Maria Calix (MBA, 1997) is seeking re-election to the board of the Lennox School District, which includes the unincorporated Los Angeles County area of Lennox, and portions of the neighboring cities of Inglewood, Hawthorne and Los Angeles. Ms. Calix is a former two-term trustee for the Centinela Valley Union High School District, located in Los Angeles County, close to the Los Angles International Airport. She was appointed to the Lennox board this past July to complete the term of another board member who left to become a teacher with the district.
Blue Cross of California has appointed Josh Valdez (BBA, 1987) as senior vice president, network development. In his new position, Mr. Valdez is responsible for overseeing all physician, hospital and ancillary physician and hospital network development and support for Blue Cross. He formerly served as regional director for the federal department of health and human services, where he was appointed by President Bush to represent the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Western U.S. and Pacific Territories. Mr. Valdez is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Dan Curry (MS Educational Administration, 2005) has been appointed to lead the North State Office of the Regional System of District School Support. The Office was established by the 2002 Budget Act for California to meet requirements mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Mr. Curry has served as program coordinator and regional data analyst for the Office since January 2005. Prior to that he was an administrative intern and teacher in the Shasta Union High School District. Mr. Curry is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
The San Jose Mercury News profiled E. Raquel Hill (CRED, 2005), a teacher in Los Altos. She instructs kindergarten at Santa Rita School. Ms. Hill told the newspaper that her favorite thing about teaching is "The fact that I now wake up every day and look forward to going to work. The job I do as a teacher really affects other lives in a positive way and I feel blessed and humbled by that responsibility."
Caatherine Hallada (CRED, MS, 2005) was recently named varsity softball coach for Gilroy High School. A former shortstop for St. Mary's College, she formerly was a junior varsity softball coach for her alma mater, St. Francis, where she played for three years as a varsity player.
Artist, poet and public speaker Annie Ruth (BA, 1987) was featured this summer in the Cincinnati Inquirer when her art exhibition opened at the Arts Consortium of Cincinnati. Ms. Ruth, who is also an author and illustrator, utilized her talents and creative energies for the show to salute to various women in her community. The show was titled "Dada Rafiki," a Kiswahili word meaning sister-friend. More recently, Ms. Ruth has published a children's book, "I can Read," which she wrote and illustrated. For more information, please visit her Web site at www.annieruth.com
Tyler Sassaman (CRED MA, 2001) was selected as a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education's class of 2005, and has received a merit-based $15,000 Leadership in Education Award. He will be a member of the School Leadership program, and will focus on the development of Expeditionary Learning schools. Mr. Sassaman taught 4th and 5th grade for five years in the East Bay area near San Jose, and was also an instructor for Outward Bound during the summer.
Clyde Moreno (BS 2002) is employed as a software engineer at Ocean Systems Engineering Corporation. He works directly on systems that are installed onboard ships to protect against terrorist attacks.
Larry Murphy (MBA, 2003) has been named chief information officer of Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a national non-prime residential mortgage lender based in San Diego. Prior to that appointment, he was a private consultant in San Diego's financial services and technology sector. Mr. Murphy is a Marine Corps veteran.
North Georgia College & State University has hired Joseph Morgan (MFS, 2005) as an assistant professor of criminal justice. He is proctor and coordinator for the University's new Southeast testing site for American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators certification. Mr. Morgan was senior investigator for the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office for 13 years. Previously, he was a forensics investigator in New Orleans.
Psychologist and author Dr. Rose Tijerina-Swearingen (BA, 1988 MS, 1990) has published a new book, Life's Journey: Making Sobriety a Way of Life. The publisher is Recovery Publications. In addition to her clinical and literary work, Dr. Swearingen is a business woman. After working at the Betty Ford Clinic as a counselor for 10 years, she founded the Life's Journey Center in Palm Springs, California in 1996. The treatment facility, specializing in addiction recovery, provides a holistic approach to treatment with alternative solutions for recovery and offers a sensitive approach to the cultural and traditional values of the recovering adult.
Tony Vergopia (MA, Management, 1993) is one of only 300 recipients this year to receive a master's degree in strategic studies from the United States Army War College. An Army veteran, he is currently serving as Colonel in the Florida Army National Guard. Col. Vergopia is also vice president of fulfillment for Dynetech Corporation in Orlando, Florida.
Thomas Moltimore (MA, Human Behavior, 1989) is the new veterans services officer for Putnam County, Florida, which is home to about 10,000 veterans. He intends to reopen veterans services' satellite offices in the communities of Crescent City and Interlachen, and to open a veterans outpatient clinic in Putnam County. Mr. Moltmore served in the Navy for 21 years and in the Marine Corps for two years. He retired at the rank of chief petty officer.
Woodland Joint Unified School District has named Gary Callahan (MS, 1990) as its director of professional development and 7-12 interventions. The school district is in Woodland, California, just west of Sacramento. He was previously a principal at Douglass Middle School in Woodland, and is currently serving a term as president and CEO of the K-12 Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to helping economically disadvantaged youth develop and grow personally as leaders in their community.
