Class Notes

  • Briana Aaronian (2013) married Haeden Schneider (2017) on June 2 in Fresno. (A)
  • Lindsay (Neal) Huang (2007, ‘09) and Andrew Huang (2008) welcomed their first child, Harper Quinn on Sept. 1. (B)
  • Daniel Silva (1983) released his new book, “House of Spies.” (C)
  • Ryan Jacobsen (2002, ‘04) and Ashley Jacobsen (2003) welcomed their third child, Trooper. (D)
  • Kasandra Martinson (2011, ‘13) married Adam Brooks (staff) on May 27 in Ukiah. Larsen’s Photography (E)
  • Jason Mayfield (2009) and David Reitz (2011) were married on March 17 in Seattle. (F)
  • Michael McGuire (1999) and Stacy (Sanchez) McGuire (2003) welcomed their first child, Greyson Michael, on July 6. (G)
  • Stephen Provost (1986) published “Highway 99: The History of California’s Main Street.”(H)
  • Mark Niehoff (2012) and Carey (Wholaver) Niehoff welcomed their second child, Derek John Anthony, on July 24. (I)
  • Kyle Sweeney (2006) and Anneka (Schuil) Sweeney (2012) welcomed their first child, Kellan James Sweeney, on April 18, 2017. (J)
  • Nikko Motta (2014) married Taylor Thompson (2013) on July 29. (K)
  • Fresno State staff Allison (Slater) Thurner and Geoff Thurner welcome their first child, Waylon Cecil, on May 5. (L)Mr Murphy Book CoverAnger throws a curve ball
  • Paul Venosdel (1992) published baseball fiction book “Anger Throws a Curveball” about young baseball players challenged to live up to sometimes unrealistic expectations of coaches and parents. (M)
  • David Vartanian (2007) authored “The Adventures of Mr. Murphy,” illustrated by Joel Beery (2008). The children’s book was created to help support pre-veterinary scholarships at Fresno State in memoriam of David’s bulldog, Mr. Murphy. (N)

Class Notes Fall 17

 

1960s

Paulette Janian (1968) received the Bernard Witkin Lifetime Achievement Award presented June 23 by the Fresno County Bar Association.

Michael Lingo (1967), who served the Bakersfield City School District for 41 years and retired as superintendent in 2011, was inducted into the East Bakersfield High School Hall of Fame.

 

1970s

Shirley Melikian Armbruster (1973) retired as associate vice president for University Communications after 17 years at Fresno State.

Lynne Ashbeck (1977) has been reappointed as a Board Member to the San Joaquin Valley California Partnership.

David Ayers (1979) started his second term serving on the Hanford City Council.

Anne (Richards) Da Vigo (1972) published her debut novel, “Thread of Gold,” with launch parties in Davis and Sacramento. She was a panelist at the Other Words Literary Conference in Tampa, Florida, on the topic, “Fact To Fiction: Making Story from Real Events.”

Rick Elkins (1975) retired as editor and publisher of the Porterville Recorder after a 40-year journalism career.

Thomas Montgomery (1979) is the new winemaker for the Fresno State Winery.

Douglas Sloan (1979) is now director of waste management and recycling in Sacramento County.

Maxine Madden Spencer (1970) is performing with the Friday Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Tulare County Symphony.

 

1980s

Stan Adams (1985) is now vice president and chief financial officer for Dignity Health Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield after 17 years in health care.

Douglas Britton (1982), owner of Britton Trucking Co. Inc., became president of the California Trucking Association.

Bob Cabral (1984), director of winemaking at Three Sticks Winery in Sonoma, made three official “Game of Thrones” wines in partnership with HBO.

Miguel A. Castellanos (1988), who works at the Mogadishu International Airport compound, was promoted to brigadier general in the U.S. Army.

Michael Coburn, a retired educator, is now a volunteer in policing for the Selma Police Department.

Rick Haydon (1984) announced his retirement as Santa Maria city manager after 20 years with the city and more than 30 years in local government.

George Hernandez (1987) is retiring after 29 years with the Hanford Police Department.

Nicole Linder (1988), executive director for the Marjaree Mason Center, was appointed to Fresno State’s University Advisory Board.

Monica Nadon (1982) served as director for Tehachapi Community Theatre’s Drama Day Camp Fun in July.

Don Parreira (1980), co-owner of Ultra Gro Plant Food based in Madera, was appointed president of the Ag One Foundation at Fresno State.

Richard Sepulveda (1982, ’00), retired as chief operations officer after 30 years in the Sanger Unified School District.

 

1990s

Fred Cogan (1995), former principal at Kingsburg High School, is now with the Madera County Office of Education.

Alma Colado (1998) is now city finance director for Kingsburg.

Todd Henderson (1993), director of CBRE commercial real estate Valuation and Advisory Services, received the Management Team of the Year on behalf of his team and was also named Volunteer of Distinction in June by the Appraisal Institute.

Scott Howell (1995) is now chief medical officer for Tenet Diagnostics, a provider of laboratory and genomic testing and evidence-based research to direct patient care.

Todd Lile (1996) is now superintendent for Madera Unified School District.

Don Lopez (1994) is now vice president of instruction for Fresno City College after previously serving in the interim role.

Emil Milevoj (1998) is now director of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State as well as assistant professor of management in the Craig School of Business.

Marshall D. Moushigian (1993) is in his sixth year (fifth as chairman) on the board of the Charlie Keyan Armenian Community School in Fresno. He previously was commander of the Knights of Vartan, an Armenian social and service fraternity, and he sat on the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee.

Bob Nelson (1992) is now superintendent for Fresno Unified School District.

Frank M. Nunez (1996) celebrates the 10th anniversary of his law office, which focuses on personal injury, agriculture and business law.

Rich Parducci (1992) crafted the McNab 2013 Family Reserve Mendocino Old Vine Zinfandel that won the Wine of the Week from The Press Democrat newspaper in Santa Rosa.

Tim Ryan (1998) was one of 60 selected for the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs leadership program that trains the next generation of change makers.

Ricky L. White (1997) is now strength and conditioning coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Jeffrey Wurm (1994) is now assistant director of the Investment Division of the California State Treasurer’s Office.

 

2000s

John M. Alcorn (2005) joined Suncrest Bank to lead its Agribusiness Division in Fresno.

Daniela Benavidez (2004, ’07) earned her doctorate in education in sports management and a minor in health and fitness from the United States Sports Academy.

Linda Carvalho Cooley (2004) earned her doctorate in organizational leadership from Brandman University. Her dissertation was titled “The role of communication in strategic planning at California Community Colleges.”

Marianna (Santos) Gentert (2006) is now Tulare County deputy agricultural commissioner.

Sraeya Crowder-George (2005) is now assistant general manager at Gwinnett County Transit/Xpress Commuter Services, Transdev Inc. in Georgia.

Chris Giles (2004), the former vice president of sales and strategy for the San Francisco 49ers, is now chief operating officer of the Oakland Athletics.

Brenna Hughes (2006) organized the third bi-annual Central Valley Concussion Symposium in downtown Fresno and presented on brain injury at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in Los Angeles.

Mike Jansen (2000) is now head PGA golf professional at San Juan Oaks Golf Club
in Hollister.

Tomas Mundarain (2006) earned an alternate spot on the U.S. Olympic track cycling team.

Ryan Phelan (2001) is now principal at Kingsburg High School.

Matt Rogers (2009), of Selma, is the Central Valley district director for California Senator Kamala Harris’ office.

Matt Tobin is now special day class teacher at John Sutter Middle School and head varsity girls basketball coach at Fowler High School.

Miles Gaston Villanueva (2008) portrayed the eldest Menendez brother on the TV series “Law
& Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.”

 

2010s

Michael Anderson (2015) graduated from undergraduate combat systems officer training at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.

Miguel A. Gastelum (2016) was in the production “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” to raise funds for the Selma Arts Center.

Tyquwan Glass, defensive back, signed with the Los Angeles Rams.

Mitchell Lam Hau (2015) was in the production “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” to raise funds for the Selma Arts Center.

Lehong Hong is now athletic trainer at Kingsburg High School.

Matt Jones opened Oak Strength Academy in Hanford to train high school student-athletes.

Navkiran Kaur Khalra and the Sikh community moved Fresno City councilmembers to rename Victoria West Park in honor of her father, Jaswant Singh Khalra.

Melissa (Mata) Mendes (2011) now works for Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board as a career technical education coordinator.

Esteban Miranda (2013), owner of Miranda’s Buy and Sell, has opened a Modesto location.

Lauren Oakley (2014) is now school psychologist in the Sonoma Valley School District.

Aaron Ordaz created Pops Emporium, a cart business that sells gourmet ice pops around Fresno and is available for special events.

Madeline Pedro (2016) is now stadium operations assistant for the Denver Broncos.

Ruth Rangel (2016) became a Volunteer in Policing for the Selma Police Department and
is serving as adviser for the Explorer Program.

Chad Saechao produced a short film titled “The Chase” that will premiere at Maya Cinemas.

Kathleen Rhodes Schock (2017), who earned her doctoral degree in education in May,
is now adjunct faculty at Fresno City College.