Alumni Updates
What are you up to?
Share your updates through our submissions form or by sending us an email.
Get connected to the Spartan network by joining the Alumni Association! You can also stay in touch with more than 22,000 other Spartans on SJSU’s official LinkedIn group.
1953
Jerry Hufford, ’53 Mechanical Engineering, and Pat Ablett Hufford, ’53 Education, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last year and retired to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.
1957
Jacqueline Higgins, Education, ’75 MA Education, a Kappa Delta sorority member, retired in June after a 54-year teaching career that spanned six states in the U.S., Canada, South America, Uganda and Australia. She’s now in Florida “for the fifth time and the last move,” she reports. “Believe me, my education at San José State was the best.”
1958
Laurel Mayer, Social Science, who retired as professor emeritus from Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, this year, taught at Sinclair for 25 years following a 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force. He has been recognized by both the community college and the state of Ohio for his teaching and academic contributions.
1959
Anna Pickette Smith, Social Science, based in Rockville, Md., recently returned to SJSU for a campus tour and was pleased to find a copy of her memoir, Come and Go by Faith (Xulon Press, 2005), on the shelves of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.
1962
Leonard Lloyd, Sociology, a marriage and family therapist, retired as manager of Horizons Family Counseling, a division of the Livermore Police Department. Previously he served as supervisor of family crisis intervention at Alameda County Probation Department in Oakland.
Richard Robinson, Business and Carole Robinson, ’63 Elementary Education, who met at an SJSU Homecoming event and now make their home in Sonora, celebrated 50 years of marriage in May. A U.S. Air Force veteran, Richard was a federal narcotics agent for 26 years. A full-time homemaker until her children were grown, Carole served as a field representative for L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich for eight years.
1966
Edesa Bitbadal, Political Science, ’10 MPA, is vice chair of the city of San José Planning Commission and previously served as a policy aide to San José Council members Linda Le Zotte and Kansen Chu. A native of Iran, she ran for San José City Council District 10 in 2012.
Paul Maruyama, Business/Management, received an Imperial Decoration (“The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Ray with Rosette”) from the Japanese government in recognition of “his lifetime achievement…and contribution to mutual understanding and friendship between the United States and Japan.” Two previous Imperial Decoration conferees, both SJSU alumni, Yosh Uchida and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, attended the ceremony. All three were members of the five-man 1964 U.S. Olympic Judo Team. Coached by Uchida, Campbell competed as a heavyweight and Maruyama as a lightweight. Maruyama is currently a lecturer at Colorado College and president of the Japan America Society of Southern Colorado.
1967
Pamela Falt Eglinski, Social Science/History, is the author of two novels whose main character, Catalina Syrah, is a former CIA agent and art historian: Return of the French Blue (CreateSpace, 2012) and She Rides with Genghis Khan (CreateSpace, 2013).
1969
Earl Prottengeier, Business, a Vietnam War veteran based in Michigan, reports that he’s currently “living on a 10-acre ranch where my wife and I raise and care for sheep, alpacas, horses, two dogs, five cats, 12 chickens, three turtles and a two-tone blue beta fish.”
1970
Jon Hendershott, Journalism, associate editor at Track & Field News, recently won his second Jesse Abramson Award from Track and Field Writers of America (TAFWA). The award is presented yearly to a TAFWA member in recognition of excellence in track and field journalism.
1972
Margaret Silva-Chaire, Graphic Design, of Spring Valley, owns and operates Albricias by Silva, a graphics business. For 20 years, she was the graphics editor at Imperial Valley Press.
1976
Richard Gutierrez, Industrial Design, ’99 MS Human Factors Ergonomics, is a technical interface engineer at Invensys Operations Management (IOM), headquartered in Foxboro, Mass. He retired as principal engineer and project manager at GE Nuclear in 2011 after 31 years with the company and a week later began work with IOM.
1977
Patricia Cori, French, is the author of nine books, including The Cosmos of Soul: A Wake-Up Call For Humanity (North Atlantic Books). She founded LightWorks Association, a spiritual center and New Age library located in Rome.
1980
Diane Scher, Art, who developed a series of art classes called “No Stress Art Workshops” in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, recently taught the series at the Art @ the Beach Women’s Retreat in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where she now makes her home.
1982
Brian Krzanich, Chemistry, is Intel’s new CEO. A 31-year Intel veteran, he became the company’s sixth CEO in May. He has served as chief operating officer of the company since January 2012 and previously held the senior vice president for worldwide manufacturing post. He joined Intel as a process engineer in New Mexico directly after graduation from SJSU.
Hugh Lilly, Management, is a real estate agent at Keller Williams Central Valley Realty Venture in Stockton.
1983
Rogelio José Jr., Aeronautics Maintenance, is an engineer at Brandt Electronics, a U.S. Department of Defense subcontractor, located in Milpitas.
1984
Jimmie Opilla, Business Administration/Marketing, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel, currently works as a Department of Defense GS-Civilian with Joint Staff J7, Pentagon South.
1985
Timothy Villarica, Administration of Justice, retired as an SJSU police officer after 23 years of service.
1987
David Casas, Business Administration, is vice president, community and government relations, at Intero Real Estate Services in Cupertino. He previously served on the Los Altos City Council and co-chaired the Joint Venture Silicon Valley Wireless Communication Initiative from 2010 to 2012.
1988
Randy Canfield, MS Quality Assurance, was awarded fellow status by the American Society for Quality in recognition of his professional leadership across a range of disciplines, including high-tech and medical device manufacturing, financial services, public education and software.
1989
Jane Carter, Human Performance, is cofounder of Cupertino’s Dance Academy USA, the largest dance studio in Northern California, offering classes in tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, Zumba, hip hop and breakdancing. A member of the Spartan Spectrum Dance Team while at SJSU, she is also a former Golden State Warriors dancer and San Francisco 49ers cheerleader.
1991
Thom Sanchez, Marketing, partner at Waste Management in Lodi and former executive director of Santa Clara County’s Boys Club, was inducted into San Joaquin County’s Mexican-American Hall of Fame.
1992
Jan Null, MS Geography, a Vietnam War veteran and recognized expert on the effects of heatstroke, operates Golden Gate Weather Services in Saratoga and teaches as an adjunct professor in the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University. He retired as a hydrologist and lead forecaster from the National Weather Service in 1997.
1994
Judy Chirco, Social Science, former vice mayor of San José, is lieutenant governor elect for Kiwanis District 12, territory that includes part of California, Nevada and Hawaii. A 19-year member of the Cambrian Park Kiwanis Club, she was active in the campaign to increase San José’s minimum wage to $10 per hour.
Dennis Hawkins, Finance, resigned his post as San José city clerk to take a job with Santa Clara County as administrative services manager in the Office of the County Counsel. He began his career in the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
Marty Millington, Sociology, is senior vice president of human resources and organizational development at Quantros, a Milpitas-based provider of services to healthcare facilities. Previously he worked at Toshiba America Electronic Components, Oak Technology, Hitachi Semiconductor and Hitachi Microsystems.
1995
Damon Lercel, Aviation, received in May the first doctorate conferred in aviation in the United States from St Louis University’s Parks College. The doctoral program represents “a victory for the advancement of aviation,” he reports.
1996
Tammi Noelle Merrell, Social Work, works as a somatic mindfulness coach in Spokane, Wash.
Christine Velasquez, Business Administration, who chaired the first SJSU Marketing Commencement in 1996, is a senior business development manager at San José’s AEI Consultants, a firm that specializes in environment and engineering services.
1997
Christopher Reed, Electrical Engineering, 2013 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow, is lending his engineering and legal skills to the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
1998
Rebekah Ahrendt, Music/English, joined the faculty of Yale University’s Department of Music this fall as a tenure-track assistant professor. After receiving her doctorate in music from UC Berkeley, she spent two years as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Tufts University.
1999
Beth Morris, Library Science, was honored as the American Red Cross’s 2013 Bay Area/Alameda County Volunteer Health and Safety Instructor of the Year. She has been a volunteer instructor with the Red Cross for 16 years.
Jim Seimas, Journalism, received 2013 Associated Press Sports Editors’ writing awards in the categories of “Breaking News” and “Explanatory.” He reports for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
2001
Jennifer Estes, Hospitality Management, is senior event services manager in the Chicago office of Edlen Electrical Exhibition Services, a temporary utility contractor to the trade show, convention and special event industries.
2003
Ayana McNair, International Business, received a doctorate in cinema/television critical studies from USC and currently runs an editing business, Beautiful Flower Editorial.
2005
Rex Poblete, Business Administration, is an information security technical administrator in the Department of Enterprise Risk Management for California’s Mechanics Bank.
2006
Amanda Lyman, Business, is manager of planning and analysis for Fox Latin America Channels. She is based in Santa Monica.
2007
Jeffrey Long, Marketing, is owner/manager of Longshot Auto Sales, an auto broker dealer in San José.
2008
Katherine Casey, Psychology, is Engineering Pathways to Success coordinator for SJSU’s College of Engineering. She works in the dean’s office.
Teri Poucher, Marine Biology, is coordinator of student activities at the Prescott, Ariz., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Derrick Sanchez, Public Relations, is city manager/marketing at Foster City-based Streetline, a tech start-up that “changes the parking infrastructure within cities, downtowns, universities and airports with sensors, analytics and a mobile app,” he reports. Previously he worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay.
2009
Laura Patton, MLIS, is a librarian/technology teacher at Bayside STEM Academy in the San Mateo/Foster City School District. She previously worked at Presidio Middle School and Hoover Middle School in the San Francisco Unified School District.
Sharlynn Sarmiento, Business Administration, is a service contract administrator for the Secure Global Support team at NetApp in Sunnyvale.
2010
Michelle Park, Political Science, based in San Mateo, is an assistant colorist at Gymboree corporate.
2011
Emma Furtado, English, is an analyst at Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale.
Dennis Kidd, MPA, is general manager for Santa Cruz Regional 9-1-1.
Mana Mohammadi, Behavioral Science, is an administrative assistant at Visa in Foster City.
Laura Ringer, Advertising, based in Mountain View, is an online marketing manager for Optoma Technology.
Su Wai, Art, based in San José, is a project manager for Man Camp Weekend.
2012
Maria Ceja, Mexican American Studies, is an admissions counselor at CSU Monterey Bay.
Gina Esposito, Journalism, is an educational leadership consultant for Alpha Xi Delta fraternity, a women’s fraternity founded in 1893 at Lombard College in Illinois and one of the oldest women’s fraternal organizations in the U.S.
Kirsten Feldman, Library and Information Science, is a library assistant in the Fashion Design Library at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Gurba, MLIS, is an adult reference librarian for the County of Los Angeles Public Library system.
Nicole Hutcherson, Marketing, is a manger in training at Winmax Systems, a business, management and technology consulting firm based in Milpitas.
Ariadna Jimenez-Barrios, MLIS, is interim youth services librarian for Lemon Grove branch library in the San Diego County Library system.
Diane Pham, Business Management/Global Studies, is a donor relationship manager for United Way Silicon Valley.
Avni Savant, MS Software Engineering, designs front-end user interfaces as a staff software engineer at IBM-USA.