Notes from the Class of 1997

Future Buff Marshall Peter Irvine was born last July to proud parents Monica Frazer Irvine* (PolSci’97) and Peter Irvine* (Engl’97). They also have a toddler and live in Arlington, Va.

Former executive chef for Boulder’s Jax Fish House Hosea Rosenberg (EngrPhys’97) decided to shut down his start-up company StrEat Chefs, which served hand-held food from a trailer, because of uncertain city regulations in Boulder. He says the decision was difficult, but that he and his partners still own the brand. He told the Boulder Camera that he plans to open his own restaurant. Hosea was the winner of the fifth season of Top Chef television program and lives in Boulder.

Doing her part to conserve the environment, Sarah Kauss (Acct’97) developed her own water bottle company called S’well. The insulated bottles are designed to be both stylish and practical and are toxin-free. Sarah’s intention with the company is to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles. Her S’well bottles were listed in O: The Oprah Magazine as a must-have item, and Sarah was featured in Portfolio, CU’s Leeds School of Business magazine. She lives in New York, N.Y.

Assistant attorney general for Maryland Jamie Blum Seward (PolSci’97) was selected by the Maryland Daily Recordas one of Maryland’s 2011 Leading Women for her professional achievements in community involvement. She lives in Baltimore with her husband and two sons.

The public accounting and consulting firm Crowe Horwath elected Joshua Teeple (Mktg’97) as director. He works in the firm’s audit and financial advisory practice area and lives in Irvine, Calif.

In September Cristin Dozier (ApMath, Ger’97) married Andreas Seider in Germany. She is a consulting engineer for Bridging IT in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Attorney John Dorsey (IntlAf, Span’97) was promoted to partner at the firm Strasburger & Price in Dallas. He works with companies at all stages of development as well as private equity funds and banks. He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and often handles transactions involving assets located in Central and South America.

Reporting with the MLB network in New Jersey, Alanna Rizzo-Kole (IntlBus’97, MJour’03) is a studio reporter. Before joining the network, she worked for ROOT Sports in Colorado where she won three regional Emmy awards. She served as co-host for the Colorado Rockies All Access, did Rockies telecasts, was a sideline reporter for CU basketball, University of Denver basketball and hockey and for high school football games.

The Denver office of national law firm Wilson Elser hired Scott Sweeney (Law’97) as counsel. He also joined the firm’s practice in Latin America where he uses the skills he acquired while living in Argentina in the early 1990s. The Aurora, Colo., resident has 14 years of experience practicing law and is a member of several bar associations.

Mother and lawyer Leslie Danks Burke (Hist, IntlAf’97) is running for Congress in New York. Leslie, a former CU student government tri-exec, is the only Democratic candidate in the race who has worked in Washington, D.C. She worked on Hillary Clinton’s senate campaign and presidential campaign as well as for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. She lives with her family in Ithaca, N.Y.

President and founder of Boulder Business Advisors, James Graham (Psych’97) joined the board of trustees of The Community Foundation Serving Boulder Country. His business is a CPA firm specializing in the provision of accounting, payroll and virtual CFO services. He lives in Boulder.

Ball Aerospace appointed Boulder resident Jeff Osterkamp (MEngr’97) vice president for engineering. Jeff will provide strategic and operational leadership for all disciplines of engineering at the company, including manufacturing, testing and supply chain management.

A 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Luis Alberto Urrea (MEngl’97) uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore themes of love, loss and triumph. He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois-Chicago and lives with his family in Naperville, Ill. He was featured in the June 2011 Coloradan.

On Aug. 10, 2011, Jonathan Wimmer (Engl’97) and his wife welcomed their third child and first daughter, Eloise Cullen Johnson Wimmer. The family lives in Knoxville, Tenn., and writes they are thrilled to have her.

Dawn Velásquez (Span’97) and Matthew Pollard welcomed their first child, Dante Augustin, on May 24. Dawn lives in Denver and writes she is hopeful Dante will be a future Buff.

CEO and co-founder of Quick Left Ingrid Alongi (Phil, WomSt’97) appeared in the Daily Camera speaking about her firm and Boulder’s startup and technology scenes. Quick Left is a web engineering firm. “The biggest thing we do with our customers is help them with their product strategy,” Ingrid told the Camera. She lives in Boulder.

Design Concepts added Carter Marshall (Anth’97, MArch’09) to its team as a landscape designer and he is working on municipal park projects in Colorado, including the redesign of Wulf Park in Evergreen and a recreation area master plan for Nederland. He also is working on such school landscape projects as the historic Mapleton School in Boulder. Previously, Carter worked for Belt Collins West in Boulder as a park planner for such federal agencies as the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

On March 31 John Sieg* (MechEngr’97) and Elisha DeLong-Sieg welcomed their daughter Brooklyn Hope. They say her big sister Caitlyn is very excited and is already teaching Brooklyn the CU fight song. The family lives in Parker, Colo.

*Lifetime member

Writer and historian Andrew DeRoche (PhDHist’97) is planning a research trip to the museum in Las Animas, Colo., that houses the personal papers of former ambassador Llewellyn “Tommy” Thompson (A&S’28). Tommy worked closely with U.S. presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Nixon. He also played a key role during the Cuban Missile Crisis by advising President Kennedy how to respond to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, with whom he had lived for a time. Andrew writes no historian has ever had access to the diplomat’s personal papers before, so he is excited to see what they have. Andrew has published two books and many academic and encyclopedia articles. He lives in Longmont, Colo.

South by Southwest featured The Pool, an interactive art installation in Republic Square Park near Austin, Texas, created by Jen Lewin (EvnDes’97) of Jen Lewin Studio and her studio assistant, environmental design student Daniel Nordson. Her piece consisted of large illuminated circles that, when stepped on, flashed from blue to pink. Wired featured Jen’s art in March. She lives in Boulder and has been creating large interactive pieces for the public for 15 years.