Notes from the Class of 1994

Last fall Keith (Fin) and Melissa Downham (Advert) of Denver took their two children on a trip to Africa. They visited Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater, where the giraffes “kept poking their heads up like out of Jurassic Park,” Keith writes. They also camped in the Tarangire National Park.

Technical writing consultant Yasmin Naficy (EnvDes) writes that she has funded her film The Rogue. She says Professor Joseph Juhasz’s film class and Dr. Alex Hoen’s work with the CU Boulder space grant program had a huge impact on her.

Stacy Miller Fleming (Geo’94) opened THE MAX Challenge in Louisville, Colo., in January. It is a 10-week fitness, nutrition and motivation program for participants of all ages and ability. She writes that the goal of the program is for individuals to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives.

After moving back to Colorado from Dallas, Texas, Colleen Walker (ArchEngr) is now CEO of the Auraria Higher Education Center, a state organization that oversees the property at Community College of Denver, CU Denver and Metropolitan State University of Denver. 

Eagle, Colorado-based journalist and author, Jennifer Alsever (Jour) released her latest young adult novel Extraordinary Lies, a paranormal mystery. When news about her Trinity Forest Series trilogy was featured in the Coloradan magazine several years ago, Atlanta-based film producer Matthew Moore (Engl’93) reached out, and they’ve since begun working on adapting her stories for the big screen. Jennifer credits her son Jacob Beauprez (MechEngr ex’24) with pushing her to write.

Karla McManamon Miller (Law), under the nom de plume Piper Bayard, has three recent book releases. Spycraft: Essentials is a primer on espionage and the U.S. intelligence community. Key Figures in Espionage: The Good, the Bad, & the Booty is a collection of biographies of key figures in espionage. Timeline Iran: Stone Age to Nuclear Age is a brief history of Iran, focusing on the past few decades and recent events. These books and others can be found at her website, BayardandHolmes.com. Karla describes herself as “a recovering attorney who now works from her home in Colorado.”

This spring, Jennifer Alsever (Jour’94) published her fifth young-adult fiction book, Burying Eva Flores. The novel, which takes place in Paonia, Colorado, depicts a war between two teen girls that spins out of control when one of them discovers an ability to write her own future. Jennifer, a resident of Eagle, Colorado, is a freelance writer and has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Fortune, Inc., Wired and others. In 2016, she published the Trinity Forest Series, a young adult trilogy, and, in 2020, Extraordinary Lies, a young-adult novel about psychic testing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s.

Former environmental lawyer Ralph Bloemers (PolSci’94) served as the executive producer for the 2022 documentary film Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire. Filmed across the West, the film highlights the voices of climate and wildfire experts as well as Indigenous people and fire survivors. The film became available to stream on Apple TV and other platforms on June 13. Ralph is co-producer of a forthcoming film about Boulder County’s Marshall and East Troublesome fires, in addition to his work as a wildlife photographer, published author on strategic carbon reserves and owner and manager of a commercial pear and cherry orchard in Parkdale, Oregon.

Anne Kelligrew St.Clair (Mktg’94) joined U.S. Bank in New York City as a private wealth advisor. She has worked in private wealth management for more than 25 years and specializes in life insurance premium finance and planning for ultra-high net worth individuals and families. Anne also sits on the Delaware Symphony Orchestra board of directors.

After spending more than 20 years leading design, research, product and AI organizations, Elliot Trice (Hum’94) was appointed a 2023 distinguished designer at Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider. Most recently, Elliot established the vision for Kyndryl’s corporate website.

Jason Scheunemann (Psych’94) is a professional photographer and has been featured in several magazines and films. His latest work from Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio movie hung in the Museum of Modern Art in New York this spring. See his work at mandraketheblack.de.