Alumni at UO vs. Cal tailgate

Class Notes

What’s new with you matters to us.

Have you been recently promoted or started a new job? Perhaps you are starting on a new educational journey. Maybe, you are newly married or recently added to your family. Let your fellow Ducks know what is happening in your life. 

When you submit a class note, it will be considered for publication in the UOAA’s monthly Shout! newsletter, posted to the UOAA alumni website, or highlighted on social media.

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Featured Class Notables

 

Kanealii Ngosorio

Kāneali‘i Ng-Osorio earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the UO in 1998. He is now an enterprise business analyst for Kamehameha Schools, serves on the board of directors for the UO Alumni Association, and is the Hawaii Ducks regional UOAA chapter president. Kāne shares what motivates him to stay so involved supporting current and future Ducks, along with advice for current students and recent graduates.
 


 

A career committed to advocacy

Darrell Rico Doss, JD ’95, recently made the move from Capitol Hill to General Motors. He looks back on the last nearly three decades of advocacy work, including navigating the financial crisis of 2007–08, serving as Congressional Black Caucus policy director, and working in the Japanese government.

Notebook that says New Mindset New Results with coffee cup and succulent on a table

The Mindful Duck

March 13, 2023
People management leader Humberto Chacon, BA ’87 (psychology), shares how mindfulness can positively impact your productivity and relationships, both personally and professionally.

John Heldt

Class of 1985
John Heldt
John A. Heldt (B.S., 1985) published "The Fair," his seventeenth novel, in June 2020.

Yvonne Fasold

Class of 1967
Yvonne Fasold, BA '67, MA '69, and PhD '93 is a past president of the national American Rosie the Riveter Association. She was the coordinator for the ARRA annual convention, held this year in Portland, Oregon. 15 World War II women workers, ages 94-101, attended the convention with their friends and family. The Portland Rose Festival Foundation named the Rosies as Grand Marshals of the Grand Floral Parade, Boeing sponsored the Rosie float, and the Rosies were honored for their service to our country. 6 million women entered the work force to help win World War II, and Yvonne reminds us to REMEMBER and BE INSPIRED. Contact Yvonne if you would like to have her, or a Rosebud in your state, come with a living Rosie to speak with your organization or class.

Judith Hendershott

Class of 1961
Judy Hendershott ('61) and her husband John Munch recently attended a 25th wedding celebration in the Tatra Mountains of Poland.

Lynn Steiger

Class of 1963
Finally fully retired in Joseph, OR, after living in Colorado Springs, Oregon (Newport, LaGrande, McMinnville and Joseph), and New Mexico ( Silver City, Corrales and Bernalillo). Got tired of moving.

Melissa Gray

Class of 2004
My fiancee Paul Thompson (JD '11) and I welcomed our first son, Leo Gray Thompson, on December 1st. We reside in Portland where Paul runs his own law practice and I work in affordable housing finance for PNC Bank

Mary McFarland

Class of 1975
Mary McFarland
At age 69, I finally found the right guy and married David M. Munro on December 20,2022 in Portland, OR. I have retired from my career as a advertising, public relations and fundraising professional. David and I live in Southwest Portland and enjoy reading traveling and discovering new restaurants. I am living proof that you ae never too old to find a wonderful mate.

Thomas Brassil

Class of 2017
I won a 2021-2022 Emmy for my work on the Tokyo Olympics with NBC Sports. The award was for Outstanding Interactive Experience - Event Coverage. I was an Associate Producer for the games. I worked on a show that aired on Peacock called 'Tokyo Gold.' I produced various segments and highlights for this show. It was one of the most fun moments of my professional career. The twenty day stretch was exhausting but extremely rewarding.

Jay Peters

Class of 2011
Jay Peters has been promoted from a News Writer to a News Editor at the technology publication The Verge.

Serena Ross

Class of 1990
Serena Jaspera BA '90 (international studies, Chinese) has a new job as the Associate Director Human Resources on the UO Provost Administrative Services Team.

James Wren

Class of 2008
James Wren, BA '08 (history), was recently promoted to area manager at Amazon, where he has been employed since 2017.

Neil Kagan

Class of 1981
Neil Kagan
Neil Kagan, JD ’81, authored an entry published by the Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture: Oregon Natural Resources Council v. John R. Block, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon-natural-resources-council-v-block/. The entry tells how the lawsuit ended years of inertia in Congress, spurring the addition of more than nine million acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System in twenty-four states over five years — more land than the original wilderness act kept wild. Kagan told the story at length in Wilderness, Luck & Love: A Memoir and a Tribute, 7 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. Law 315 (2018), https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=mjeal, and Blazing a Path to Wilderness: A Case Study of Impact Litigation through the Lens of Legislative History, 11 Mich. J. Envtl. & Admin. Law 87 (2021), https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1128&context=mjeal.

Lindsay Thane

Class of 2013
Lindsey Thane, BA '13 (political science), became a shareholder at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Portland, Oregon where she is a natural resource and environmental attorney.

Arn Strasser

Class of 1996
Drawings: Architectural Gestures is a new book by Arn Strasser published in a limited, signed edition by Budding Branch Press. A collection of drawings by an artist who studied architecture, the work stems from Strasser’s interest in the relationship between art and architecture.

Scott Mancinelli

Class of 1994
Scott Mancinelli
President Mancinelli Goeman Law Group, PC
Representing clients in state, federal and bankruptcy courts regarding creditors’ rights, business litigation, real estate, bankruptcy, employment, and personal injury matters. Representation of debt buyers, commercial collection agencies, and forwarders in consumer and commercial collection matters throughout the entire state. DBA Certified compliance officer. Specializing in breach of mortgage covenant actions, fraudulent transfers, and uncovering hidden assets.
Chief Operating Officer Michigan Dream Builders, LLC

Jeff Day

Class of 1981
Jeff Day, BS ’81 (journalism, political science), is retiring after thirty-two years of federal service primarily through the State Department. He has lived and worked in Seoul, China, Bagdad, Frankfurt, Brasilia, Vienna, New Delhi, Tijuana, Dubai, Karachi, and Lagos. During his career, he learned Korean, Chinese, German, and Portuguese and traveled to fifty-eight countries. He also served in the US Army Reserves and, in 2003, was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he earned a purple heart for wounds suffered in battle.

Nancy Wilson

Class of 1979
Nancy Wilson
Nancy Wilson, BS ’79 (theater arts), has written her first play, Coming Up for Air, which will premiere on October 5, 2023, at Performance Works Northwest in Portland. The play follows one woman’s search for answers to her behavioral health challenges at three different points in her life.

Michael Wilkes

Class of 1971
University of Oregon Bachelor of Architecture 1971
UO Volleyball Team 1968-1970 (Lettered)
UO AA&A Board of Visitors 2002-2006
UO College of Design Dean's Advisory Council 2006-Present
UO Foundation Board 2008-2016
UO Arnold Bennett Hall Society
UO Adjunct Instructor 2012
National University Board Member 1998-2005
Fellow American Institute of Architects 1991
President California Architectural Foundation (2)
President San Diego Architectural Foundation
Principal and CEO Architect Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues 1971-2012 (Retired)

Michael Wilkes

Class of 1971
MICHAEL WILKES FAIA, BArch ’71, practiced architecture from 1971 to 2012 retiring as the CEO at Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Architects in San Diego. His designs received over 25 awards from the American Institute of Architects. In 1991 he was elevated to Fellow in the AIA and received a Presidential Citation for excellence from the AIA California. Since retiring he pursued a photographer career focused on architecture. His photographs have received over 40 awards in the American Institute of Architects National Photography Competition. Four of his photographs were honored with the Fuller Award, presented for the best photograph in the US. Galleries in Texas, California and Oregon have featured his work.

James Wren

Class of 2008
James Wren, BA '08 (history), was recently promoted to area manager at Amazon, where he has been employed since 2017.

Erica Rife

Class of 2022
MNM ’22 (nonprofit mgmt), joined the Architecture Foundation of Oregon as executive director.