing something that benefits others as well as themselves.

“In our world, there is a lot of discon-nect,” says Naas (BA, Liberal Studies, ’81; Credential, ’82). “Service learning creates a connection to the world they live in, a connection to each other, a connection to themselves.”

When a second-grader at Rosedale Elementary School in Chico was killed in a car accident a few years ago, Naas’s students made tiles as expres-sions of their grief and created a memo-rial garden at the school. Naas met the deceased student’s grandparents, who lived part of the year in Lo de Marcos, Mexico, and was inspired to travel to the small village’s school to lead learn-ing and literacy programs. She has been going to the school ever since, some-times bringing Chico State students and staff to help in projects there.

Closer to home, Naas assigned her students three years ago the difficult task

of researching and reflecting upon the impact of cancer in their community. Each student made a small banner that was hung outside Enloe Medical Center’s cancer center in Chico. “Patients and families would see them in the court-yard—it was very meaningful for them,” says Trudy Duisenberg, Enloe’s commu-nity outreach coordinator. “They would say, ‘All these people were thinking about me.’ ” Naas’s students also made some of the more than 25,000 origami cranes cre-ated to raise awareness and funds for the Enloe Regional Cancer Center in 2005.

This spring, Naas had her students sampling water from Chico Creek, visiting the Butte Humane Society, and learn-ing about recycling as part of a federally funded community service project. “This project is about applying knowledge to real problems, and proposing solutions,” says Chico State education professor Terri Davis, director of the federal grant. “Service learning is reframing how we approach academic content.”

These community-based experiences go far beyond field trips to the park or “please visit” letters to the governor, as valuable as those may be. Before Naas’s fourth-graders go to the creek, they are already thinking about water quality and scarcity issues, how to present informa-

tion to the community about it, what could be done to help, and why the creek might play an important role in their lives.

Naas has the talents and temperament that have led countless students to call her “my favorite teacher”: fine arts training to help with pastels and finger paints; fluency in Spanish and a love of other languages and cultures; patience and compassion working with underprivileged children in a low-income neighborhood; an easy man-ner that belies her mastery of teaching. On a recent morning in her classroom, Naas casually picked up her guitar and led the students in song in an effortless transition from one activity to another.

If one thing is her passion, though, it is how students learn through service. “They make a difference in the community, and they get to know their own value,” she says. “It’s the heart and soul of what we do as educators.”

Naas asks her students to reflect on each completed service project. She loves to read what they write, to watch them discover that even a child can make a dif-ference. As Naas describes it, “You open a door that says, ‘I matter. I contribute to the world.’ ”

Joe Wills, Public Affairs and Publications

Creating a Connection to the World


Chico State education professor Cris Guenter remembers when “hi-tech”

meant using carbon paper with student–teacher evaluation forms so she wouldn’t have to hand-write a second copy for the student. That was 1987.

By 2005, she was using a laptop and writable PDFs.

Now Guenter keeps all her forms on an iPad that she can easily carry to her evaluations. And she can use her laptop to access her Second Life virtual world, where she has teaching and presentation materials and where she regularly meets with educators from around the world to discuss teacher preparation strategies and share resources, at virtually no cost to the University. And with an app for her iPhone, she can make quick additions to her virtual world when her real world takes her out of the office.

“The ability for faculty and students to connect on a global level exceeds anything I could have imagined when I started here at Chico,” she says. “Technology offers so many tools that make efficient use of time, and using time more efficiently helps teachers

devote more time to quality instruction.”Guenter used Second Life to give her

students a 3-D tour of the Sistine Chapel, where they could “fly” up to the ceil-ing for a close-up view of the detail of Michelangelo’s technique. That experience couldn’t be duplicated even with a field trip to Rome.

“I see great potential for future teachers in the virtual world of technology, espe-cially for professional development and networking,” says Guenter. “But teachers know the technology is coming to their students and soon to their classrooms, so I want to prepare them for those changes.”

Elementary teachers see that many of their students are using virtual worlds at home, with sites such as Club Penguin and Whyville, and they want to learn how to harness that interest in the technology to help their students learn.

One of Guenter’s student teachers used Second Life to give his third-graders a vir-tual 3-D tour of NASA. And a secondary teacher led his class through an explora-tion of Edward Hopper’s 3-D painting Nighthawks via a virtual world.

Guenter’s colleague, Steven Koch, is

using inexpensive webcams and the free teleconferencing software Skype to con-duct teacher-intern observations for special education teachers in rural areas. Chico State’s service area is the size of Ohio, and the teacher-interns he supervises teach in communities as far away as Arbuckle, 75 miles southwest of Chico, and Alturas, 205 miles northeast. Using this technology last fall saved Koch and his colleagues 12 trips, dozens of hours in travel time, and more than $400 in travel expenses.

“This flexibility gives us more free-dom to observe the ragged edges of the teaching and to address those issues that the intern and I are concerned with,” he explains. “Immediacy is the one thing we know that positively changes teachers’ behavior.”

But the main advantage is in the qual-ity of the feedback he can give interns. “Saving time on travel allows me to spend more time observing them in the class-room and more time to discuss the obser-vations,” explains Koch. “It just improves the quality of the supervision.”

Casey Huff, Public Affairs and Publications

Accessing Virtual Worlds in Education

14 CHICO STATEments

On a spring day in the small town of Arbuckle, Matthew Clough’s

students were getting nervous. They had written and produced an anti-bullying program—and were about to present it to more than 100 elementary and middle school students, teachers, and parents.

It takes guts for most people to get on stage and sing. But for the students in Clough’s 6th- to 12th-grade special education classroom, the stakes were even higher. These students have mild-to-moderate disabilities that include emo-

tional disturbances, intellectual disabilities, seizure disorders, and autism. Just getting through the school day can be difficult for them.

“Many of my students have social defi-cits,” says Clough (BA, Liberal Studies, ’05; Credential, ’06), who played guitar during the presentation. “So we are consistently looking for ways we can participate in the community and even globally.”

The performance was a musical about “Chris, the Kid Cruncher,” a bully who is reformed through friendship. It began as a response to news reports about the

effects of bully-ing in schools. Clough led his students through journal writing and research about different types of bullying and the harm it causes.

The students wrote the play and the songs with Clough. They designed props and invita-tions and prac-ticed their lines as a team. They invited the com-munity and stu-dents from local schools to three shows in the high school theatre, handling all the technical details of a stage pro-duction.

“My students were very excited to teach younger students about bullying in a fun way,” says Clough. “The service learning project improved their self-esteem in ways I had never even imag-ined possible.

They loved the feeling of having so much to offer others.”

The program went off without a hitch, which was no surprise to Clough. “Building healthy relationships with my students and providing an environment that allows them to feel safe and secure is crucial,” he says. “When you build that trust, you have amazing outcomes.”

Clough is a uniquely gifted teacher, says Professor Laurel Hill-Ward, who supervised Clough in his field placements while he was a Chico State student. “Matt exemplifies service learning and continu-ally refines his skills,” she says. “He also always managed to include his talents in music in the classroom.”

Clough’s devotion to service is also evi-dent outside the classroom. Weekends find him belting out tunes like “Ants in Your Pants” at local performances or writing and recording original children’s songs. All profits from his music go to teachers planning special events and field trips or to charities like Chico State’s Ability First Sports Camp for children with disabilities (see www.matthewclough.com).

Clough’s approach to education exem-plifies what future teachers learn at Chico State, Hill-Ward says: They find creative ways to respond to the needs of each child. They find ways to teach academic content through service to oth-ers. They have a strong belief that all children can learn.

In Clough’s classroom, effective teach-ing requires some flexibility and a lot of creativity. “The students’ abilities range so much, so I have to rely on a lot of the strategies I learned in the program at Chico State: technologies for teaching, visual prompts, different types of strategies so you can reach a wider range of students,” he says of the Special Education Program, one of the University’s Centers for Excellence. “The service learning course facilitated by [edu-cation professor] Terri Davis taught me to encourage community participation and integrate it into the core curriculum.”

But perhaps most important is that his students have a good time, says Clough. “When the students are happy and learn-ing, I have a blast.”

Anna Harris, Public Affairs and Publications

Setting the Stage for Success


I t is a Wednesday morning, and the sev-enth-grade life science class at Bidwell

Junior High School is studying the half-lives of radioactive elements. The teach-er, Annie Adamian, is giving instructions for the lab exercise of the day: creating a model of radioactive decay. She requests that group leaders retrieve lab folders and pick up materials for the experi-ment. Several students quickly retrieve folders from the back of the room, pass them out, and are back at their seats within moments.

In small groups, students count out kernels of corn and talk about directions they’ve been given for three different models: shake the tray of kernels, record the number facing one direction, chart those numbers. They are simulating the breakdown of radioactive isotopes in an element. And they are fully engaged.

The air of friendliness and ease is sig-nificantly different from my expectations of a typical seventh-grade class. The stu-dents are focused on learning. There is no disrespect or lack of attention. What is the secret here?

Adamian (BS, Geosciences, option in Science Education, ’00; Credential, ’01; MA, Education, option in Curriculum and Instruction, ’10) began teaching in the fall of 2001 and taught for several years

before she decided to pursue a master’s degree. Despite increased pressure on teachers to produce higher test scores, there was little discussion about creating equitable schools and empowering stu-dents and teachers, says Adamian. She found herself burdened with the pub-lic’s negative perception of teachers and public schooling, and she felt devalued as an educator.

Adamian returned to Chico State in 2008 and embarked on a year of research. During her exploration, she came to believe that “schools could be transformed into places that people look to for free-dom, hope, personal empowerment, and care, as opposed to a place to blame.”

She began to implement democratic practices in her classroom while con-tinuing to teach the California Science Content Standards. She added the topic of diversity to the science curriculum, introduced the idea of “learning commu-nities” and collaboration, added journaling to encourage students to reflect on what they were learning, and increased choice where appropriate. During the year of research, she and her team teacher, Michael Riley, guided students in produc-ing a science newspaper that included articles on diversity, race, and genetics for the entire student body and staff to read.

Adamian documented the end results in her thesis, “Creating and Sustaining a Democratic Classroom in the Presence of Market Ideology.” Students in her class-room gained an increased appreciation of individual differences, learned to work in groups, and attained standards-based science concepts at a high level.

Chico State education professor Ann Schulte was impressed with Adamian’s work and encouraged her to pursue a doctorate so that she could inspire new teachers. Schulte believes that Adamian’s ability to forge a link between outside forces shaping education and her seventh-grade students is responsible for the impact she has had on both her students and colleagues. “Her work is a model for all teachers who wish to empower stu-dents within a system that does little to promote that power,” says Schulte.

Adamian is excited about graduate school and preparing herself to engage with new teachers in learning how to help students get the education they deserve. “This whole experience has given me renewed passion and pur-pose,” says Adamian, “and the hope that education will one day work for us and not against us.”}


Transforming a Middle-School Science Class

16 CHICO STATEments

You are my Wondo, my Wondolowski.You make us happy, when skies are gray.You’ll never know Chris, how much we

love you.Please don’t take my Wondo away.”

—lyrics by the 1906 Ultras (San Jose Earthquakes supporter group), sung to the tune of “You Are My Sunshine”

Thousands of San Jose Earthquakes fans sing the praises of Chico State’s own Chris Wondolowski at

Santa Clara’s Buck Shaw Stadium through-out the spring and summer. But this is no children’s choir. They dress in black, wave menacing flags, and spend much of the match singing obscenity-laced chants directed at the opposition and its fans.

“Wondo” (attended fall ’01–fall ’04), though, brings out the softies in them all. The 28-year-old Bay Area native was the Cinderella story of the soccer world in 2010. He burst onto the scene to score a franchise record 18 goals and led the Earthquakes to the conference finals of the Major League Soccer (MLS) playoffs. In doing so, he earned the Golden Boot, presented to the league’s leading scorer, though perhaps a glass slipper would have been more appropriate.

“If you had to chisel an Earthquakes player out of rock, it’d be Wondolowski,”

says Earthquakes Head Coach Frank Yallop. “I’m not sure everyone is always happy for the guys who perform well in this league. But you won’t find a guy who isn’t happy for Wondo.”

Wondolowski finished third in MLS Most Valuable Player voting, led the league with nine game-winning goals, and scored a league record 53 percent of his team’s goals. Then came the phone call every red, white, and blue-blooded American soccer player dreams of: He was invited to the U.S. National Team’s winter camp. Wondolowski went on to earn a starting spot in the Jan. 22, 2011, match against Chile, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

“Wearing those colors was a dream come true,” said Wondolowski as we talk-ed at his aunt’s home in the hills above Los Gatos on a Saturday morning this spring. The Golden Boot shone atop the table next to him. “Standing there before the match singing along to the National Anthem and looking down at the colors you’re wearing. The goose bumps … I still get them every time I think about it. I think that’s the only thing that keeps me believing I was really there.”

These days it’s easy to believe. Wondo-lowski is wearing the colors once again this June, in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, one of the most important tournaments

for the U.S. National Team. With a good showing, a spot on the 2014 World Cup roster might be on the horizon.

Not bad for a final-round supplemental draft pick from Division II Chico State who still lives with his aunt and, until his wife Lindsey (BA, Psychology, ’05) recent-ly bought him a new ride, still putted around in the same beat-up Ford Explorer he drove in college.

He took that old Ford Explorer to Chico the summer of 2001. Wondo-lowski left his childhood home in Danville for Craig Hall, the place he would call home for his freshman year.

Did he wonder if he made the right decision? UCLA offered him a scholarship to run track, after all. But Wondolowski listened to his heart. He decided to turn down UCLA to attend Chico State—the only school that offered him a scholarship to play the sport he loves most.

He never regretted it, he says.“Growing up, I loved all sports,” says

Wondolowski. “But as the years went on, soccer became my love. So when Chico State offered me a scholarship to play soccer, I jumped all over it. I followed my heart, and I’m so glad I did.”

Mike O’Malley was Chico State’s head soccer coach at the time. “His competi-tiveness and work ethic separated him from his peers, as did his natural ability

Soccer star and Chico State alum Chris Wondolowski led his team to the Major League Soccer finals, was

nominated for MVP of the league, and was named to the U.S. National Team—not bad for a grad from a

Division II soccer program by Luke Reid

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18 CHICO STATEments

to finish,” recalls O’Malley. “I thought he could be a special player, with a little pol-ish. But this special? I don’t think anyone could have imagined this.”

When Wondolowski arrived in Chico, the Wildcats were coming off what was only their third losing season in 34 years. Wondolowski did his best to help turn things around, scoring 10 goals and dish-ing out six assists as a freshman, and then leading the team in both categories again as a sophomore, with 12 goals and seven assists.

Unfortunately, those individual accom-plishments, impressive as they were, did not translate to team success. The losing continued through his sophomore season, when the team finished 6-13-0, the pro-gram’s worst record since 1966.

But Wondolowski and the Wildcats were about to make a different kind of history. In 2003, the Wildcats won the California Collegiate Athletic Association title and upset CSU, Dominguez Hills in the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament regional final. Then Wondolowski stunned Midwestern State University with the game-winning goal in the national quarterfinal in Texas (see sidebar), and the Wildcats advanced to the national championship. That season still stands as the greatest turnaround from one season to the next in the history of NCAA soccer.

“I have so many great memories about that whole road to the national cham-pionship,” says Wondolowski. “Beating Dominguez Hills, winning at Midwestern State; it was a really special experience. No one believed in us but us. It changed our lives because we all discovered just what we could accomplish if we set our minds to it.”

Wondolowski finished the year with All-America honors. “That season was probably the worst of his career, statisti-cally,” notes O’Malley. “But the things he did that don’t show up in the box score were as important as any goal. He moved into the midfield, which opened things up for everyone else. He’s the most unselfish player I’ve ever coached. His combination of skill and unselfish-ness was something to see.”

Wondolowski credits his Chico State training for making him into the soc-cer player he is today. “[Before I came to Chico] I really had no idea what kind of player I was,” he says. “But Coach O’Malley and [assistant coach] Larry Nees helped me grow. I learned a lot about the game. Most importantly, I learned how to fight and battle and scrap. Chico State is where I learned how to compete.”

Wondolowski also learned a lot about himself. A Chico State soccer fan named

David Prime, who has autism, sparked Wondolowski’s decision to pursue a degree in special education. He’s still working on that degree, taking classes during breaks in his soccer schedule.

“I became really good friends with Dave,” says Wondolowski. “That was huge for me. It opened my eyes to what I wanted to do in the future. We would go to the park, go to Best Buy, and play the new video games. Those are some of my fondest memories about Chico.”

At the same time, Wondolowski was also learning how he felt about a young woman on the Chico State volleyball team named Lindsey Karkula. They were friends for two years before they started dating. They’ve been married for two years now.

By his senior year, Wondolowski was regarded as one of the top collegiate soccer players in the nation. He was drafted in the final round of the first MLS Supplemental Draft in 2005 and left Chico three days later, in the old Ford Explorer, for training camp.

As with his transition to Chico State, Wondolowski wasn’t sure how his game would translate to the next level. He led the San Jose reserve team in scoring in 2005 and, when the organization moved to

Houston, did the same with the Dynamo in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Wondolowski’s MLS opportunities came sporadically over those years, and he netted just four goals in his first 38 MLS matches.

Midway in the 2009 season, he was traded to the San Jose Earthquakes. It was just the break he needed. Wondolowski scored three goals for the Earthquakes that season, mostly coming off the bench. Due to a rash of injuries in the third match of 2010, however, he was thrust into a starting role and responded by scoring the game-winning goal. He tallied in each of the next three games, and he’s been in the starting lineup ever since.

Wondolowski was rewarded with a raise this year. The terms of the contract are among the few things Wondolowski keeps to himself. His humble demeanor, easy laugh, and childlike eagerness make him refreshingly transparent.

Just beyond the shadows of Buck Shaw Stadium, part of Santa Clara University and home to the Earthquakes, lies West Valley College, the one-time home of many current and former Chico State soccer players. On a narrow pitch on a hillside surrounded by chain-link fence, the Chico State soccer team and

A legend lingers about one of Chris Wondolowski’s most famous goals in a Wildcat uniform. After finding the back of the net with a 25-yard strike in front of 3,000-plus hostile fans in the 2003 NCAA quarterfinals at Midwestern State University, he kneeled, took an imaginary arrow from the nonexistent pack on his back, pulled it back on his imaginary bow, and let it fly toward the Midwestern State goalkeeper, known as “The Buffalo.”

“We were at the hotel, and on the local news broadcast was an interview with their goalkeeper,” remembers Wondolowski. “He started referring to himself as ‘The Buffalo.’ Being Native American, I felt that was kind of ironic. The next day when I scored a goal, the first thing that came to my mind was to pull out the bow and arrow. It was cool because my grandparents from Oklahoma, who are very involved in our tribe, were there.”

Wondolowski’s mother’s family is part of the Kiowa tribe, and he is half Native American. He has received a tribal name meaning “warrior coming over the hill.” Thus, the same match that provided one of the greatest wins in Chico State soccer history was also a defining moment for Wondolowski personally. Seeing his family and the rest of their community there made him even more proud to represent his Native American heritage.

Connecting With His Roots

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a pair of the state’s top junior college programs participated in spring action. Wondolowski made his way over to the Chico State bench and sat next to former teammate Robby Busick (BS, Recreation Administration, ’05), still one of the pro-gram’s most passionate supporters.

The current players were playing it cool. They tried not to stare but bent an ear to hear the conversation between two friends relishing the chance to reminisce about their time together at Chico State. The pair took turns telling stories about everything from Slurpees to fender bend-ers, their laughter escalating as they one-upped each other time and time again.

When it came time for Wondolowski to leave, current Wildcats Head Coach Felipe Restrepo thanked him for coming. Wondolowski turned to tell the team how proud he was of their accomplishments and that he followed their run to last year’s NCAA Championship Tournament quarterfinals. They hung on every word.

“Score a goal for us tonight,” said soph-omore Micah Miranda as Wondolowski said his goodbyes.

“I’ll do my best,” Wondolowski replied as the players poked fun at their team-mate, providing a release for the giddi-ness that had been building for hours.

The Wildcats wore their Chico State soc-cer gear with special pride as they entered the stadium to cheer on Wondolowski. They were in Wondolowski’s temple, and these young men were of the same flock. The fans noticed, and the team soaked in the association.

The goal never came. Wondolowski had scored an MLS record 12 goals in a row for the Earthquakes heading into their 2-2 draw with FC Seattle, but a sensational save by Seattle’s goalkeeper Kasey Keller ended that streak.

Wondolowski’s disappointment was palpable, but when the game ended, he motioned for the Wildcats team to meet him on the field. They surrounded him, offered congratulations, and lamented with him the missed opportunity. He took a picture with the team and then milled about, allowing them to soak in the experience. Again, they attempted to play it cool. But one player finally stepped forward with the courage to ask Wondolowski to autograph the game pro-gram featuring him on the cover. Then they all came, surrounding him, smiling, and taking full advantage of the opportu-nity for one last bit of interaction.

When it was time to leave, Wondo-lowski thanked the team for coming and set his sights on the locker room. Not so fast. Three times he stopped to sign auto-graphs, take photos, and acknowledge a woman who swooned at the touch of

his hand. Not a single request went unful-filled, save the ones asking for his jersey. (Earthquakes management asked him to stop giving those away.) It was a delight-ful display of patience and goodwill.

“He’s the best,” doted a young woman working security. This unsolicited piece of information was not the only one I got while walking with Wondolowski. All of the employees take extreme pride in the face of their franchise because of who he is, not just for his on-field achievements.

“I don’t see it as a responsibility,” explains Wondolowski. “I want to do it because I remember going to [San Jose] Clash and Earthquakes games, and guys like Troy Dayak would stop and shake your hand and sign your jersey. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with soccer.”

Finally inside, Wondolowski and I made our way into the locker room as employees prepared to head home. As

one requested an autograph for a friend, Wondolowski pointed out Chris Leitch, the Earthquakes player who is his room-mate on the road.

“Chris [Wondolowski] is a guy everyone affiliated with Chico State can be proud of,” beamed Leitch. “I could sit here all night and say great things about him.”

And with that, he said all he needed to say.

So check the schedule for the Earthquakes’ next home game, gather some friends around the barbecue, lock arms with your fellow Wildcat alumni, and join the fans at Buck Shaw Stadium in singing, because Wondo will always be a Wildcat we can be proud of.}

About the author …Luke Reid (BA, History, ’04; MA,

Kinesiology, ’09) is the sports information director at Chico State.

At Buck Shaw Stadium after the game, Chris Wondolowski autographs a Chico State T-shirt for a player from the Wildcats team (above); the Wildcats soccer team surround their former teammate.

Luke

Rei

dLu

ke R

eid

20 CHICO STATEments

The evening air is cool and the pasture at California State University, Chico’s organic dairy is full of lush grazing grass when Sarah

Albers herds the cows to it after their last milking. The responsibilities of her part-time job are almost finished for the day, but Albers, a senior majoring in animal science with a minor in agricultural business, is reluctant to leave.

“I love the dairy. I love working with the cows,” she says. “My dream is to have my own animals, to make my own product, and to market it myself.”

Chances are, someday she will. Although agri-culture is traditionally male-dominated, the fence gates that once barred women are swinging open. Currently, more than 300,000 women are the princi-pal operators of farms in the United States, accord-ing to the 2007 Census of Agriculture by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This amounts to 14 per-cent of the nation’s 2.2 million farms, almost triple the number in 1978 (see sidebar, page 21). On college campuses, women eagerly pursue agriculture degrees

that at one time were the domain of male students.On few campuses is that trend more apparent

than at Chico State. During the 2011 spring semes-ter, 58 percent of the students enrolled in agri-culture courses were women. Jennifer Ryder Fox, appointed dean of the College of Agriculture in August 2006, is the first woman to hold that position at Chico State, and the first woman in that position in the CSU system. Six female professors with PhDs teach in the department, along with several female part-time lecturers (out of 23 total faculty). Twenty years ago, in contrast, there was only one female on faculty in the College of Agriculture (Marian Baldy in Plant Science).

“At Chico State, we’re educating future leaders of agriculture to keep the land in production,” says Fox, emphasizing that the industry also needs highly trained individuals in the many jobs that provide a “web of support for the producers.”

What brings women into Chico State’s agriculture program to accept Dean Fox’s challenge to keep agri-

o


culture thriving? What careers are they pursuing? What future do they envision for themselves in the complex industry that produces food and fiber, not only for the United States but for other parts of the world?

FOR MELISSA GREEN, AN AGRICULTURE CAREER was a natural outgrowth of childhood and teen years on her family’s rural homestead in Arbuckle, California.

“I’ve been involved in ag since I was old enough to hold a bucket of oats,” she says. “I would sheer sheep, vaccinate animals, grow some of our own feed—even fix fences.”

A 2008 Chico State graduate with a BS in animal science, Green also earned a master’s degree in meat science from Colorado State University. Now a program manager for Harris Ranch Beef Company in Selma, California, she is involved with develop-ing and maintaining product specifications to ensure consistent quality of the products the company sends to market.

“The great thing about Chico State is that each of my classes had a classroom and a lab,” says Green. “We had to do everything from tractor driving to grafting trees to breeding swine.”

Located about five miles south of the main cam-pus, the 800-acre Paul L. Byrne Agricultural Teaching and Research Center, known simply as the University Farm, is a second home for most agriculture students.

“It’s such an incredible resource,” notes Green. “You learn everything from plants to animals. You’ll have an hour lecture a couple times a week, then go out on the farm and get your hands dirty.”

Her parents are both Chico State graduates who spent many years teaching in addition to manag-ing a cow-calf operation on the family farm. They emphasized the importance of education, and insist-ed that each of their three children participate in at least one public speaking event. Green was nervous at first, but hooked.

During Green’s sophomore year, associate dean and farm manager David Daley found an opportu-

From the fields to the boardroom: Women are finding success in traditionally male-dominated agriculture careers

by Christine Vovakes

utstandinin theo g

Field

Alum Jeanette Sturzen (center), regional con-sultant for the California Department of Education, at the University Farm with agriculture students Shelby West and Heidi Goss. Photo by Beiron Andersson.

22 CHICO STATEments

nity for her to apply for a spot on a national three-person team that toured the country promoting beef sales. She was chosen and used the opportunity to combine her agriculture knowledge with oratorical skills.

“It was a great experience,” recalls Green. “It taught me how to plan, how to schedule, and how to address issues.”

“My parents and Chico State are why I am where I am today,” she says. “All my professors had such passion and enthusiasm for what they were teaching. They had the exper-tise, and they wanted to share it.”

She hopes to do the same.“My biggest goal for the ag industry is to show the world the

hard-working, genuine American families who day in and day out are right here providing for you and me because they love what they do,” says Green. “I’d love to take that same passion and pass it on to the next generation of agriculturists.”

JOANNA BLOESE IS ONE OF MANY AGRICULTURE STUDENTS who was reared far from a ranch. Helping her father with back-yard gardening is how she got her start in agriculture, she says. A transplant from Williamston, Michigan, the Chico State junior is majoring in crops, horticulture, and land resource manage-ment—with minors in both Italian and art.

Bloese is focusing on entomology with hopes of getting a graduate degree in that field and combining her eclectic interests by illustrating insect dissections for various publications.

Calling Economic Entomology, taught by Elizabeth Boyd, “a particularly fascinating class,” Bloese also loves the Agricultural Experimentation course taught by Patrick Doyle. The course is designed to develop critical thinking, problem solving, and ana-lytical skills. “You set up an experiment and run an analysis,” she says. “It’s really applicable to scientists and to farmers.”

At the farm, students in Bloese’s Plant Science 101 class sowed their own crops of kale, carrots, and broccoli. “The farm is a great resource for us because we get hands-on experience,” says Bloese. “I really love it out there. Students produce the work. You see things grow.”

She considers Boyd her mentor. “Not only is she a wonder-ful and generous person, she sets high goals for herself and her students,” says Bloese. With Professor Boyd’s encourage-ment, Bloese obtained a $2,000 research and creativity award to work on a project to determine if sticky traps would catch more male or female navel orangeworm moths that attack

almond orchards. She spent last summer dissecting the

trapped orangeworms, finding that the traps seem to be capturing female moths with fertilized eggs—before those eggs could be laid on healthy almonds and cause damage to the crop.

MEGAN BROWN, A 2004 CHICO STATE graduate with a BS in agricultural business, values the leadership abili-ties she developed in the ag program. She comes from a six-generation Butte County cattle ranching family that raises and sells grass-fed cattle.

Saying, “I realize there’s a disconnect between the farm and the fork,” Brown devotes her energy to helping people outside agriculture realize the attributes of good ranching practices. Being actively involved in Agriculture Ambassadors and other campus ag clubs, plus giving school tours at the farm, helped shape her vision as an advocate for agriculture. “Chico State molded what I call my ag-vocate skills.”

Her mother, and older women friends who didn’t have an opportunity to obtain college degrees, encouraged her academ-ic pursuits, says Brown, adding, “They want me back on the ranch, but they want me to have an education, too.”

Growing up, Brown learned how to use heavy agricultural equipment, fix fences, and do just about anything else required on a working cattle ranch. For students without that background, Chico State teaches and reinforces those essen-

Cynthia Daley accepted a position at the CSU, Chico College of Agriculture in 1998 after

completing a BS in animal science at the University of Illinois and a PhD at the University of California, Davis in 1997. She recently created the first certified-organic, pasture-based dairy program on a univer-sity campus in the Western Region and co-authored a business plan with her dairy students to develop a farmstead creamery to provide dairy products to the campus and the Chico community. In addition, Daley has recently garnered two USDA grants to support the dairy industry. A teaching dynamo, she has the respect and gratitude of the many students who consider her a mentor and role model.

“Our program has a number of opportunities for students to gain hands-on, practical experience in agricultural sciences, including a host of courses through-out the curriculum that have a laboratory as a required component,” says Daley. Students can also take advantage of internships, work study (paid work at the Uni-versity Farm), directed work opportunities (for class credit), and applied research experiences through a number of industry-funded projects.

Daley explains that students who work hard and take advantage of the many opportunities offered them are often hired immediately upon graduation. “Once a student acquires important practical skills,” says Daley, “job opportunities become more gender neutral. Because we have a number of opportunities for the develop-ment of these practical skills, we have prepared our female graduates to excel in an industry once dominated by men.”

She believes that women bring a slightly different skill set to the profession, including “uncanny organizational skills, attention to detail, compassion, intuitive thinking and problem-solving capabilities, and a strong desire to prove themselves in what has been a very male-dominated industry.”

The college is also encouraging more women to consider the Agribusiness Minor or the Entrepreneurship Minor through the College of Business, says Daley. “The ulti-mate goal is to create more women farmers and ranchers in business for themselves.”

Mentoring Female Students

I was with all these men with their advanced degrees and knowledge

of farm stuff. But I was the only one who could drive a tractor!

“”


tials through hands-on experience at the University Farm. Brown was reminded how important those basic farming and ranching skills are when she was on a field trip as a student. “I was with all these men with their advanced degrees and knowledge of farm stuff. But I was the only one who could drive a tractor!”

SARAH ALBERS IS ANOTHER OF THOSE students who had no early agricultural ties. She grew up in a small town in Humboldt County, and at Ferndale High School, she took a Future Farmers of America (FFA) class. “That’s when I fell in love with ag,” she says.

Now a senior, Albers originally wanted to be a veterinarian. But after taking different courses and working at Chico State’s certi-fied organic dairy, she changed her mind. “Everything we do is dairy related,” says Albers. “We feed calves and cows, milk them, and sell the milk to an organic co-op [Organic Valley].” She adds that she enjoys the practical, hands-on aspect of her education. “You take every-thing you’re learning in class and put it into context by working at the dairy.”

She cites Professor Daley’s reproductive physiology class as an example. “You learn how to inseminate cows, and you can get certified in it.”

She named Daley, her academic advisor and the dairy’s fac-ulty supervisor, as a mentor. She also singled out Darby Holmes, the full-time dairy supervisor. “It’s pretty rare to have a female dairy manager, so I definitely look up to her,” says Albers.

As for competing in the male-dominated industry, she says, “Women approach the industry more determined to succeed. You’re going to work hard at it to get where you want to go.”

She thinks opportunities abound for women in agriculture. “I take to heart what my professors say: ‘Everyone has to eat, so the ag industry is always going to be there.’ It’s a good field to pursue.”

Albers also advises students to look into more than one of the many types of agriculture-related careers: “Keep your options open. Realize that what you thought you wanted isn’t your only option.”

DEAN FOX ALSO EMPHASIZES THE VARIETY OF OPPORTU-nities for women in agriculture, especially in regard to animal science, the most popular major for women enrolled in Chico State’s agriculture college. “Our pre-vet program is one of the hardest programs on campus,” says Fox, noting that it focuses on food animals, also called large animal livestock, like dairy and beef cattle and sheep. The biggest need is for large ani-mal vets, but many females come in wanting to be small-ani-mal veterinarians, she says. “By the time they’re sophomores, the students figure out whether or not they want to pursue this course.”

Fox points out that a bachelor of science degree in animal sci-ence is the gateway not just to veterinarian school but to careers in research and development for companies like Purina, or work in sales and marketing or in other animal health areas. In addi-tion to animal science, the college also offers degrees in agricul-ture and agricultural business, with several options within each of the three disciplines.

“There’s a lack of understanding of the many opportunities that are open to graduates in the agriculture field,” says Fox. She

sees certified crop consultants, who work either as independent advisors or for large companies, as one area of exceptional opportunity for new graduates because aging baby boomers in those positions are beginning to retire. “We have a crop of 25-year-olds capable of assuming those positions,” she says, add-ing that it is a career women are choosing now more than a few years ago.

FOR MANY YOUNG WOMEN, THE PATH TO AN AGRICULTURE degree begins in high school classrooms, where the FFA cap-tures their imaginations.

FFA introduces students to everything to do with agriculture, from livestock to business to machinery, says Jeanette Sturzen, a 1985 Chico State graduate with a degree in agricultural business. Sturzen is a regional consultant for the California Department of Education, overseeing the FFA in the Superior Region. She is responsible for the area from Sacramento to the Oregon border, and periodically visits each of the schools where she coordinates the FFA program.

“We have field days, regional meetings, and career develop-ment events,” says Sturzen, noting that FFA is valuable not just for imparting knowledge and experience with animals and crops, but for preparing youth for public speaking and job interviews. “FFA helps build character, self-confidence, and financial skills.”

Once an all-male student organization, the FFA began admitting females in 1969. Sturzen says that there are currently more than 70,000 FFA members in California, nearly half of them female.

“I try to be a role model and mentor to all my students. They see that I have a true passion for agriculture,” says Sturzen, a third-generation cattle and hay rancher in Glenn County who previously taught agriculture classes for several years at Hamilton Union High School.

“I believe my education and the family atmosphere at Chico State helped prepare me for anything I wanted to do,” she says. “Everything I had in core classes, from ag economics to public speaking, I’ve used over and over in my life.”}

About the author …Christine Vovakes is a freelance writer who lives in Northern

California. Her articles and photos have appeared in publica-tions including The Washington Post, Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle.

Women-owned and -operated farms and ranches are an important subset of small and home-based business owners in the United States. While the total

number of farms has been declining for many years, the number owned and oper-ated by women is increasing.

Data from the 2001 Family Farm Report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service show that in 1978, for example, women ran 5.2 per-cent of all U.S. farms. By 2007, women ran about 14 percent of the nation’s 2.2 million farms.

Principal women operators are generally full owners of their farms and live on their property. Traditionally, many inherited the farms as widows and chose to continue the family business. Beginning in 1982, the average age of women farmers began to decrease, and by 1997 more than 40 percent were under 55 years old. More women are making the choice to own and manage their own farms.

Sources: “Women in Agriculture,” USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture website, March 18, 2009; and 2007 Census of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

Breaking Ground

24 CHICO STATEments

Dear Chico State Alum:

We are excited to share some important information with you regarding the California State University, Chico Alumni Association and the affinity pro-gram bill (Assembly Bill 1971) passed by the California legisla-ture in 2010.

An affinity program is an agree-ment between the Chico State Alumni Association and a care-fully screened partner to offer valuable services to alumni in areas such as travel, insurance programs, or credit cards. In

addition to discounts for alumni, affinity partners give a portion of the revenue these programs generate back to your Chico State Alumni Association in support of its mission, while also providing sponsorship opportunities for other events and programs, such as student scholarships.

Partner candidates compete for the privilege of marketing their services and products to highly desirable Chico State graduates. We select these partners based on the quality, price, and appro-priateness of their offerings and their reputation. We hope our judgment is sound and you find any partner solicitations useful and relevant. But even if you don’t respond to such offers, you’re still helping us simply by allowing us to continue sending these offers to you.

AB 1971 was passed to allow the continuation of programs that greatly support the Chico State Alumni Association’s effort to provide the activities, com-

munications, and services you expect. Chico State Alumni Association programs are only partially state funded, and we rely on membership dues and affinity programs for our development.

Choosing to not receive affin-ity program mailings from our trusted partners will not remove you from other mail-ings the Chico State Alumni Association or CSU, Chico may send.

We remain committed to your privacy and comfort. Below is an important privacy notice as well as the contact informa-tion needed if you choose to request that we stop sending these offers to you. I encour-age you to take a moment to read the material provided.

Go Wildcats!

Susan AndersonExecutive Director

A Message From the Executive Director of the Alumni AssociationSix Ways to Keep Connected to CSU, Chicon Follow us on Twitter @ChicoStateAlum.

n Join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups, “Chico State Alumni Association.”

n Visit www.csuchico.edu/alumni and keep up with alumni activities and events.

n Join the Chico State Alumni Association. Your member-ship dollars support Alumni Association programs, events, and scholarships.

n Mark your calendars for Oct. 7–16, 2011, to visit Chico State and enjoy our second Chico Experience Week.

n Read Chico State’s 2011–2012 Book in Common, Zeitoun, and attend one of the related campus events or join a reading group (see www.csuchico.edu/bic for more details).

Important Privacy ChoiceYou have the right to control whether we share your name, address, and electronic mail address with our affinity partners (companies that we partner with to offer products or services to our alumni). Please read the following information carefully before you make your choice below:

Your RightsYou have the following rights to restrict the sharing of your name, address, and electronic mail address with our affinity partners. This form does not prohibit us from sharing your information when we are required to do so by law. This includes sending you information about the alumni association, the University, or other products or services.

Your ChoiceRestrict Information Sharing with Affinity Partners:Unless you say “NO,” we may share your name, address, and elec-tronic mail address with our affinity partners. Our affinity partners may send you offers to purchase various products or services that we may have agreed they can offer in partnership with us.

Time-Sensitive ReplyYou may decide at any time that you do not want us to share your information with our affinity partners. Your choice marked here will remain unless you state otherwise. However, if we do not hear from you, we may share your name, address, and electronic mail address with our affinity partners.

If you decide that you do not want to receive information from our partners, you may do one of the following:1. Reply electronically by visiting our website at www.csuchico.edu/alumni2. Fill out, sign, and fax this form to 530-898-4407.3. Call us toll-free at 800-598-6472.4. Fill out, sign, and send back this form to us at the following address (you may want to make a copy for your records):

CSU, Chico Alumni Association ATTN: AB 1971 California State University, Chico Chico, CA 95929-0050

( ) NO, please do not share my name, address, and electronic mail address with your affinity partners.

Name: ___________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________

City/State/Zip: _____________________________________________

E-mail: ___________________________________________________

Signature: ________________________________________________

Date: ____________________________________________________


Dear Alums

First of all, I hope the summer finds you doing well, experiencing success, and enjoying life.

With so many things happening, it’s a great time to be a Wildcat! Current students continue to experi-ence great success in national competitions and local projects, and much else is going on.

On April 15, the University’s seven colleges and the Alumni Association again honored their Distinguished Alumni. It was great to meet and

listen to each honoree. Their successes in life made me proud to be an alumnus. A large number of Chico State graduates enjoy successful careers, and this says so much for all of you who have attended Chico State and, at the same time, gives motivation to current and future students.

If you have not been on campus recently, please visit Alumni Glen near the creek on campus (south of Holt Hall, west of the Gus Manolis bridge). For five years now, the Alumni Association board has been planning the remodel, and our efforts have come to fruition. A new stained concrete pad has been installed, the exciting part being that students in our Concrete Industry Management program made this their semester project. Concrete was poured in mid-April, and the first phase was com-pleted in May. I have met many of the participating students, and it’s great to see their work ethic and enjoyment while working on this project.

This fall, Oct. 7–16, we will celebrate our second Chico Experience Week. Dozens of events will be taking place, and our goal is to have something for every-one to enjoy. Please plan to meet your friends in Chico during that week (it includes two weekends) and enjoy keeping alive your Chico connection. Visit www.csuchico.edu/chicoexperience for more information.

Lastly, with much happening on campus, and statewide to California universities, there is no better time to support current and future students through scholarships and events than to join your alumni association. Belonging to the CSU, Chico Alumni Association shows that you take great pride in being a part of the Chico State legacy and you wish to extend that feeling to future Wildcats. For more information on how to join, go to www.csuchico.edu/alumni.

I look forward to connecting with you at upcoming Alumni Association events. Take care, and thank you!

—Don Carlsen (’69), President, CSU, Chico Alumni Association

A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N N E W S

Upcoming Reunions and EventsThe Chico Experience WeekWe have many exciting events and reunions planned for the second Chico Experience Week, taking place Oct. 7–16, 2011. The 10 action-packed days will include class and college reunions, guided tours, art exhibits, plays, educational seminars, athletic events, and community events.For a complete listing of all Chico Experience Week events, visit our website at www.csuchico.edu/chicoexperience.

First Alumni Day of ServiceMark your calendars on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, for the first Alumni Day of Service. We are partnering with CAVE for park cleanup events scheduled in Chico, Sacramento, and San Francisco. To participate, contact the alumni office at [email protected].

1955–1965 Class Reunion in 2012 It’s not too early to make your plans to come back to Chico Oct. 12–14, 2012. Activities include a golf tournament, social, and dinner at the Bell Memorial Union. For additional information, call Jan Logan at 916-543-4721 or visit the website at www.chicostate1955-1965.com.

Melinda Kenyon (BA, Psychology, ’73) and Audrey Tennis (BA, Physical Education, ’71) enjoy the Chico Chapter’s annual spring mixer.

Future Wildcat Zach Norlie, son of Cathy (BA, Political Science, ’89) and Errin Norlie (BS, Industrial Technology, ’97) at the Alumni Association’s annual basketball reception.

Students from the Recreation 474 class planned and executed the annual Senior Send-Off, celebrating the Class of 2011.

26 CHICO STATEments

Spring 2011preSident

Don Carlsen 1969, Chico

viCe preSident

miChelle power 1992, Chico

treASUrer

Cathy norlie 1989, Chico

SeCretAry

Chris Clements 1997, Carmichael

ex offiCio memberS

paul J. Zingg, President, CSU, Chico

tim Colbie, 1992, Chico, Past President,

CSU, Chico Alumni Association

bob linsCheiD 1976, CSU Trustee

lonDon long 2011–2012 AS President

boArd memberS

riCk CallenDer 1994, San Jose

roxanne gilpatriC 1977, Nevada City

amber Johnsen 2004, San Francisco

frank marinello 1991, Chico

paul maunDer 1993, El Dorado Hills

roberta menDonCa 1963, West Sacramento

pamela montana 1978, Chico

Clark porter 1948, Chico

Jimmy reeD 2003, 2008, Rio Linda

CassanDra sotelo 2000, Stockton

matt wolfe 1999, Sacramento

susan anDerson Executive Director

ALUMNI CHAPTERS AND CLUBS

bAy AreA ChApter

moniCa turner 1995, President

[email protected]

ChiCo ChApter

Dino Corbin 1975, President

[email protected]

SACrAmento ChApter

rob feliCano 2008, President

[email protected]

Alumni Board

We want to hear from you—what you do for a liv-ing, for a hobby, for fun. Please send your update to

Wildcats on the Move CoordinatorPublic Affairs and PublicationsCalifornia State University, ChicoChico, CA 95929-0040E-mail [email protected] 530-898-4143

Note: Only cities outside California will include the state name.

1920sLYNN BALMER (Credential, ’27) celebrated her 103rd birthday Sept. 12, 2010, at Hooker Oak Recreation Area with her five sisters (they call themselves the Six Pack) and about 45 other family members.

1930sGEORGIA ELIZABETH STOLP (AB, Education, ’31) celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 22, 2010, with more than 200 friends at the Courtyard at Little Chico Creek. She worked in the business office and as an accounting officer at Chico State, retiring in 1973 after 41 years of service. She was honored at Chico State’s College of Agriculture Hall of Honor reception Oct. 9, 2010, for her support of the University Farm and College of Agriculture.

1950sNORMAN MacKENZIE (AB, Physical Education, ’55; Credential, ’56) started teaching and coaching at Oroville High School in 1951, coaching football, basketball, and track until 1961, when he went to Las Plumas High School and became coach, direc-tor of physical education, and athletic director. He has been enjoying retirement since 1995 and has received numerous awards, most recently his induc-tion to the Northern California Sports Association Hall of Fame in 2001. He lives in Oroville.

1960sHANK PRUDEN (BS, Business Administration, ’61) was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Market Technicians Association Educational Foundation. He is a business adminis-tration professor at the Ageno School of Business at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, where he has been teaching for more than 30 years.

JOHN BERTHELSEN (BA, English, ’65) is the edi-tor of the Asia Sentinel, a regional Internet-based newsmagazine covering 23 countries across Asia. He has also worked for Newsweek as a correspon-dent in San Francisco, Vietnam, and Chicago; for The Sacramento Bee; for The Wall Street Journal Asia as a correspondent in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand; and for Hong Kong’s The Standard as managing editor. Berthelsen lives in Hong Kong.

RUTH LOWMAN (BA, Physical Education, ’66; Credential, ’67; MA, Physical Education, ’71) taught physical education and coached field hockey, bas-ketball, softball, and track for 20 years at Marysville High School and then spent 14 years teaching and administering a continuation school in Sutter County. Lowman is credited with making huge strides in providing equality for girls in athletics, according to letters from former colleagues submitted to the Sutter

Union Hall of Fame committee. She has been enjoy-ing retirement since 2001 and lives in Magalia.

JIM MILLER (BA, History, ’66) wrote the script for Livin’ by the Gun, a film written, filmed, acted, and produced almost entirely by Calaveras County locals. He and director of photography Darren Knapp have been entering the film in various festivals. Miller is a special education teacher at Calaveras High School.

MARK WEBSTER (BA, Political Science, ’69) is the executive senior pastor at Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, Washington. He founded the church in 1984 with Ken Hutcherson. While at Chico State, Webster was the 1969–1970 student body vice pres-ident and Cal State boxing champion in 1969.

1970sDAN NAVARRO (attended fall ’70–spring ’71) retired after 35 years of coaching football. In 1975, he started coaching at the Pop Warner level. He began coaching at his alma mater, Mountain View High School, in 1981. He and wife Barbara have been married for 40 years and have two sons.

MATTHEWS JACKSON SR. (BA, English, ’72; Master of Public Administration, ’73) retired in 2006 from Butte College as assistant superintendent and vice president for education and student programs and services. He has been involved in the Chico community in a variety of ways, includ-ing serving on the board of directors of the Chico Chamber of Commerce and as founding president of the Boys & Girls Club of Chico. Currently, he is a member of the CSU, Chico Advisory Board and chairman of the Enloe Medical Center Board of Trustees. He and wife BILLIE (BA, English, ’74; MA, Education, ’90), a longtime CSU, Chico administrator, have two children, Matt Jr. and Joy.

MERRILY THORNE PRESCOTT (BA, Social Science, ’73) retired in June 2010 from the Glendale Unified School District after teaching first and second grades for 37 years. She moved to Lantana, Texas, in August 2010 and is enjoying retirement.

SANDY LERNER (BA, International Relations, ’75) runs certified-organic Ayrshire Farm near Middleburg, Virginia. The farm includes cattle, hundreds of pigs, veal calves, and thousands of chickens and turkeys. Prior to running Ayrshire Farm, she helped start Cisco Systems and created the cosmetic line Urban Decay. Lerner was selected as the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Distinguished Alumna in 1996.

TIMOTHY SPIRA (BA, Biology, ’75; MA, Botany, ’78) is a professor of biological sciences at Clemson

University in South Carolina, where he has taught since 1993. He teaches courses in field botany and plant ecology and recently published his first book, Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian

Mountains and Piedmont (University of North Carolina Press, 2011).

KAREN OWEN (BA, Recreation Administration, ’76) recently exhibited her watercolors as part of the

Wildcats ON THE MOVE


Wildcats ON THE MOVEWomen’s Wisdom Project through the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. She remembers joining Wes Dempsey and others on walks in Upper Bidwell Park and bicycling through Lower Park in the 1970s. Owen lives in Carmichael and enjoys walking the American River bicycle trail and participating in church activities.

DREW TAKAICHI (BS, Business Administration, ’77) is a judge in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, to which he was appointed in December 2010 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He obtained a juris doctorate from Santa Clara University in 1980 and worked in pri-vate practice in San Jose until his recent appointment.

PEARL YOUNG (BS, Nursing, ’77) recently retired from the UC San Francisco Medical Center operating room after working as a nurse specializing in ortho-pedic surgery for 31 years. During that time, Young worked under three well-known orthopedic chairmen.

“It’s been such a rewarding experience having learned about the many different aspects of this profession dur-ing my career,” she says.

CRAIG FRAZIER (BA, Information and Communication Studies, ’78) designed the “Celebrate Scouting” postage stamp, honoring the Boy Scouts of America 100th anniversary, with the stamp’s first day of issue July 27, 2010. He lives in Mill Valley.

KEVIN DAVIS (BS, Business Administration, ’79) completed his second book on sales effectiveness, Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer’s Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales, which was published by Amacom Books in January 2011. Davis is founder

and president of TopLine Leadership, a sales and sales management training company in Reno, Nevada.

RAND FERRIS (BA, Political Science, ’79) is vice president of operations for Togo’s Eateries. Ferris was previously vice president of franchise opera-tions for International House of Pancakes and has nearly 30 years of experience in executive manage-ment and restaurant operations. He has a master’s degree in busi-ness administration from UCLA. Ferris is married with two sons and lives in Southern California.

1980sSTEVE DEATON (BA, Political Science, ’81) was offi-cially discharged from the military as a chief warrant officer 4 from the Oregon Army National Guard

Catching WingbeatsJohn Hendrickson has spent countless hours hunkered down in

the dampness of a creek bed or enduring the blazing summer sun-shine of a meadow, waiting patiently for the perfect image to cross his lens. And those hours have paid off. His nature photography appears in museums, books, magazines, and calendars.

In 2006 and 2008, Hendrickson (BA, Social Science, ’73; MA, Environmental Education/Biological Sciences, ’76) was one of 20 international nature photographers chosen to compete in the prestigious, month-long Images for Conservation Fund Pro-Tour.

But the photos are secondary to pursuing a life centered in the natural world he captures with each shutter click. “I like photography, but I love nature,” says the 61-year-old Hendrickson, a self-described naturalist. “Everything I do is summed up in that word. I study, celebrate, photograph, and write about the natural world.”

While at Chico State, Hendrickson studied with Thomas L. Rodgers, a noted field biologist and ornithology expert.

“Tom Rodgers had a huge influence on my life,” says Hendrickson. “In many ways he was like a father, a friend, and best of all an incredible teacher. I was his teaching assistant for the

field biology classes for two years. That was a very rich learn-ing opportunity.”

When Hendrickson asked his mentor how he could repay him, Rodgers said, “Just pass it on.”

And that’s what Hendrickson did.

He became a founding member of Bidwell Nature Center, now Chico Creek Nature Center. He earned a master’s degree in environmental education from Antioch College in Ohio and for 30 years was the director of Woodleaf Outdoor School, an environmental camp in rural Yuba County for elementary school children.

Recognition of his talents blossomed. He published photos in National Geographic, Audubon, and other magazines. He also wrote and illustrated books, including Raptors, Listening to Nature, Hawks for Kids, and Butterflies: Grace on the Wing.

Diagnosed with oral cancer, Hendrickson began radiation treat-ment in December 2009. He was strong enough to start walk-ing again just as the beautiful and rare coastal green hairstreak (Callophrys dumetorum) butterfly, in flight briefly each year, emerged on a few San Francisco hills.

“I dragged myself ever so slowly with my gear to the top of a rock outcrop where the butterfly was known to still exist. And yes, it was there,” says Hendrickson. “I was too tired to crawl around, stooping and crouching after it, so I just lay down next to a flower that I saw it was feeding on.

“Almost instantly it landed right next to me. I moved slowly in—to about six inches—and had a perfect light angle,” he says. “That was my first post-cancer butterfly shot and a day I will long remember.”

While Hendrickson is excited about photos scheduled to appear in several publications—most notably on the cover and on seven inside pages of the 2012 Audubon calendar—his main hope is that the images he captures will inspire others to step outside and explore the natural world he treasures.}

Christine Vovakes is a freelance writer based in Northern California.

John Hendrickson’s image of the rare coastal green hairstreak—the first but-terfly photograph he took after recovering from oral cancer.

Fran

cie

Div

ine

28 CHICO STATEments

inactive reserve on Nov. 11, 2010. Deaton flew 650 combat helicopter missions and received the Air Medal for Heroism for saving his crew in Vietnam. A few of his other honors include the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, also earned in Vietnam. He and wife Susan live in Medford, Oregon.

STEPHEN GUTIERREZ (BA, English, ’81) received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for his collection of short stories, Live from Fresno y Los (Bear Star Press, 2009), nominated by Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima, who praises the book as “one of the most compelling col-lections of stories I've read in a long time.” Gutierrez is a professor of English and director of creative writ-ing at CSU, East Bay.

AMBER PALMER (BA, Psychology, ’82) runs Amber Palmer Counseling Center and Gallery in Chico for children and adults, incorporating art as a therapeutic tool. Palmer has been a chairwoman of Chico Art Center, started and acted as regional director of Very Special Arts for developmentally disabled children, and helped form Butte County Watercolor Society. She has been practicing psychotherapy for 25 years.

KARYN HODGENS (BA, Child Development, ’85) says she “has a passion for designing real-world lessons that resonate with kids and their interests.” A career specialist in elementary math-ematics, Hodgens has worked with teachers all over the coun-try showing them how to engage students in meaningful math-

ematics. She and husband John designed KidsSave, a tool to help parents teach money management skills. She is creating Family Math Night kits as a way to build strong family-school partnerships. She lives in Rocklin with her husband and two children. Visit her at www.FamilyMathNight.com.

STEVE DING (BA, Public Administration, ’86) bought Woodbridge Crossing, a steak house in Lodi, from KEILY HERD (BA, Communication Design, ’01; MS, Instructional Design and Technology, ’03) in 2010. The building is a historic saloon built in 1865 that was a Wells Fargo stage stop and home of the original county jail. “Lots of Chico grads come through here,” says Ding. He previously spent 25 years in politics, 16 of them in Washington, D.C.

CAMERON BECK (BS, Business Administration, ’88) is managing director at UBS Financial Services Inc., leading The Beck Wealth Consulting Group team. Beck has 23 years of experience in the securities industry and was named to Barron’s Top 1000 Financial Advisors List in February 2011. He was the only advisor in the Sacramento area to be named to the list. Beck lives in Davis with wife KIM KUKLINSKI BECK (BA, Liberal Studies, ’84; Credential, ’85) and their two daughters.

KAREN BENKE (BA, English, ’88) had her first book, Sister, a poetry collection, published in 2004, and her first nonfiction book for kids, Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing, published in 2010. Rip the Page! is now in its second printing. Benke is currently working on a follow-up interactive creative writing book, Unwrap Your Gift, for older kids (“aka adults,” she says) while dividing her time between being a

California Poet in the Schools, a creative writing coach, and mom—her favorite job—to her 9-year-old son, Collin. She has been married since 1998 to Owen Prell, a screenwriter and arts attorney, and lives with her family in Mill Valley. Her web-site is www.karenbenke.com.

JOHN EVENHUIS (BA, English, ’88) has been work-ing for IBM for five years in software sales with a focus on financial services. He lives in Moraga with his wife of 20 years, Marianne. They have two children, Billy, 15, an avid lacrosse player and high school sophomore, and Beth, 12, who loves to vol-unteer with many different charities.

1990s MARY CALVARIO (BA, Liberal Studies, ’90; Credential, ’91) and husband ALEX CALVARIO (BS, Business Administration, ’91) live in Sacramento. She is an assistant principal at Fern Bacon Middle School of the Sacramento City Unified School District, and he is a project manager for Hewlett-Packard. Mary is a founding mother of Lambda Theta Nu, Sorority Inc., a Latina-based sorority begun in 1986.

MERVIN WRIGHT (BS, Agriculture, ’90) is chair-man of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada. In late 2010, he and 11 other tribal leaders met with President Obama to discuss tribal issues.

Wildcats ON THE MOVE

Ready, Set, Chico! 2011 kicks off the first day of August and visits eight California cities, providing new Chico State stu-

dents, their parents and families, and alumni with the opportu-nity to meet, share, and have great fun. To RSVP to one or more events, please e-mail [email protected] or call 530-898-6472. All events take place 5–8 pm. We do hope you can join us and share your Chico Experience with the newest members of the Chico State family.}

New Chico State students attend the summer 2010 event in Sacramento.

Monday, Aug. 1 .......................... Los AngelesMacArthur Park; picnic area by VIP parking area

Tuesday, Aug. 2 ..........................Costa MesaShiffer Park; Shiffer Park Shelter

Wednesday, Aug. 3 .................... San DiegoWoodstock’s Pizza; on El Cajon

Thursday, Aug. 4 ........................ SacramentoBurger Hut; Roseville

Monday, Aug. 8 ..........................North Bay/MarinParadise Beach Park; meet at parking lot

Tuesday, Aug. 9 .......................... San Francisco/PeninsulaRed Morton Park; picnic area #4

Wednesday, Aug. 10 .................. East Bay/DanvilleOak Hill Park; group picnic area

Thursday, Aug. 11 ....................... South Bay/San JoseAlmaden Lake Park; west entrance parking area

2011 Ready, Set, Chico! Schedule


Touring the Wide

W nderfulW rld

When Mike Lawrence’s

girlfriend, Cari St. Aubin, asked if he wanted to quit his job and tour the country by bike, he simply replied, “Sure.” Four continents and nearly 10,000 miles later, Lawrence (BS, Construction Management, ’06) and St. Aubin find themselves biking through the olive groves of southern Spain, blogging their adventures, and making plans to extend their bike tour of the world indefinitely.

Though both had steady jobs in 2009, when St. Aubin proposed the trip, they realized there was no better time to realize their dreams. They began saving—forgoing heat and haircuts, selling their car and television—and on June 7, 2010, they left their home in Woodside to bike around the world.

They began by biking across the United States. After a quick stop at Niagara Falls and a less-than-luxurious boat tour of the Galapagos Islands, the pair flew to mainland South America. They biked along the western coast through Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina, all the way to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in South America, also known as “the end of the world.”

From there, Lawrence and St. Aubin flew to Japan, where they experienced the catastrophic March 11 earthquake while pick-ing up their luggage at Narita International Airport. They were stranded at the airport with thousands of other travelers for four days, sleeping on the floor, eating provisions of Ritz crackers and

canned bread, and trying to rise above the fear of continual after-shocks and potential nuclear disaster.

Luckily, they were able to board a plane to Portugal, where they spent time recuperating and adjusting their plans. Though

they have already been on the road for a year, Lawrence and St. Aubin plan to extend their tour to explore the rest of Europe, New Zealand, and Canada.

“There is still a lot of the world to see,” says Lawrence, “and seeing from behind the handlebars of a bicycle takes awhile.”}

Katie Mills, Public Affairs and Publications

MORE ONLINE

Follow along with Lawrence and St. Aubin—they chron-icle their travels at their regularly updated blog, Life on a Bike, at carimikebike.blogspot.com. You can also see more photographs of their journey in a slideshow on our website, www.csuchico.edu/pub/cs.

30 CHICO STATEments

Wildcats ON THE MOVEMARK NEVINS (BA, Psychology, ’91; BA, Geography, ’91) is an instrument-rated airplane pilot working on multi-engine and commercial pilot ratings. He hopes that CSU, Chico one day offers a university-based flight school. Nevins mentions pro-fessors Frank Seawall, Ladd Johnson, and Guy King as his mentors.

GREG LOIACONO (attended fall ’89–spring ’92) and TIM BLUHM (attended fall ’89–spring ’92) formed their indie rock band, The Mother Hips, in 1990 while attending Chico State. They recently completed a West Coast tour, which included two sold-out shows at Chico’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Big Room on Dec. 5 and 6, 2010.

LESLIE (MOORE) YOURA (BA, Liberal Studies, ’92) is the owner of Autobody Specialists collision repair center in Chico and is a founding partner of CleanTraks, a company specializing in the research and development of innovative pet products. She is also the author of the new book It’s Up to You: Success Starts at Home and the host of a Christian conservative radio talk show.

GINA (WAGNER) TROMBETTA (BA, Music Education and Performance, ’93) teaches at a per-forming arts school in Brooklyn, New York, and performs with various big bands, brass ensembles, and chamber groups. She has been teaching and performing for the past 15 years in Indiana, Arizona, and New York.

KIRSTEN McCARVER (BS, Business Administration, ’94) and JEN FALCA (BA, Psychology, ’96) recently expanded their business, Ally Kat Couture, offering more boutique-style clothing at low costs. The busi-ness is located in El Dorado Hills, where they both live, McCarver with her husband and three children, and Falca with her husband and two children.

KERRY (MURPHY) WEISS (BS, Business Administration, ’94) makes custom handmade sterling silver jewelry (www.SweetheartSilver.com). “Attending Chico State was the best decision,” she says. “I was so homesick my freshman year and wanted to quit and go home to Southern California. My mom said that I had to stick it out for one year, and if I was still unhappy, I could go home. By then, I had joined the Marketing Association and made friends. I started to get the lay of the land around town and was learning how the campus worked and how to be a good student. I feel that Chico State made me who I am today, without a doubt.”

GARY PARSONS (BS, Health Science, ’97) is a fire-fighter/paramedic with the city of North Las Vegas. He is pursuing a master’s degree in leadership.

OSCAR DE LA TORRE (BA, Political Science, ’95) was re-elected to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board. “We are implementing some very innovative initiatives to close the academic achievement gap and also leading the region in sustainability plans in our $298 million construc-tion project,” he says. De La Torre is also the founder and director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, www.picoyouth.org/staff.html. He thanks Chela Patterson and the other staff members at the Educational Opportunity Program for their sup-port during his school years, saying that they had a major influence on the leader he is today.

ROBB WOLF (BS, Chemistry, ’98) released his new book, The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, in September 2010, which swiftly became a New York Times bestseller. Wolf was previously

a research biochemist, California State Powerlifting champion, and an ama-teur kickboxer. He is co-owner of Paleo Brands and of NorCal Strength & Conditioning, a fitness cen-ter rated by Men’s Health magazine as one of the “top 30 gyms in America.” Wolf lives in Chico with wife Nicki and can be found at www.robbwolf.com.

CARLY (BA, Psychology, ’99) and WILLIAM (MA, Anthropology, ’08) ANDERSON welcomed their first child on June 29, 2010, in Melrose, Massachusetts. They live in Boston.

2000sGREG HULSE (BS, Business Administration, ’00) is vice president of sales with Experience In Software (also known as Project KickStart), a project manage-ment software company in Berkeley. He recently attended the world expo in Shanghai. Since leaving Chico State, he has worked with Siebel Systems, com-pleted a master’s degree in Asia-Pacific economic relations, and taught at uni-versities in China. He lives in Albany with wife Camilla and daughter Jennifer.

ROSEANN (LANGLOIS) KEEGAN (BA, Journalism, ’00) is a donor relations writer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and an associate editor of Nevada Silver & Blue, the university’s alumni magazine. She is also a health journalism fellow for the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

JERRY NOBLE JR. (BA, History, ’01; MA, Physical Education, ’05) is an instructor and head coach for cross country and track and field at Santa Rosa Junior College. He was Northern California Coach of the Year in 2006. Noble and wife LYNDSEY KUEHN NOBLE (BA, Liberal Studies, ’05) were both NCAA All-Americans in track and field during their time at Chico State. Lyndsey teaches at Almaden Country School in San Jose.

CHRISTINA (RICHEY) LOREN (BA, Economics, ’02) works for NBC Bay Area as a meteorologist. Most recently she worked as traffic anchor and weekend morning meteorologist for WFOR in Miami. While there, she received an Emmy nomination for a series of public service announcements urging motorists to drive safely. She was also honored with the Power 30 Under 30 Award for Miami. Loren has a meteorologi-cal certificate from Mississippi State.

ERIC POOLER (BS, Agricultural Business, ’02) is the vineyard manager at Raymond Vineyards, part of Boisset Family Estates. He oversees 300 acres and a dozen local winegrowers, and is managing the company’s transition to organic and biodynamic certification. Pooler has worked for the collection of wineries since 2008. The vineyard is located in the Russian River Valley and is committed to eco-friendly farming practices.

SCOTT THOM (BA, Physical Education, ’02) is the interim head strength coach of the UC Berkeley men’s basketball team and the strength coach for the school’s track and field team. Thom was formerly head coach of the Vintage High School boys’ basketball team in Napa and was named Coach of the Year in 2009–2010 after taking the team to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs for the first time in 10 years. He gives techniques and strategies for basketball train-ing on his blog, scottthom.com.

TRAVIS POWELL (BA, International Relations, ’03) enlisted in the Army in 2004. He is chief warrant officer 2 and flies UH-60 Black Hawk Medevac heli-copters. He has completed two deployments, to Iraq March 2007 through July 2008 and to Afghanistan September 2009 through September 2010, flying more than 500 Medevac missions in total.

JAMES LODGE (BS, Construction Management, ’07) and VANESSA CARNES (BA, Journalism, ’07) met at Madison Bear Garden in Chico in fall 2005 and have recently announced their engagement. The couple is planning a fall 2011 wed-ding in San Diego.

MOLLY MAHONEY (BA, Music, ’07) was the first-place winner in last year’s Young Artist Competition in the college/university division. The mezzo-soprano and Chico native sang four songs in the North State Symphony’s February 2011 concert, Beauty Rising. Mahoney recently toured the Bay Area with the San Francisco Opera Guild, performing the role of Cinderella in an English translation of Rossini’s La Cenerentola. She is also the lead female vocalist with The George Cole Quintet and The Skyliners Big Band.

LINDSAY NELSON (BA, Psychology, ’08) won the 2010 Long Beach International City Bank Marathon in Long Beach. Her winning time to complete the 26.2-mile course was 2:45:08—22 minutes ahead of the runner-up.

ROBERT RAMOS (BA, English, ’08) works in Dublin for Republic Document Management, a legal services vendor specializing in workers’ compensation. He pre-viously worked as an account manager at ABC Legal of Oakland and will attend the Santa Clara University School of Law in fall 2011.

CHRISTINE AMOROSE (BA, Journalism, ’09) back-packed through Europe for five weeks after graduation before returning to the United States to accept a job at a high-tech public relations firm. However, she decided to continue traveling and moved to the French Riviera to pursue a freelance writing career. She is currently spending the year in Australia explor-ing the continent and working as a freelance writer. Amorose blogs regularly at C’est Christine, www.cestchristine.com.

SARAH HUBBART (BS, Agriculture, ’09) is the communications director of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. She manages all aspects of the nonprofit organization’s communications strategy. Hubbart worked as an intern for the organization in summer 2009 before being hired as the full-time communi-cations coordinator and then promoted to her cur-rent position.


Wildcats ON THE MOVEJACKEY HUMPHREY-STRAUB (BA, Social Work, ’09) is a client services advocate at Catalyst Domestic Violence Services in Chico and also a member of the Stonewall Alliance Center’s board of directors. She helped plan Coming Out for Art for the National Coming Out Day in October 2010. While attending Chico State she was involved with the Social Work Club and the Associated Students Women’s Center.

HIRONORI MII (BS, Business Administration, ’09), a yo-yo’er for 13 years, recently traveled from his home-town in Nagoya, Japan, to judge the 2010 National Yo-Yo Championship in Chico. He says what drew him to Chico State originally was the fact that the national competition is held in Chico.

JESSICA NESBIT (BA, Liberal Studies and Social Science, ’09) is currently in the California Energy Service Corps, a yearlong training program. The corps is a partnership among the Watsonville non-profit Central Coast Energy Services, the California Conservation Corps, and Americorps. The program

teaches green construction practices, office adminis-tration, and how to educate the community on ways to save energy.

Marriages/AnniversariesJIM ALLGAIER (AB, Marketing, ’61) and wife Marge recently celebrated their 50th anniversary. They were married Jan. 29, 1961, in Richmond, Virginia. Allgaier is a member of Phi Kappa Tau. He retired as store manager after working 36 ½ years for the J.C. Penney Company. She is retired after many

years in special educa-tion. They were hon-ored at an anniversary party hosted by their sons and daughters-in-law. The Allgaiers have two granddaughters and two great-grand-daughters and reside in Portland, Oregon.

JANICE (PHIBBS) KLOPFENSTEIN (BA, Social Work, ’81) and husband Lee celebrated 30 years of marriage Feb. 6, 2011. She is the director of social services at Boundary Community Hospital in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. He is retired.

LISA JONSSON (BA, Geography, ’98) married Joseph C. Jackson III on Aug. 28, 2010, in Santa Cruz. She is a Realtor, and he is the COO of a nonprofit organization. They live in Sacramento.}

Anna Harris, Melissa Cheatham, Cassandra Jones, and Katie Mills, Public Affairs and Publications

The View From Space

Aseries of interviews with the ultimate explorers—three astronauts who commanded Apollo aircrafts—led Land

Wilson (BA, French, ’93) to share their sense of awe and respect for our planet with a younger generation.

“From space, you can see pollution on Earth in the form of discolored waters created by people in populated areas; it flows out into the oceans,” Capt. Walter M. Schirra Jr., com-mander of Apollo 7, told Wilson. “And when you see that our ozone layer is no more than an eggshell around Earth, you realize that humans had better learn to be more careful with it.”

Upon hearing that, Wilson immediately began work on a children’s bedtime story designed to share both the wonder and responsibility of living on this planet. The result, more than a decade in the making, is Sofia’s Dream, published by Little Pickle Press in November 2010. The book was named a Gold Winner by the Mom’s Choice Awards in 2011.

Since those original astro-naut interviews, Wilson has had two children of his own and become a stay-at-home dad. “In my book dedica-tion, I refer to my kids as my ‘everyday inspiration,’ ” he says. “Kids in general are great at inspiring adults. Their fresh outlook on life is won-derful. They get how impor-tant it is to protect the Earth. Being around kids who want to make a difference inspires me and gives me hope.”

In addition to raising his kids and writing, Wilson presents “Earth Talks With Kids,” environmental educa-tion assemblies, at elementary schools. He also manages two

Victorian homes that he restored during a 17-year span of managing pri-vately held companies, and does a variety of projects for clients.

Wilson prepared for a career in arts manage-ment at Chico State. He spent a year studying at Sorbonne University in Paris, and he served as chairman of cultural affairs for Associated Students. “I loved organizing events and making things happen,” he said of planning concerts on campus. In fact, the first book he wrote was a how-to guide titled To Make Things Happen. At first, writing was just a means for commu-

nicating Wilson’s ideas. But over time, it became his “favored form of artistic expression.”

He is now immersed in the medium. “I usually have several projects going at all times,” he says. He is working on a nonfiction book based on astronaut interviews, the first book of an environmental tril-ogy with his daughter as the main character, and an environmental television series.

Wilson’s creative work is guided by one primary mission: motivating children to protect our planet. “The more children who learn how to make good environmental choices now,” he says, “the more adults we’ll have in the future making good choices.”}


32 CHICO STATEments

In Memoriam–Alumni1930sILA RHODES TURNER (BA, English and Credential,

’35) died Dec. 12, 2010, at age 96. Turner taught for

34 years, retiring from the Millbrae School District

in 1975. She then moved to Red Bluff and became

the education chairman of the Kelly-Griggs House

Museum, arranging tours and exhibits for children.

She is survived by her husband of 74 years, Leslie;

son Larry; four grandchildren; and eight great-

grandchildren.

1940sKATHERINE BRUGGER (BA, Education and

Credential, ’43) died Dec. 9, 2010, at age 89. She

taught second grade at Quincy Elementary before

her marriage in 1945 to Joseph Brugger. She loved

reading and quilting. Brugger is predeceased by

husband Joseph and survived by daughters Louise,

Margaret, and Myra; son Joseph; and eight grand-

children.

1950sGUST ZAGORITES (BA, Industrial Arts, ‘52;

Credential, ’53) died Jan. 25, 2011, at age 82. He

held various teaching positions, his longest being a

third-grade teacher in the Cloverdale Unified School

District. The son of Greek immigrants, Zagorites

liked to quote his father on education, saying,

“Education is the stepping stone across the sea of

life.” He is survived by wife Marion and daughters

Deana, Elene, Kia, and Katerena.

1960sGEORGE RICCOMINI (BA, Business Administration,

’64) died Nov. 25, 2010, at age 70. He owned

and operated Bruno’s Garage Dodge and Chrysler

Automotive Dealership in Mount Shasta until his

retirement in 2004. He is survived by wife CARROL

(BA, Elementary Education, ’63); sons KALE (BA,

Physical Education, ’91; MA, Physical Education,

’00) and STEVE (BS, Recreation Administration, ’95;

MA, Recreation Administration, ’00), who works

in the Department of Recreational Sports at CSU,

Chico; and five grandchildren.

ROBERT W. ANDERSON (BA, Physical Education,

’65) died Nov. 21, 2010, at age 72. After graduat-

ing from CSU, Chico, he held various teaching

jobs throughout his career, and retired as supervi-

sor of parole for Douglas County Department of

Corrections. He is survived by wife Addie, daughters

Cindy and Garnet, and 11 grandchildren.

JOHN PETER SPANGER (BA, English, ’65; MA,

English, ’67) died Nov. 18, 2010, at age 74. He

served in the U.S. Air Force and taught English for

more than 40 years at Contra Costa Community

College in San Pablo. He was a literary scholar and

inspired his students with his passion for the written

word. He is survived by wife Mildred, daughters

Andrea and Catherine, son Christopher, and four

grandchildren.

DENNY A. BRUCE (BA, Psychology, ’68) died July

13, 2010, at age 73. Throughout his career, he

served the citizens of Butte County in many ways,

including as a psychiatric social worker, a clinical

and forensics consultant, and a licensed clinical

social worker. During his retirement, he volunteered

as an ambassador at Bidwell Golf Course. He is sur-

vived by wife Sue, two daughters, and two grand-

daughters.

KENNETH REIMERS (BS, Agriculture, ’68) died

Sept. 17, 2010, at age 65. He worked for the Butte

County Assessor’s Office for 37 years before retire-

ment in 2009. He was known for his random gifts

of kindness—including delivering hundreds of bags

of mandarins each year to friends, co-workers, and

family. He is survived by wife Bonnie, daughter

Jennifer, and son Kevin.

1970sTIM NOBRIGA (BA, Physical Education, ’74) died

Feb. 14, 2011, at age 60. A former standout diver on

CSU, Chico’s national championship team, he was

a diving coach and swim instructor at Santa Rosa

Junior College for more than 35 years. He is sur-

vived by wife Sue, whom he met in a CSU, Chico

kinesiology lab on Valentine’s Day in 1972.

Wildcats IN OUR THOUGHTS

NAME

ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP

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GRAD YEAR MAJOR ACTIVITIES OR AFFILIATIONS

JOINT MEMBER NAME

MEMBERSHIP TYPE:

❑ Young Alumni Single: $25 ❑ Young Alumni Joint: $35

❑ Annual Single: $45 ❑ Annual Joint: $70

❑ Young Alumni Life: $450 (paid in full or 3 payments of $150)

❑ Life Single: $750 (paid in full or 3 payments of $250)

❑ Life Joint: $825 (paid in full or 3 payments of $275)

METHOD OF PAYMENT ❑ Check: Payable to CSU, Chico Alumni Association ❑ Credit Card

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Join by mAil or web! CSU, Chico Alumni Association California State University, Chico Chico, CA 95929-0050

www.csuchico.edu/alumni

Phone: 800-598-6472

Stay Connected! Join the Alumni Association now!

Visit the alumni website at www.csuchico.edu/alumni for a complete listing of member benefits, includ-ing library privileges at any of the 23 CSU campuses. Members also receive Connected, the members-only publication.


LANCE W. HANSON (BA, Liberal Studies, ’77) died

Nov. 26, 2010. He worked as a teacher in Twenty-

nine Palms, then taught second grade in Grass

Valley for more than 18 years before becoming a

middle school principal in Napa. Hanson’s fam-

ily and friends will remember trips to Lake Tahoe,

backyard Wiffle Ball, and poolside chats with him.

He is survived by wife Debbie; children Chris, Leah,

Brent, and Derek; stepchildren Nicolas, Carlie, and

Tony; and seven grandchildren.

1980sRANDALL HARRIS (BA, Recreation Administration,

’80) died Nov. 2, 2010, at age 56 in a motorcycle

accident. He was the owner of Mel Harris Jewelry

Manufacturing Co. Harris’s wife, Josie, is from the

Philippines, and together they visited her family

there every year. He loved the outdoors and estab-

lished small tracts of timberland on the island of

Palawan in the Philippines. His longtime friend and

CSU, Chico roommate, GARY LISS (BS, Recreation

Administration, ’79), says, “Randy and I often talked

about how much we loved our time as students at

Chico State, and I know he would want me to thank

the University for a great education and a wonderful

student experience.” Harris is survived by wife Josie,

mother Patricia, and stepfather Jack.

1990sGEORGE FLATH JR. (BA, Liberal Studies, ’91;

Credential, ’92) died Jan. 30, 2011, at age 43. He

taught fifth grade at Hoover Elementary in Palo Alto

and was well known and loved by his students.

“Everyone just loved that guy,” says his father,

George. “Everywhere he went he was like a shining

star.” He is survived by partner Randy Preece and

parents George and Jeanette.

2010sTERESA MARY WALSH (BA, Liberal Studies, ’10)

died Nov. 23, 2010, at age 24. She graduated from

Concord High School and attended Diablo Valley

College before transferring to CSU, Chico. She was

enrolled in the credential program and worked with

an Easter Seals program as an associate teacher at the

time of her death. She is survived by mother Laurie,

father Don, and sisters Robyn and Erin.

JESSE KOHEN (attended fall ’08–fall ’10) died

Oct. 19, 2010, at the age of 26. After graduating from

Pleasant Valley High School in 2003, he worked as

an instructional aide at Loma Vista School and PV

High, and coached football at PV High. Kohen was a

kinesiology student who planned to major in Adapted

Physical Education. He was involved in programs

for physical education teacher preparation, adapted

physical education, outdoor education, and special

education, and he worked with children in the

department’s autism clinic. He is survived by parents

Bob and Kay, brother Casey, and grandmother Polly.

BRADLEY JAY NALBONE (attended spring ’08–fall

’10) died Oct. 9, 2010, at age 25. He transferred to

CSU, Chico from Butte College in 2008 to major in

psychology and music. He was a guitarist and active

community volunteer who was very interested in

music therapy. He is survived by parents Ken and

Lisa, and grandmothers Jane and Dot.

JODIE EMIKO YAMAGUCHI (attended summer ’08–

fall ’10) died Nov. 17, 2010, at age 29. She gradu-

ated from Lincoln High School in Stockton in 1999

and entered the credential program at CSU, Chico

with a degree in history from Humboldt State. She

was diagnosed with a brain tumor during that time

but continued to pursue her teaching credential for as

long as her health permitted. Her goal was to inspire

and teach history to high school students. She is

survived by parents Norma and Robert, and brothers

Jeffrey and Scott.}

Anna Harris and Cassandra Jones, Public Affairs and Publications

Wildcats IN OUR THOUGHTS

Longtime farmer and conservation-ist BERNARD (BARNEY) FLYNN JR.

(MA, English, ’69) died Oct. 10, 2010, in Sacramento from heart failure. He was 75.

Flynn was the third of 14 children, born in Downey in 1935 to Bernard and Miriam Flynn. His Northern California roots date back to age 10, when his father bought the Stanford Ranch in Vina. Flynn and his siblings spent sum-mers there until 1956, when the ranch was sold to an order of monks, becom-ing the Abbey of New Clairvaux.

After his graduation from Harvard University, Flynn began work manag-ing his family’s large farm properties in Northern California with his brother Vincent. He had two children with wife RAMONA RODRIGUEZ (Credential, ’56; MA, History, ’84).

Flynn eventually moved to Chico and refurbished the Little Chapman Mansion, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the second oldest home in Chico, with wife Michele Shover, pro-fessor emerita, Political Science. He also started Media Access Project, special-izing in promotional materials for non-profit and other organizations.

When his brother died in a plane acci-dent in 1986, Flynn returned to manag-ing his family’s Sierra View Farms. The intersection of ranching with his inter-ests in social and environmental issues inspired Flynn to found the nonprofit Sacramento River Partners with JOHN CARLON (BS, Agriculture, ’80) in 1988.

Now called River Partners, the orga-nization’s mission is “to create wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment.” It combines techniques used in farming with restoration ecol-ogy to restore large swaths of riparian areas along Central Valley streams and rivers. These areas serve as buffer zones that protect farmland from flooding. To date, River Partners has invested more than $45 million in restoration and conservation, restoring more than 6,000

acres and planting more than a million trees and shrubs with partners includ-ing CSU, Chico; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the California Department of Fish and Game; and many others.

Flynn served as vice president of River Partners for eight years and remained on the board of directors throughout his retirement. “We took restoration projects to a new level of scale,” he said of his work with River Partners. “We were unique in that we owned tractors, we hired farmers, and we knew how to regenerate large tracts of fallow land into viable habitat. We resolved the ten-sion between biology and farming by making them work together.”

At the age of 71, Flynn was a final-ist for the Purpose Prize, which honors people over 60 who are “combining their passion and experience for social good.” River Partners has remembered Flynn with the Bernard F. Flynn Jr. Wildland Preserve, a 259-acre area along the Sacramento River formerly called the Del Rio Preserve.

Flynn is survived by partner Nancy Plesha, daughter Elena, son Bernard III, and two grandchildren.

Memorial gifts can be sent to the family’s Miriam R. and Bernard F. Flynn Scholarship Fund for Tehama County farmworkers and their children. For more information, contact Daria Booth, 530-898-4796, [email protected].}


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34 CHICO STATEments

In Memoriam–Faculty and StaffBILL BROWN, Industrial Technology, died Jan. 29, 2011, at the age of 81. He earned his doctor-ate at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He was hired as chair of the Department of Industrial Technology at Chico State in 1967 and taught at the University until his retirement in 1991. He also served for 19 years on the Butte College Board of Trustees; was a member of the Rotary, Elks, Kiwanis, and Masonic clubs; and wrote a college textbook on technical writing. He is sur-vived by wife Judith; children David, Nancy, and Carol; and stepdaughter Susan.

PHYLLIS HELEN BUSH, Academic Affairs, died Nov. 12, 2010, at the age of 88. She earned her EdD from the University of Nebraska, was an instructor in the U.S. Coast Guard, and taught children and at the University of Nebraska before coming to Chico State in 1957. Bush taught in the Department of Education, and was dean of Learning Resources and associate vice president of Academic Affairs. She led the effort to computerize the library catalog—more than 1 million items—and was on the Instructional Media Task Force that laid the groundwork for Chico State’s excellence in instructional media and distance learning. She was active with Chico School Women and as chairper-son of the board of the Chico Area Recreation and Parks District. Bush is survived by son David and grandson Nathaniel.

HANS JOACHIM DAUMER, Management, died Jan. 12, 2011, at the age of 73. He immigrated to the United States from Germany when he was 16 and received a degree in industrial engineer-ing from the General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. Daumer worked for Cadillac before getting a PhD in business from Case Western Reserve University. He taught management at Chico State from 1969 until his retirement in 1992. He was “very interested in group dynamics and instrumental in the development of the early management curriculum in the college,” says col-league Mark Levine, management professor.

TOM FERRARA, Civil Engineering, died Nov. 13, 2010, at the age of 63. He began his career at Chico State as an assistant professor of civil engi-neering in 1971 before completing his doctorate in civil engineering at UC Davis. Ferrara chaired the Department of Civil Engineering from 1984 to 1993 and retired in 2002. He taught through the Faculty Early Retirement Program until 2007 and served as interim chair in 2008–2009. Ferrara was faculty advisor of the CSU, Chico student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers for many years and a hospice volunteer for 15 years. He is survived by son Tony, daughter Norae, and three grandchildren.

ROY GRAY SR., Plant Operations, died Sept. 18, 2010, at the age of 71. He served in the U.S. Army, worked for McDonnell Douglas as an indus-trial engineer, and owned a Southern California roofing company with his brother before mov-ing to Chico in 1978. He then worked in Plant Operations until his retirement in 2001. He loved to travel with the Elks RV Club, spend time with

grandchildren and friends, and ride his Harley. Gray is survived by wife Linda; children Cindy, Kathy, Diane, and Roy; and four grandchildren.

WAYNE HAMILTON, Custodial Services, died Dec. 27, 2010, at the age of 80. He served in the U.S. Army, as the lead custodian at Continental Nut for more than 20 years, and was retired from Custodial Services at Chico State. He was an avid bowler and enjoyed camping, gardening, and fishing. He was preceded in death by wife Donna and is survived by daughter Leona, son Phillip, and four grandchildren.

WILLIAM “BILL” HAVERSTOCK, Meriam Library, died Nov. 4, 2010, at the age of 92. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and had degrees from Macalester College, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. Haverstock was a librar-ian at Chico State from 1964 until his retirement as a cataloger in 1980, and did job exchanges at Uxbridge College in London and Plattsburg State University of New York. After his retire-ment, Haverstock became a certified braillist for the Washington Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Seattle. He moved to northern Virginia in 1991. He is predeceased by first wife Myrtle and survived by wife Ann, daughter Miriam, one grandson, and three great-grandchildren.

ROBERT “BOB” PALMER (BS, Agriculture, ’61), Agriculture, died Jan. 13, 2011, at the age of 74. He studied crop science and was one of the early graduates from the College of Agriculture. He worked at the University Farm from 1963 until his retirement in 2000, serving many roles, including general manager for more than 15 years. Palmer is survived by wife Susan; children Cindy, Melissa, and Bradley; and grandson Ryan.

FLOYD REESE, Chemistry, died Nov. 21, 2010, at the age of 93. He taught organic chemistry and biochemistry at Chico State from 1956 until his retirement in 1981 and served as department chair from 1963 to 1967. Reese helped develop a series of experiments for the organic chemis-

try lab to provide more interesting and relevant experiences for biology majors. He received several research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and had a doctorate from Purdue University. Reese was predeceased by wife Georgiana and is survived by children Carolyn, Norm, and Jo; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

COLLEEN SANTANNA (Credential, ’94), Print Services, died June 4, 2010, at the age of 53. She worked at the Chico State Print Shop for 17 years while studying to become an elementary school teacher and health educator. Santanna then taught for more than 10 years. She is sur-vived by daughter Ryan.

LOWELL STRATTON, English, died Feb. 3, 2011, at the age of 82. He got his BA in English from Iowa State University at Ames, served one tour of duty with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and then pursued an MA in English from the University of Arizona at Tucson and a PhD specializing in Victorian literature from Stanford University. He taught in the Department of English from 1960 to 1994. Stratton is survived by children Michael, Ann, Kevin, and Geoffrey and five grandchildren.

JUDY ZACHAI (MA, Psychology, ’78), Testing Office, died Nov. 22, 2010, at the age of 63. Zachai began working on campus in 1971 in the Office of Institutional Research. She joined the Testing Office in 1981 after a year working with the U.S. Navy as a research psychologist. She retired in 2010 as Testing Office director. Zachai had an EdD from the University of San Francisco. She hosted CSU conferences on testing, consulted with the Educational Testing Service, and was a founding member of the National College Testing Association. Zachai believed that a good book was a sacred thing, loved dance and dancing, and was happiest staring at the ocean. She is sur-vived by daughter Max.}



MARILYN WARRENS has been an enthusiastic supporter of everything theatre for decades. An alum herself, Marilyn seldom misses a Chico State theatre performance. She knows almost every performer by name, and has been a frequent contributor to theatre and many other campus programs.

Donors like Marilyn received a nice gift from Congress this year—through Dec. 31, a person of a certain age can donate directly from their retirement accounts to a nonprofit and not have to pay taxes on that transfer. She took that opportunity to donate $100,000 to establish the Marilyn Warrens Musical Theatre Endowment. Half of the proceeds will go toward scholarships, and the other half will support the Musical Theatre program, perhaps helping to fund a tour like this year’s trip by theatre students to New York City.

Please ask your professional tax advisor if a charitable IRA transfer can work for you. To learn more about creative charitable giving, call our Office of Planned Giving at 877-862-4426 or e-mail Gary Salberg at [email protected].

Photo: Cast members from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, this year’s spring musical, treat Marilyn Warrens to a dance before their opening show.

36 CHICO STATEments

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