Class Notes

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

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.

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.

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.

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, 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, 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.

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

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

BMus ’21 (music performance), took second place at the Shreveport Opera’s Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year competition, performing "Una Furtiva Lagrima" from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and "Se all’impero, amici Dei" from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito in the finals to win $5,000.

MS ’20 (historic preservation), joined the firm A&E Design as an architect and project manager based in Bozeman.

BA ’22 (journalism), joined the Banks Post and Gales Creek Journal in Oregon as a freelancer.

MLA ’22 (landscape architecture), joined the Portland office of the Herrera Environmental Consultants as an environmental designer.

BS ’20, MS ’21 (economics), an independent financial planner in Medford, was featured in the Mail Tribune.

MS ’18 (sports product design), was named cornerbacks coach for UCLA football.

PhD ’21 (chemistry), an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington College in Maryland, was featured recently in the Elm student newspaper.

MS ’17 (multimedia journalism), was hired as communications director for the Black Business Association of Oregon.