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1960s
Robert Schultz (B.S., ’61) and Maxine (Henke) Schultz (B.S., ’60) recently returned from their 64th humanitarian mission trip. They have served in seven countries (Honduras, Panama, Haiti, Nicaragua, Kenya, South Sudan and the United States). Their main area of service has been conducting Vision Clinics using Lion’s Club prescription glasses in foreign countries. They have also performed in many disaster relief roles at various locations throughout the United States. Their 65th mission trip is scheduled for November of 2022.
1980s
Daniel Genova (B.A., ’80) is currently participating in four art exhibitions in the New York–New Jersey area.
David Blach (B.S., ’83) is a new appointee to the Colorado Agricultural Commission, a nine-member group of agricultural leaders that advises the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Governor’s Office, and Colorado General Assembly on agricultural issues in the state. Blach and his wife, Karla, operate a farm and ranch that was homesteaded in 1887 in Yuma. He is a member of several commodity associations and has served on the Colorado Department of Agriculture Noxious Weed Advisory Board. Blach is also chair of the Yuma County Fair Board.
Mike Barden (B.S., ’86) recently retired from a 36-year career in design and construction management. Barden spent his first eight years with Hensel Phelps Construction and helped build Denver International Airport. He then spent 28 years building three of the University of Colorado campuses, including 21 years of designing and building the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Kathy Brazelton (B.S., ’86) is retiring from the National Park Service. In her 35 years, she has worked at Redwood National Park, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Curecanti National Recreation Area, Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and Rocky Mountain National Park. She has done it all: interpretation, resource management/research, law enforcement and has cleaned many a toilet. Interpretation has always been her love (she adheres to the Freeman Tilden theory of “through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection”); the other experiences just made her a more well-rounded ranger. She has loved it all, and felt privileged to serve our precious national parks. She thanks all at CSU who helped to prepare her for her vocation/avocation, and her husband Gary, and children Morgan and Micah for always supporting her in her wild Rangering days.
Martin Kalisker (B.S., ’86) recently graduated cum laude with a juris doctor from the Massachusetts School of Law. A self-described “lifelong learner,” Martin hs had a long and varied career path. He plans to practice as a business and transactional law attorney, performing real estate conveyancing, preparation of wills and trusts, advocating for animal rights, and offering mediation services to clients and as a volunteer to the housing and small claims trial courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Aware that many of his peers from the undergraduate class of ’86 are reaching the end of their working careers, Martin is excited about a new beginning as an attorney.
Andrea Lueker (B.S., ’86) recently retired after a 35-year career in municipal government. Lueker spent 27 years with the City of Morro Bay, California – the final 7 as city manager, followed by 7 years at Port San Luis Harbor District as harbor director. She also taught several classes at California Polytechnic State University. After celebrating retirement with a month-long trip to Central America with her husband, she has settled back at home, “working” with several local non-profits: the Land Conservancy, Morro Bay Community Quota Fund (sustainable commercial fishing) and Creeklands Conservation. She is looking forward to more frequent trips to nearby Big Sur with family members, including the furry ones, perfecting both her strawberry garden and cross-stepping on her longboard.
1990s
Kathleen Williams (B.A., ’90) was appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration as USDA Rural Development’s State Director for Montana. In this role, she oversees the implementation of nearly 50 programs that enhance economic growth and prosperity in Montana’s rural communities. Williams has worked for 38 years in economics and natural resource planning and policy. She staffed the Environmental Quality Council, a bipartisan committee of the Montana Legislature, and served as a staffer on the Montana House Committee on Natural Resources. Williams also worked as the water program manager with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and, in 2010, was elected to the Montana House of Representatives, where she served three terms and vice-chaired the agriculture committee.
Mike O’Neill (B.A., ’93) was hired as Director of Public Relations at Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, Houston’s largest credit union in January, 2022.
Christiano Sosa (B.A., ’94) will be joining Rose Community Foundation in Denver as vice president of community impact. Sosa will lead the strategic deployment of discretionary grant dollars, collaborative partnerships, and other tools at the foundation’s disposal to help drive strategic impact in the seven-county Metro Denver region.
2000s
Ryan Alexander (M.S., ’00), after 21+ years as an inspector in radiation protection, radiological emergency preparedness, and reactor operations for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC), has recently assumed the position as the US NRC Regional State/Government Liaison Officer for NRC Region IV (in Arlington, Texas). Alexander leverages his years of experience in facilitating communications with representatives from 22 states, 3 U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean, and numerous federal regional partners on all aspects of US NRC activities. These activities include US NRC oversight and inspection of operating power and research reactors, use of radioactive material in medical and industrial settings, and management of waste facilities in most areas west of the Mississippi River.
Robert Pippin (B.M., ’00), an assistant professor of music at Northwest Missouri State University, will serve as the Department of Fine and Performing Arts’ next Dennis C. Dau Professor of Instrumental Music, making him the second faculty member to receive the designation. Pippin, who succeeds Dr. William Richardson in the role, was selected for a two-year appointment through a process of nominations and a recommendation of the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Todd Mitchell (B.A., ’01) has a new personal development book out for writers, artists, and creators interested in enhancing their relationship with creativity. The book, titled Breakthrough: How to Overcome Doubt, Fear, and Resistance to Be Your Ultimate Creative Self (Owl Hollow Press, 2021), was recently selected as a finalist for the Feathered Quill Book Awards, and it’s been selected as a finalist for the 2022 Colorado Book Awards.
Nick Trainor (B.S., ’03) is a new appointee to the Colorado Agricultural Commission, a nine-member group of agricultural leaders that advises the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Governor’s Office, and Colorado General Assembly on agricultural issues in the state. He is a fifth-generation cattle rancher born and raised in southeastern Colorado. Trainor worked as a range management specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and now owns and manages Trainor Cattle Company, which operates mainly on Lowry Ranch, a State Land Board property east of Denver.
2010s
Amy Barkley (B.A., ’12) was living in Seattle and working at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School in 2017. Since then, she and her husband welcomed a little boy in late 2019, and they moved back to Fort Collins in 2020. Barkley is currently working as the Executive Administrative Assistant to the Faculty Council at Colorado State University, which is the job that allowed them to move back to their beloved Fort Collins! Barkely is also pursuing her master’s degree and anticipates her graduation to be next spring.
Erin Karney (B.S., ’12; B.S., ’12; M.S., ’14) was recently appointed executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, the top organization representing Colorado’s powerhouse cattle industry and its public policy concerns. She will be the first woman to lead the organization in its 155-year history. Karney starts in August. Since 2015, she has worked as the association’s director of industry advancement. In her new job, Karney will oversee the association’s daily operations and will serve as a high-profile representative of Colorado beef and livestock production more broadly. Beef is the No. 1 agricultural commodity in Colorado and a bedrock industry in the state. Karney is a sixth-generation cattle rancher from Las Animas, in the Arkansas Valley of southeastern Colorado; her family continues to ranch there, and Karney has her own herd of Angus crossbred cattle as part of the operation. While at CSU, Karney was a member of a national champion meat-judging team and went on to coach the team. She also was a member of the Seedstock Merchandising Team.
Katie Spencer (B.A., ’14), after a successful career in T.V. news and a continuing role in public relations, has started her own video production company, Katie Creative, LLC. Spencer is very excited to help even more people tell their stories through video.
Rebekah Romberg (B.A., ’16) currently works at Colorado Public Radio making podcasts. Romberg’s team recently won Best Podcast for Kids for their music appreciation podcast, “Music Blocks,” at the Podcast Academy’s second annual Ambies, the Oscars of podcasting.
Charlie McCartin (B.A., ’17) recently graduated from FEMA’s National Emergency Management Basic Academy at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Only 2,500 emergency management professionals have completed the program in its 11-year history. McCartin currently works as the Interim Emergency Manager for the City of Greeley, Colorado.
Faculty and Staff
Steven Schwartz, emeritus professor of English, published The Tenderest of Strings, a riveting, full-hearted story of what it takes to survive as a family in a small Western town that beckons from afar but will put its newcomers to the test of their lives. (Regal House Publishing, 2022)
Attended
Patrick Shaffe retired in early 2022 after 44 years as a general dentist in Tucson, Arizona. Shaffer has hiked 34 14ers with his son, David Shaffer (B.S., ’03). They intend to spend summers in their lake home in Minnesota, and the remainder of the year in the Phoenix area golfing. Shaffer believes his education at CSU was instrumental in achieving an early admission to professional school, for which he will always be grateful.
In Memoriam
1940s
Marks Morrison (B.S., ’49)
1950s
Dr. Edwin Amend (B.S., ’51; M.Ed., ’68)
Capt. William Evans (B.S., ’51)
Robert McCormick (B.S., ’53)
Phyllis Vlass (CERT, ’54)
Marion Shinn (M.Ed., ’54)
Edgar Roberts (B.S., ’57; D.V.M., ’59)
Larry Lackey (B.S., ’59)
Walter Wederquist (B.M., ’59)
1960s
James Kibler (B.S., ’60; M.ed., ’63)
Karen Stahl (B.S., ’60)
Rita Basham (B.S., ’62)
Thomas Anderson (B.S., ’65; D.V.M., ’66)
Robert Hester (B.S., ’69)
Richard Passey (Ph.D., ’69)
Tom Robinson (B.S., ’69; CERT, ’69)
James Smith (M.S., ’69)
1970s
Timothy McCandless (B.S., ’75)
Ann Molzer (B.S., ’75; CERT, ’75)
Keith Foster (B.S., ’76)
The Very Reverend Paul Fedec (M.B.A., ’77)
Mary Klopfenstein (B.A., ’77)
Dan Barker (B.A., ’78)
1980s
Joseph Strauch, Jr. (M.S., ’89)
1990s
Paula Cork (B.F.A., ’96)
2000s
Justin Albert (B.S., ’05)
2010s
Stephanie Harding (B.S., ’11)
Faculty and Staff
Dr. Joseph Daly
Patrick Fahey, Ph.D.
David Fahrney, Ph.D.
Rosemary Whitaker, Ph.D.
Attended
Alexander Fritzler
Mino Pele, Jr.
Kaleb Stonacek
Friends
Sally Geal
Marilyn Hansen
Warren Lybarger
Marianna Wagers
