Profiles

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1955 | Ellwyn R. Stoddard, MS ’55 (Elaine), El Paso, Texas, was honored by the establishment of a colloquium in his name at the University of Texas at El Paso. The honor came because of his crucial role in the development of borderlands studies and his pioneering leadership of the Association of Borderland Scholars.

1960 | Sonja Leonard Kland, ’60, and her husband, George Kland, ’62, Ithaca, N.Y., are serving a full-time Church Educational System mission in upstate New York.

1965 | C. Rex Scott, ’65, MA ’70 (Kaye), Salt Lake City, formed a new nonprofit organization called the Hearing Help Foundation and hopes to help the needy in Utah who are hearing impaired.

1970 | Vincent E. Recalde, ’70 (Patricia Young, ’72), North Hollywood, Calif., was selected by the Fulbright Organization to participate in the Teacher Interchange Program. He will be teaching for six months at the Instituto Politécnico Nacionál in Mexico.

1971 | Randy S. Brinkerhoff, ’71 (Lynette), Riverton, Utah, was elected to the Jordan School District Board of Education. Eric L. Stoddard, ’71, MOB ’76 (Dianne), Orem, Utah, is the principal of Stoddard Consulting. The company has two new contracts with earthmoving equipment manufacturers in the United States and China.

1972 | Anne Barton Giffen, ’72, West Jordan, Utah, was presented with the Outstanding Educator of 2001­02 Award by the Jordan Education Foundation. She teaches for Jordan School District.

1973 | Thomas C. Anderson, ’73, MS ’77 (Elizabeth Oberdick, ’94), West Jordan, Utah, has been promoted to vice president of services for Landmark Graphics. He has 20 years of experience as a petroleum geologist. Timothy A. Roberts, ’73 (Shirley), Colorado Springs, Colo., recently retired from the U.S. Air Force, having given more than 32 years of service. He is a senior space systems consultant with Scitor Corp. Mark Zelig, ’73, MS ’78, PhD University of Alabama ’82 (Jennie Richards, ’74), Heber City, Utah, was selected to lead the Distinguished Speaker’s Seminar at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Chicago.

1974 | Phyllis P. Ritner, ’74, Laguna Beach, Calif., was named Pacific regional account executive of Generation21 Learning Systems, a developer of enterprise learning software.

1976 | Richard J. Smith, ’76, MPA ’79 (Krislyne Peck, ’77), Logan, Utah, was named Distinguished Healthcare Executive of the Year, the highest statewide honor given by the Utah Hospitals and Health Systems Association.

1979 | Larry L. Richman, ’79 (Teri), Salt Lake City, was appointed director of project coordination for the Church Curriculum Department; he will oversee management of some 8,000 projects a year. Richman recently published his ninth book, Project Management Step-by-Step.

1982 | John G. Peters, ’82, MA ’84, MA Columbia University ’88, PhD Pennsylvania State University ’96 (Deanna), Denton, Texas, was honored by Choice magazine for his book Conrad and Impressionism, which Choice named one of the outstanding academic titles for 2001.

1984 | Victor C. Thompson, ’84, MA California State University, Los Angeles ’88, EdD Pepperdine University ’97 (Marie Gilpin, ’82), Lakewood, Calif., was named Pupil Personnel Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators in November 2002. Glen D. Westbroek, ’84 (Julie Kohler, ’88), Lindon, Utah, received a $25,000 Milken Educator Award for exemplary work as a seventh-grade teacher and as the director of the Science Department at Orem Junior High School. David W. Wright, MA ’84 (Cindy), Gettysburg, Pa., was named director of athletics at Gettysburg College. He has been serving as men’s soccer head coach since 1986 and associate director of athletics since 1990.

1986 | Steven R. Lambert, ’86, MBA ’88 (Sheri Murphy, ’86), Yorba Linda, Calif., was named president and chief executive officer of Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., where he oversees general operations.

1988 | Dedelyn Hamilton, ’88, MS ’95, Colorado Springs, Colo., was recently promoted to value engineering manager for Ingersoll-Rand, Security & Safety Sector, and is pursuing an MBA at the University of Colorado. Krista Ralston Oakes, ’88 (Jared), Plano, Texas, joined the regulatory consulting firm of Shotwell & Carr as vice president. Krista and her husband established an online Latter-day Saint support network for infertility, adoption, and pregnancy loss.

1989 | James E. Nielsen, ’89 (Cindy), Moses Lake, Wash., was selected to be the Greco-Roman Wrestling World Team athletic trainer by USA Wrestling and has traveled with USA Wrestling Freestyle for the past three years. Anthony A. Piña, ’89, MEd ’91 (Teresa), Indio, Calif., is a recipient of the 2002 Mentor Endowment Scholarship by the Educational Communications and Technology Foundation. He is a doctoral candidate in leadership and instructional technology at La Sierra University. Christopher R. Westdyke, ’89, MBA College of William and Mary ’93, and his wife, Stephanie Blamires Westdyke, ’88, Nederland, Colo., founded and co-own an accredited private school, Eldorado Academy, that specializes in distance-learning programs.

1990 | Teresa Reber Bell, ’90, MA ’92, PhD University of Arizona ’01 (Ryan), Norman, Okla., accepted a position as assistant professor in linguistics at the University of Oklahoma. Eric J. Johnston, ’90, MBA University of New Orleans ’91 (Carol), Alamogordo, N.M., was named CFO of New Mexico State University at Alamogordo. Karen Jensen Mecham, ’90, MPA University of Utah ’95 (Dale), Farmington, Utah, is a recipient of the Salt Lake Chamber’s Pathfinder Award and is executive director of the Bringing Hope to Single Moms Foundation.

1991 | Scott H. Thompson, ’91, JD Southern Methodist University ’95 (Judith Penfield, ’89), Lees Summit, Mo., joined the law firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin as an associate in 2001 and was elected to be one of six new partners.

1992 | Lanny M. Brown, ’92, JD ’95, Higley, Ariz., has been named to the Arizona State University Microelectronics Teaching Factory Center Industry Advisory Board of Directors and elected as chair to advise the development of a new university curriculum. John P. Kennedy, ’92, MD Michigan State University ’96 (Larisa Caruthers, ’93), Germany, a major in the U.S. Air Force, is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Bitburg Air Base. Jeffrey T. Heninger, ’92 (Suzanne), Gilbert, Ariz., opened the Heninger Gallery in Scottsdale, Ariz. He launched a career as an artist two years ago and received enthusiastic reviews from local art critics. Joseph Vance, ’92, JD University of Washington ’95 (Lori Keck, ’91), Ridgefield, Wash., has been named partner at the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine. His practice will focus on labor and employment law and commercial litigation. Aleisha Woodward, ’92, MA ’98, Dulles, Va., has been assigned to lead the public affairs section at the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau, Moldova. She is responsible for public affairs, media relations, and cultural exchanges.

1993 | Thomas L. Wagner, ’93 (Elaine Rumsey, ’91), Lincoln, Calif., was appointed area sales manager for San Francisco by Celltech Pharmaceuticals. He is responsible for developing new business and promoting the company’s gastroenterology products. Phill C. Wright, ’93, Bountiful, Utah, was appointed president of Stirling Mortgage in Salt Lake City. Wright has 17 years of financial and marketing experience and will supervise a staff of eight.

1994 | Jeffrey S. Almberg, ’94, MA Chapman College ’00, Orange, Calif., was awarded an educational grant from Earthwatch Institute to participate in an archeological excavation in southern Virginia. Michael S. Gardner, ’94, Dallas, became partner in the Dallas office of Bickel & Brewer. Grant J. Jensen, ’94, PhD Stanford University ’99 (Angela Schramm, ’93), Arcadia, Calif., joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He and his wife have four children. Jace N. Johnson, ’94, MBA George Washington University ’97 (Cori Swinton, ’92), Great Falls, Va., accepted a position on Utah senator Orrin G. Hatch’s staff as a legislative assistant.

1995 | Aaron J. Tolson, ’95, JD University of Oklahoma ’02 (Michelle), Ammon, Idaho, recently passed the Idaho State Bar and joined the firm of Wright, Wright, and Johnson in Idaho Falls, where he will practice family law and estate planning.

1996 | Brian T. Reynolds, ’96 (Ivy Hawley, ’95), Tillamook, Ore., is coordinator for service-learning projects at Tillamook High School and arranges mentors for each student to help seniors complete 40 hours of community service learning. Jared P. Rutter, ’96, PhD University of Texas ’01 (Deena), Carrollton, Texas, received the Amersham Biosciences/Science Young Scientist Prize, the highest recognition awarded worldwide to a single molecular biology scientist early in his or her career.

1997 | Brett N. Anderson, ’97, JD University of Washington ’01 (Amy Rogers, ’98), Puyallup, Wash., rejoined the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky in Seattle as an associate in the Employment and Litigation Groups.

Robert J. Kayihura, ’97, JD University of Washington ’02, Seattle, joined the law firm of Lane Powell Spears Lubersky as an associate in the Complex Litigation and Commercial Litigation Practice Groups.

1998 | John W. Coffey, ’98 (Gwen Westover, ’98), Odgen, Utah, received his professional engineer’s license from the state of Utah and has substantial experience in structural design, value engineering, and project management. Greg D. Fix, ’98 (Katherine Gunther, ’96), Lehi, Utah, has been named senior estimator for Big-D Construction and has worked for the construction industry for seven years. Seth F. Redford, ’98, JD ’01, Irvine, Calif., completed basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

2000 | Brian W. Gardunia, ’00, MS ’02 (Leila Ellsworth, ’01), Bryan, Texas, tied for first place in a student paper competition at the Beltwide Cotton Conference in Nashville. He has begun a doctorate program at Texas A&M University. Camille Graham Turpin, ’00 (Jacob, ’01), Columbia, Md., helped with the design and layout of the book Let the Reason Be Love by Merrill Osmond, coauthored by her mother, Janice Barrett Graham, ’76.

2001 | Jeremy Cooper, ’01, MAcc ’02 (Aimee Hodges, ’00), San Jose, Calif., won the national grand prize in the graduate division of the 2002–03 Attorney-CPA Foundation Essay Contest. He is a tax consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Kari Gallup Huxford, ’01 (Dale, ’98), San Francisco, a former star of the BYU women’s basketball team, was recently named head coach of the varsity men’s basketball team at Aragon High School in San Mateo, Calif. Natalie Smith, ’01, Syracuse, N.Y., competed in the Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition for Syracuse University. The Syracuse team was among only 12 teams from law schools in the northeast invited to participate.

2002 | Chad E. Funk, ’02, Provo, and Trevor R. Jones, ’02 (Angelique Thomas, ’01), Phoenix, graduated from the Marriott School in April and spent a month backpacking in Laos and Cambodia.James W. Shefchik, ’02 (Natalia Nemcikova, ’01), American Fork, Utah, received his commission as a naval officer after completing Officer Candidate School at Naval Aviation Schools Command in Pensacola, Fla.