Class Notes

MAX BUSCHINI, BA '17 (cinema studies), was featured in Gripped: The Climbing Magazine for his work as a filmmaker, photographer, and climber at Yosemite National Park in California.

ROBERT DiNAPOLI, PhD '20 (anthropology), joined Binghamton University as a postdoctoral research associate, where he studies islands, the human migrations connected with them, and the interaction of humans and the environment.

DOMINIQUE CHAPMAN, BA '19 (dance), has started Crown City Dance, a dance school in Coronado, California, that offers lessons for beginners, intermediate, and advanced dancers of all ages in person and online.

MADISON "MADDIE" CULLEN, BS '19 (public relations), has joined Long Beach, California-based Amber Resources, a full-service petroleum distributor in Southern California started by her grandfather, Pat Cullen.

BETHANY GRACE HOWE, PhD '19 (media studies), a teacher, journalist, and parent in Lincoln City, was named Olalla Center wildfire resource navigator and will act as point person to connect people affected by the Echo Mountain wildfire with the resources, agencies, and groups that can best serve their needs.

Wildland firefighter and photojournalist BRIAN AMDUR, BS '18 (environmental studies), has spent the last three summers fighting and photographing wildfires across the West.

NANCY TONI BROOKS RAYL, BA '54 (English), reports she is traveling, taking classes, watching games, and staying socially involved within the confines of responsible behavior during these unprecedented times.

After graduating in 1999 as an English major, I took a job with the Symantec corporation in downtown Eugene. Working in security software was invigorating, challenging and a gratifying career for the next seventeen years. But, having floated rivers all over Oregon, Washington and Idaho for the last thirty years, the river was calling — loudly. Kayaking the Illinois river with the Outdoor Program in the ’90s, summers spent vying for just one more Rogue river trip and countless days on the McKenzie and Willamette rivers all rolled into one and revealed that the time for a career change was at hand.

Bringing my excitement of seeing our corner of Oregon from a McKenzie river drift boat to other outdoor enthusiasts became my goal for a cottage industry. Providing my guests with the history of the watersheds, the conservation efforts over the last hundred years, and educating them on the flora and fauna became business goals. While I’ve fly fished for thirty years and run a lot of whitewater, the focus for the business became eco-tourism on our Lane County waters.

As we move into the warmer days of spring and summer, Riparian Tours (https://www.ripariantours.com) will be opening the doors for another full season of tours on our home waters. During the pandemic, Covid protocols will remain in effect. More information on the website.

The University of Oregon still plays a major role in our lives including the connections with classmates in the Alumni Association, regularly attending Duck baseball games and our penchant for all things college and Duck football. Like the mallards on the river, we’ll keep swimming along with our flock and enjoying the scenery.

Hon. Blaine G. Gibson, (Law '77) has been elected to his fifth, and last, term as a Superior Court Judge for Yakima County, WA. This will give him four more years to figure out what he is going to do when he retires. Blaine and his wife Sandi recently celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary.

Mark Carrato, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Foreign Service Officer, was named the Coordinator of the U.S. Government’s Power Africa program. Power Africa is the world’s largest partnership for development, with 160 public and private partners who have committed $56 billion to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa.

soccer team 1982-1985

Dr. Lee Krähenbühl (PhD, ’89) has been named Chair of Communication and Director of the Graduate Communication Program in the School of Design at Stevenson University, Owings Mills, Maryland. Lee’s article "Thomas A. Lyne, the Latter-day Saints, and the American Theatre" appears in the Summer/Spring 2020 issue of _The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal_.

Helen Pegg (née Simon), Bachelor of Music (University of Oregon '59), M.A. in Education (Pacific Lutheran University, '80) is still teaching piano lessons in her piano studio — though presently on hiatus due to the pandemic — and is organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Olympia. This is her 72nd year on the organ bench; she began playing for services at her father’s Lutheran church in Newport, Oregon at around age 11! She is retired from a long teaching career with the Olympia School District, and is delighted to pass the family’s educator baton to her daughter Jennifer (Astrophysics, Harvard ’04; History of Science, Stanford Ph.D. ’16), who is in the postdoctoral phase of an academic career. Among Helen’s best memories from her undergraduate years at the University of Oregon are the friendships, fun, and support that she found as a Tri-Delta, unique traditions like riding on a float in the Mill Race parade, wonderful classes, performing in Exchange Assembly under Ken Kesey's direction, and her time working at Claypool’s Drug Store (which was located, she believes, about where Taylor’s Bar and Grill is today on E 13th Ave). She always loves hearing from classmates! Much as it has everyone else, the pandemic has relegated her to her home and garden a bit more exclusively than she would like (though she loves the little acre of forest around her home); she is looking forward to being able to work, travel, and socialize freely again. There is no barrier to an e-mail or phone call, though — so please don’t hesitate to look her up in the alumni directory and get in touch!

Steve Mims, BA 1994, recently began working at New York Life in Eugene. If you are seeking answers on a variety of services including life insurance, long-term care insurance, retirement planning or funding a kids education, please reach out: 541-520-9015 or smims@ft.newyorklife.com.

Mary Donnelly Meyers, BA 1963, General Social Science recently transferred her securities and financial planning business, Threshold, Inc., to
D.A. Davidson and a successor team located primarily in Vancouver, WA. She reports more time available to thoroughly enjoy family and friends, many who were on campus from ’59 through ’63.

JOSE ROMERO, BA '94 (Journalism), began his new position as a sports reporter with the Arizona Republic website and newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona. He's covering the NHL's Arizona Coyotes and assisting with coverage of MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.

COLIN KELLY, BA '03 (Political Science), recently left his position as the Senior Staff Attorney at an environmental non-profit in Orange County to join the Office of Legal Counsel at Cal EPA's Department of Toxic Substances Control as a Senior Attorney. He is also in his second term as the president of the Long Beach Ducks, a chapter of UOAA's LA Ducks.

Where does the time go? Hard to believe that 2020 will mark seven years since I left the UO campus. My B.S. in Journalism remains a huge source of pride. My time at the UO was a great experience. Cheers!

Laura SIMIC is an associate with Aspen Leadership Group, providing search services and leader-to-leader consulting focused on navigating successful careers and building teams and cultures that enable organizations to engage donors and to raise the largest possible gifts. Laura lives in Boise, Idaho where she is on the boards of the Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation, Opera Idaho, and the Mortar Board National Foundation.

B.S. Math; M.Ed. SD State U; M.S. USC
Colonel, USAF Ret

Living in Chiangmai since 2006. American Citizen Liaison volunteer U.S. Consulate and Tourist Police volunteer, Chiangmai Thailand.