Alumni Updates
Evan Lautzenheiser, Wildlife, 2003
Submitted: January 26, 2015
Evan Lautzenheiser, 2003 Wildlife, worked for Green Diamond as a wildlife technician conducting spotted owl surveys after graduating. Lautzenheiser also completed a short stay in Palm Springs, Calif., working with desert bighorn sheep. In 2007 he was hired by Arizona Game and Fish as a district wildlife manager/game ranger.
Kelly Jean Muth, Geography, 2012
Submitted: January 10, 2015
Kelly Jean Muth, 2012 Geography, has been pursuing her goals of becoming a professional disc golfer. After graduating from HSU, where she participated in the Humboldt State Disc Golf Club, Muth has participated in several national competitions and has been ranked No. 26 in the world by the Professional Disc Golf Association.
Peter Schmidt, Wildlife, 1997
Submitted: December 11, 2014
Peter Schmidt, 1997 Wildlife, recently accepted the Refuge Manager position at Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Ruby Valley, Nevada after spending 14 years at Tualatin River NWR in western Oregon. Schmidt is moving from an urban refuge with 2,200 acres to the most remote refuge in the lower 48 states with almost 40,000 acres to manage. The nearest services are 60 miles when the pass is open.
Timothy Hamaker, Fisheries Biology, 1977
Submitted: December 10, 2014
Timothy Hamaker, 1977, Fisheries Biology, retired after 37 years as Fisheries/Aquatic Biologist in August. Hamaker began his career in 1977 and worked for four years as a Biologist for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf Breeze, Fl., environmental research lab. Hamaker then moved to Environmental Research and Technology Inc., in Ft. Collins, Colo., working as a Fisheries Biologist. From 1986 to 1988 Hamaker acted as President and Principal Scientist at Aquatic BioSystems Inc., also in Ft. Collins. He then spent more than 25 years with CH2MHILL Inc. as a consulting Fishery Biologist, spending the last 23 years in Redding, Calif. Hamaker is married to Hoagy (Gilliam) Hamaker. The couple has six children including two HSU grads Nicholas ('02, '03) and Robin (Ray) Hamaker ('11) and five grandchildren. The couple resides in Redding, Calif.
Douglas Turner, Biological Sciences, 1980
Submitted: November 29, 2014
Douglas Turner, 1980, Biological Sciences, has two sons on the college path. Turner’s oldest is a Chemical Engineering major at Cal Poly Pomona and his youngest, currently a high school senior, is applying to HSU.
Tim Kustic, Geology, 1981
Submitted: October 23, 2014
Tim Kustic, 1981 Geology, California's 13th State Oil and Gas Supervisor, recently retired after a 32-year career with California's Department of Conservation. Kustic began his state career as a field engineer with the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), in the Bakersfield office. After assignments in the Bakersfield and Santa Maria DOGGR offices, Kustic joined the newly created State Office of Mine Reclamation in 1991. In 2001 Kustic rejoined DOGGR and was appointed by Governor Brown to lead DOGGR as the Oil and Gas Supervisor in 2011. Kustic, his wife Debra, and their three children reside in Sacramento.
Timothy E. Blewett, Fisheries Biology, 1966
Submitted: October 5, 2014
Timothy E. Blewett, 1966, Fisheries Biology, Environmental Management, After 21.5 years in the U.S. Air Force trying to learn a marketable skill, became a loss control consultant with Hartford Insurance. Blewett later went to work for the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission. He retired from the AWCC about 14 years ago, and has since worked as a private contractor doing loss-control work. Sally, Blewett’s wife, is a travel consultant, and the couple has been to approximately 35 countries over the last 26 years. About 10 years ago Blewett had an idea for a story, which turned into a 184,000-word, unpublished novel, followed by eight additional novels, also unpublished. Blewett reports it’s been fun writing the stories and he might someday just try to put them out in the real world.
Terri Bidle, Biological Sciences, 2011
Submitted: August 26, 2014
Terri Bidle, 2011 Zoology, is beginning a new chapter of her life as a marine education program manager in Southern California. After seven years with the USC QuikSCience program, she will be working with ExplorOcean in Newport Beach, Calif., to bring quality ocean exploration to young people.
Ty Robin Collins, Environmental Resources Engineering, 2001
Submitted: August 20, 2014
Ty Robin Collins, Environmental Resources Engineering, was hired as a project manager for Manhard Consulting’s Eureka office, a civil engineering firm headquartered in Vernon Hills, Ill.
Tonja (Olson)Tallent, Biological Sciences, 1998
Submitted: July 17, 2014
Tonja (Olson)Tallent, 1998, Biological Sciences, worked at a winery as a microbiologist, then for a bio-tech company doing the same. She recently left corporate America and started a business with her husband and now happily runs a tea-bar in Fair Oaks, Calif.
Jessica Ann Sellers, Wildlife, 2013
Submitted: June 23, 2014
Jessica Ann Sellers, 2013 Wildlife, spent two summers working on the Wyoming toad recovery project doing captive breeding, research, surveys, and releases. Sellers also spent some time in Key Largo, Fla., interning for REEF doing fish surveys and lionfish research and removals.
Carl S. Chavez, Wildlife, 1966
Submitted: June 6, 2014
Carl S. Chavez, 1966 Wildlife, published his second book, "A Year in Bodie, 1966-1967" co-authored with his wife Margaret (Elmore) Chavez (also class of 1966). The book is about the start of Chavez’s 33-year career as a California State Park Ranger and Administrator.
Marie (Ferguson) Smith, Wildlife, 1980
Submitted: April 16, 2014
Marie (Ferguson) Smith, 1980 Wildlife, has been teaching high school science for the last 25 years after working for the U.S. Forest Service as a Research Technician, I. Smith is married with three sons, two engineers (SDSU and CSU) and one zoologist (HSU). She’s currently living on a mountain outside of Glide, Oregon, and still teaching science (Umpqua Valley Christian School), but dreaming of retirement.
Rion Allbaugh, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 2001
Submitted: April 16, 2014
Rion Allbaugh, 2001 Forestry, met his wife Anne Marie Nielsen (‘01, Child Development) in the Siemens Hall Computer lab in 1999 and have been together ever since. Allbaugh is a Fire Captain for Cal Fire, and Anne Marie is a second grade teacher. They live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills with their son and dog. They look back upon their Humboldt State experience with great nostalgia and, if given the opportunity, would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Michael Sandecki, Geology, 1979
Submitted: March 11, 2014
Michael Sandecki, 1979 Geology, is currently a water quality analyst employed with the California Coastal Commission.
Deanna (Wade) Carpenter, Environmental Resources Engineering, 1997
Submitted: December 14, 2013
Deanna Carpenter, 1997 Environmental Resources Engineering, (née Wade) is married to Mark Carpenter ('98, Wildlife Management) and was recently promoted to the rank of Commander with the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps in Newport, R.I. Carpenter is currently serving as chief staff officer of the Seventh Naval Construction Regiment.
Ron Miller, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1983
Submitted: December 13, 2013
RON MILLER, 1983 Forest Management, is a supervisory forester on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. His 30-year career has included working for the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Miller has published articles in both American Forests and the Journal of Forestry. He is also the nominator of the largest Chihuahua pine in the United States. Recent travel includes time in Costa Rica and Panama in Central America and Ecuador and Peru in South America.
Dr. Leonard A. Brennan, Wildlife, 1984
Submitted: December 11, 2013
Leonard A. Brennan, 1984, Wildlife, has been a professor at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, at the Texas A&M University, Kingsville, since 2001, where he holds the C.C. Winn Endowed Chair for Quail Research. Brennan teaches graduate classes in Ecosystem Function and Models in Wildlife Science. His past positions include director of Research at Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, FL (1993-2001), and small game research scientist at Mississippi State University (1989-1993). He served terms as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Wildlife Management (2001-2002) and Wildlife Society Bulletin (2012-2013). Since graduating from HSU, Brennan has published more than 160 peer-reviewed articles, five books and more than 100 extension articles.
Kevin Orris, Mathematics, 1998
Submitted: October 31, 2013
Kevin Orris, 1998, mathematics, first went to Humboldt in 1984 as a Wildlife Management major, at which time he met his wife Bonnie. He returned to Humboldt in the mid ’90s and received a degree in Mathematics and his teaching credential. He has been teaching math at Golden Sierra High School for the last 12 years. He loves every minute and is very proud that he has encouraged several students to attend Humboldt.
J, Chemistry, 2013
Submitted: October 31, 2013
Jeffrey Herr, 2013 Chemistry, found a job working as a laboratory technician in the quality control lab for Traditional Medicinals, which produces tea. Herr’s work is in testing and sampling herbs with names he can barely pronounce. Herr writes, “I already miss HSU.”