Class Notes

In March 2020, Joshua married the love of his life, Tiffany Alcala, in Cedar Creek, TX. In July 2020, Joshua Hector '15 became the Director of Enrollment for the School of Physical Therapy at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX. He also completed his second master's degree from Concordia University-Irvine in Exercise Science in January 2021.

Through his role as Director of Enrollment, he seeks qualified applicants for the DPT program and would love to see some Ducks fly their way to UIW's School of Physical Therapy!

Neil Kagan, JD '81, authored an article showing that Congress broke a deadlock over the disposition of wild areas in national forests because of a lawsuit to preserve such areas in Oregon. Blazing a Path to Wilderness: A Case Study of Impact Litigation through the Lens of Legislative History, 11 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. Law 87 (2022), https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjeal/vol11/iss1/4/. To moot the Oregon lawsuit and prevent more lawsuits in its mold around the country, legislators who had resisted expansive wilderness legislation agreed to laws that preserve more than nine million acres of wild federal land in twenty-three states as wilderness. Congress nearly doubled the acreage the U.S. Forest Service had recommended for wilderness designation in those states collectively. The Oregon lawsuit became a reality only with the financial and moral support of Elizabeth Reed, deceased, JD ’81.
A 20-minute discussion of the lawsuit and its impact is part of the Good Legal Stories Series. The interview is posted here: Protecting Biodiversity Part 1, Oregon Natural Resources Council v. Block, Normandy Chair for Peace (Feb. 2, 2022), https://normandychairforpeace.org/2022/02/02/protecting-biodiversity/#do.

Donald Ehrich, MS 86 was recently elected to serve as a Lieutenant Governor in the Pacific Northwest District of Kiwanis International. A Kiwanian since 1983, Don has served many years as a local Club President and for the coming year will also be the Lt Gov of Division 74 which is composed of 8 Lane County and Roseburg Kiwanis clubs. Kiwanis International is a service organization with over 550,000 members that has focused for over 100 years on service to communities and primarily youth. Don has also been serving as a Director of the Creswell Heritage Foundation since retirement from Federal and Military Service in 2015.

I was selected as a 2019 Fund for Teachers Fellow. Through this fellowship, I attended the CPI Spanish Immersion School in Costa Rica in June 2019. I created my own professional development plan to learn Spanish, promote bilingualism, and engage students and parents in culturally-responsive learning experiences.

You can read about my blog at https://fft2019costarica.blogspot.com/.

Ken Colwell, PhD '03 (management), was chosen as dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Houston at Victoria, Texas.

Sarah Berry, BA '03 (sociology), has joined McGee Wealth Management in Tigard as vice president and wealth manager.

Kate Salyers, BS '04 (economics, business administration), was hired as executive vice president and chief credit officer for Citizens Bank in Corvallis.

Casey Hunt, BS '04 (sociology), was named to the Pendleton Linebacker's Club Hall of Fame for accomplishments in high school and college wrestling.

Elizabeth Lockwood, BArch ’05 (interior architecture), joined Portland-based architecture firm Mayer/Reed as a space planner and interior designer.

The American Epilepsy Society granted Melissa Barker-Haliski, BA '06 (biology), a Junior Investigator Award for research on the impact of aging and aging-related neurological disorders on seizure susceptibility, long-term disease outcomes, and the testing and therapy of cystic fibrosis.

Jamison McCune, BS '09 (political science), JD '13, an associate with Portland law firm Bodyfelt Mount, was selected for the Rising Stars list in the 2019 issue of Oregon Super Lawyers.

Emmy Award_winning filmmaker Adam Markle, BA '03 (sociology), is working on a documentary titled 34 Seconds, about the struggle for survival and immigrants’ experiences on the US-Mexico border.

Amelia Matier, BS '12 (journalism: news-editorial), was hired as deputy state director in New Hampshire for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

Mark Osterman, MBA ’11 (general business), was promoted to senior sales director for Gates, an automotive parts company headquartered in Denver.

Jason Tashea, JD '12, a legal affairs writer for the ABA Journal, was named to the 2019 Fastcase 50, which highlights young innovators and forward-thinking legal industry leaders.

Former Ducks footballer Will Murphy, BS '13 (sociology), was inducted into the West Albany Sports Hall of Fame in Oregon.

Francisca Benitez, BA '18 (journalism), joined the Herald and News in Klamath Falls as the reporter for city government, health, and business.

Whitney Bradshaw, BA '16 (journalism), was the producer for American Beat: Cops and Refugees Join Forces in Boise, a documentary by Blue Chalk Media which won an award for public, current, and community affairs at the Northwest Regional Emmy Awards.

Cassie Donish, MA '13 (geography), published The Year of the Femme, which won the 2018 Iowa Poetry Prize.

Craig Wiroll, MPA '16, was named executive director of the Milwaukee Preservation Alliance Board of Directors for an award-winning portfolio of historic preservation research, inclusive public participation, outreach efforts, and social impact investment.