April 11, 2005
UCSC alumni are an integral part of life
on the Central Coast
By Jennifer McNulty
Of the thousands of students who have attended UCSC over the
last 40 years, no one knows how many have stayed in the area
to become a part of the culture and community of the Central
Coast region. But UCSC’s 40th anniversary and this weekend’s
Banana
Slug Spring Fair seemed like a good time to put out some
feelers and see who’s around and what they’re up to.
By no means comprehensive, the following is an informal attempt
to bring us all up to speed about the ways in which UCSC grads
are helping make Santa Cruz the special place it is.
One caveat: For the most part, you won’t see the names
of UCSC staff, instructors, and faculty. We know you’re
out there, but the focus this time is off campus.
Know someone who’d like to be added? Send e-mail to jmcnulty@ucsc.edu.
Arts and letters
Painting by Ronna Schulkin Pearce. |
In the art world, fans of Open Studios may be familiar with
the work of painter Ronna
Schulkin Pearce (Porter ’90, art), who opened 17th
Avenue Studios five years ago, providing artist work space in
Live Oak for 25 women. The artists will host a group show May
21-22. . . . Legendary book artist Felicia Rice (Cowell
’78, individual major in fine printing) is still hard at
work, with a new book of French poetry that features illustrations
by her late father coming out next year. . . . Artist Jeanne
Rosen Sofen (Merrill ’76, art) creates pastels, paintings,
and collage, and shows her work from time to time at Many Hands
Gallery. . . . On the photography side of the art world, Paul
Schraub (Stevenson ’75, politics) is a commercial advertising
photographer with a studio downtown. . . . Wildlife photographer
Kennan Ward (College Eight ’80, natural history/environmental
studies and wildlife biology) travels the globe to capture amazing
photographs of animals in their natural habitats. He has published
numerous books, as well as notecards, calendars, and posters.
He and his wife, Karen, will show
slides and share stories from their recent four-month trip
to the Antarctic on April 22 at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz.
. . . Award-winning author Laurie
R. King (Kresge ’77, religious studies), whose
books of crime fiction include A Grave Talent, The Beekeeper’s
Apprentice, and The Game, has a new book coming out
in late June, Locked Rooms. . . . Laura Sutherland
(Porter ’76, art history) has penned five family travel
books, most of which have been published by St. Martin’s
Press. . . . Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Martha Mendoza
(Kresge ’88, individual major), who played on the UCSC
soccer team in the 1980s, is a national writer for the Associated
Press based in Santa Cruz. . . . Sandor Nagyszalanczy
(Stevenson ’77, environmental planning and an individual
major in design theory) is a self-employed author, photographer,
furniture designer, and craftsman. He is also a founding member
of the UkeAholics trio and the Ukelele Club of Santa Cruz, which
he is certain is the largest ukulele club in the United States.
Sports and fitness
Soccer moms and dads throughout the county are indebted to
Corinne Houston (Porter ’87, graduate certificate
in theater arts), who co-owned Santa Cruz Soccer Camp for seven
years, managed Soccer Central in Watsonville for more than two
years, and coached many teen girls through the Santa Cruz County
Premier Soccer Club. . . . And if there’s anyone who practices
what he preaches, it’s Emiliano Aragon (Cowell ’97,
sociology), who teaches physical education and health at Santa
Cruz High School and coaches girls varsity tennis and jayvee
boys soccer. Aragon, an elite triathlete, placed second overall
in last year’s Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. He’s
also an avid snowboarder and mountain biker. . . . Daniel
Chamberlain (College NIne ’03, Earth sciences) is director
of coaching for Catalyst Soccer Camp in Monterey and is goalkeeper
for semi-pro soccer’s Salinas Valley Samba. He also coached
soccer at St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High School in
Watsonville. Nicholas Kowba (College Eight ’04,
sociology) is also a defender for the Salinas Valley Samba,
and he’s coaching for Catalyst, too.
Service providers and merchants
|
From organic seedlings to Internet service, UCSC grads have
their hands in just about every kind of business imaginable.
Greg Carter (Stevenson ’99, community studies) is
executive director of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce. .
. . Computer consultant Annette McGarity (Kresge ’88,
history) provides part-time IT assistance to the Santa Cruz
Chamber of Commerce. . . . Sarah Machado (Porter ’80,
art) and her husband Basil Machado (Porter ’79,
art; MA in art ’80) run Upstarts Organic Seedlings out
of greenhouses they lease at Long Marine Laboratory. Their seedlings
are available locally and as far north as Napa and Marin County.
. . . Hilary Bryant (Porter ’94, biology) has been
a realtor with Karon Properties for nine years. . . . David
G. Bushnell (College Eight ’76, art) is a residential
building contractor. . . . Former business and real estate lawyer
David Nixen (Stevenson ’80, American studies) now
owns The UPS Store in Scotts Valley and pitches in as a beach
lifeguard for the City of Santa Cruz. . . . Kai Shane
(Kresge ’00, literature) owns Bugaboo Mountain Sports on
Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz and is working on a master’s
in literature. . . . Scott Roseman (Oakes ’79, sociology)
is founder and co-owner of New Leaf Community Markets. . . .
Peggy Dolgenos (Stevenson ’92, computer and information
sciences) is cofounder of Cruzio-The Internet Store, providing
DSL and Internet access to individuals and businesses throughout
the region. Cruzio recently opened a satellite store in Watsonville.
. . . Tom Ralston
(Porter ’73, politics) is the owner of the third-generation
Santa Cruz company, Tom Ralston Concrete, pouring concrete for
everything from foundations to countertops, and pizza ovens
to barbecues. He is writing a book about concrete countertops.
. . . Seth Schapiro (Porter '85, community studies) has
founded WiseSkills
Resources, which provides character-building educational
curriculum to elementary, junior high, and high schools across
the country. . . . Emily Reilly (Porter '82, art) divides
her time between her Westside bakery, Emily's Good Things To
Eat, and Santa Cruz City Hall, she serves on the City Council
after a stint as mayor.
Children and education
|
Matt Koumaras
|
The hearts and minds of children on the Central Coast are in
good hands, if the number of UCSC alumni working in the field
is any indication. Matt Koumaras (Crown ’91, English)
is executive director of the Boys
and Girls Club of Santa Cruz. . . . Gino Raugi (Porter
’82, music) was named 2001 Arts Educator of the Year by
the Santa Cruz County Cultural Council after building a music
program for K-6 students that pairs undergraduates with schools
that had to cut their music programs because of budget shortfalls.
Raugi, a Title 1 teacher at DeLaveaga Elementary School who
plays jazz and classical guitar, also founded Santa
Cruz Ensembles. . . . For 12 years, Celeste Baross
(M.A. ’80, art) has operated Santa Cruz Studio School,
providing art instruction for children and young adults ages
3-19. Baross has also taught at various schools through the
SPECTRA Program. . . . After years of coordinating Santa Cruz
County’s Court Appointed Special Advocate program, which
protects children who have come under the court's care, Susan
True (Oakes ’95, community studies) was recently named
executive director of First 5 Santa Cruz County. First 5 administers
almost $3 million in annual revenues from the tobacco tax approved
by voters in 1998 to ensure children reach their fifth year
of life ready to learn, healthy, and emotionally well-developed.
. . . Youth who do enter the court system have benefited from
the leadership of Scott MacDonald (Merrill ’83,
psychology), former director of the Juvenile Division of the
Santa Cruz County Probation Department. The division is considered
a model program of juvenile detention reform, having reduced
unnecessary detentions and the overrepresentation of minorities
in the juvenile justice system, and reforming substance-abuse
treatment programs. MacDonald was recently named assistant chief
for probation in the county and is applying similar reforms
to the adult side of the Probation Department. . . . Alumni
are involved in all levels of education, from the classroom
to the district office. Jamie Andres-Larsen (M.S. ’92,
computer and information sciences) teaches at Monarch Community
School. . . . Tatiana Fredericksen Miller (College 8
’95, environmental studies and politics; M.A. and teaching
credential ’00) teaches fifth grade at Bay View Elementary
School, where she is enjoying assistance provided by a UCSC
student teacher this year. . . . Kristin Champion Kennedy
(Cowell ’72, American studies) also teaches at Bay View.
. . . Elizabeth M. Nava (Oakes ’82, politics; M.A.
’90, history) teaches U.S. history at Evergreen Community
College. . . . Kenneth Hamilton Coale (Oakes ’76,
biology; Ph.D., ’88, biology) is director of Moss Landing
Marine Laboratories, which serve seven California State University
campuses in Northern California. . . . Rebecca J. Garcia
(Oakes ’82, politics) is an assistant director of the Santa
Clara County Office of Education, overseeing Beginning Teacher
Support & Assessment and the Region Five Preschool Instructional
Network in Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Clara
counties. Garcia has also been a trustee on the Cabrillo Community
College Governing Board for 12 years and was elected to the
statewide California Community College Trustee Board of Directors.
. . . On this side of the hill, Ralph Gomez Porras (Oakes
’90, biology and a single-subject life science teaching
credential and a bilingual multiple subject credential) is the
assistant superintendent of the Santa Cruz City Schools. Porras,
who was principal at Santa Cruz High School and DeLaveaga School,
plans to enroll this summer in UCSC’s new Ed.D. program.
program. . . . Katy Stonebloom (College Eight ’76,
individual major in bilingual multicultural education) is a
bilingual teaching specialist for the Aromas-San Juan Unified
School District and a trustee on the Cabrillo Community College
Governing Board. Stonebloom helped launch the “Kids Around
the University” program to increase awareness of higher
education among K-12 students in the region. . . . Diane
Marvin Koenig (Cowell ’76, art) teaches art at Lakeview
Middle School in Watsonville. She shares her love of flamenco
dancing with students in the after-school program, who will
perform June 2 at the Henry Mello Center. Koenig danced in “Duende
Makes a House Call,” a play that was produced last year
at Capitola Theater. . . . Jenny Towne Nixen (College
Eight ’82, environmental studies and special studies in
environmental education and sociology) is a math teacher at
Mission Hill Junior High School. . . . Steve Walton-Hadlock
(Porter ’75, aesthetic studies) teaches writing at De Anza
College and Gavilan College, as well as writing and the Porter
College Core Course at UCSC. He also writes plays and screenplays
and had his play, “Soldier’s Joy,” performed
by Actors’ Theater as part of its popular “Eight Tens
@ Eight” Ten Minute Play Festival. . . . R. Rock Pfhotenhauer
(M.S. '84, computer and information sciences) is dean of instruction,
career education, and economic development at Cabrillo Community
College.
Food and dining
O’mei Sichuan Restaurant is practically a culinary landmark
on the Westside of Santa Cruz. Owned by Roger Grigsby
(Merrill ’75, history), O’mei first opened at Kresge
College in 1979. Grigsby opened the Mission Street location
in 1981 and shuttered the Kresge venue three years later. .
. . Just down the street, Paul Geise (Stevenson ’82,
linguistics) owns Ristorante Avanti. Geise traveled for a year
after college to see where he wanted to live, landing back in
Santa Cruz and opening his first restaurant, Mona Lisa, just
down the block from Avanti’s current location. . . . Another
fixture of the local food scene is The Bagelry, cofounded 21
years ago by John Hamstra (Porter ’75, economics), who’s
still boiling, baking, and outlasting low-carb diets all these
years later. . . . Ed Hoffman (Porter ’76, European
intellectual history) owned a successful bakery in Kirkland,
Washington, before returning to Santa Cruz and opening Hoffman’s
on Pacific Avenue. . . . Joe Platin (Crown ’78,
sociology), who remembers making midnight doughnut runs to Ferrell’s
during college, owns Golden Sheaf Bread Company in Watsonville.
. . . As cofounder of Carmel-based Earthbound Farm, the largest
organic produce brand in North America, Drew Goodman
(College Eight, ’83 environmental studies and environmental
design) is at the forefront of organic farming, processing,
and packaging.
Nonprofits and government
|
Graduates in many subject areas are active in the nonprofit
sector of the region. Christine Johnson-Lyons (Stevenson
’70, community studies) is the executive director of the
Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, Inc., an antipoverty
agency that provides advocacy and direct services to low-income
county residents. . . . Helen Ewan-Storey (Oakes ’90,
sociology) is the program director the Women Ventures Project
of the Community Action Board, providing job training and placement
for low-income women in nontraditional careers in Santa Cruz
and Monterey County. . . . Richard Zinman (Ph.D., ’89,
history of consciousness) is the annual giving manager for Second
Harvest Food Bank. . . . Lance Linares (Porter ’74,
aesthetic studies) is the executive director of the Community
Foundation of Santa Cruz County, and Robin Larsen (Cowell
’77, history) is a fundraiser for the foundation. . . .
Karen Delaney (College Eight ’81, environmental
studies) is executive director of the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center,
which recruits and prepares volunteers to work with nonprofits
and to provide direct services through specific Volunteer Center
programs, including The Literacy Program, The Transportation
Program, and the Adopt-a-Family Holiday Project. . . . Don
Lane (Merrill ’78, politics) has worn many hats in
the community. He opened the Saturn Café in 1979 and
ran it until 1994. He served on the Santa Cruz City Council
from 1988-92 and was mayor in 1992. In 1992, he helped establish
the Homeless Services Center and still sits on the Board of
Directors. He is currently a program officer with the Fund for
Nonviolence, a small charitable foundation. . . . Twenty years
ago, Ann Simonton (Oakes 77, individual major in dance
and psychology) established Media
Watch, a national nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated
to media literacy education and helping people become more critical
viewers of media. As an undergraduate, she established the Psychiatric
Inmates Rights Collective, which is still in operation. . .
. John McKeon (Oakes ’00, environmental studies)
is director of grower certification at California Certifies
Organic Farmers. . . . UCSC alumni are literally helping shape
the community through their work in the Santa Cruz County Planning
Department, from director Tom Burns (Merrill ’76,
Earth sciences) to housing program chief Erik Schapiro
(College Eight ’80, environmental planning and policy,
and politics), who oversees affordable housing programs and
projects, works with nonprofit developers, and manages first-time
homebuyer assistance programs. . . . Ken Hart (Kresge
’78, biology and environmental studies) manages environmental
planning for the Planning Department. . . Jerry Busch
(Crown ’85, biology and environmental studies) is a land-use
planner in the Santa Cruz County Planning Department, and he
established the nonprofit Watsonville Wetlands Watch 15 years
ago. The author of a book about Elkhorn Slough, Busch is anticipating
the opening this fall of the Wetlands Educational Resource Center
on the campus of the new Pajaro Valley high school. . . .
John Ricker (Kresge ’76, biology and environmental
studies) is the program coordinator for land use and water resources
in the Santa Cruz County Environmental Health Department. .
. . Patrick M. McCormick (Crown ’73, individual
major in planning and community policy) is the executive officer
of the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO),
which regulates the boundaries of cities and special districts
in Santa Cruz County. . . . Linda Jean Wilshusen (Crown
'72, anthropology) recently retired from her post as executive
director of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission.
Politics
Assemblyman John Laird (Stevenson ’72, politics)
is chair of the California Assembly Budget Committee. . . .
Mike Rotkin (Ph.D. ’91, history of consciousness)
is currently serving his fourth term as mayor of Santa Cruz.
. . . Santa Cruz City Councilman Tony Madrigal (College
Eight ’98, economics) was recently elected to his first
term. . . . Former Santa Cruz City Councilman Scott Kennedy
(Cowell ’71, history) is also a graduate of UCSC.
Medicine and care giving
Graduates of UCSC are engaged in many aspects of medicine and
care giving. Dana P. Gibson (Kresge ’77, community
studies) established the recreational therapy program at the
Cabrillo College Stroke Center and is still hard at work at
the age of 82 as the center’s director of volunteers. Last
year, the City and County of Santa Cruz proclaimed November
17 “Dana Gibson Day” in honor of her remarkable contributions.
Gibson is also a member of the Humdingers Kazoo Orchestra. .
. . Jasmine Debra Berke (Merrill ’78, politics)
is the owner/practitioner of Holistic Health Care: Acupuncture
& Herbal Medicine on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz. She was
voted best acupuncturist in last year’s Good Times.
. . . Larry deGhetaldi, M.D., (Merrill ’76, biology
and chemistry) is chief executive officer of Sutter Santa Cruz,
encompassing Santa Cruz Medical Clinic & Foundation, Sutter
Maternity & Surgery Center, and the Visiting Nurse Association
of Santa Cruz. DeGhetaldi, who was captain of the 1974 UCSC
soccer team that first adopted the banana slug mascot, credits
the campus with helping the community’s dire need for medical
professionals, because undergraduates are eager to return to
the Central Coast after completing their training. . . . David
Rose, M.D., (Crown ’75, biology) a surgeon with the
Santa Cruz Medical Clinic, said the surf is the other factor
that lures doctors to the area. . . . David Sofen, M.D.
(Kresge ’79, biology) was named medical director of Santa
Cruz Medical Foundation in January. Sofen credits a UCSC internship
in Guatemala in the 1980s with launching his career in medicine.
. . . Karen Graner Harrington, M.D., (Kresge ’90,
chemistry) is a family practitioner in the Aptos office of the
Santa Cruz Medical Clinic. . . . Janice Walton-Hadlock
(Crown ’74, biology) is a practitioner of Chinese medicine
and has founded a web-based nonprofit, The Parkinson’s
Recovery Project www.pdrecovery.org,
to provide information on treating Parkinson’s disease
with Asian medicine. She just had a letter published in the
New England Journal of Medicine. . . . Veterinarian David
Shuman owns Westside Animal Hospital on Laurel Street in
Santa Cruz. Also at Westside is Craig Himmelwright, D.V.M.,
(Porter ’82, anthropology and biology), who also works
as a field biologist with the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Group.
Music and entertainment
Dan Robbins
Photo: Ken Rabiroff |
Guitarist Jason Schimmel (Porter ’00, music performance)
is a member of The
White Album Ensemble, which will perform “Sgt. Pepper’s
Magical Mystery Tour” at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz
on May 28-30. Schimmel also performs with Estradasphere, a world
jazz-fusion band. . . . Don Stevens (Porter ’76,
biology) is a member of the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra,
which travels nationally and internationally and has six CDs.
He is also active in the Coalition for Limiting University Expansion.
. . . Dan Robbins
(Porter ’98, music performance) plays the double bass and
performs everything from “jazz to classical, solo to big
band.” He is a member of two Brazilian jazz bands, the
Santa Cruz-based Claudia Villela Group and the Carmel-based
Weber Iago Trio, and he performs with the bands Cowbop, the
Velvetones, Phree Radicals, and Alegria. He offers private lessons
and participates in the Monterey Jazz Festival Traveling Clinicians
Program, taking music into public school classrooms.
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