’60s

Eugene García BS’68, vice president for education partnerships at Arizona State University, has been awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the Erikson Institute, one of the nation’s leading graduate schools in child development, and delivered its 2011 commencement address. García is one of the nation’s most eminent researchers in the teaching of language and bilingual language development, authoring or co-authoring more than 200 articles and book chapters, as well as 14 books and monographs. He previously held administrative and faculty positions at Arizona State’s Tempe campus, as well as the University of California’s Berkeley, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz campuses.

Mike Garibaldi BS’68 MS’69 is being inducted this fall into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame. A standout at water polo while growing up in California, Garibaldi was perhaps an even better swimmer, holding several state championships. At the University of Utah, he received All-American status as a swimmer while introducing water polo to the campus. A 1964 Olympic qualifier in both water polo and swimming, Garibaldi was unable to continue in water polo after being deemed a professional by the Amateur Athletic Union for accepting a teaching position post-graduation. After nearly two decades away from the game, a chance opportunity to compete for the Guam National Team at the 1988 World Masters Aquatics Championships motivated him to play polo again. Upon returning stateside, he was part of a masters water polo squad in El Segundo, Calif., under the direction of Bryan Weaver. Garibaldi and other players helped Weaver create the first ever USA Water Polo Masters National Championship. From 1988 through 2008, Garibaldi’s teams finished first or second on the national and international level. He continued playing water polo, and when the 50-plus age group started to develop for competitions, he had five first-place finishes and one second-place mark through 2008. He has won medals on several continents over the last three decades. He founded and now hosts the Napa Valley Masters Water Polo Tournament and is boys’ water polo coach for Napa High School and the North Bay Grizzlies water polo club. He also works as an actor and model. AM

Valene Smith PhD’66 was recently honored at California State University, Chico (aka Chico State), with the Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology in recognition of her $3 million gift commitment made in 2008 toward Chico State’s anthropology program and a new museum. Smith taught anthropology at Chico State for 31 years and has spent nearly all her life traveling, studying, and writing about the world’s people, history, and customs. The museum’s first exhibit, “Living on Top of the World: Arctic Adaptation, Survival and Stewardship,” showcased some of Smith’s contributions to anthropology. Over the years, she built relationships with Inuit people that became the basis for much of her studies. Growing up in Southern California, Smith read voraciously, loved school, and skipped two grades along the way. At age 20, she received a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of California, Los Angeles, and began teaching at Los Angeles City College. She completed a master’s degree at UCLA in 1950 and taught geography for 18 years at the city college. During a sabbatical, she received a doctorate in anthropology at the U of U in 15 months. Tired of L.A., she took an opportunity to teach in Pakistan on a Fulbright Lectureship. While there, she contracted polio, though she was able to fully recover. She came to Chico State in 1967 to teach anthropology and retired in 1998 as professor emeritus, and she remains affiliated there as a research professor. She has visited every U.S. state, every continent, and obscure islands few people will ever see. In all the world, she says she has two favorite spots: Yosemite National Park, and South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. “They are both beautiful, in very different ways,” she notes. LM[nggallery id=6]

’70s

Darrell Fisher HBA’75, a senior scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., has received the laboratory’s prestigious Fitzner-Eberhardt Award for outstanding contributions to science and engineering education. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Utah, he holds a master’s degree and doctorate in nuclear engineering sciences from the University of Florida. He leads PNNL’s Isotope Sciences Program and is based in PNNL’s Energy & Environment Directorate. Fisher was recognized for preparing students for graduate training in the radiological sciences, radiology, and nuclear medicine.

Helen Gordon MS’78, an assistant professor in the Duke University School of Nursing, recently received the school’s Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes and rewards demonstrated effectiveness, innovation, and collegial support in teaching at the School of Nursing. Gordon was also recognized with the Outstanding Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) Faculty Award. This award is presented to a faculty member who is an excellent teacher and mentor vested in seeing each student succeed. Gordon teaches the maternity nursing and senior seminar courses in the ABSN program and is a clinical instructor for the program’s community health nursing course. Gordon has spent her entire 37-year career in birth care and women’s health. Before coming to Duke, she managed a grant for the American College of Nurse-Midwives in Washington, D.C. She received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Arkansas and a master’s degree in parent-child nursing and nurse-midwifery from the University of Utah.

Garry W. Warren PhD’78, a University of Alabama professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, has been named president of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), an international organization of more than 10,000 metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, educators, and students from 70 countries. Warren moved to Alabama in 1986 after teaching for several years at Carnegie Mellon University. He has published more than 80 papers on various topics related to chemical and process metallurgy. TMS, with support from the Department of Energy, has initiated many programs in the past year with an emphasis on energy-related issues. “The development of renewable energy sources and finding ways to lessen our requirement for imported oil depends heavily on being able to solve some tough materials-related problems,” Warren notes.

Bruce Weigl PhD’79, author of more than a dozen books of poetry, is the 11th annual recipient of the Robert Creeley Award, given to noted poets each year in Acton, Mass., where Creeley (who died in 2005) lived from ages 4 to 15. Weigl, who received a Bronze Star during his stint in the Vietnam War, found inspiration for his work in the horrors he experienced in combat. He later returned to Vietnam to work with writers there and invite them to the U.S. in an effort to foster collaboration and peace. A poet, essayist, and translator, Weigl is now the first Distinguished Professor at Lorain County Community College in Ohio and previously taught at Pennsylvania State University.

’80s

Patrick S. Moore MD’85 has been elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. Fellows of the academy are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-reviewed process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. Moore is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine and a member of its Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Graduate Program. He is also director of the Molecular Virology Program in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and jointly runs the KSHV Lab at the Hillman Cancer Center with Yuan Chang MD’87. The lab identified the pathogen KSHV (now one of seven known human cancer viruses) in 1993. Moore holds a master’s degree from Stanford University and an M.P.H. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Jim Perkins BS’89 has joined Carton Donofrio Partners, a full-service marketing communications firm, as vice president. Perkins is responsible for managing strategic growth opportunities for the Baltimore-based agency. With more than 21 years of experience in the industry, he has held senior-level management positions on both the agency and client sides. His corporate background includes overseeing U.S. marketing for a large software company and a successful technology start-up. He also held several senior-level positions in advertising agencies across the country. Perkins has worked on well-known brands such as Coke, CoverGirl, Max Factor, Black & Decker, Claritin, and Dr. Scholl’s.

Annette Woodhead BS’89 has been named battalion chief of the Sandy Fire Department, making her the city’s highest-ranking female firefighter ever and one of only two women in that capacity in the Salt Lake Valley. She now oversees 20-plus firefighters in the position, which ranks third in the command hierarchy. The state’s largest fire department—the Unified Fire Authority—has never had a female battalion chief, and Utah’s most-populous county previously had only one. Woodhead joined the Sandy Fire Department as a volunteer in 1993 and later became Sandy’s first full-time female firefighter.

Alan Anderson MBA’89 has been appointed by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple to head the state Department of Commerce. Anderson has 30 years of leadership and development experience in the oil and gas industry. Before retiring from Tesoro last year, he was vice president of operations strategy and development, charged with the overall development of future business opportunities and the evaluation of strategic options for the company’s future growth.

’90s

Wayne Cottam BS’90 MS’98, DMD, has been named vice dean of the new dental program at A.T. Still University (ATSU) in Kirksville, Mo. The new program will be called a “distant site” of ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ASDOH), officially termed “ASDOH-Missouri.” Cottam has worked as ASDOH’s associate dean for Community Partnerships in Mesa, Ariz., since 2005 and helped develop the Missouri initiative. He is relocating to Kirksville to assume his new duties. Cottam also has experience as an associate dentist in a private practice in Midvale, Utah, and as a director of the Urban Indian Health Care Clinic in Salt Lake City. He has been recognized with the National Health Service Corps Dentist of the Year Award, the Clinical Excellence Award from the American Dental Association, and the American Society of Dentistry for Children Award.

Heidi Lasley Barajas BA’92 MS’94 has been appointed executive director of the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC). An associate professor (and founding chair) of postsecondary teaching and learning, Barajas has served since 2007 as the associate dean for engagement and faculty development in the UM College of Education and Human Development, working to link research and teaching with pressing community needs and to build long-term campus-community partnerships. She has been co-leader of the interim executive team guiding UROC since its May 2010 grand opening in north Minneapolis as a hub for university-community research partnerships aimed at strengthening urban communities. She received a doctorate in sociology from the University of Minnesota as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

Marlowe Dazley BS’94 MBA’97 has been appointed senior vice president and senior managing director with PNC Healthcare. PNC is one of the first major banks to offer specialized consulting services for the healthcare industry. Dazley will lead PNC’s new revenue cycle advisory group, providing revenue cycle management expertise and advisory services for healthcare payers and providers. Dazley joins PNC with more than 20 years of healthcare experience, most recently with Premier Consulting Solutions. He has worked with payers and not-for-profit, teaching systems, and public health systems throughout the U.S. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

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