CLAS Notes
Alumni below have been in touch to let us know how their lives have changed since graduation. We’d like to hear from you too. Use the “Contact Us” form to send details.
Ronnie Seagren, BA geology 1979, had her first novel, Seventh Daughter, published by Flying Pen Press. It’s the story of seven sisters who must travel to the Peru of 1937 and stand in the shadow of a solar eclipse to save the world from destruction. Her education in geology helped in describing the rugged terrain of the Andes.
Daviana Rowe, BA psychology 1982, is a licensed clinical psychologist.
R. Laureen Gunter, BA geography 1983, is retiring from her position as meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Air Resources Laboratory Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division in Oak Ridge, Tenn., after 29 years of federal service. Gunter spent several years with the Aerosol Research Section at NOAA’s Boulder offices before bringing her scientific knowledge and expertise to Oak Ridge. Her research has included studies of the optical properties of aerosols and measurements of trace gases on the NOAA Twin Otter aircraft. After retirement, Gunter plans to spend time painting and visiting her grandchildren in Holland.
Rosalyn Zigmond, MA English 1993, PhD education 2004, is an instructor in the program for writing and rhetoric at CU Boulder. She’s teaching several courses including first-year writing and technical communication.
Maryanne Gilbert, BA political science 1995, worked as a paralegal for many years, then changed gears completely and went to massage therapy school. She now owns and operates Health & Harmony Massage LLC in Golden, Colo.
Allison (Dunkelberger) McConnell, BA psychology 1995, now lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, Kevin, and three kids, Jack, Duncan and Olivia. After graduation, she pursued her master’s degree from the University of Denver and now teaches at a private middle school in Drexel Hill, Pa.
Jennifer Gibbins, BS chemistry 1999, is married with three four-legged children (two dogs and a cat). She graduated with her MBA from Syracuse University. Gibbins currently lives in Thornton, Colo., works at Amgen and is a distributor for nutritional products (www.XELR8.biz/gibbins).
Melanie Clam McClanahan, BA political science 1999, met her current husband, Mike in Lucy Ware’s law, politics and justice course. Melanie is a faculty advisor for Regis University’s College for Professional Studies’ adult undergraduate program. She received her MS in organizational leadership from Regis and is currently working on an adult learning certificate. Melanie and Mike live in west Washington Park with their Labrador retrievers—Chester and Stanley.
Margaret Frohlich, BA Spanish 2001, is a visiting assistant professor of Spanish at Dickinson College where she teaches language and modern Spanish literature. Her dissertation—Nationality and Sexuality Across Borders—won a prize, titled Premio de Crítica Victoria Urabano, from the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cultura Femenina Hispánica. It was presented to her in October, in Seville, Spain. The same organization is publishing the award-winning monograph.
Aida Jimenez-Esquilin, MS biology 2003, completed her PhD in soil sciences/soil microbiology at Colorado State University in 2006. She is currently a research scientist working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, in West Virginia.
Duried Kassab, MS biology 2003, will have completed his osteopathic medicine training and earned his DO from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in May 2008. Though he spent a month as a sub-intern in Greeley, Colo., doing rural/family medicine, he applied for a residency position in family medicine in Denver.
Roger Green, MA humanities 2004, is currently applying to the PhD program in English at the University of Denver. He received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award for his master’s thesis which connected philosopher Emmanuel Levinas to jazz and poetry. Green often plays and records with Ron Miles and had a CD reviewed in The New York Times.
Christopher W. Helm, BA geography 2004, received his master’s degree from CU Boulder in 2007. He is a GIS programmer studying glacier change in relation to global warming at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., and recently was hired as a scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. Helm is also teaching a course on deploying GIS functionality at UCD in spring 2008.
Katie (Atchison) Hietala, MS biology 2004, works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Hietala is researching the microbial conversion of fish by-products for making a variety of value-added products such as animal feeds, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and energy.
Laila N. Mahmud, BA psychology 2004, is completing a master’s in UCD’s Department of Communication. As an undergrad, she worked as an event coordinator for UCD’s Office of Student Life and in the public relations department of Barnhart Communications. Mahmud is the public relations coordinator for eBags.com, a Denver-based company and online retailer of bags and luggage, and was recently quoted in an article about luggage trends in The Wall Street Journal.
Timoleon Wilkins, BA Spanish 2004, had his film “Los Caudales” screened in New York, Portland, Ore., and Edinburgh, Scotland. He also completed another short experimental film “The Crossing” which screened at the BFI-London Film Festival in 2007. Timoleon is currently working for the UCLA Film and Television Archive, managing their film series at the Billy Wilder Theater in Los Angeles. In 2005 he taught English in Mexico City and is currently working on a film using the footage he shot in Mexico.
Diane Birks, MIS integrated sciences 2006, works in Nicholas Foreman’s pediatric neuron-oncology lab at the Anschutz Medical Campus. Birks is applying knowledge obtained from the computational biology certificate program with molecular techniques that she used for her MIS project.
P. Jonathan Ungerland, BA philosophy 2006, is currently studying at Yale Divinity School and pursuing a master’s in philosophical theology. Ungerland credits the UCD philosophy and religious studies departments for his ability to continue his education at an institution like Yale.
Colin Rose, BA political science 2007, is attending Harvard University for a master’s degree in liberal arts in management.
Elizabeth Watkins, BA English writing 2007, is now working as an executive assistant for the Office of State and Federal Government Relations at the University of Colorado System.