Cowell College
Above: UC Santa Cruz student at Merrill College, Photo by Carolyn Lagattuta
’69 Bob HORLICK says, “May this devil bug pass us all over, along with our families, friends, and loved ones. The world needs us now more than ever!”
’71 Peter MYERS is a screenwriter and novelist. He’s had two novels published through Mentoris Project. The first one was Leondardo’s Secret, a historical fiction biography of Leonardo da Vinci, and the second novel is Dark Labyrinth, dealing with Galileo’s life, particularly the part of it dominated by his struggle with the Inquisition. On the screenwriting side, his screenplay Victory Girl has been set for production (with a $40 million budget), by a company in Los Angeles called Citizen Skull Productions.
’74 Don WALLACE received the Best Body of Work by a Single Writer award from the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter in 2019 (for 2018) to go along with Best Sport Feature and finalist for long-form feature and writing on the arts. He moved from senior editor at Honolulu Magazine to contributing editor in January 2020 and is working on a novel sequel to his memoir, The French House (2014, Sourcebooks). His literary appreciation of the James Bond novel From Russia With Love appeared in the Wall Street Journal (5/30/20), a proper application of his studies of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams with Norman O. Brown.
’77 Skye (aka Jamie) LEONE is a UCSC Slug with a 40-year association: undergraduate and graduate student, lecturer, staff member. Retired 2017. Now full-timing in camper van; semi-permanent home in Santa Cruz Valley, Arizona. Lifelong career as an educator: 30 years with the Sierra Institute (instructor and co-director); 6 years high school science (Watsonville and San Lorenzo Valley in Santa Cruz County); new science teacher mentor; UCSC ENVS and ED lecturer. Eight years as UCSC senior recreation supervisor. Now moving a proper human speed (slow to medium), hiking, doing community service, canoeing/kayaking, exploring the natural world with my girlfriend and our two dogs.
’77 Robert LOMBARDI finally escaped California permanently. He says, “Nice to be back in the U.S. (Arizona). Waiting for the summer heat (120 degrees-plus) to burn out COVID-19 so the bars can open back up.”
Stevenson College
’70 Jonathan R.C. Green published Fighting Malaria on the River Kwai, a memoir of his first two-year term of service in the Peace Corps after graduation. Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books a Million.
’85 Dr. James Alan (Jim) TEMPLE is looking to contact members of his cohort in social psychology (i.e., entering years 1975–1985). Please feel free to contact him at any time. Dr. James Alan (Jim) Temple (graduating class of 1985), Professor of Psychology, Psychology Annex (Room #115), Saint Mary’s College of California, 1928 St. Mary’s Road Moraga, CA 94556. Email: jtemple@stmarys-ca.edu; cell phone: (925) 708-4182.
’90 Geoff DI GIROLAMO, ASLA, Assoc. AIA, and Roderick WYLLIE (Kresge), ASLA, are partners of Surfacedesign, Inc., an award-winning landscape architecture and urban design firm based in San Francisco. The firm recently released its first monograph, Surfacedesign: Material Landscapes, published by The Monacelli Press. The book chronicles stunning parks, plazas, waterfronts, civic landscapes, and private gardens designed by the firm.
’04 Tyler ATKINSON, a partner with trial law firm McManis Faulkner, was selected as a fellow for the Litigation Counsel of America. The LCA is a trial lawyer honorary society composed of 3,500 members, and less than one-half of 1% of all American lawyers are honored in the organization. Atkinson was also named to the Northern California Super Lawyers 2020 list.
’04 Kacy BORBA SPANN received two awards of distinction this year: Women in Medicine Top Doc for Naturopathy and Acupuncture, and Who’s Who Continental.
Merrill College
’85 David KORDUNER joined Endeavor Content, the cutting-edge independent film and television studio that puts talent at the forefront, in March 2020 as senior vice president, associate general counsel, labor relations—the company’s first in-house labor hire.
Kresge College
’88 Elizabeth KADETSKY’s fourth book, The Memory Eaters, winner of the Juniper Prize in Creative Nonfiction, was published in March. She published an essay on Salon.com in May about what happened when she put two images side by side—a modeling shot of her mother on Boston’s Beacon Hill, and a painting by her grandmother … of the same scene. In addition, The Memory Eaters was featured on Buzzfeed, LA Review of Books, LitHub, Jewish Boston, the Boston Globe, Punctuate, the Rumpus, Zibby Owens’s Moms Don’t Have Time to Read, the Quivering Pen’s My Library feature, Penn State News, and many other venues.
Porter College
’96 Jacquelyn D. RUFFIN of Myers, Widders, Gibson, Jones & Feingold, was named a “Rising Star” in the field of school and education law by Super Lawyers.com. Super Lawyers.com is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
’01 Robert GRAMACY, a professor in the Department of Statistics, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science, was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. An affiliate member of the College of Science’s Academy of Integrated Sciences’ Computational Modeling and Data Analytics program, Gramacy focuses his research on real-data analysis where current solutions are inefficient and thus skimp on fidelity. He seeks to identify new models, methods, and algorithms, while remaining grounded in the needs of a motivating application as he develops new general-purpose software for the at-large scientific community. In addition to his bachelor’s degree, he also holds a master’s in computer science (’03) and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics in (’05), all from UC Santa Cruz.
’05 Matilda STUBBS received her doctorate in anthropology from Northwestern University. Her dissertation titled “Documenting Lives: the Material and Social Life of the Case File in the U.S. Foster Care System,” was based off of ethnographic research that was funded by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship, the Wenner Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, and the Beth Wilder Dillingham Award. This research stems from undergraduate leadership opportunities through the UCSC Smith Society and efforts to address challenges experienced by current and former foster youth on and off campus. She is grateful to Bill DICKINSON (Cowell ’68) and the countless other volunteers who set the foundation for her academic success.
’08 Sophia PLANT-DARLING was admitted in summer 2020 to the Global Field Program at Miami University. In her Earth Expeditions: Connected Conservation course, Plant-Darling completed a Conservation Campaign project in which she and fellow graduate students initiated a badge program that youth in Vermilion Sea Institute’s Aventureros program could participate in. Designed for long-term use and application in a multitude of settings (e.g., schools and organizations), the program will help extend conservation attitudes and an appreciation for the environment for more youth around the world. Plant-Darling, a senior supervisor of sea lions at Houston Zoo, lives in Houston, Texas.
Oakes College
’84 Mark ADAMS and his wife recently moved from San Jose to Marblehead, Mass., to be close to their first grandchild. He also retired from a 30-year career in marketing data storage products.
Rachel Carson College
’92 Gabriela SOSA, author, actor, former diplomat, interpreter, and award-winning actor/writer/producer, was featured in the Women in Environment lineup of Green Culture 2020, keeping her politics and environmental studies degrees alive in her novel and one-woman show. The event featured the online premiere adaptation of her debut novel, Love in the Time of Taksim. The literary work is based on her experience in Istanbul with Al Gore at the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training.
Graduate Studies
’95 Laura Hyun Yi KANG‘s book, Traffic in Asian Women, was published by Duke University Press. Kang is a Professor in the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC Irvine and author of Compositional Subjects: Enfiguring Asian/American Women, also published by Duke University Press. She received her Ph.D. in the history of consciousness at UC Santa Cruz.
In Memoriam
’69 Jonathan Holmes BOUTELLE (Cowell), a Santa Cruz fixture for 56 years, died unexpectedly at his home on Bay Street on March 23. He was 77. His life-long calling was carpentry and union organizing, and he labored on some of the best-known projects in town: the Santa Cruz County courthouse building (1965-67), Dominican Hospital, UCSC’s Crown College, and the Municipal Wharf. He was president of two local unions, active in most city council campaigns, and even ran for supervisor in 2006.
’71 Kristin Mary TRAYLOR (Stevenson) died at home in Vallejo on June 21, 2020. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz, she obtained a multiple subject teaching credential from Sonoma State University. She had three children, and she taught elementary school in Vallejo for nearly 20 years, retiring in 2009. In retirement, she remained active in her church, the Vallejo Piecemakers quilting group, and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
’72 Debra JONES (Porter) passed away unexpectedly on July 15, 2020, in a kayaking accident in Montana. She was 68. She worked as a library clerk and then later as a reference librarian for the Santa Cruz Public Library; at Cabrillo College, teaching critical thinking and research skills; and for University of California, creating an online high school offering advanced placement courses for underserved high school students.
’72 Linda NUTE (Stevenson) passed away from cancer two years ago, leaving husband, Mark Schaefer (Stevenson ‘72), and sons Eric and Matthew.
’75 David Marc ROSE (Crown) died on August 4, 2020. He was 67. Rose started practicing general and vascular surgery at the Santa Cruz Medical Clinic in 1988. He received the Santa Cruz County Medical Society Excellence in Health Care Award 2016-17, the highest medical honor bestowed by the county. He retired in 2015, returning to the warmer climate of Los Angeles in 2016, where he and wife Susy had a wonderful time exploring the city and taking advantage of its cultural offerings.
’77 Geoff GILBERT (Kresge) died in July 2020. He was 67. He and wife Allison met in 1979 and moved to Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles, where he became a television writer. Geoffrey and Allison married in 1988, had their son, Jason, in 1994 and daughter, Aimee, in 1997. They returned to Santa Cruz in 1999. He loved sports and was a regular contributor to the NY Post‘s NBA columns and was a researcher for NBC Sports NBA telecasts. He is survived by his wife, Allison GILBERT (Kresge ’81)
’78 Tegan SPEISER (Merrill) died June 26, 2020. She was 63. After graduating, Santa Cruz and then Capitola became her home, where she lived as part of an eclectic community that shared her passions for progressive politics, human rights, and good living. Complementing her social justice work, Speiser undertook the first of many roles in transportation planning with Santa Cruz Metro. She then branched out into leadership roles at the Temple Beth El Jewish Community Center and Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, before returning to public service as a transportation planner for Santa Cruz County.
’97 Hana HAMMER (Porter) was reported missing on Feb. 2. The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office identified a body recovered in the Mattole Beach area later that month as that of Hammer.
’97 Kimberly “Sky” SMITH (Kresge) died March 27, 2020. She was a loving mom to Levi and Max, 11, taking them on every possible adventure in Santa Cruz and enjoying picnics with Nana and Papa at the UCSC Farm and Garden. She was a gifted pianist, and she volunteered her music at a senior home in Santa Cruz. She was also an amazing artist.
Prof. Raymond Lindley NICHOLS died on September 27, 2019. He was a Rhodes scholar, professor, and head of the department of politics at Monash University in Australia, and a lively contributor to public affairs. He was 81. In 1965, he became one of the founding fathers of the new University of California campus at Santa Cruz, as a fellow of Cowell College.