ON THE BOARD

Geoff Woolley MBA’83, founder of Dominion Ventures, Inc. and European Venture Partners, and high-tech entrepreneur Will West BA’87 have been named to the Utah Capital Investment Corporation board of directors. The board is one of the key bodies charged with overseeing and implementing Utah’s $100 million Fund of Funds, a state-backed venture capital fund for early-stage technology companies.

Associated Regional and University Pathologists, Inc. (ARUP), a national full-service reference laboratory owned by the University of Utah, has selected four new members—all U alumni—to serve on its board of directors. The new directors are: David E. Salisbury BS’49, of counsel at the Salt Lake City law firm of Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy; Lane Summerhays BS’71 MBA’71, president and CEO of Workers Compensation Fund; Mark Miller ex’72, chair of Mark Miller Automotive; and Ronald L. Weiss, M.D., MBA’89, president and chief operating officer of ARUP laboratories.

AVI BioPharma, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that develops drugs to treat life-threatening diseases using third-generation antisense technology and cancer vaccines, recently named John Hodgman MBA’80 to its board of directors. Hodgman will also serve as chair of the company’s Board Audit Committee.

Raser Technologies, Inc. has elected John Ritter BS’67 MBA’68 president of the company and a member of its board of directors. Raser develops and licenses advanced electric motor technology.

'50s

A. Laurence Lyon BS’58 MA’60 arranged the choral setting for the title song of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s CD, Consider the Lilies. The album, which sold over 106,000 copies by the end of 2003, was the first release from the choir’s self-titled recording label. Since 1975, over 120 performances of Lyon’s choral works have been featured on choir radio and television broadcasts, and his work is featured on 35 commercial CDs. Lyon is retired from Western Oregon University where he was a professor of creative arts/music. LM

'60s

Dennis D. Bean BS’66 was one of 43 nominees inducted as fellows of the American College of Bankruptcy at a ceremony held in the Great Hall of the United States Supreme Court last March. To be inducted into this honorary association, nominees must display the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, expertise, and scholarship in their field. Bean is a certified public accountant (CPA) specializing in insolvency and bankruptcy matters. His firm, Dennis Bean & Company, is located in Fresno, Calif.

Ted Fitzgerald BS’68 has joined Trout Unlimited, a national conservation organization, as the restoration project director of the American Fork Canyon Rivers Initiative. The project is a multi-year effort to improve water quality and the health of the fishery in American Fork, Utah. Fitzgerald is a professional engineer and 25-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service in Utah.

'70s

Jon W. Meilstrup BFA’70 MD’76 has been inducted as a fellow of the American College of Radiology (ACR). Fellowship is one of the highest honors conferred by the ACR, a national nonprofit association serving more than 32,000 radiology professionals. Meilstrup is affiliated with the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. He is also active in medical societies and serves as chair of the Clinical Standards Committee and the Abdomen Section for the American Institute of Ultrasound Medicine in Laurel, Md.

George H. Berry BS’72 was presented with the U.S. Navy Superior Public Service Award, the service’s second-highest civilian award, in May of this year. He received the honor for his contributions to the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. Berry retired from the Navy as a commander in 1993. Since then, he has worked for Northrop Grumman Corporation’s technology sector, providing system engineering, research, and business development for the company’s intelligence clients.

Farhang Holakouee PhD’74 is the host of the daytime radio show, “Needs and Mysteries,” on the Los Angeles-based Persian station, KIRN-AM. A licensed marriage and family therapist, Holakouee is a popular speaker in the United States and Europe. He grew up in the Iranian city of Shiraz and taught at the University of Tehran before moving stateside and earning his sociology degree at the U. Through his radio show, he offers thousands of Iranian listeners advice on balancing their traditions with American culture.

David Bjorkman BA’76 MD’80 MS’98 was named president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) in May 2004. He will serve as president of ASGE, the preeminent professional organization dedicated to advancing the practice of GI endoscopy, through May 2005. Bjorkman is a professor of medicine and the executive medical director of the University of Utah Medical Group. He also served as interim dean of the U School of Medicine while Dean Lorris Betz, M.D., also senior vice president for health sciences, served as interim president of the University earlier this year.

Laura Kingsford PhD’77 has been appointed dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Kingsford, a biologist, joined the CSULB faculty in 1980 and was in her third term as chair of the Department of Biological Science when she was promoted to dean. She now serves as the college’s chief academic officer and directs instructional, curricular, and fundraising support programs for over 2,100 students in 19 different degree programs.

'80s

Stan Postma MBA’82 has joined the Salt Lake City office of MWH (Montgomery, Watson, Harza) Global, a leading provider of knowledge-driven services, as principal engineer. Postma’s primary responsibilities will be business development and management of large projects. Postma has over 31 years of engineering experience, with a history of work on major public water, power, and transportation projects throughout the Intermountain West.

Stephan Koplowitz MFA’83 is one of five winners of the 2004 Alpert Awards in the Arts. Established in 1994, the $50,000 fellowships are funded by the Herb Alpert Foundation and administered by the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Koplowitz has directed and choreographed critically acclaimed “site-adaptive” dance works for the past 20 years. His projects usually involve 20-70 performers and are set in architecturally significant urban sites.

Marc Probst BS’83 has been appointed vice president of information technology and chief information officer for Intermountain Health Care (IHC), a nonprofit health care organization based in Salt Lake City. Prior to joining IHC, Probst was a partner at Deloitte Consulting. He has also served as chief information officer for the nation’s largest third-party administrator and as a partner for Ernst & Young.

Jeffrey W. Shaw BS’83 was recently appointed CEO of Southwest Gas Corporation, a natural gas distribution company serving over 1.5 million homes and businesses in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Shaw, a CPA, joined Southwest Gas in 1998 and held various senior management positions before becoming the company’s president in 2003. He is a member of several professional accounting organizations, has served on the board for the YMCA of Southern Nevada, and is active with Boy Scouts of America.

Mark Prus PhD’85 has been named dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at State University of New York (SUNY) College at Cortland. Prus joined SUNY Cortland’s Economics Department in 1990 and has served as a professor, chair of the Economics Department, and interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. He is an expert on prevailing wage laws and has published numerous papers on women’s labor market experience, occupational sex segregation, and wage inequities.

'90s

Barbara Haun BS’91, a sixth-grade teacher at McMillan Elementary in Utah’s Murray School District, has been awarded the 2004 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Education. Each year, the Utah PTA and KUED present the awards to six outstanding educators and two volunteers from throughout Utah. Dedicated to building positive relationships with students, Haun teaches important life skills through character-building and problem-solving exercises. She also attends at least one extracurricular activity for each of her students in a given year.

Karen Mecham MPA’95 was selected as the recipient of the 2003 Executive Women International (EWI) Legacy Award. EWI is a networking and leadership development organization for businesswomen with 85 chapters in the North America and Europe. Mecham co-founded the Bringing Hope to Single Moms Foundation, an award-winning program that provides information, emotional support, and mentoring for single mothers in Utah and Arizona.

Jeffrey Gold BS’96 won the Jury’s Choice Gold Medal for Excellence for his feature-length score in the film Abby Singer at the 2004 Park City Film Music Festival. Gold was also a producer, camera operator, and actor in Abby Singer, which won the Fleur de Lis awards for Best Feature Film and Best Independent Film at the 2003 New Orleans Media Experience. Gold, a successful playwright, filmmaker, and composer, is an adjunct faculty member at the U and Salt Lake Community College, where he teaches film and screenwriting.

Doug Goodman MS’96 PhD’02, assistant professor of political science at Mississippi State University, received the Mississippi State Department of Political Science Outstanding Professor Award for the 2003-04 academic year. Goodman teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in public administration and political science. He has written several published papers in his field and co-edited the book Contested Landscape: Wilderness in Utah and the West with Dan McCool—director of the U’s American West Center—in 1999.

B. Craig Horwat MARC’96 has joined the San Diego, Calif., firm of Smith Consulting Architects as a senior project manager. Horwat is a licensed architect in California and Utah and has eight years of experience working for architectural firms in both states. Most recently, he was an architect for Architects Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker in San Diego. He also worked for Zagrodnik & Thomas Architects, where he oversaw the renovation of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center.

Douglas W. Jamison MS’99 will become president, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer of Harris & Harris Group, Inc. as of Jan. 1, 2005. Harris & Harris Group is a publicly traded venture capital company that makes initial investments in “tiny” technology (nanotechnology, microsystems, and microelectromechanical systems). Jamison became vice president of Harris & Harris Group in 2002. Prior to that, he worked at the U of U Technology Transfer Office. He is a member of several advisory boards and professional societies in his field. AM

Brenda Miller PhD’99 has been promoted to the position of associate professor of English at Western Washington University. Miller teaches creative nonfiction and fiction writing, as well as literature classes in autobiography, memoir, and personal essay. She has received three Pushcart Prizes for her creative nonfiction, and her essays have appeared in multiple literary periodicals. A trade edition of her McGraw-Hill textbook, Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction, is scheduled for release this fall.

Josh Ferrin BA’04, former Daily Utah Chronicle cartoonist, received the 2004 John Locher Memorial Award from the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, singling him out as the best college editorial cartoonist of the year. A political science major with a minor in Middle East studies and Arabic, Ferrin had plans to go to law school when his lifelong habit of doodling in class turned into a full-blown career. He is now pursuing employment as a professional newspaper cartoonist.

LM: Alumni Association Life Member

AM: Alumni Association Annual Member

Evelyn and Richard Henriksen studying at the U in 1950.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Evelyn Pay Henriksen BS’50 graduated the same year as her husband, C. Richard Henriksen JD’50. That may not seem remarkable these days, when there are nearly as many women as men graduating from the U, and married students are hardly a novelty on campus. In 1950, however, it was enough to catch the attention of a local newspaper. The Henriksens were depicted as an anomaly then, but Evelyn didn’t find her situation unusual. Her U roots went back to her mother, Georgetta Paxman Pay DPLM’08, and that education ethic has led to a veritable U dynasty in the 54 years that have passed since the young Mr. and Mrs. Henriksen picked up their degrees.

Richard (who passed away four years ago) and Evelyn had eight children together, and every one of them graduated from the University of Utah. Not only that, but all of their children have married U alumni, and the tradition has continued with many of their grandchildren.

“I’ve had one of my children, daughters or sons-in-law, or grandchildren enrolled at the U continuously since 1965,” says Evelyn. In fact, 11 of her grandchildren and their spouses attended the U this year. Three of those family members, Elizabeth (Beth) Brown, Becca Henriksen, and Laura Stoker, graduated in May. “It’s not that we tell our kids that they have to go to the U,” says Evelyn’s eldest daughter, Patricia (Tricia) Stoker BA’69. “We encourage them to look around and make comparisons. More often than not, they end up choosing Utah because it’s such a great school.” All told, the Richard and Evelyn Henriksen family boasts 36 University of Utah graduates and 43 U degrees, as well as eight current or returning students, and three others who attended classes at the U. Talk about a family of loyal Utes!