Notes from the Class of 1981

Taos, N.M., High School coach Bruce Gomez (PE) was inducted into the New Mexico High School Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January. Under his leadership, his teams have won 11 New Mexico State Team trophies. His teams also have won 12 district titles and have finished top five or better 26 times out of 31. Bruce, a Native American, was a walk-on with the CU cross-country and track teams and trained with Olympic champion Frank Shorter, a long-time Boulder resident and co-founder of the Bolder Boulder. Bruce lives in Taos with wife Anne-Marie Emanuelli and daughter Marielle.

Brian Vogt (Class), the CEO of Denver Botanic Gardens, was honored with the national Award of Excellence from National Garden Clubs Inc., one of the nation’s most recognized nonprofits and largest volunteer gardening organization in the world. A Colorado native, Brian has served at the Botanic Gardens for eight years and oversaw the garden’s historic $73 million capital campaign and master development plan. Brian is a writer, speaker, artist, gardener and hiker, serving in community leadership and public service in Colorado for almost 25 years. He also served as director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and was a member of the Governor’s Economic Commission on Science and Technology and served as president of the South Metro Chamber of Commerce in Denver.

Former Colorado lawmaker Alice Donnelly Madden (Psych; Law’89) was named executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment at Colorado Law School. She served in the state House of Representatives for eight years and was majority leader from 2004 to 2008. She also has held positions in the governor’s office and in the U.S. Department of Energy.

Michele Ritter (Anth) received the Alumni Recognition Award at the CU Boulder Alumni Association’s 87th Annual Awards Ceremony in October. Michele’s philanthropic and humanitarian causes include CU’s College of Music, the Italian department, developmentally disabled adults and the “Lost Girls” of South Sudan. She lives in Boulder with her husband, Mike Ritter (Chem’81).

Dennis Mann (EPOBio) works as an emergency room doctor in Dayton, Ohio. He also teaches in Wright State University’s emergency medicine department.

Director of TrueBlue Inc. and founder of Marca Global LLC Colleen Birdnow Brown (MBA) was interviewed by the National Association of Corporate Directors for its May/June 2017 magazine.

Over Labor Day weekend, the CU Men’s Rugby Club celebrated its 50th anniversary with an alumni reunion in Boulder. The weekend’s highlight was a match pitting alumni against current CU players. About 40 alumni from all five decades played in the match, including Pete Doody (Engl), Rich Frankenheimer (Econ), Dean Niro (CivEngr’88), Shane Brown (AeroEngr’95; MS’99) and Dan Hernandez (InfoSys’98). Read more here. Planning for the next reunion, in 2018, has already begun. Email curugby@colorado.edu for details.

The National Association of Corporate Directors and Puget Sound Business Journal announced Colleen Birdnow Brown (MBA) as 2017 Director of the Year.

Dawn Bjork (Mktg), a 15-year member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), was elected president of the Colorado chapter, the largest in the U.S. A software trainer who speaks on technology issues, Dawn is a Microsoft-certified trainer and owner of The Software Pro. She lives in Centennial, Colo.

Michelle R. Houser (Jour) was named chief operating officer of the Tesla Foundation, a think tank focused on workforce development and education related to autonomy and autonomous technology. She previously managed advanced transportation, aerospace, cybersecurity and clean tech economic development efforts at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and worked as a political communications consultant in Southern California.

After working for the federal government for 32 years, Melissa Mansell Popp (IntlAf) retired in 2013. Since retiring, she has battled stage 3 breast cancer, become a court-appointed special advocate for children (CASA) and moved to Firestone, Colo., to be closer to her granddaughter.

Peggy Campbell Rush (MEdu’81) was named a Fulbright specialist by the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The appointment, which runs from 2018 to 2021, matches specialists with foreign host institutions from over 150 countries to share expertise, strengthen international collaboration and learn about other cultures. Peggy writes that her love of travel was sparked while attending CU, where she sailed around the world twice as the assistant executive dean for the Semester at Sea program. She lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

In January, Peter Doody (Engl’81) received the Defense Lawyer of the Year Award from the San Diego Defense Lawyers organization. In February, he became president of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, the largest regional civil litigation defense organization in the nation, with 1,200 attorney members from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Peter specializes in cases brought against product manufacturers, transportation companies and property owners. While at CU, he was captain of the rugby team.

In January, Peter Doody (Engl) received the Defense Lawyer of the Year Award from the San Diego Defense Lawyers. In February, he became president of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, the largest regional civil litigation defense organization in the nation, with 1,200 attorney members from Santa Barbara to San Diego. Peter was captain of the CU rugby team.

A third-generation pilot and aviation historian, Lt. Col. Scott Weaver (Mktg) has more than 2,600 hours of flight time. In addition to two combat tours in Iraq, Scott was also a fighter pilot in Germany and a T-38A instructor at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Scott continues to fly for American Airlines, and in 2017 published his book The Pilots of Thunderbird Field. He lives in Potomac, Maryland. 

Originally from Kokomo, Indiana, Dana Scruggs (Ger) chose to attend CU Boulder so she could ride her bicycle in the mountains. She has spent most of her career as a translator, including as a patent translator for a major German automotive components manufacturer. In 2013, she returned to Boulder and won the Boulder Canyon Hill Climb Challenge in her age group, as part of the Buffalo Bicycle Classic. She lives in Indianapolis.

Kurt Ruttum (Econ) of Portland, Oregon, was named managing partner at business and litigation law firm Tonkon Torp. Kurt specializes in mergers and acquisitions, and began his career in law at the firm in 1986. He is also on the board of directors at Parrott Creek Child and Family Services, a nonprofit that assists vulnerable youth and families.

The third edition of Matthew J. Sharps’ (Psych’81;MS’84; PhD’86) book Processing Under Pressure: Stress, Memory And Decision-Making in Law Enforcement was published by Looseleaf Law Publications. Matthew is a psychology professor at California State University, Fresno, researching forensic cognitive science. He lives in Coarsegold, California.

In June, Linda Villarosa’s (Jour’81) book Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation Will be published. Linda works as a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and is an associate professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, which she once attended. Additionally, Linda teaches reporting, Black studies and writing at the City College of New York. Linda resides in Brooklyn, New York.

In February, legal services firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati opened an office in downtown Boulder. Vern Norviel (ChemEngr’81) and Tony Jeffries (Fin’89), partners with the firm, are leading the team at the new location. Wilson Sonsini provides legal counsel regarding life sciences, technology and growth enterprises. Vern works in Wilson Sonsini’s patent and innovation group, and Tony works in the firm’s corporate practice group.