Class Notes

Catherine Zublin (Comm) has been appointed interim dean of the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities at Weber State University. She has worked for Weber State for 30 years, first as a theater professor and then as associate dean of the arts and humanities college. She also has been the lead costume designer for more than 50 theater productions.

Former Colorado attorney general and current Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers (Law) was granted the Silver Spur award by the Pikes Peak Range Riders, a group that supports the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. The annual award honors an outstanding citizen. John has also served as U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado and executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections. He was sworn in as mayor in June. John and his wife, Janet Suthers (PolSci’73; MBA’89), have two grown daughters.

Debra Jason (MCommDisor) published Millionaire Marketing on a Shoestring Budget this year. The book, which received an EVVY Award from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association, provides business advice for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Debra started her own company, The Write Direction, in 1989.

The Buffs’ first NCAA giant slalom champion, Stephan Hienzsch (Mktg), was inducted into this year’s class of the CU Athletic Hall of Fame. He won the slalom as a junior in 1977 and was the only collegiate skier invited to race in the World Cup Series that year. After his racing career, the four-time All-American served as the head coach and director of the United States Disabled Ski Team for four years while working for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Retired educator Phyllis J. Perry (EdD) released a book in November 2015 from History Press, Colorado Vanguards: Historic Trailblazers & Their Local Legacies. It chronicles the exploits of 30 men and women of Colorado, including explorers, miners, farmers, Native Americans, railroaders, inventors, scientists, doctors, statesmen, environmentalists and entrepreneurs. Phyllis has published scores of books, six of which have dealt with Colorado. Find her at www.phyllisjperry.com.

The Board of Trustees of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities appointed Barbara Kelberer McDonald (Engl) president of North Hennepin Community College. She has worked as interim president of Minnesota West Community and Technical College since 2014. Barbara received her master’s degree from the American University in Cairo and her doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Osseo, Minn.

Herb Keinon (PolSci), diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, is the author of two books: French Fries in Pita, a collection of his columns about life in Israel, and Lone Soldiers: Israel’s Defenders from Around the World, which tells the stories of young non-Israelis in the Israeli army. Herb has lived in Israel for more than 30 years, and is married with four children.

Daughters of the West Mesa, a novel published in 2015 by Irene Blea (PhDSoc), is a murder mystery based on the true story of the discovery of 11 female remains and an unborn fetus west of Albuquerque, N.M. Irene is the author of seven sociology textbooks and a play, as well as academic articles and poetry.

Proud Buff and father Doug Dorame (PE) writes that his daughter spent the past summer at CU teaching in the Upward Bound Program and living in the Newton Courts before starting college at Yale. When he picked her up in Boulder, Doug visited Smith Hall, his former dormitory. Doug is the athletic director at Albuquerque High School, N.M.

Bioinfo-rmatician David Haussler (PhDCompSci) of the University of California, Santa Cruz, led one of two teams that in 2000 first sequenced the 400,000 pieces of the human genome. At the time, President Bill Clinton called the Human Genome Project, of which David’s team was a part, a historic achievement that would revolutionize the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases. Thousands of biomedical researchers worldwide use the UCSC Genome Browser to uncover the causes of diseases and develop treatments.

Several years ago, sisters Elizabeth (MComm) and Patricia Donohoe (MEngl’82) found 150 letters from their great-great-grandparents in an old cracker tin in their grandfather’s house and another 150 on eBay. Afterward, Patricia wrote The Printer’s Kiss: The Life and Letters of a Civil War Newspaperman and His Family. The book tells the story of their ancestors’ lives in Ohio during the Civil War. The letters, which were donated to the West Virginia and Regional History Collection at West Virginia University, comprise the Wylie-Tomlinson Letter Collection.

In July Geary Larrick (DMus) played the piano three times at Lincoln Senior Center in his hometown, Stevens Point, Wis. He played 15 of his own compositions written between 1975 and 2013.

Timothy Tomasik (Jour), a founder of Chicago law firm Tomasik Kotin Kasserman LLC, handles aviation, transportation, antitrust and medical negligence cases. In 2011, he was a member of the plaintiff’s executive committee in litigation that secured a $1.2-billion settlement on behalf of World Trade Center property damage victims. Timothy’s wife, Jennifer, is also a lawyer. They have two daughters and live in Western Springs, Ill.

Darren McKnight (PhDAero), technical director at Integrity Applications Inc. in Chantilly, Va., published Make Yourself Indispensable: A Guide for Career Success. The book, which examines workforce productivity and career strategy, was inspired by multi-disciplinary research he started at CU. The book is available on Amazon. Darren lives in Centreville, Va.

Martin Price (PhDGeo) wrote Mountains:A Very Short Introduction, published this year by Oxford University Press. The book highlights the ways the mountains are affected by climate change and why they are important. Martin is director of the Centre for Mountain Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Perth College in Scotland, holder of the UNESCO chair in sustainable mountain development and adjunct professor at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Commercial real estate company Trout Daniel & Associates hired Gary Olschansky (Adv) as investment sales associate. In his role, he focuses on the sale of investment real estate in the Baltimore metro area. He has worked in commercial real estate for 30 years.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis appointed Patrice Kunesh (Law) co-director of the Center for Indian Country Development (CICD). The CICD launched in mid-2015 and collaborates with key stakeholders committed to American Indian economic development. Patrice has dedicated more than two decades to improving the lives of American tribal communities. She previously served as deputy undersecretary of rural development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

SoulCycle, a chain of indoor cycling gyms co-founded by Elizabeth Cutler (DistSt), offers its customers a popular 45-minute cycling class that incorporates weights. Since opening in 2006, the New York-based company has grown to 46 locations and employs 1,500 people. It has filed for a $100 million initial public offering (IPO). Elizabeth is married and has two daughters.

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve named Emily Porter (Adv) its coastal training program coordinator. Emily designs, organizes and conducts technical training programs for environmental professionals. She previously taught environmental biology and environmental policy at Florida Gulf Coast University.

In October, Adam Walsh (Fin, Psych) joined the Boston office of the firm Stifel Financial Corp. as managing director and senior analyst. He serves on the healthcare research team’s biotechnology sector.