Breadcrumb
Alumni Updates
Marie (Ferguson) Smith
Wildlife, 1980
Marie (Ferguson) Smith, 1980 Wildlife, has been teaching high school science for the last 25 years after working for the U.S. Forest Service as a Research Technician, I. Smith is married with three sons, two engineers (SDSU and CSU) and one zoologist (HSU). She’s currently living on a mountain outside of Glide, Oregon, and still teaching science (Umpqua Valley Christian School), but dreaming of retirement.
Rion Allbaugh
Forestry & Wildland ResourcesChild Development, 2001
Rion Allbaugh, 2001 Forestry, met his wife Anne Marie Nielsen (‘01, Child Development) in the Siemens Hall Computer lab in 1999 and have been together ever since. Allbaugh is a Fire Captain for Cal Fire, and Anne Marie is a second grade teacher. They live in the Sierra Nevada Foothills with their son and dog. They look back upon their Humboldt State experience with great nostalgia and, if given the opportunity, would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Michael Sandecki
Geology, 1979
Michael Sandecki, 1979 Geology, is currently a water quality analyst employed with the California Coastal Commission.
Deanna (Wade) Carpenter
Environmental Resources Engineering, 1997
Deanna Carpenter, 1997 Environmental Resources Engineering, (née Wade) is married to Mark Carpenter ('98, Wildlife Management) and was recently promoted to the rank of Commander with the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps in Newport, R.I. Carpenter is currently serving as chief staff officer of the Seventh Naval Construction Regiment.
Ron Miller
Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1983
RON MILLER, 1983 Forest Management, is a supervisory forester on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. His 30-year career has included working for the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Miller has published articles in both American Forests and the Journal of Forestry. He is also the nominator of the largest Chihuahua pine in the United States. Recent travel includes time in Costa Rica and Panama in Central America and Ecuador and Peru in South America.
Dr. Leonard A. Brennan
WildlifeNatural Resources, 1984
Leonard A. Brennan, 1984, Wildlife, has been a professor at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, at the Texas A&M University, Kingsville, since 2001, where he holds the C.C. Winn Endowed Chair for Quail Research. Brennan teaches graduate classes in Ecosystem Function and Models in Wildlife Science. His past positions include director of Research at Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, FL (1993-2001), and small game research scientist at Mississippi State University (1989-1993). He served terms as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Wildlife Management (2001-2002) and Wildlife Society Bulletin (2012-2013). Since graduating from HSU, Brennan has published more than 160 peer-reviewed articles, five books and more than 100 extension articles.
Kevin Orris
Mathematics, 1998
Kevin Orris, 1998, mathematics, first went to Humboldt in 1984 as a Wildlife Management major, at which time he met his wife Bonnie. He returned to Humboldt in the mid ’90s and received a degree in Mathematics and his teaching credential. He has been teaching math at Golden Sierra High School for the last 12 years. He loves every minute and is very proud that he has encouraged several students to attend Humboldt.
J
Chemistry, 2013
Jeffrey Herr, 2013 Chemistry, found a job working as a laboratory technician in the quality control lab for Traditional Medicinals, which produces tea. Herr’s work is in testing and sampling herbs with names he can barely pronounce. Herr writes, “I already miss HSU.”
Andrew Jensen
Fisheries Biology, 1996 (BS) and 2000 (MS)
Andrew Jensen, 1996 and 2000 Fisheries Biology, and Melanie Jensen, (’96 Wildlife Biology), met in an Icthyology class in 1992. Then 10 years passed and they bumped into each other in a grocery store in Santa Rosa, Calif., and exchanged phone numbers. After a year or so they got together for dinner, spent several months becoming friends, and got married in 2004. Andrew now works as a senior environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife working on anadromous fish restoration, and Melanie works for PG&E in the Gas Service Engineering Department. They settled in Redding, Calif., and have two daughters, and several pets. In September 2013, they visited HSU and showed their girls where they had met, and let them run around on the soccer field near the Fisheries and Wildlife Building. Andrew writes that HSU was a wonderful place to go to college, and hopes their girls will pick HSU for their college education. Interestingly, Melanie's mother, Dolores Mattax, and aunt and uncle, Patricia Mattax and Jim Ingram, also attended HSU in the early 1950s. Patricia and Jim ended up getting married, and Jim is in the Hall of Fame as a football player and coach for HSU.
Kristi Boring Shelton
Environmental Resources EngineeringMinor Speech Communication, 1996
Kristi Boring Shelton, 1996, Environmental Resources Engineering, worked for Montgomery Watson (now MWH) from 1996 to 2006 in the Federal Unit in Sacramento. Her work included groundwater and soil investigations at various Army and Air Force bases. Then Shelton worked at Secor (now Stantec) from 2006 to 2007 doing underground storage tank cleanups in the Sacramento area. Currently she is working as a water resources control engineer for the Central Valley Regional Water Board.