Class Notes—Winter 2019

1975

Carol Pinegar, Portland, although retired, is a Peace Corps volunteer teaching health in Guatemalan schools.

1976

Don Hansbrough, Seattle, published Just as Happy, Fairytales (CreateSpace Publishing, 2018). Don’s new book of original, illustrated fairy tales appeals to both adults and children.

1977

Tom Fleischner, Ph.D., Prescott, Ariz., is faculty emeritus at Prescott College, where he’s worked for 29 years. He is executive director of the Natural History Institute, and coordinates the conservation biology, natural history, and ecology areas within the environmental studies curriculum. He is editor of the new anthology, Nature, Love, Medicine: Essays on Wildness and Wellness (Torrey House Press).

1978

Bill Bradshaw, Sheridan, Wyo., retired from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department after 31 years as a fisheries management biologist. After Evergreen, he earned his Master of Science in fisheries science from Louisiana State University.

Tina Hoggatt, Issaquah, earned her MFA in children’s writing from Hamline University. She served on the advisory committee and as illustrator coordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators for Western Washington. Her public art is installed in Seattle’s Safeco Field, a Portland light-rail station, and in schools and civic structures.

Dave Neupert, Port Angeles, was a private practice attorney at Platt Irwin Law Firm before serving as a court commissioner and member of the Washington State District and Municipal Court Judges Association, a certified arbitrator, and as a judge pro-tem.

1979

Joyce McConnell, J.D., L.L.M., Morgantown, W.Va., is provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at West Virginia University. She previously served as dean of WVU College of Law. She was 2014 Public Servant of the Year—West Virginia Association for Justice. She earned her law degree from Antioch School of Law, and a Masters in Law from Georgetown Law Center.

1981

David Mazor, Amherst, Mass., donated $200,000 in books to public libraries in Mississippi through his nonprofit organization, Reader to Reader, enabling 20,000 children to have a new book.

Marg Nelson, Vancouver, serves on the board of trustees for Salmon Creek Hospital Foundation. She’s also a spiritual care volunteer at Legacy Salmon Creek, a member of Stephen Ministries, a certified meditation instructor for Chopra Center University, and serves on the City of Vancouver/Clark County Cable Commission.

Cathy (Loftus) Shochet, Dayton, is chief deputy treasurer for Columbia County, and volunteers for Greyhound Pets, Inc.

1982

Cindy Brooks, Bellingham, is a business advisor with Washington Small Business Development Center and the Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County. Her MBA in sustainable systems is from Presidio Graduate School.

1983

Kimberly Martus, Anchorage, Alaska, is Tribal Appellate Court administrator for Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from University of New Mexico School of Law, is the mother of two and grandparent of two.

1984

Linda Poole, Malta, Mont., is the executive director of San Isabel Land Protection Trust. She owned a 320-acre homestead ranch while also consulting for ranchers and The Nature Conservancy. She founded the Montana Ranchers Stewardship Alliance.

1985

Kathleen Drew, Olympia, was appointed chair of the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council by Gov. Jay Inslee. A former state senator, she worked with Washington State Department of Licensing’s Business and Professions Division, for the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, and for Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration.

Michael McConnell, Waynesville, N.C., is a civil attorney. He served as attorney for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for the Idaho legislature as senior legal analyst. He earned his Juris Doctor from Seattle University School of Law.

1986

Shanna Stevenson, Olympia, retired from the Washington State Historical Society, where she coordinated the Washington Women’s History Consortium. For 20 years before that, she worked in historic preservation with the Thurston Regional Planning Council.

1987

Chris Maynard, Olympia, an artist for Featherfolio, LLC, recently completed a large piece in Philips Arena for the Atlanta Hawks NBA team; and a series for the Zhejiang Natural History Museum in Hangzhou, China. “Using the Evergreen interdisciplinary approach, I combine my science and art backgrounds into a new art form celebrated worldwide.”

Eric Strandberg, Seattle, a senior commercial lighting specialist with Seattle City Light’s Lighting Design Lab, was recently featured in a “Seattle City (spot)Light” on powerlines.seattle.gov.

1988

Bret Lunsford, Anacortes, is a musician and founding member of Beat Happening and D+. He owns and operates indie label Knw-Yr-Own Records and manages What the Heck Fest, an annual indie music festival. He’s a writer of cultural criticism, author of Images of America, Anacortes (Arcade Publishing, 2009), and the Anacortes Museum education curator.

K. Alexandra Onno, Ph.D., L.M.H.C., Shoreline, is chair of the Master of Arts in Counseling at Saint Martin’s University, where she leads accreditation and annual assessment activities. She earned her master’s from the Leadership Institute of Seattle, Bastyr University; and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California.

Andy Smallman, Seattle, is founder of the Puget Sound Community School in Seattle, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.

1989

Julie Knott, Port Townsend, is interim executive director for the nonprofit Clallam County Economic Development Corporation. She is a founder of the Jefferson County Community Arts and Recreation Alliance, helped implement the Puget Sound Water Quality Program, and was project manager for Wescom Capital, Inc.

1990

Suzanne Freeman, Bangkok, is married with three kids, and is a primary teacher at the British International School in Bangkok.

1991

Holly Berchet-Hall MiT, Lacey, is Teacher of the Year at Chinook Middle School, where she is a STEAM Educator (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math).

Jana Dean, Olympia, a middle-school teacher, received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, in addition to a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching.

Elizabeth Woody, Portland, is the first Native American to be named Oregon Poet Laureate. Her poetry reflects her close ties with her family, the natural world, and her people. She also illustrated a Sherman Alexie poetry collection.

1992

Cami Feek, Tumwater, was named interim commissioner at Washington State Employment Security Department by Gov. Inslee. Formerly director of Paid Family and Medical Leave, she served as operations director for the Attorney General’s Office.

Andrew Hamlin, Seattle, is the film critic for the Northwest Asian Weekly. His work has appeared in the Village Voice, Rolling Stone, Seattle Times, San Diego Reader, Goldmine, Seattle Weekly, The SunBreak, and others.

Alex Lubin, Albuquerque, N.M., is associate provost for faculty development at the University of New Mexico. A professor of American Studies, he served as director of the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he launched the region’s first M.A. program in transnational American studies.

1993

Jennifer Kuhns, Elma, owner of JK Mosaic, is working on several public-art projects: a project for a Port Orchard skate park, a mosaic inlay and metal banner for Olympia, and a yearlong project for the City of Bellingham.

1994

Camilla Eckersley, Seattle, co-founded Seattle-based Prairie Underground, a clothing line featuring domestically sourced fabrics and organic textiles.

Eric Weppler, Tumwater, was a U.S. Army staff physician pathologist until 2016, when he retired after 20 years of service. He is now a pathologist with Cellnetix Pathology, and medical laboratory director for Grays Harbor Community Hospital and Willapa Harbor Hospital.

1995

Michelle Anderson, Tacoma, is a senior specialist in Brand Marketing and Partnerships for Zillow, where she built a robust integrations program.

Tim Cross, Seattle, completed a post-graduate program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and taught at Edmonds Community College. A full-time artist, he coordinated the art exhibition program at Sea-Tac airport.

1996

Wayne Au MiT, Seattle, was named interim dean of diversity and equity and chief diversity officer for UW Bothell, coalescing structure to support students, staff, and faculty.

Fionn Meade, Seattle, is an independent curator based in New York and Seattle. He was artistic director and senior curator at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and a faculty member at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. Recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Curatorial Fellowship, Fionn earned an MFA in poetry from Columbia University.

Steve Ward, Centralia, vice president of finance and administration for Centralia College since 1993, is credited with transforming the campus. He was honored with the center of campus being renamed Ward Plaza.

1997

Adam Fenster, Bothell, is Edmonds Community College’s head coach of women’s soccer. He was named Western Region and NWAC Coach of the Year in 2009, and served as head coach for both Bellevue College’s men’s soccer team and for Evergreen’s women’s soccer team.

1998

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Chicago, Ill., is a contemporary artist, teacher, and critic in painting and printmaking at Yale. She earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is included in the collections of the Walker Art Center; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; DePaul University Art Museum; and the University of Chicago.

1999

Ryan Gallagher, Newtown, Pa., an attorney and realtor, served on the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors, and is the father of two. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Widener University.

Tim Holman MiT, Louisville, Ky., teaches social studies at DuPont Manual High School and was named the Evergreen Distinguished PK-12 Educator of the Year for 2011.

Dusty Pierpoint, Lacey, is retiring from the Lacey Police Department after 32 years. He served as Lacey’s Chief of Police for 13 years.

Dr. Elizabeth Switaj, Majuro, MH, is vice president for academic and student affairs at the College of the Marshall Islands, serving an indigenous population on Majuro Atoll and beyond. She previously served as social media editor for Poets’ Quarterly and managing editor at Irish Pages at Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

2000

Jennifer Armbrust, Portland, founder and director of the consulting firm, Sister, and the online Feminist Business School, cultivates teaching and tools for the feminine economy. Her site states, “This is about transforming our relationship to money, to work, to the earth, to our bodies, and to each other.”

Ned Pittman, Olympia, a biologist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, is in his second year at Evergreen’s MES program.

2001

J.R. Morgan, Los Angeles, Calif., was elected partner in the law firm Andrews Kurth Kenyon. J.R. earned his Juris Doctorate in 2009 from UCLA and represents private fund sponsors.

2002

Jennifer Langbehn, Olympia, is a Snohomish County Superior Court judge. She focuses her legal practice on family law and dependency matters with the Law Offices of Moriarty and Associates in Mill Creek. She earned her law degree at Seattle University.

2004

Teresa Berntsen, Olympia, is director of the Washington State Department of Licensing. Previously, she was director of the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises, leading the state’s efforts to increase diversity in state procurements.

2005

Melissa Avril Harris, Olympia, is production manager for the Lakewood Playhouse. She earned her Master of Television and Film Production with a focus in screenwriting and directing at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

Nathaniel R. Hull, Portland, Maine, was elected partner in the law firm Verrill Dana.

Renata Rollins, Olympia, was elected to the Olympia City Council for a four-year term.

Guy Simpson MiT, Olympia, is president of the Washington Activity Coordinators Association.

2006

Ben Dilbone, Newark, Ohio, is manager of the Sunbeam Family Farm in Alexandria, where he and his family grow and sell organic produce, and educate people about certified organic food.

Briana Johnson, Federal Way, was awarded the Outstanding Educator Award from the Washington State PTA in recognition of her outstanding service. She teaches at Wildwood Elementary School in Federal Way.

Daniel Key, Kent, is director of the City of Tacoma’s Information Technology director. He previously served as director of Information Technology for Seattle City Light.

2007

Laura Hadden, Portland, is executive producer of “Live Wire,” a radio show broadcast on more than 125 stations nationwide. She produced media for The Moth of New York City, including a Peabody Award-winning radio show. Her film work was featured at Frameline Film Festival, The Documentary Channel, and BBC News.

2009

Lorri DeFoor MiT, Lacey, taught high school math for eight years before establishing Sustain Financial, Inc., a financial planning company.

2010

Maude Chimere Hackney, Seattle, was awarded Evergreen’s 2018 Distinguished PK-12 Educator of the Year award. She is a GATES High School English teacher in the Franklin-Pierce School District.

Rand Hodgson MiT, Olympia, was the 2017 Evergreen Distinguished PK-12 Educator of the Year. He will complete his principal internship this year at Lacey’s Salish Middle School.

Caleb M. Knappe-Langworthy, Rochester, Minn., owns and operates Blue Ox Farm and has undertaken a leadership role in the Wisconsin Farmers Union, where he strives to build community.

Alex Rossiter, Tumwater, is vice chair of the Tumwater Historic Preservation Commission. He is founder and president of Mountainboard Northwest and Mountainboard Adventures.

Eden Vardy, Carbondale, Colo., established a sustainable agriculture nonprofit, Aspen TREE, now the Farm Collaborative, which hopes to foster a global movement toward healthier relationships among food, people, and the land.

2011

Alicia LeDuc MPA, Salem, Ore., is an attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. She promotes gender justice through work in Afghanistan with the Alliance for International Women’s Rights, and is published in the Willamette Journal for International Law and Dispute Resolution.

David Levinson, Providence, R.I., manages Beech Hill Farm, a 73-acre property. Previously he worked for the Organic Seed Alliance and on organic farms in Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

2012

Brendon Boudinot, San Rafael, Calif., an ant specialist and doctoral candidate in the Phil Ward Lab, UC Davis, Department of Entomology and Nematology; won the first-place President’s Prize (for the third time) at the 2017 meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Denver.

Sam Kaviar, Olympia, established Kayak Nisqually Puget Sound Adventure Tours after traveling the world from Panama to Norway.

Roland Richardson, Washington, D.C., is development officer for National Recreational Parks Association conservation initiatives and was named one of the North American Association for Environmental Education’s 30 Under 30.

Nathan Valentine, Montesano, is a nurse practitioner with Family Medicine of Grays Harbor, Aberdeen. He earned his Master in Nursing at Yale University.

2014

Christina Vernon MiT, Shelton, is the Teacher of the Year for Lacey’s Nisqually Middle School, where she teaches social studies.

2015

Brandon Bennett MiT, Olympia, was presented with the National Honor Society’s Blazer (Teacher) of the year award for 2017–18. He teaches at Lacey’s Timberline High School.

Matthew Ramirez, Davis, Ca., is a legislative correspondent for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. He previously worked with Senator Patty Murray, Congressman Ted Lieu, and representatives in the Washington State Legislature.

Billy Simmons MiT, Olympia, a fifth-grade teacher at Meadows Elementary, received the Dick Williams Award for his efforts around a multicultural club and festival at his school.

Emily Watts, McCleary, the water resource specialist for the City of Lacey, and communicates the importance of reclaimed water, water conservation management, and water-use efficiency.

2016

Victoria Caswell MiT, teaches English at University High School in Spokane Valley.

2017

Charmaine Rastatter, Tacoma, is executive director of the Humane Society of Cowlitz County. Previously she was a veterinary assistant at the Summit Veterinary Referral Center, Tacoma, and assistant hospital manager at St. Francis Animal Hospital, Vancouver.