Notes from the Class of 2001

Christine Peck (EPOBio) is co-founder of Wannaplé, a company whose goal is to provide children with access to the benefits of play. She recently launched Silly Street, a line of games and toys to help children develop curiosity, empathy and creativity. She lives in Minneapolis, Minn., with her husband, Stephen.

Alexander Brown (PhDMechEngr) was named an American Society of Mechanical Engineers fellow, a distinction reserved for only 3.1 percent of ASME’s 107,895 members. He works at Sandia National Laboratories and has had an exciting career in fire research, including serving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as an expert reviewer for nuclear power plant fire assessments for the past decade.

Online marketplace DataStreamX named Hari Krishnan (MTeleCom) to its advisory board. Hari is CEO of PropertyGuru Group, Asia’s leading online property group.

Scottsdale, Ariz., law firm Rose Law Group has named Laura Bianchi (PolSci) director of its cannabis department. Laura will continue to serve as the director of its business/corporate transactions and estate planning departments.

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 Dan Bludeau (Hist), Jeff Sorenson (MCDB, BioChem’01), Eric DeKruif (AeroEngr’03), Chad Slaby (Comm’03), Marc McGinn (Bus’04) and Charlie Barkmeier (Econ’15). Read more here. Planning for the next reunion, in 2018, has already begun. Email curugby@colorado.edu for details.

Olympic runner Kara Goucher (Psych) has launched a post-workout recovery fashion line with the athletic apparel company Oiselle. Kara graduated from CU with three Division I NCAA championships in cross-country, the 3000m and 5000m. Kara and husband Adam Goucher (Comm’98) have a son, Colton.

Mark Ferguson (Fin) has flipped more than 120 houses and sold more than 1,000 as a real estate agent. In 2013, he started Invest Four More to help people become real estate investors. Mark lives in Greeley, Colo. 

Last April Zach Mueller (Span; Nurs’04; PhD’06), a registered nurse with more than 17 years in healthcare, was named chief nursing executive of Medical City Healthcare, where he’s worked since 2011. He oversees the nursing practice, education, operations and research for 14 hospitals in North Texas. He lives in Dallas. 

Laboratory Conditions, a short film Robert Scheid (Jour, Mgmt) edited and starred in, made the film festival rounds this year. It stars Marisa Tomei and Minnie Driver, both Academy Award winners. In addition to editing, Robert has been acting and teaching editing through institutions and one-on-one with clients since 2002. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and one-year-old son, but writes he makes a yearly trip out to Boulder to recharge. 

Austin Sol, the professional ultimate frisbee team Patrick Christmas (CompSci) founded in Texas in 2015, is now in its fourth season. Sol has a 35-player roster and is a member of the American Ultimate Disc League. Since 2001, Patrick has worked as a chief software engineer at National Instruments. He and the Sol appeared in the Coloradan’s March 2016 cover story, “Ultimate Goes Pro.” This year Patrick took a spring break trip with his family to Big Bend and Carlsbad Caverns National Parks, “a great trip that always seemed too far away when I lived in Colorado,” he wrote.

Michael Maney (MComm) is local head of team member communications and engagement for Whole Foods Market in Austin, Tex. He previously held a similar position with Target.

Escaping war-torn Vietnam as a child was just the beginning for Nhi Aronheim (MTeleCom). She became valedictorian of her high school, and received a bachelor’s in mathematics from Centre College in Danville, Va., before coming to Boulder. Her career involved work in the telecommunications and marketing fields. Nhi has retired and is a volunteer mediator for the Colorado Better Business Bureau. She is writing a book about her harrowing journey, showing that even in the face of overwhelming odds, anything is possible. She lives in Englewood, Colo.

Emilie Upczak (RelSt, WomSt) wrote and directed Moving Parts, a movie about human smuggling and sex trafficking set in Trinidad and Tobago, which premiered at the Denver Film Festival in 2017. It began streaming on Amazon in January. She currently teaches film at the CU Boulder Department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts.

Literary magazine Ploughshares featured Diana Spechler (Engl, Psych) and her short story, “An Older Woman,” in its Winter 2020 issue. Diana’s was one of only eight fiction stories in the issue. She lives in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

In 2013, Blain Howard (Phil), senior communication manager of Microsoft’s Xbox, demoed the Xbox One with Jimmy Fallon and actor Will Forte on The Tonight Show. “It was also probably the most nervous I’ve ever been. Being live on-air was intense knowing millions of people were watching,” Blain told the Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine in February. Seven years later, Blain still works in what he considers his dream job. He lives in Seattle.

In August, Colorado governor Jared Polis appointed Robert James (Law) as district court judge for the state’s 13th judicial district. 

Jamahl Mosley (Soc) was a four-year letterman at CU and is one of only 37 players in CU history to score more than 1,000 points. He was named as an assistant coach of the 2021 USA Select Team for Basketball, which trained against the USA National team as it prepared for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jamahl has coached for the Denver Nuggets, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas’ Summer League squad and the Dallas Mavericks. 

In August, Maria Coady (PhDEdu’01) will join the North Carolina State College of Education as the inaugural Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Educational Equity. Prior, Maria worked at the University of Florida’s College of Education as the Irving and Rose Fein Endowed Professor of Education and professor of English speakers of other languages (ESOL) and bilingual education. Maria focuses on literacy and language development for rural multilingual students.

In July, Andrew Luxen (Atmos, PolSci’01) was appointed by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis as a district court judge for the City and County of Denver beginning in January 2023. Andrew has worked as a chief deputy district attorney for the Denver District Attorney’s Office since 2019, and has worked in the office since 2006.