Class Notes

1940s

1949

Bill Mercer (BA ’49) was featured in the National Geographic documentary, “JFK: One Day in America,” recounting his on-site reporting of the 1963 President Kennedy assassination in Dallas. He also was portrayed by actor Michael Harney in the 2023 feature film, “The Iron Claw.”

1960s

1960

Sandra Dallas (BA ’60) won a 2023 Colorado Book Award for her novel, “Little Souls,” and a 2023 Will Rogers Medallion Award for her middle-grade novel, “Tenmile.”

1966

Marobeth Ruegg (BFA ’66) had her first solo gallery show at the age of 80.

1969

Susan Claassen (BA ’69) received a special tribute by the Invisible Theatre at the Tucson Pops Orchestra “Music for the Planet” concert in May. Claassen, the former managing artistic director, stepped down this year after 49 years with the theater.

1970s

1971

Tom Noonan (BSBA ’71) received the Jefferson Award for volunteering from the state of Wyoming for spending time with people receiving end-of-life care at Central Wyoming Hospice.

1972

Linda Murphy Marshall (BA ’72) has published her latest book, “Immersion: A Linguist’s Memoir,” about her career as a professional multi-linguist amid challenging travel assignments.

Laurie Sorensen (BA ’72) and her husband Dave have moved to Westport, Connecticut, to be near their children and grandchildren. Laurie recently retired from teaching kindergarten. They enjoy daily walks on the beach and volunteering in the community.

1973

Debbie Supple Miller (BA ’73) has published a new children's book, “Goodnight Sounds,” a bedtime read-aloud story that describes the sounds of comfort that help children fall asleep. This is her 16th children’s book.

1974

William Cornell (BA ’74) volunteers as a physician for FrontlineMedics.org in Ukraine. He divides his time between stabilization points and mobile clinics, all within Russian artillery range. William was recently promoted as the organization’s medical director for Ukraine.

1977

Ed Dwight (MFA ’77), America’s first Black astronaut candidate, rocketed into space 60 years later aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin capsule on May 19. Ed traveled with five other passengers on the 10-minute flight. At 90, Ed is the new record holder for the oldest person in space.

1979

Bruce Deadman (JD ’79) has received the Distinguished Conservationist Award from the Boy Scouts of America’s National Conservation Awards Committee. This is the organization’s highest conservation award for adult scouts and scouting volunteers. Bruce is an Eagle Scout, the father of an Eagle Scout, and a Silver Beaver award recipient, and he has been a scouting volunteer for more than 20 years.

Michael Hettich (MA ’79) has published a new book, “The Halo of Bees: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2022.” This is Michael’s 20th book.

Kevin McGrew (BA ’79) sold his registered investment advisor firm, Wealth Management Advisors, Inc., to St. Louis-based CPA firm RubinBrown, one of the nation’s leading accounting and professional consulting firms.

1980s

1981

After more than 40 years, a large cohort of Johnson-McFarlane Hall (J-Mac) resident assistants recently gathered in Denver for a reunion. Most had graduated in 1981 or 1982 and hadn’t seen each other since. The group of 26 included RAs, J-Mac residents and spouses. Pictured below (from left) are Matt Stone, Becky McCall, Joanne (Rose) Layshock, Lois (Mills) Chianese, Kevin Lindahl, Bruce Ostrowsky and Pam (Van Dyke) Seaholm.

Dwight M. Walsh (MS ’81) has published the third edition of “The Navier-Stokes Millennium Problem: An Unwelcome Solution.” In the book, Dwight provides the mathematical equations that solve the Navier-Stokes Millennium Problem and shares the challenges he encountered while attempting to have the solution published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Pat Hamill (BS ’81), co-founder and CEO of Oakwood Homes, transitioned to a strategic advisor role in June. In this new position, Pat will focus his efforts on the BuildStrong Education Foundation as well as other community endeavors that support education and workforce development.

1982

David Brackett (BSBA ’82) has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Petra Funds Group. David has more than 25 years of experience as a private funds executive.

Don Sicard (BSBA ’82) has been named a finalist in the 2024 Captives Power Brokers: Risk & Insurance category. Don is the managing director of Aon’s Strategic Solutions and Innovations team in Denver.

1983

Greg Danielson (JD ’83) has joined the Rocky Mountain Conservancy board of directors in Estes Park.

Charles Fasanaro (PhD ’83) co-authored a book, “Bridge of Stones: A Spiritual Journey Via Soldiers, Hippies, Dogs and Landmines,” about his experiences training dogs to detect landmines, tripwires and tunnels in Vietnam.

1985

Kathryn McKim (BA ’85) has been reappointed to the California Volunteers Commission by Gov. Gavin Newsom. She has served on the Commission since 2016.

Mark Steinhauser (BSBA ’85) has participated in artist Tadashi Hayakawa’s monthly artist workshop for the past few years, and his work was included in Hayakawa’s latest book. Mark had his first solo art show at Deep Space Parker in April.

Fadeel Wehbe (BSBA ’85) is a multi-property general manager for Marriott International based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

1986

Julie Allen (MA ’86) has been appointed executive director of Corvias Foundation, a nonprofit that supports educational opportunities for military families. Julie has 40 years of experience in the education and nonprofit sectors.

Linda Lange (MBA ’86) has been elected president of the Accounting & Finance Women’s Alliance Denver chapter for the second time.

1988

Sharon Dunn (BSBA ’88) has joined BizWest as a reporter. Previously, Sharon covered business and local news for 25 years at the Greeley Tribune.

1989

Kathryn Winograd (PhD ’89) has published a new book, “This Visible Speaking: Catching Light Through the Camera’s Eye,” a hybrid collection of photo poetry and prose vignettes.

1990s

1991

Cheryn Netz (JD ’91) is the new general counsel of the Texas State Securities Board in Austin.

1994

Tony Phillips (BSBA ’94) has been named general manager of the Bobby Hotel in Nashville. Tony has over 25 years of experience in hotel management.

Laura (Adducci) Zaspel (MA ’94) is co-founder and CEO of Serendipity Catering in Lakewood, Colorado. This year, Serendipity was named a Top 20 Denver-Area Women-Owned Business by the Denver Business Journal.

1995

Kris Beardsley (BA ’95) is the regional vice president for FSM Group, where he oversees airline fueling operations in Atlanta and Detroit. Kris has nearly 25 years of experience in commercial aviation servicing. He and his wife live in Peachtree, Georgia.

Matt Gianneschi (MA ’95) has been named president and chief executive officer of Colorado Mountain College. Matt previously served as the college’s chief operating officer since 2014.

1996

Scott Terry (BA ’96) is the director of business affairs at Forsman & Bodenfors New York, where he works on advertising for Baileys, Goldman Sachs, Seagram’s 7, Therabody and Mandarin Oriental hotels. Scott lives in Chicago and continues to monoski.

1997

David Spaulding (LLM ’97) has been named co-chair of diversity, equity and inclusion at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.

1998

David Thomson (JD ’98) was elected chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. David was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2019 by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Previously, he served as a judge on the First Judicial District Court.

Jane Young (JD ’98) has joined the national law firm Wilson Elser as an insurance coverage and defense litigation partner.

Mike Corbett (BS ’96, MS ’98) joined the Arizona State University Sun Devil hockey team as assistant coach.

2000s

2000

Misti Klarenbeek-McKenna (MSW ’00) is a featured author in “The Grief Experience: Tools for Acceptance, Resilience & Connection.” Her chapter is titled, “Death Out of Order: Recognizing and Embracing the Both/And.”

2003

Lisa M. Gomez (JD ’03) was appointed to the Denver Juvenile Court in the Second Judicial District by Gov. Jared Polis. She has served as a magistrate in Denver Juvenile Court since 2015.

2005

Aimee Wagstaff (JD ’05) has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the Top 200 Lawyers in the country for 2024. Aimee is a partner at Wagstaff Law in Denver.

2006

James Maring (LLM ’06) was named a shareholder for Serkland Law Firm in Fargo, North Dakota.

2007

Christine Austin (PhD ’07) assisted the Kosovo Accreditation Agency in developing and completing a document designed to aid the Republic of Kosovo in establishing best practices in higher education. Christine is director of assessment and institutional effectiveness at Arkansas Tech University.

Todd Unger (BA ’07) has joined Portland, Oregon’s KOIN 6 News as weekday anchor. Todd is an Emmy and regional Murrow award-winning journalist with more than 15 years of experience.

Laura Wilson (JD ’07) has joined BBG Construction Law in Denver as an associate attorney.

2008

Kyle Ewing (MBA ’08) was selected as a TITAN of Industry in the Colorado TITAN 100 program, which recognizes the top 100 CEOs and C-level executives. Kyle is president and CEO of Terraslate, Inc. He’s pictured below with his wife Ashley Ewing (JD ’13).

Aubyn Krulish (JD ’08) has joined the Denver office of the law firm Snell & Wilmer as a partner in the corporate and securities practice group.

Jaimie Mansfield (JD ’08) has joined Quarles & Brady LLP as a partner in the St. Louis office. Jaimie, a former general counsel of a private equity commercial real estate company, will advise clients on real estate and land use matters.

2009

Dani Diercks Farrell (MSW ’09, JD ’09) has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. Dani has been a child advocate attorney with Diercks Law since 2010.

Elizabeth Meyer-Shields (JD ’09) has joined the California Bureau of Land Management as deputy state director for resources. In this role, she will oversee resources and sustainable use programs for 15 million acres of public lands in the state.

2010s

2010

Meghan Sobel Cohen (MA ’10) has published a book titled, “Press Freedom and the (Crooked) Path Toward Democracy: Lessons from Journalists in East Africa.”

2011

Kim Saltsman (MAFP ’11) received the Blue Ribbon Champion for Safe Kids Award from the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance. Kim is the executive director of the Mount Nittany Health Children’s Advocacy Center. As a child forensic interviewer, she conducts approximately 260 interviews annually.

Jamie Siebrase (JD ’11) has written a new book, “Exploring Colorado with Kids,” featuring outdoors destinations with educational elements so families can have fun learning and exploring together.

2012

Phil Heath (BSBA ’12) is the subject of a new documentary, “Breaking Olympia: The Phil Heath Story,” about his legendary career as a competitive body builder. Phil is a seven-time Mr. Olympia winner.

Nora Johnson (MA ’12) has joined Summit Street Group as an associate and senior economics analyst.

2013

Vanessa Racehorse (BA ’13) has joined the University of Colorado as an associate professor of law. Vanessa, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and a descendant of the Cherokee Nation and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, will be a core faculty member of the American Indian Law Program.

Daniel Warhola (JD ’13) was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis to the 18th Judicial District Court. Previously, Daniel was an assistant United States attorney for the District of Colorado.

2014

Zach Dailey (MBA ’14) has been named vice president, controller and chief accounting officer for Marathon Oil Corporation. Zach joined Marathon Oil in 2015 and has more than 17 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

2015

Melissa Zimmerman (MSW ’15) has been named executive director of Jewish Family Service of Utah. She has 15 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector.

2016

Kate Shelton (MLS ’16) has published her debut book, “The Novel Killings.”

Leanna Stoufer (BA ’16) has provided trauma care to hundreds of patients through the nonprofit Global Care Force in Ukraine. Leanna is a trauma care counselor and has served as a volunteer in Ukraine twice this year.

Maya Sol Dansie (MSW ’16) was recognized by the City of Boulder in March during Women’s History Month as a trailblazing woman who advocates for equity, diversity and inclusion. Maya Sol is a licensed clinical social worker who is dedicated to raising awareness and political consciousness and empowering the community.

Christopher Harris (MPS ’16) has been named director of marketing and public education outreach for the New Mexico Department of Health.

Michelle Thom (JD ’16) has joined the business law firm Snell & Wilmer in the Denver office as an associate in the corporate and securities practice group.

2017

Courtney Barnes (JD ’17) was named partner at Feldman Legal Advisors, a cannabis- and psychedelics-focused boutique law firm. Courtney has served as counsel at the firm since 2021.

Norman Holden (MBA ’17) has published his third book, “For Love of Country: Common Sense 2.0,” in which he compares elements of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” (1776) to today.

2018

Heather Duncan (MSLA ’18) has joined Sacks Tierney PA, a law firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, as chief operating officer.

2020s

2021

Amy Schwartz (EdD ’21) was promoted to vice president of social responsibility and community partnerships at Oakwood Homes.

2022

Jared Johnson (EMBA ’22) has joined Capitaliz, a digital platform that helps privately owned businesses determine their valuation, as North American president headquartered in Denver.

Aidan O’Toole (BSBA ’22) has signed on with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC professional soccer team.

2023

Lynnzee Brown (BA ’21, MA ’23), a former DU gymnast, competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris representing Haiti.

Kaitlyn Klepec (BA ’23) has joined The Pantagraph in Bloomington, Illinois, as a reporter.

Matthew Nilsen (JD ’23) has joined the board of directors of the Rocky Mountain Arts Association. Matthew is an associate in Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s Real Estate Department and is an active patron and supporter of the arts and LGBTQ+ causes.