Notes from the Class of 2005

Last year Preston Dyches (Astro) concluded his service as the public information officer for NASA’s Cassini mission, as that spacecraft ended its dramatic final year of operations by making a final plunge into Saturn. He now serves as the lead for public engagement special projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. 

Christy Predaina (Astro, CompSci) was awarded the Society of Women Engineers’ 2017 Emerging Leader Award. She was recognized for her leadership capabilities while developing the next generation of engineers and for advancing an innovative approach to systems engineering collaboration. Christy is director of program management operations at Northrop Grumman Technology Services. She lives in Herndon, Va. 

K.J. Rawson (MEngl) was promoted to associate professor with tenure by the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. A member of the English department, K.J. has a PhD in composition and cultural rhetoric from Syracuse University. His research interests include composition, rhetoric, digital media, feminist and queer theory and LGBT studies. In 2016, he founded and created the Digital Transgender Archive — a publicly available database for transgender history. He has been a member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2012.

From July to December 2017, Ben Slavin (MechEngr’05) and wife Amberlynn biked through seven countries, riding from China, through Central Asia and into the Middle East along the historic Silk Road. You can watch a documentary about their journey called Cycling the Silk Road on YouTube. 

Lauren Ludtke (Art’05) graduated with a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in Boston in June 2018. She completed an internship at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital last fall and is now employed as a physical therapist in Orlando, Fla.

Robert Kyle Crowder (Psych) is a major in the U.S. Marine Corps and lives in Fredericksburg, Va. He works in government contracting for the U.S. Department of Defense. The married father of six children remains a huge Buffs fan.

Former CU football player Sean Tufts (Soc;MBA’11) is president of Buffs4Life, which assists former CU student athletes and coaches. In June, the nonprofit held its seventh-annual Kyle MacIntosh Fun Run, named for Kyle MacIntosh (Comm’13), a former Buffs track athlete who died in 2015. Proceeds were donated to a college fund for the five daughters of former Buff TJ Cunningham (Comm’99), who was killed in February.

In 2012, Pat Allen (Comm) lost one of his best friends, Ben Weible (Phil’06). It was a life-changing event that led Pat to quit his job and move to Los Angeles, where he initially slept on the couch of another friend, Brent McHenry (Bus, Comm’04). Pat then founded the clothing company UNI/FORM. One of the first products the company began to distribute was called “Ben’s shirt,” a gray T-shirt named for his friend. Fifteen percent of proceeds go to the Harmony Project, a charity that provides music lessons to kids who couldn’t otherwise afford them. 

Associate creative writing professor Jennifer Moore (MEngl) is the new director of the School for the Humanities and Global Cultures at Ohio Northern University. She lives in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Anna-Liisa Mullis (Jour, Law’11) has been named shareholder of Denver’s Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck law firm.

After 10 years in commercial real estate, Eric Chamberlin (Econ) joined Opus Group’s Denver office this summer as a senior manager of real estate development. He will focus on identifying and executing multifamily, senior living and industrial development opportunities across the greater Denver region.

Aly Jamison (Comm) won a Stevie American Business Award for her work in the communications field. Aly currently works for the sales training company RAIN Group in San Diego as public relations director. She is also a San Diego Blood Bank “Gallon Donor.”

Erich Schubert (Jour; MA’08) has been promoted to senior director of communications and content for the Denver Broncos. In his thirteenth season with the Broncos, Schubert’s role now involves overseeing both the day-to-day functions of the public relations department as well as managing the club’s digital and social teams. While working on his master’s at CU, Eric worked as a graduate assistant under associate athletic director and sports information director David Plati (Jour’82).

Travis Macy (Hum) grew up watching his dad compete in Ironman races and ultra-marathons, eventually following in his father’s adventurous footsteps. To date, he has completed over 120 ultra-endurance events in 17 countries. In 2019, Travis and his father teamed up with several others to compete in World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, hosted by Bear Grylls on Amazon Prime.

Vanessa Schatz (Comm; MA’08) managed Growing Up Boulder’s (GUB) business development. The CU affiliate program is one of the nation’s most successful child-friendly city initiatives that works with young people of all backgrounds to include their input in local government decisions, including city planning and equitable community development. In May, Congressman Joe Neguse (Econ, PolSci’05) attended the program’s youth voice celebration. Vanessa has more than 15 years of national and international experience in business and community development, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and government and is a Stanford GSB LEAD (2021-2022) participant.

In December, Sean Babington (EnvSt’05) was named senior advisor for climate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Secretary. Before his new role, Sean served on the U.S. Senate’s agriculture, nutrition and forestry committee as senior professional staff to chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, where he managed business pertaining to forestry, pesticides and climate change. Prior, he worked in the office of Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet as senior policy advisor for energy and natural resources. He is also an adjunct lecturer for Georgetown University's environmental studies program.

Christopher McGrath (CivEngr’05) was named asset management practice leader of Black & Veatch, an engineering procurement, consulting and construction company. Residing in San Diego, Christopher leads a team serving Southern California seaports.