USD MAGAZINE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO / SUMMER 2009 IS QUITE SIMPLY AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME. IS QUITE SIMPLY AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME.

JIM PARSONS

FALL 2005 B HE’S HILARIOUS: ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT, HE’S HILARIOUS: ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT, FROM THE PRESIDENT

[priorities] LOOKING FORWARD An update on the university’s financial condition

emaining optimistic during times of economic constraint and uncertainty can be a challenge, particularly when their impact on people and programs cannot be fully anticipated. USD has persevered and prospered R despite serious challenges throughout its history because of the talent, creativity, hard work and cooperation of the truly dedicated faculty, administrators and staff who are among our institution’s greatest resources. To thrive during these times, it is important to keep current challenges in perspective; USD’s spring enrollments are normal and undergraduate applications for next fall are up slightly. In addition, we are currently able to main- tain our present level of financial aid commitments to our students. Also, unlike many other universities, we are not considering personnel reductions at this time. The university’s 2009-2010 budget has been formally approved by our trustees to include our primary commit- ments to financial aid, infrastructure renewal, sustaining faculty and staff levels, and academic program support. The trustees also reviewed our budget projections for the remainder of the current fiscal year. They endorsed our call for fiscal restraint and acknowledged that uninterrupted academic programs and student services remain our first institutional priority. Consistent with our core values, we are foremost concerned about the well-being of the people in our university community. As we manage our way through this economic downturn, our overriding objective is to encourage and support our students and their families as members of our university family, and to reassure our faculty and staff in their roles vital to our institutional mission. In response to the growing needs of our students and their families who face job losses and other devastating economic circumstances, we have increased the current budget for student financial aid hardship appeals. We also are increasing our financial aid programs for our neediest students in 2009-2010. I want to assure you that USD’s leadership is continually monitoring our critical economic indicators and is prepared to help us manage through these tumultuous times. I remain grateful for the encouragement and support that our students’ parents, our loyal alumni, our faithful donors and many other friends have shown our university. The University of San Diego is a spe- cial place because of all of the people associated with it. I know that together, we can creatively use our collective energies to address the challenges ahead. Working together and relying on our faith and values to guide us, I am confident that USD will navigate the white water of these difficult times and emerge on course as an even stronger, Live the moment. Dream the future. more resilient university. From 60th anniversary merchandise to iconic clothing to unique gifts, the newly revamped USD Bookstore has everything you need to keep the University of San Diego close, — Mary E. Lyons, President no matter where you are. Drop by or shop online. We’re only a click away. USD Bookstore • www.usdbookstore.com

SPECIAL THANKS TO MODELS JENNIFER MORRISSEY AND DAUGHTER FRANCES Mc CANNEL USD MAGAZINE THE CALAMITY CONTINUES IF WE FORGET TO DREAM. UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO / SUMMER 2009 CONTENTS FEATURES ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE; WE ARE MERELY PLAYERS.

20 / HI DIDDLE DEE DEE 28 / AFTER THE STORM Actor Jim Parsons is living the rarified life of a successful, It takes a certain kind of working actor. The breakout star of the hit sitcom The Big pragmatic optimist to be Bang Theory is loving life in Los Angeles (not to mention on the front lines in the the wonders of his GPS). And while he wasn’t exactly sure aftermath of devastating what he would say as speaker of this year’s undergraduate catastrophe. When light- CONNECTING THE PROSE AND THE PASSION. PASSION. THE AND PROSE THE CONNECTING commencement ceremony, it was sure to be memorable. ning strikes and the world 28 splinters, two USD graduates have made it their job to pick up the pieces. Tracy Reines ’94 oversees a team that’s responsible for handling the logistics of every international DEPARTMENTS disaster response undertaken by the American Red Cross. The end result is that she tells time less by strict chronology than by geographical calamity. Meanwhile, Jennifer Gerbasi AROUND THE PARK ’95 (J.D.) works in southern Louisiana, in hopes of insulating communities from future 6 / Uncertain Times disasters. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. The university is not immune to the effects of MAGAZINE

an unsettling economy. Top priorities are COMFORT FOOD IS FOR DAYS LIKE TODAY. retaining students, employees and hope. 6

USD 8 / Plain Talk CLASS NOTES Associate professor Alan Gin gives his take on the state 32 / A Taste of Chocolate of the economy, the stimulus package and much more. Food artist Diolinda Monteiro ’93 pairs 10 / Finding Comfort her science background with a love for Faith can be a consolation during troubled times. For some, chocolate when it comes to crafting her 32 the economic crisis prompts a spiritual awakening. inspired concoctions. ON THE COVER: A20 JOKE IS A VERY SERIOUS THING. Photo by Stuart Pettican 12 / At Your Service 18 36 / The Super Bowl of Homebuilding During these tough times, USD is stepping in to help those Brothers Ryan ’03 and Brandon De Young ’07 helped transform ALUMNI UPDATE POINT OF VIEW Find our pages online at who need assistance with business advice, networking the housing situation of a family by pitching in to make a dream 16 / Beauty by Design 18 / Solving the Puzzle www.sandiego.edu/usdmag opportunities and training programs. come true on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. USD’s harmonious cam- When Christopher Yanov ’03 TORERO ATHLETICS pus style didn’t happen won big on Wheel of Fortune, 41 / In Memoriam 14 / Ready to Play by accident. Much of the his winnings helped him to Judith Rauner dedicated her life to family and community Toreros pitcher A.J. Griffin has high hopes of making it to the big credit for the university’s stop the downward spiral in service and touched a great many lives with her work. Sadly, leagues. His spot on the USA Baseball National Team gave him a consistent beauty goes to San Diego’s toughest neigh- she passed away in late March from a malignant brain tumor. glimpse of an international stage. Terry Whitcomb ’53. 16 borhoods.

2 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 3 EDITORIAL LICENSE USD MAGAZINE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[editor/senior director] Julene Snyder [email protected] [consolation] [senior creative director] Barbara Ferguson [email protected] [back and forth] Alumni-in-Waiting College for Women. worry, give me a week or two, I’m writing to let you know how When Mother Danz found out and I’ll stumble.” [assistant editor] EVERYTHING’S ALL RIGHT NOW thrilled our family was to be cho- I wasn’t baptized, she called me My year and a half at the San Kelly Knufken In times like these, how is it possible to not get worried? [email protected] sen as the models for the into her office and wanted to Diego College for Women was [contributing writer] February bookstore advertise- know why. I explained that even wonderful. I got married over n the deepest part of sleep, there is a sound, and I awake with a start. There it is again. Ryan T. Blystone ment in USD Magazine (“Live the though I always went to Catholic Christmas vacation my senior It’s not a loud noise; in fact, it’s almost a whisper. But I know what it means, and I am [email protected] Moment, Dream the Future”). We schools I somehow was never year, and Mother Hill called up and out of bed before I’m even quite awake. [copyeditor] received a copy of the magazine baptized. Well, Mother Danz me into her room and gave me I Trisha J. Ratledge “What’s the matter?” by mail (and had received some made an appointment for me to five $20 bills: “It is difficult for “I had a bad dream,” comes the tearful reply. [feature photographer] messages from friends who saw see the bishop. Probably best not to ask for details. Better to simply enfold my daughter in my arms Stuart Pettican our pictures even before we did) With trepidation I was escort- and tell her it was just a dream and all is well and she is safe and there, there, there, go [illustrations] and thought it came out beauti- ed into his office. He greeted back to sleep. Allan Burch fully. (Bias towards the models me with such a big smile I felt Barbara Ferguson More often than not, that is enough. She sinks back into slumber, tears still wet on her Alberto Ruggieri aside, of course!) Thank you for relaxed. “And why is that you cheeks, and I brush sweaty hair from her forehead, adjust the covers just so and listen to her breathing for a the opportunity to be a part of are not baptized, young lady?” [web site] moment, just to be sure that the dream isn’t lurking, waiting to cruelly startle her awake again. www.sandiego.edu/usdmag such a fun alumni project; we Bishop Buddy asked me. In the morning, the dream is usually forgotten altogether, though occasionally recounted in near incoher- It’s the Guitar Man especially loved [our son being “Er, I, well, I have been waiting ent detail. On rare occasions, it is still vivid enough to require more soothing, more reassurances that it was As an adjunct law professor at USD for noted as] “William Barrett ‘29!” to be sure I can be a good just a dream, it wasn’t true, that all is well. almost 40 years, I have a great affec- As a side note, we’ll be adding Catholic. Obey all the rules and Sadly, as adults, it’s not always that easy to find comfort. Oftentimes, the things that keep us from a dream- UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO tion for the school. Your Spring 2009 to the USD class of ‘31, as new give myself to God,” I mumbled. less sleep are, in fact, real. There are worries and troubles and anxieties galore, and if we focus on them too [president] issue was a marvelous tour through so baby brother Nicolas made “I go to Mass every morning, Your much, finding solutions seems a Herculean task. So we fret and we toss and turn in the deepest part of night, Mary E. Lyons, Ph.D. many areas. Congratulations. his entrance into the world on Excellency, and say the rosary and in the morning, there’s no respite to be found. In fact, things seem even worse in the cold clear light of [vice president of However, I must rise to the March 3, 2009. every night.” day. Because now we’re not only stressed-out, we’re also sleep-deprived. university relations] defense of my friend David Gates, — Audrey Barrett ’08 (Ph.D.) “Well, I can see you have every- Timothy L. O’Malley, Ph.D. These are worrisome times, indeed. Every day brings more anxiety, and finding a silver lining seems a fool’s whose album you mentioned in thing under control and don’t need a young bride to ask her hus- errand. But if we can look beyond the latest plunging financial statement, past the litany of woe on the night- [assistant vice president your editorial (“Light My Fire”), fol- the sacraments to help you. Good band for money, so this is for of public affairs] ly news, resist the relentless sense of impending doom that seems the default nearly everywhere we turn, Pamela Gray Payton lowed by the lament “(shudder).” for you. I have enjoyed our little your honeymoon.” I was so there is an alternative to the sense that hope is a distant mirage. As the founder and lead singer of visit and if there is ever anything I touched that I cried. [usd magazine] For me, comfort lies in the small things. In my darkest hours, I turn to the beloved books of childhood, los- is published by the University of [the band] Bread, David continues can do to help you, let me know. — Nadine G. (Trevors) Thomas ‘58 ing myself in Mary Lennox’s search for The Secret Garden, wishing yet again that I could be a member of the San Diego for its alumni, parents to do well living in Fairbanks Ranch Kneel down for my blessing.” Melendy family and live in The Four Story Mistake, get caught up in Posey’s determination to put on her Ballet and friends. Editorial offices: USD with his wife of 50-plus years. They I left the bishop and went back Correction Magazine, University Communications, Shoes and flit across the stage like a graceful little bird. University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá have four children: three doctors to my room. “Did he just tell me A story about the late physician And once I emerge from that warm bath of familiarity, I shake myself awake and make an effort to look up, Park, San Diego, CA 92110. Third-class and one attorney. Regarding his I was the most conceited thing Michael Bajo (“Family Affair”) in to notice that clouds skitter across the sky like puffs of airborne cotton. I remember to breathe, to let the scent postage paid at San Diego, CA 92110. music, many of his early songs were he had ever met? Yes, I believe the Spring 2009 issue of USD USD phone number: (619) 260-4600. of lemon blossoms and honeysuckle and jasmine remind me that spring has arrived. I reach into my pocket written for his wife; they went to he did — and I deserved it.” A few Magazine misspelled the name and give a buck or two when confronted with an outstretched hand, remembering how lucky I am to have Postmaster: Send address changes rival high schools in Tulsa. When he days later I called the bishop and of his alma mater. The Chicago to Advancement Services, University enough to spare. I remind myself that when we pay attention and celebrate the small things, it helps put the of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, succeeded in getting one ballad — said, “If it is possible, I would like school that Dr. Bajo graduated big picture into perspective. San Diego, CA 92110. in which he mentioned her name to be baptized. I do need and from is St. Procopius University Putting this issue together was a balancing act of sorts. In the pages that follow, we’ve attempted to offer USD Magazine is printed with vegeta- — played on local radio, he won want the grace the sacraments (now Benedictine University). We up both an unflinching look at reality and a celebration of those who inspire us to keep the faith. Comfort is ble-based inks on paper certified her heart! His mother was a poet; Baptism by Fire can give me.” sincerely regret the error. where you find it: whether it’s rolling your sleeves up and getting to work after disaster strikes, making people in accordance with FSC standards, perhaps that’s why so many of his I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Well, no one has ever had such which support environmentally laugh out loud week after week, or tinkering with a recipe until the result is gustatory heaven, there is grace in appropriate, socially beneficial and beautiful lyrics stand impressively tribute to Bishop Buddy in the lat- a baptism. All the students had to Write us ... offering up the best of yourself. economically viable management on their own (“If,” “Aubrey” et al). est issue of USD Magazine (“Sixty wear their cap and gown, the We welcome letters to the I hope you share my confidence that there will come a morning when we wake up, stretch and realize that of the world’s forests. While I’m kidding, of course, he Years and Counting”). bishop baptized me with priests editor about articles in the even though it wasn’t just a dream, everything really will be all right. As long as we stick together and look is a great guy. After his “Goodbye I attended San Diego State my assisting him. The mothers gave magazine. Letters may be edit- [0509/53600] deep within to find the best way that we can give comfort to those who need it, we will make it through to Girl” success, he continued to per- first two years in college, and then me the most beautiful white lace ed for length and clarity, and the other side, maybe even stronger, wiser, more compassionate. form in the ‘90s, mostly abroad; took a semester off to accompany mantilla. When I went back to my must include a daytime phone Come to think of it, isn’t that what we’re here for? he’s now retired. Thanks again for my parents to Japan, where my room, my roommate said she number. Write: Editor, USD a delightful series of articles. Keep father served a two-year tour in really didn’t want to be near me: Magazine, 5998 Alcalá Park, — Julene Snyder, Editor up the good work. the Navy. In January 1957, my “You just had all your sins erased, San Diego, CA 92110. — Michael Dessent parents sent me to the San Diego I am so jealous.” I replied, “Don’t E-mail: [email protected].

4 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 5

“These don’t apply to us,” Sullivan points out.

PARK But cost containment is one thing that USD does have in [syllabus] common with other schools. In THE

March, employees learned that Course: Creative Writing/Poetry annual raises have been frozen Instructor: Jericho Brown for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. They were also urged to be much UP WITH PEOPLE: It’s a warm spring afternoon. Once the students more vigilant in their spending. have settled into a comfortable circle, the instructor sighs, “I’m so

AROUND “It’s probably the single largest happy. It’s such a wonderful life we live.” It seems like everyone in the improvement I’m asking for, and room wants to be here, which isn’t always the case in poetry classes. I think we’re better for it,” says Tim O’Malley, vice president of ARE YOU NOBODY TOO? The discussion ranges from a critique of PARK

University Relations. “I think we’re L.A.-based performance poet Douglas Kearney to whether Emily more accountable. People are Dickinson should ever have been born. One presentation is prefaced being more cautious and think- by a memorized recitation of Wallace Steven’s “Anecdote of the Jar.” THE

ing twice before expending uni- Although the student forgets the ending, he makes a graceful, rhyming

PARK versity resources.” save: “It took dominion everywhere / And I think I’ll stop there.” But USD has to keep focused on the big picture, regardless of POETS KNOW IT: The professor takes note of two students who’ve the vagaries of the marketplace. started a side conversation while another holds the baton: “Please for-

AROUND The Student Life Pavilion remains give them. They don’t mean to be disrespectful to you, because they

on track to open this fall; when it love you. Also, they don’t want me to throw them out the window.” does, it’s certain to be the hub of student life, a home away from EVERY DAY HE WRITES THE BOOK: Asked why one repeats experi- PARK

home that’s been sorely needed ences — watching TV reruns or re-reading books — one student con- for years. Even in an economical- fesses he returns to Catcher in the Rye because “every time I read it, I’m

THE ly challenging time, O’Malley says older.” Brown is delighted: “You should say that in a poem! You better that the building’s completion is hurry up and use that or I will ... and then I’ll dedicate the poem to you.” important to the overall health of THE the university. IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS AFTER ALL: A student makes passing “The Student Life Pavilion and reference to a particular volume that the professor is unfamiliar with.

TIM MANTOANI TIM the renovation of the University Visibly shaken, Brown confesses, “There’s a book I don’t know about, AROUND

Center will help us be competi- and that makes me nervous!” [resilience] tively young university.” tive with other institutions under Sullivan has spent a consider- consideration by prospective ALL WORK, NO PLAY: A boy flirtatiously writes in a pretty girl’s

PARK able amount of time getting students,” he says. “Our obligation notebook. Brown tells a student, “I meant to scare you! It makes things the word out to employees. She is all about attracting and retain- better!” Don’t let the laughter fool you: These pupils are deadly ser- held open forums in late March, ing students.” ious about the material. Critiquing and cultivating each other’s poetry

THE including one in Spanish, to ex- Provost Sullivan knows that for is no joke.

UNCERTAIN TIMES Top priorities? Retaining students, employees and hope plain the university’s financial many students considering USD, — Stefanie Wray by Ryan T. Blystone challenges and answer questions their ultimate decision will hinge hey say it’s always darkest effective July 1. Those invest- attrition is minimal. Undergradu- about possible future scenarios. on financial aid assistance. While before the dawn. Then ments, through March 2009, ate alumni donors have “We’re not hurting as much as more money will be made avail- again, maybe pie-in-the- have fallen sharply: down 29 increased over last year. To date, some universities, and that’s able for financial hardship AROUND

T sky proclamations like that are at percent since the beginning USD has no employee layoffs. because we don’t fit the profile,” appeals, the impact of the eco- least partly to blame for this of the fiscal year. While the university’s endow- she says. “There are three types nomic climate on the institution global economic mess. But they also say there’s ment earnings — less than 5 per- of universities that may be suffer- itself remains uncertain.

PARK Let’s get specific: Despite strength in numbers. And the cent of the $300 million operat- ing most.” “As people learn what kinds of

its best intentions, USD is not tale that some of the numbers ing budget — have taken some She’s talking about smaller uni- financial aid packages we can immune to the effects of an tell is far from dire. The university hits, Sullivan points out that versities with tenuous demand provide, the big test is going to THE

unsettling economy. “The biggest is looking at a record-setting USD’s conservative investment for enrollment, state universities be what kind of loans or support impact has been the decline in 10,957 applicants clamoring for strategy has softened the impact. who are at the mercy of dwin- they can get for their families,” the fair market value of our the 1,100 spots in the Fall 2009 “We’d like our endowment to be dling state monetary support she says. “We’ll have to wait and investments,” says Provost Julie freshman class, almost a 10-1 bigger, but at this point of our and universities whose operating see how that’s all going to trans- Sullivan (pictured), who has been ratio. Demand for graduate pro- stage of development we’re not budgets rely too heavily on late to students actually coming PETER BAXTER BAXTER PETER AROUND

AROUND named executive vice president, grams remains steady. Student as dependent on it. We’re a rela- endowment earnings. to USD.”

6 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 7 AROUND THE PARK

[downturn] in a row. And that’s important because that signals what’s going to happen in terms of construction employment. We’ve already lost & around 27,000 jobs from the peak in construction employment, and this means that people are not going to be building houses. A A second thing I’m looking at is consumer confidence. That has PLAIN TALK Q dropped to historic lows. That’s important because consumer activ- Economics guru Alan Gin saw it coming ity is typically two-thirds of economic activity. It particularly affects

big-ticket sales. If people are worried about their jobs and incomes, RAGAN THOMAS BY PROVIDED POSTCARD Since 1991, associate professor Alan Gin has been releasing the Index of WHERE ARE WE HEADED? I think this signals that at least locally, they’re not going to be going out and buying homes and buying cars. Leading Economic Indicators for San Diego County; the monthly report we’ve got difficult times for the rest of the year. We’re really going And we need them to do it at this point. [dear editor] has made him a popular news source. In fact, he’s given hundreds of to need the national economy to turn around to help pull us out of The other two components that have been problems are related The recent article on Irving Parker in the spring USD interviews to local and national media. this situation. to the labor market. Initial claims for unemployment insurance have Gin came to USD in 1988. He has taught courses in subjects ranging I’m thinking that the stimulus package that was recently passed will surged, so that’s a negative for the index, and there are more peo- Magazine (“One Great Man”) brought back memories. from the Principles of Economics to Statistics to Public Finance to the help. I’m thinking that these rescues — bailouts of the financial insti- ple losing their jobs now. And help-wanted advertising, a measure My initial period of matriculation was 1959-1962. During Economic Development of Asia and beyond. In 2001, he was awarded tutions — will help. I think efforts to shore up the housing market will of hiring, is down. More people are losing jobs, and we’ve got less the USD Parents Association Award of Excellence after being nominated help as well. We’re seeing some signs that at least sales will start to hiring. So that’s caused the unemployment rate to hit 8.8 percent in that time, Dean Parker was always one to avoid. It wasn’t by one of his students and was voted “Professor of the Year” by USD pick up. Housing is what got us into this problem in the first place, so February in San Diego County, and it could easily hit 10 percent by until I returned in 1967 after a brief military tour of Asian graduate students for the 2002-2003 academic year. if you can get some stability there, that will help the financial institu- the time this is over. I don’t think it will go much higher than that, USD Magazine recently asked him questions about his take on the tions and everybody should benefit from that. but still it’s pretty bad. soils that I realized what a good friend he was. I finished state of the economy. my degree requirements in 1968 with Dean Parker’s guid- WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THE STIMULUS PACKAGE TO DO TO WHERE ARE WE HEADED THIS SUMMER? Things should pick up WHAT IS THE INDEX OF LEADING ECONOMIC INDICA- JUMP-START THE ECONOMY? All aspects of the stimulus pack- because of our tourism. That’s going to be an important aspect this ance through the mire of veterans’ benefits. TORS? It’s a monthly report on the local economy that’s mod- age are important: spending on infrastructure to directly create jobs, year because of the tough economic shape we are in. What’s that I personally experienced much of the growth and develop- eled after the national Index of Leading Economic Indicators. It’s called getting money into people’s hands through tax cuts and increased going to mean for San Diego tourism? Are we going to get less peo- ‘leading’ because it’s supposed to change ahead of the economy. So payments to the poor and unemployed so they can spend it, and ple coming from out of town or is that going to be counterbalanced ment that was taking place at USD. Prior to even attending if you see this thing turning downward, that’s going to signal that the relief to the states so they won’t have to lay off as many people due by people staying in San Diego and going to the zoo instead of taking “ the university, I worked on the grounds crew digging, plant- economy is going to turn downward in a certain number of months. to budget problems. a big trip elsewhere? I think you’ll see continued activity in housing. Sales have already ing and digging some more. As a student, I worked in the DID THE INDEX PREDICT THE DOWNTURN? I think it did. It’s been WILL THE STIMULUS ‘TRICKLE DOWN’ TO THE AVERAGE gone up; that’s because there are so many homes that have been kitchen, and upon my return I worked as one of the first down for 34 out of the last 35 months. It might have signaled early CONSUMER? Most consumers should get something, such as lower foreclosed on. There are a lot of bargains out there. So some people that something bad was happening in terms of the local economy. taxes. The major benefit will be that the stimulus package may end are starting to nibble. Interest rates are at historic lows. It’s a good student security patrol guards … but I digress. But in particular, it’s accelerated on the downward side in the last five up saving their jobs. combination to buy a home: prices have come down significantly, The real purpose of this letter was to tell you about the months. And that gave us a slight projection that the job situation has and interest rates are at record lows. The combination has pushed the just deteriorated severely. HOW DOES THE NATIONAL ECONOMY AFFECT THE LOCAL region’s affordability index to a record high, meaning a greater pro- picture postcard that I recently came across (above). It is ECONOMIC PICTURE? In San Diego, we’re becoming more connect- portion of local households can now afford to buy a home than has of The Immaculata somewhere in the late ‘50s to early ‘60s. WHAT DOES THE INDEX SAY ABOUT THE CURRENT ECONOMIC ed to the national economy than we were, say, in the early 1990s ever been the case. I see the housing market possibly bottoming out SITUATION? It’s saying that there’s no upturn in sight right now. The or even before. So if the national economy is doing well, that means at the end of the year, although I don’t expect it to rise until 2010 at (The white car alongside the chapel appears to be a 1957 last five months have been the five biggest drops ever that we’ve had that San Diego companies are selling more products because now the earliest. Plymouth.) Obviously, at the time there were no trees or in the index, including the biggest drop ever in February. It’s stunning we deal in more products sold nationwide. Also, our tourism indus- how fast things have deteriorated. That’s the surprising thing to me. try benefits as well. San Diego is more of a destination when people WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR BOTH THE LOCAL AND other plantings and Alcalá Park was a wide-open roadway. are doing well. NATIONAL ECONOMY? I think the national economy will reach a My first inclination was to test the eBay waters for a buyer. HOW MUCH WORSE DO YOU THINK THINGS ARE LIKELY TO bottom in the latter part of this year. The rebound from the bottom is GET? I don’t think things can get much worse, but they are likely to WHAT COMPONENTS ARE YOU PAYING PARTICULAR ATTEN- expected to be weak and may take a while to manifest itself. Job loss- Then the memories of my ethics classes kicked in, and I felt remain bad for a while. TION TO? Right now, there are four components that have been es and a high unemployment rate are likely to last through the end of that the postcard should be part of the 60th anniversary display. particularly troublesome. We’ll start off with building permits. Basi- this year. Retail sales will likely remain weak, but home sales are expect- CAN THE BLAME FOR THE ECONOMIC CRISIS BE LAID AT ANY cally, construction activity has just dried up. We’ve had the two worst ed to continue at a relatively high level. All of this is the expected out- I am going to be in San Diego the last week of May and ONE INDUSTRY OR GROUP? I think there is a lot of blame to go months ever in terms of the number of residential units authorized look for San Diego too. I usually don’t do long-run projections, but would greatly want to see the university and all its changes. around, but I think most of it has to go on the financial institutions by building permits in San Diego County. We had 87 in January and I would expect San Diego to rebound nicely and move back to that made the bad mortgage loans to people who should not have 80 in February. Just as a contrast, during the peak of the building a position where it is outperforming the national economy. I look forward to reading about USD; the magazine is always gotten the loans. Also, some of the blame belongs to the other finan- boom in the 1980s, we at one point in one month had 5,000 units well-done and informative. cial institutions that purchased these loans and created exotic finan- authorized. Even recently, we’ve been more in the range of 1,200 to Find current and archived USD Index of Leading Economic Indicators cial instruments with them. 1,500 as an average. Now we’ve had less than 100 for two months reports at www.sandiego.edu/~agin/usdlei. ” — Thomas C. Ragan ‘68

8 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 9 Children from the orphanage years: “I can support myself [advise] AROUND THE PARK Hogar Infantil were the focus of and my family, and I don’t need a recent trip to Tijuana. USD stu- any help from anybody else.” GIFTS dents cleared weeds from a play- The last few months have chal- AT WORK ground and interacted with the lenged that notion in a pro- LEGAL EAGLES children, including taking time out found way. Clinics provide safety net for public [silver lining] for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. ­­­­ As people confront situations The Hilton Foundation recent- such as job loss and the accompa- by Kelly Knufken ly delivered a check for $1 million nying fear and shame that can be avigating the legal sys- tation helps clients be taken in fulfillment of a challenge grant part of their struggle, he advises tem can leave anyone more seriously. made at the beginning of the campaign for the construction them not to be afraid to lean on feeling helpless, and the “We provide the same service N of Mother Rosalie Hill Hall. In FINDING COMFORT others. “Let them lift us up when financial crisis is leaving more that somebody charging $350 an order to receive the funds, the For some, economic crisis prompts spiritual reawakening we can’t do it ourselves.” and more people in need of hour provides,” Dalton says. “We university was obligated to raise Another opportunity is a re- whatever help they can get. truly do. We’re a law office here.” $15 million for the building from newed appreciation for simple The USD School of Law’s Legal The office’s location in USD’s Bar- other sources, a goal that was living: turning away from mate- Clinics step in to assist those celona building on Linda Vista Ave- recently reached. The challenge rialism toward an appreciation most in need, helping them deal nue provides not only a large suite was instrumental in attracting additional funding for the SOLES of life’s other gifts, such as faith, with everything from landlord of offices, but also easy access for cli- building, which has quickly family, friends and the beauty disputes to small claims filings. ents who use public transportation. become an integral part of the of nature. Quinn says that eco- Tough economic times are “Our priority is training law campus. The university is grate- nomic challenges can be “an prompting more people to go students in the ethical practice of ful to the many foundations, invitation to a different way of after small amounts of money law,” Dalton says. “The wonderful individuals, corporations, trust- looking at life that is paradoxi- they’re owed through small side effect is that we have our ees, alumni, friends, faculty and cally a gift.” claims court, says Margaret own law office, and we are able staff who helped make the new building a reality. Cultivating a sense of grati- Dalton, administrative director to provide free legal services to tude for one’s blessings and a of the Legal Clinics. And layoffs lower-income San Diegans.” David Shirk, director of the willingness to help others can are prompting many to find their Each semester, some 50 upper- Trans-Border Institute, was also help people get through passion and open a business, division law students become awarded a $300,000 grant from difficult moments. It’s some- driving traffic to the Entrepren- interns to the clinics, picking one the William and Flora Hewlett thing that Lovette-Colyer says eurship Clinic. of eight individual clinics: civil, Foundation. The two-year award he’s continued to see in the With housing issues at the core entrepreneurship, immigration, will allow the institute to continue its international collaborations USD community even as the of the current financial calamity, California and federal income with entities south of the border. recession has worsened. USD’s Landlord-Tenant Clinic is tax, landlord-tenant, small claims Additionally, the grant will gener- For example, he says he also seeing high demand. and special education. They’re ate new research to promote the might not have been surprised “We’ve definitely seen an influx supervised by attorneys at every successful implementation of to see less interest in University of tenant issues,” Dalton says. step, providing what Dalton calls justice reforms in Mexico. Ministry’s “Spring Break Exper- That influx prompted creating a a safety net they may not have ience” to travel to Tijuana and new Landlord-Tenant Clinic as an at a big law firm. School of Law faculty member Frank Partnoy has been appointed engage in service for the less offshoot of the Civil Clinic it used And there are other benefits to to the newly created George E. fortunate, especially since stu- to be part of. the system. Barrett Professorship in Law and dents get no academic credit for With rising foreclosures came “We’re training compassionate Finance. The professorship honors it and have to pay to participate. unexpected problems for renters, lawyers. A lot of our students come Nashville, Tenn., attorney George

MICHAEL LOVETTE-COLYER “But the demand was stronger such as being the last to know their back and they provide pro bono E. Barrett, senior partner at Barrett, by Liz Harman than ever,” with 22 students housing situation is changing. services, and they bring it into their Johnston & Parsley. Beginning in lummeting stock prices cate in us a trust, even in dark Sister Barbara Quinn, RSCJ But while some are worried and signing up for the experience, “It changes all the rules. (Rent- firm’s culture,” Betancourt says. the late 1950s, Barrett was an ad- vocate for those facing legal diffi- and shrinking 401(k) moments,” says University and director of the Center for anxious, others keep a sense he says. During the trip, stu- ers) don’t get notice. They don’t And the legal system is well- culties because of their involve- Paccounts. Rising layoffs Ministry Director Michael Christian Spirituality, recently of perspective. While they may dents did a lot of thinking and know the house is being fore- served when people who might ment in the civil rights movement. and home foreclosures. These Lovette-Colyer. In recent gave a speech at St. Mary’s have lost money or property, talking about the declining closed. The landlord is still col- otherwise represent themselves Established through a gift from an days, just keeping up with news months, he’s met with students College in Indiana titled, “The they understand that “it’s not a economy and its even more lecting rent, then they get a instead have lawyers who can anonymous donor, the professor- about the economy can make whose families are facing a job Hidden Face of Hope.” She says life that was taken from us.” severe impact on developing 60-day notice,” says Jesi Betan- keep cases moving better than ship recognizes an outstanding people feel worried and stressed. loss or other financial difficul- crises are an opportunity to re- If there is a silver lining, it’s countries like Mexico. court, the clinics’ paralegal. “Try- someone who doesn’t under- USD law faculty member with a But USD spiritual leaders say ties. “It’s about trusting — even examine one’s faith and come that during times of prosperity, And given the economic cli- ing to take the landlord — who’s stand the law or the system. demonstrated interest in protect- ing investors, consumers, workers faith can be a great comfort when we don’t know what’s on to a “deeper understanding of people often lose sight of the mate, their reflections had even now gone — to small claims is The financial crisis is keeping the or others from fraud or other during troubled times and that the other side.” what life and God are all about.” importance of community and deeper resonance than usual: just impossible.” Legal Clinics and its interns busy. abuses of power. Partnoy is a there may even be some hidden But tough times can also chal- Quinn senses “a sobriety and trust in God and one’s fellow “They were very much open to Impossible or not, the Legal “There is no dearth of low-income nationally recognized scholar and gifts in them as well. lenge one’s faith and lead to a heaviness” among people man, says Lovette-Colyer. He thinking about the problems we Clinics can offer clients a leg up clients,” Dalton says. “The phones are expert on topics related to financial “A healthy spirituality and a hard questions like, “Where is these days as they reflect on sees a “cultural myth” that are facing in a holistic way, not against well-funded landlords or ringing off the hook, even during market regulation. robust faith life should incul- God in all of this?” their economic circumstances. has been built up in recent in a self-interested way.” other foes. Just having represen- what used to be the quiet days.”

10 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 11 Shirk’s work with the Trans-Border AROUND THE PARK Institute, go to www.sandiego. [etc.] edu/tbi. Pope Benedict XVI recently USD’s 50,000th graduate named Bishop Salvatore Joseph [alleviate] will collect her diploma this May. Cordileone, auxiliary bishop of The Alumni Association held a San Diego, to be the bishop of contest for graduating seniors to the Diocese of Oakland. A 1978 AT YOUR SERVICE compete for the title of the “hon- alumnus of the University of San orary 50,000th alumnus” to com- Diego, Cordileone will be resign- USD provides options galore memorate this milestone. One of ing as representative of the Dio- for those who need assistance the application questions was cese of San Diego on USD’s “What will you treasure most board of trustees, a post which by Ryan T. Blystone about your USD experience?” he has held since 2006. he signs are everywhere. business advice, networking Winner Amanda Rausch, a psy- Stores that once displayed opportunities and more. chology major and English minor, USD’s undergraduate T their name in lights are “We’re providing resource wrote, “I can truly say that USD business programs have been now dark and deserted. The manpower in a lot of places and has given me the best four years ranked in the top three in Califor- stock market careens up and the university, as a whole, is of my life. I will never forget the nia by BusinessWeek magazine. down on a daily basis. The unem- doing that,” says Elaine Elliott, first day I moved into Maher Hall, The School of Business Adminis- ployment rate in California is at a director of the Center for Com- kissed my parents good-bye, and tration, which has ranked in the staggering level. Home foreclo- munity Service-Learning. A sat on the balcony with my new top 50 for three years in a row, sures are increasingly common. number of on-campus organiza- roommates watching the sun set rose 18 spots this year to No. 29, It seems like one piece of bad tions offer spiritual assistance, over Mission Bay and the ocean.” the largest jump on the maga- news after another: Times are opportunities to work with area Rausch has made the most of her zine’s list. The rise was due in part tough and getting tougher. community organizations and a college years; in addition to main- to its ranking of 11th in corporate But tough times can bring out place for the campus communi- taining a strong GPA, she served recruiter satisfaction with stu- the best in people. Take Gregory ty to come together. as a tour guide for Undergraduate dents. And for the second year in Pogue, USD’s director of human Students with more immedi- Admissions, worked as a peer a row, USD students gave faculty resources. While he and his staff ate needs can head to the adviser and counselor for the an A+ for their teaching efforts. work diligently on behalf of the Career Services office, which Office of Student Learning and Ini- The magazine lauded the school’s university’s 1,670 benefits-based aims to help them prepare for tiatives, was elected vice presi- “strong focus on accounting, employees, Pogue doesn’t hesi- the unstable job market with job dent of chapter relations for her where jobs are still plentiful” and tate to reach out beyond Alcalá fairs, résumé writing and inter- sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, and called it a close-knit program Park’s boundaries. viewing tips. The office has also much, much more. In fact, Rausch (that) helps students feel at Pogue saw a Sunday newspa- organized events for alumni says, “I am so dedicated to the uni- home,” adding that improved per photo that showed a woman who need career assistance. versity that I have decided not to recruiting efforts are starting to wearing a sandwich board in Those pondering a return to leave, due to my recent accep- pay off. For more about the downtown San Diego, telling the classroom so they’re armed tance into the Marriage and Family School of Business, go to www. anyone who’d pay attention that and ready when the economic Therapy Graduate Program.” sandiego.edu/business. she lost her job and was looking situation improves will find a for work. “When I came in to wealth of options on campus. Violence in Mexico related to The first annual USD Wine work on Monday, I said ‘Let’s find “We have great educational drug trafficking was the topic on Classic will be held on July 26 her and invite her here.’” The programs for people who decide Capitol Hill in late March; that’s at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for woman appreciated the gesture this is the time to seek an addi- when USD professor David Shirk Peace & Justice Garden of the

and made good use of the uni- tional degree or to retrain them- RUGGIERI ALBERTO testified before the House Appro- Sea. Featuring wines from USD versity’s employment resources. selves,” Provost Julie Sullivan says. priations Subcommittee on Com- family vintners, the event bene- “She was so appreciative. Those “If you’re thinking about going and managing cases, drafting doc- best decisions she’s ever made. (MEPN), which is specifically programming, and some of this is merce, Justice, Science and Relat- fits the Alumni Endowed Schol- are the kinds of things we do back to school for whatever it uments, interviewing clients and “It really helped me with my designed for students who a result of the economic down- ed Agencies. While Trans-Border arship Fund. Participating winer- because of who we are and our might be, we have the breadth preparing trial exhibits. research and writing abilities,” already have a college degree in turn,” Sullivan says. “The economic Institute director Shirk disagreed ies include Clos La Chance, Villa sense of community,” Pogue says. of programs here to satisfy that.” Wendy Agostinelli, a certified Agostinelli says. “I love the program another subject but want to pur- stimulus package is very focused with statements by Rep. John Cul- Creek Cellars, Husch Vineyards The urge to jump in and help One popular option is USD’s paralegal and legal fees auditor in there. It was nice going to a smaller sue a nursing career. on clean technology, green indus- berson (R-Texas) that Mexico was and many others. Along with isn’t new at a values-based insti- Paralegal Program, the oldest San Marcos, went through the university that still has all the The university is also trying to tries. We have new programs, cen- more dangerous than Iraq, he did wine tents, attendees can enjoy tution like USD. In fact, many of American Bar Association- accelerated day program — which resources and is very connected.” keep pace as advances in technol- ters, institutes and majors dealing stress the need for the United a string quartet and gourmet our schools have centers and approved program in San Diego. takes just over three months to The Hahn School of Nursing ogy and sustainability awareness with preparing students to be States to redouble its efforts to food stations. For more, go to institutes devoted to assisting Taught by practicing attorneys, complete — in 1989. Twenty years and Health Science offers the spawn new career opportunities. leaders in that clean tech sector of address the southbound flow of www.usdwineclassic.com or people on- and off-campus with students learn about researching later, she says it’s one of the Master’s Entry Program in Nursing “We’re certainly expanding our the economy.” weapons and cash. For more on call (619) 260-4819.

12 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 13 [legendary] TORERO ATHLETICS Pitcher A.J. Griffin earned a spot last summer on the USA Baseball National Team, which BASKETBALL HERO allowed the junior All-American Bickerstaff receives WCC Honor to represent his country on [goal-driven] an international stage. by Ryan T. Blystone ernie Bickerstaff has a staff served as an assistant and wife, five children and six ultimately replaced as head Bgrandchildren. But his coach. He was a senior captain devotion to basketball is fervent and most valuable player in READY TO PLAY enough to make the sport an 1966, leading the Toreros in Toreros pitcher has high hopes of making it to the big leagues honorary member of the family. rebounding that season. As The 1968 University of San USD’s coach, Bickerstaff posted different cultures live, and it NCAA tournament three Diego graduate — a Toreros a 55-49 record, capped by a 19-9 was great to see how different straight years and five of the point guard from 1964 to 1966 record in 1972-73. parts of the world play base- last seven. The Toreros entered and head coach from 1969 to He’s been an NBA head coach ball,” he says. “The Japanese, the 2009 season as West Coast 1973 — maintains his passion for with Seattle, Denver and Wash- South Korean and Chinese Conference champions. the game by working as an assis- ington, and has 415 victories Taipei teams were all very “We’re always going to have tant coach with the Chicago Bulls. under his belt. In 2004, Bicker- disciplined.” good teams here,” Griffin says. He helped first-year head coach staff was hired as the first coach SCOTT Griffin, a business major who “We have good depth, and we Vinny Del Negro and the team and general manager of the

speaks fluent Spanish, took enjoy playing together. We’re earn an Eastern Conference expansion Charlotte Bobcats. He BROCK advantage of the opportunity to all buddies here with the playoff spot. Bickerstaff’s new was inducted into USD’s Chet [farewell] interact with the Cuban players. same goal.” position is yet another chapter and Marguerite Pagni Family “We know so little about the Griffin’s summer experience in his 35-year affiliation with Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994. Cubans because of the embar- following his freshman and the NBA. “Bernie Bickerstaff represents go on Cuba. It was interesting sophomore years at USD has But Bickerstaff hasn’t forgot- the best of our student-athletes, to talk to them,” he says. “They propelled him into his junior ten his college roots. He was coaches and alumni of the Uni- REST IN PEACE asked me questions about liv- year as a candidate for the recently selected as USD’s repre- versity of San Diego athletics,” Men’s tennis coach passes away ing in America, but mostly it Golden Spikes Award, present- sentative for the inaugural class says Ky Snyder, USD’s executive was small talk.” ed to college baseball’s top of the West Coast Conference’s director of athletics. “As a stu- hen we got the diagno- “The highs initially were so The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Grif- player by USA Baseball. Hall of Honor, and was inducted dent-athlete he was a leader sis, everything stopped,” simple,” he said. “Like just driving fin played the role of closer, just As a sophomore, his 14 saves during March’s WCC Men’s Bas- and top achiever. As a coach, WTom Hagedorn said in the car with the windows down, as he has done for the Toreros set a single-season school ketball Tournament in Las Vegas. he elevated our program. As an interview a few months ago. listening to Dave Matthews. It since 2007. As a sophomore, he record; his combined 25 saves The Toreros were an NCAA Divi- an alumnus he has supported “It’s like somebody presses a but- was so simple yet so euphoric. was named a third-team All- as a freshman and sophomore sion II program when Bickerstaff his alma mater and has con- ton and your entire life is put on Even those little things felt so American by Louisville Slugger. established a career record that played and were coached by nected other alumni to their hold. Whatever’s happening with unbelievable to me.” Over the past He also was first-team All-West he’s adding to as a junior. Phil Woolpert, for whom Bicker- careers in the NBA.” your Blackberry suddenly doesn’t year, Hagedorn dedicated himself Coast Conference pick on the Although the team has been seem quite so important.” to the cause of fighting leukemia. team chosen by WCC coaches. slowed by injuries in 2009, Grif- Sadly, after fighting a valiant In October 2008, he walked with Although Griffin’s talent fin has helped the Toreros 18-month battle with leukemia, family, friends and more than earned the roster spot at USA remain in the hunt for a third Hagedorn passed away on March 150 USD athletes, coaches and Baseball tryouts in North Caroli- straight WCC title and a fourth 21, 2009. staff in a “Light the Night” event na, the reputation of USD’s consecutive NCAA trip. Head coach of the USD men’s to raise money for the Leukemia & baseball program under 11th- Hill has used Griffin as a start- tennis team for 12 years, he had Lymphoma Society. year head coach Rich Hill er and in longer stints as a been focused on getting his Tore- A “Celebration of Life” gather- contributed to a number of reliever, which helps showcase ros back to the NCAA Tourna- ing to honor him was held for

BROCK SCOTT BROCK opportunities. him before scouts; Griffin will be ment after a streak of four all who knew him at Eagan by Tom Shanahan In fact, USD’s success under eligible this year for the amateur straight appearances — and 10 Plaza in front of the Jenny Craig unior All-American base- Griffin earned a roster spot on Hill is what attracted Griffin to draft in June. According to Hill, straight winning seasons — had Pavilion on March 25. ball pitcher A.J. Griffin the USA Baseball National Team Alcalá Park when he was the Griffin is projected as a third- to ended in 2006. He needed plenty Jdidn’t earn credits through that played games throughout Player of the Year for the Califor- 10th-round draft pick. of stamina for the grueling round The Hagedorn family asks that one of USD’s many study abroad Europe and won the gold med- nia Interscholastic Federation “It’s been my goal since I was a of treatments he underwent, but those who’d like to honor Tom’s programs, but his overseas al in the 2008 FISU World Base- San Diego Section as a senior kid to play in the major leagues,” said that getting through the memory with a gift make a dona- studies last summer were easily ball Championships in the at Grossmont High in 2006. Griffin says. “I don’t plan on giving hardships also corresponded tion to the Leukemia & Lymphoma as valuable to him as his class- Czech Republic. In addition to annual national up on that goal. Baseball is the with a renewed appreciation for Society of San Diego or to the USD

mates’ varied experiences. “It was interesting to see how rankings, USD has been to the best game in the world to me.” HOSKINS RON life’s little pleasures. Athletics Department.

14 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 15 Terry Whitcomb ’53 still itself last year at a Sigma Pi ALUMNI UPDATE appreciates the vision and reunion party, where McNamee spirit of Mother Hill, who met fellow USD alumni Michael arrived on a dusty San Diego O’Connell ‘87 and Julie (Belfiore) hilltop 60 years ago bearing O’Connell ‘88. The O’Connells a Baccarat chandelier. had lost their son, Kyle, to brain [aesthetics] stem cancer when he was just 9 years old, and had created the Kyle O’Connell Memorial Schol- arship at USD in his honor. Inspired by Kyle’s story and the BEAUTIFUL BY DESIGN opportunity to give back to USD, USD’s harmonious campus style didn’t happen by accident McNamee, 41, decided to run in the America’s Finest City half- by Trisha J. Ratledge marathon in August to raise erry Whitcomb ’53 didn’t Whitcomb’s concern went well as Gothic, Moorish, Iberian where she established Founders funds for the scholarship, which need another title. She was beyond aesthetics. A member and Italian influences, which all Gallery in 1975 and started a class benefits students enrolled in Talready quite busy teaching of the first senior class at USD, merged into a distinctive style in exhibition design. Each year, her the healing arts. four classes and chairing USD’s Art she knew Mother Rosalie Hill, that spoke volumes. students developed and installed Now a resident of Orange Department in the early 1970s. But who carefully chose USD’s mas- “She said that’s what a university five shows with a total annual bud- County, McNamee is also trying she just couldn’t get past the incon- ter design. The 16th century should be: diverse ideas that come get of just $1,000. They needed to to maximize the impact he has gruity of wicker lounge furniture on Spanish Renaissance architec- together and result in something be inventive, mixing leftover paint, on society from a career stand- the Spanish Renaissance campus. ture reflected Catholicism as that is stronger than any of its orig- recycling materials and straighten- point. As the founder of Efficien- inal elements,” Whitcomb recalls. ing and reusing nails. cy Capital Partners, a private Until the 1970s, however, that One year, Whitcomb offered her equity investment management

philosophy ended at the door- students’ research skills to the San RUGGIERI ALBERTO company, he oversees invest- steps of the buildings. Inside, Diego Museum of Art in exchange ment funds focused on clean [perspective] the furnishings represented for the opportunity to exhibit technology, primarily water and many design periods and impressionist Childe Hassam’s art energy efficiency. This marks a ranged widely in quality. Whit- at Founders Gallery. transition from past job experi- comb met with Art Hughes, the “That had a profound effect on ence, which has included forays new president, and explained me,” recalls former student Bob SAVING GRACE into everything from sports mar- how a cohesive style for the O’Connell ’82, an art expert in the When bad news came, the comfort provided by family keting to high tech. interior spaces would be eco- insurance industry and owner of and friends gave Dan McNamee the strength he needed McNamee says his new career nomical and practical. Soon, she Chicago’s Architrouve art gallery. “I path is a direct result of his bat- had an additional title and a file got to do the research, I was pub- by Tiffany Fox tle with cancer (which provided cabinet that served as her new lished in a catalog and then they omewhere along the father had been diagnosed with “But chemo snapped me in half. him, he says, with “a lot of time office for institutional design. had the exhibition at Founders. It treacherous path between lung cancer. He died eight I was on an I.V. six hours a day, to sit and reflect,”) and repre- “Dr. Hughes is the reason (the deeply influenced what I do today.” Scrisis and catastrophe, months later, leaving McNamee five days a week. It was like sents the new perspective he campus design) is consistent and Another former student, Mary there’s a fork in the road that with little means to afford his someone taking a vacuum and has on life and the value of giv- beautiful. He made it a part of Whelan ’86, understands Whit- leads to opportunity. Dan Mc- tuition. He appealed to the uni- sucking all of the energy out of ing back. the master plan.” comb’s work like no other. She is Namee has a knack for finding versity’s financial aid office, my body.” “Being rendered helpless and As public spaces began to USD’s current director for institu- those hidden junctures, even which revised his financial aid McNamee, married 10 years being on the receiving end of so require renovation, Whitcomb tional design. when all signs point the way package so he could finish and the father of two, says the much generosity is a very hum- applied a master color palette ­— “It’s a privilege,” says Whelan. to disaster. school and later embark on comfort of family and friends — bling experience,” he says. “Now drawn from the university’s “I’m carrying on a tradition that’s “I believe in the human ability a successful career. including several USD alumni — I’m really just trying to be pres- antique tapestries — to the floors, very needed for this campus.” to innovate and overcome,” says But in June of 2008, McNamee carried him through the ordeal. ent for whatever time is left. This walls, ceilings and finishes. Furni- Back on campus occasionally, McNamee ‘89 (J.D. ‘94). “When found out that he, too, had can- “They brought meals, made experience has really brought ture and other decorative arts fol- Whitcomb still appreciates the my father died of cancer I cer. Although the tumor hadn’t phone calls, sent cards, watched home how fragile and short life lowed the straight lines and style vision and able spirit of Mother learned a lot about death. spread, it was serious enough to our kids, sent e-mails and text is, and that we all really need to of the Spanish Renaissance era. Hill, who arrived on a dusty hill- “My own experience with require immediate surgery and messages, gave rides, visited, give back to all of the communi- The master style eased decision- top in San Diego 60 years ago cancer has taught me a lot three months of chemotherapy and said lots of prayers,” he says. ties of which we are a part.” making, reduced costs, and ensur- bearing a Baccarat chandelier. about life — how I want to live — an experience that McNamee “It was the kindness of other ed that furniture and other decora- “The students get the finest and what I want to do with the says broke him “physically, men- people that inspired me during Follow Dan McNamee’s efforts tive pieces could move anywhere teachers. They have the best rest of my life.” tally and emotionally.” treatment to want to do some- to raise money to support USD on campus. books. They should have the In the mid 1980s, during finals “I went into it a little naive, thing to give back when I was scholarships by visiting www. Whitcomb used similar ingenu- best decorative arts around week of his first semester at thinking ‘a little bit of cancer, a healthy again.” sandiego.edu/alumni/

MARSHALL WILLIAMS ity within the Art Department, them,” Whitcomb says. USD, McNamee learned that his little bit of chemo,’” he recalls. The opportunity presented danmcnamee.

16 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 17 [spinning wheels] VIEW VIEW

OF SOLVING THE PUZZLE When Christopher Yanov won big, he didn’t just buy a vowel

ust a few weeks before I was 10 minutes away from campus. ment of Finance) or participation to start a master’s program at As a regular substitute at a near- in Reality Changers. JUSD, I attempted to get on by middle school, it was hard to It was an easy decision for Edu- the TV game show Wheel of For- imagine that the smart seventh- ardo, but facing new academic VIEW POINT VIEW

tune at tryouts in San Diego. I failed and eighth-graders that I was rigor was not. Nonetheless, he to make the cut both times. During teaching every day could soon was up for the challenge. Within

OF my subsequent two-hour drive to become the next wave of hard- a month, his GPA had doubled to

Los Angeles, I muttered to myself: ened gang members. 3.8. By the following summer, he How could I forgo a day’s salary The concept was simple enough: enrolled in a college-level mechan- as a substitute teacher to try out Provide a weekly tutoring pro- ical engineering course. Three VIEW again? Why did I expect the results gram for teens that lived in San weeks after that, flanked by some

to be any different this time? Diego neighborhoods where of the nation’s most intelligent Once I got to the L.A. tryout, attending a friend’s funeral was young people, this teenager from the now-familiar contestant more commonplace than attend- the roughest part of town won the VIEW POINT VIEW

search team greeted me. By this ing a school dance. Offer the stu- top two design prizes in the class point, I knew each of them by dents incentives to encourage for building the strongest bridge OF

name, and in retrospect, I think it them to raise their grades. Get and creating a contraption that was my familiarity with the trio — them on the road to becoming could drop an egg without break- “Good to see you again, Gary!” the first in their families to attend ing it from three stories high.

OF “Thanks, Shannon!” “Land me on college. Their biggest motivation Today, Eduardo is a year away some big money, Jackie!” — that for earning A’s and B’s became from finishing high school. The led them to believe that I could $3,500 scholarships that we offer- criminal charges against him be just as comfortable under the ed that allowed the program’s were dropped; he’s maintained menacing eyes of TV cameras as I best students to attend college his honor-roll GPA and returned VIEW POINT VIEW was on this third go-round. residential programs over the to college last summer to take Ten days later, I was a bona fide summer, earning real university- another science course. His pants OF

contestant. Thirty minutes after I’d level credit. Suddenly, achieving fit a little tighter these days and taken the stage, I walked away with collegiate success became palpa- he’s grown his hair out. Better nearly twice as much money as I’d ble for these 15-year-olds. yet, his once-hidden smile now earned over an entire year’s worth In 2005, Reality Changers’ first flashes incessantly. of substitute teaching. Thanks class of graduates earned over It took me three studio tryouts largely to the four R’s in the puzzle $1 million in scholarships, includ- to learn how to become a good “British Prime Minister Tony Blair” ing full rides to Harvard, Dart- contestant on Wheel of Fortune. By

VIEW POINT VIEW (that I called for $3,500 apiece), my mouth, Virginia, Northwestern and the time Eduardo graduates from life was changed. Pat and Vanna’s many others. I’d call that a pretty high school, he will have had three

OF contribution to my USD education good return on my original Wheel summer tryouts to learn how to fund allowed me to devote all of of Fortune investment. become a successful college stu- my non-studying time to volunteer- Perhaps our program’s biggest dent. Just as I became more com- POIN T ing as the director of Reality Chang- story arrived a year later, in the fortable with Gary, Shannon and ers, a program dedicated to build- form of Eduardo Corona, who epit- Jackie, I’m pretty sure that Eduardo ing first-generation college stu- omized every gang member ste- will become just as assured when dents from among San Diego’s reotype: shaved-bald head, crisp communicating with his future col- toughest neighborhoods. white T-shirt, baggy blue jeans and lege professors.

VIEW POINT VIEW I’d started Reality Changers with a permanent scowl. At age 14,

just $300 and four eighth-graders Eduardo had been charged with Christopher Yanov ’03 was the first

OF in May 2001 after fruitlessly work- three felonies. The judge gave him USD student to graduate with mas-

ing with gang members for five a choice: up to six years of incar- ter’s degrees in both peace & justice years. The shootings and killings ceration (which would cost taxpay- and international relations. To learn were beginning to multiply; I’d ers upwards of $200,000 per year, more about Reality Changers, go to BARBARA FERGUSON BARBARA

POINT even gotten stabbed myself about according to California’s Depart- www.realitychangers.org.

18 USD MAGAZINE THEActor’s life suits breakout TV star Jim Parsons just fine. by Julene Snyder

photography by Stuart Pettican

Down the stairs, single-file, through a long, nondescript hallway, he takes us past one metal door after another after another until one finally opens to the inky concrete night. Familiar faces look up briefly, and then resume their private murmur. Goodbyes are said, directions Hi Diddle Dee Dee are given, then Jim Parsons turns back to his colleagues and takes his place among them.

SUMMER 2009 21 The MFA in dramatic arts program nationally recruits just seven stu- dents each year for its two-year course of graduate study in classical It’s a lot easier getting off of the Warner theater. At the centerpiece of the training is students’ performance work at the Globe. By all accounts, for the lucky few who get in, it’s an Bros. lot than it was to get onto it. What with the intense couple of years. Globe/MFA program director Rick Seer says at first, the staff wasn’t lists, the security, the bag searches, the being sure about accepting Parsons as one of that year’s lucky few. “We had some considerations about bringing him into the program,” he recalls. handed off every 100 feet from one blue blazer- “Jim is a very specific personality. He’s thoroughly original, which is one reason he’s been so successful. But we worried, ‘Does that adapt itself clad page to the next like batons in a relay race, to classical theater, does that adapt itself to the kind of training that we’re doing?’ But we decided that he was so talented that we would becoming part of a “Live! Studio! Audience!” was give him a try and see how it worked out.“ Parsons says he uses his grad-school training all the time. When more rigorous than seems reasonable. asked to provide an example, he’s quick to answer: “With breath con- trol, there’s a way of being ‘on top of the text,’ as they used to say in Shakespeare. It’s very similar for me in this show, staying on top of it, because it will eat you alive otherwise. Sheldon doesn’t make brush-off comments; I certainly couldn’t improvise them. There’s no faking my Still walking. The soundstages look like enormous Quonset huts, way through it if I get confused or lost.” except for the ones that are painted with trompe l’oeil to resemble That’s for sure. When Penny, the hot girl across the hall, says to Sheldon, monuments or piazzas or bowling alleys. “I’m a Sagittarius, which probably tells you way more than you need to At last, the car and just one final guard, one more gate to be opened, know.” He replies, “Yes, it tells us that you participate in the mass cultural then out into the real world, where the street wends past one walled delusion that the sun’s apparent position relative to arbitrarily defined con- complex after another after another, all designed to keep outsiders out stellations at the time of your birth somehow affects your personality.” and insiders in, so those behind the walls can keep on pumping out the And that’s one of his simpler speeches. flickering images that clamor for our oh-so-easily-bored attention. Parsons earned his B.A. in theater at the University of Houston, but Ahh. Show business. he caught the acting bug much earlier. “I got my first named role in the first grade. I was the Kolo-Kolo bird in The Elephant’s Child.” The role had a big effect on him: “I don’t know what I’d done to make somebody he Big Bang Theory is funny. Given that it’s a situation comedy, think that I was the right choice out of 50 students to play a solo part. Tthat’s a good thing. The premise is both familiar and absurd: a pair of There were no auditions. I think it was some sort of divine intervention, socially inept, brilliant physicist roommates live across the hall from a because looking back, it crystallized a lot of desires for me. I’ve known kooky gorgeous aspiring actress. Hijinks ensue. from roughly that age that that’s what I wanted to do.” He continued to do theater in high school; one role that stands out Leonard: We need to widen our circle. in his memory was the villain Roat, who terrorizes a blind woman, in Sheldon: I have a very wide circle. I have 212 friends on MySpace. Wait Until Dark. “I had so much fun playing that evil character. It was Leonard: Yes, and you’ve never met one of them. just a wonderful experience for me because I’ve never had the most Sheldon: That’s the beauty of it. nefarious look.” His laugh sounds suspiciously like a giggle. “As you might imagine, I’m not asked to play mean people or conniving peo- Jim Parsons, who earned his MFA through USD’s partnership with The ple very often.” Old Globe in 2001, plays the role of Sheldon, a character described as a His training as an undergraduate gave him a good foundation as an “beautiful mind with a neurotic but endearing personality.” He lives with actor. “I did set crew, I was exposed to every part of the theater: move- Leonard, portrayed by Johnny Galecki, who became well-known as a teen- ment, voice, running crew, everything. I did a ton of plays at that time; ager when he played Darlene’s long-term boyfriend David in Roseanne. it was a very ‘Say yes’ period of my life. I did The Infernal Bridegroom, Sheldon is the über-geek in his crowd, which is saying something. Beckett, Marat/Sade, Guys and Dolls, children’s theater, Sam Shepard, He’s a hilarious mass of often-insufferable neuroses, and Parsons’ rapid- Shakespeare. All of that helped me to really hone in and concentrate. fire delivery and gift for physical comedy jump off the screen whenever It prepared me to go, after a few years, to San Diego.” he’s in a scene. The show was conceived by TV veteran Chuck Lorre (Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men), and was recently picked up by CBS through 2011. C raft is something that the 36-year-old Parsons thinks about a lot, In conversation, the baby-faced Parsons is both like and unlike and his experiences in the master’s program still resonate. Sheldon. His voice tends to careen into a higher register when he’s excit- “The Shakespeare classes were three or four intensive plays in a row. ed, but he’s the first to admit he doesn’t share his character’s stratospher- It’s interesting to be that submerged. I learned more about Shakespeare ic IQ. He credits much of his success to the work he did at USD. than I ever had in my entire life, but I just felt more prepared in general,

22 USD MAGAZINE FALL 2005 23 as an actor, from it. To be fair, Shakespeare can do that anyway. I think Of course, audience members will expect Parsons to serve up at least you could just study Shakespeare and be absolutely prepared for many a few gold nuggets when he speaks at this year’s undergraduate com- facets of the acting profession.” mencement at USD on May 23. When asked what he’s planning to talk His former teacher says that Parsons’ most memorable role while he about, he pauses for a long beat, then smiles. was in the program was a star turn as Young Charlie in a production “Hopefully it will be wonderful.” Seer directed of Hugh Leonard’s Da. “It was during his second year, and it was a role that I had originated on Broadway 20 years earlier,” he recalls. “The play was very successful; it actually won the Tony. etting to this point in his career — stints on shows like Judging Jim played the part that I originated in New York.” G Amy and Ed, having a memorable part in the well-received indie Seer laughs. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy, playing the part that the director movie Garden State, a starring role on a hit network sitcom — took played, because I have a lot of ideas of how it should be done, and Jim stamina. Parsons doesn’t see his journey as resembling that of an over- and I are very different people. But in truth, I think he was much better night success. “I spent a couple of years getting little things here and than I was in it. He captured it beautifully, and it was not a part I would there,” he recalls. “Working little jobs, surviving on unemployment.” have thought he was dead-on for.” Three years went by, and then the big break came: Parsons got a pilot With so few students in each year’s MFA class, the bond that’s created for Fox. But then it didn’t get picked up. is thicker than glue. “It could be a little risky, to be there all day, every Not to worry: “It gave me enough money to live on for a little while. day, with seven people, but for us, it seemed to work,” says Parsons. Then I got another pilot.” “You feel very protective of the other people by the end of it. You want Now the big break, right? “That one didn’t get picked up. But it did them to do well.” lead to a little talent-holding deal with CBS.” That’s at least in part by design. When it came time for the class to Ah, finally, success! “That didn’t lead to anything specific. But once hold showcases in Los Angeles and New York — a ritual in which each again, it paid for another part of my life. Then, I was out here shooting a new graduate presents two scenes in front of agents and other industry very small part in a movie and I got another pilot, for The Big Bang Theory. insiders — the actors had to rely on one another. And we didn’t get picked up.” “It was done in a very smart way,” Parsons recalls. “You were asked Wait, this is the happy ending part, right? “Well, CBS liked it enough to bring in scenes for other people, which did a couple of things: that they thought it should be reworked. They thought it could be made For one, instead of just looking for things for yourself, you had six better, and I guess they were right. Johnny Galecki and me stayed on other people looking for scenes for you. Secondly, it’s so great to have board while different people were cast and it was reworked a little bit. somebody else’s eye, going, ‘No, no, no, no, no, do this. You do this Then it did get picked up.” really well.’” Interestingly, from Seer’s perspective, Parsons’ career has been on the But just putting on a show doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will care, or fast track. “I remember quite clearly that he was really the star of that (New even bother to show up. “The showcase we did in L.A. was very sparsely York) showcase, because he was so special. He just immediately started attended. But a week later, when it was time to go to New York, I think all working, in rather high-profile projects. His career took off very quickly.” of us completely packed up our stuff to move there after the showcase.” So why does Parsons recall that time of his life as being so much of a A gutsy move, but as the song says, if you can make it there, you’ll holding pattern? Seer laughs. “It probably felt like that, but in truth, seven make it anywhere. Of course, the risks were huge: “My thinking was that or eight years is a relatively short amount of time to go from waiting for I’d never done any camera work, so why would I go to L.A.? It made more the phone to ring to being very successful to being ‘a name,’” he says. sense to go where there was theater.” He shakes his head and laughs. Parsons moved from New York to Los Angeles for The Big Bang Theory, “And I did one play, ever, in New York.” and it turned out to be a good fit. “I’m very comfortable in L.A., because it The part wasn’t huge — he played a secondary role in the Manhattan reminds me of Houston. There’s a lot of driving, and it’s sprawled out, where- Ensemble Theater’s off-Broadway production of The Castle, an adaptation as New York is more condensed. For me, it’s just an easier way of life.” of a Kafka novel — but the opportunity was priceless. He’s fully aware of just how lucky he is. After all, there are just as “The good thing about that was that I got the part, literally, within a many starving actors on the West Coast as the East. “My vision is rosy, couple weeks of being there. While it wasn’t much money, it gave me a because I’ve only lived out here while I’ve been working. In New York real sense of working there as an actor.” And given the level of rejection I was unemployed a lot, just sitting around and waiting. But I’ve been most actors face, that experience helped him keep the faith. a pretty busy bee since I’ve lived out here, and I feel pretty comfortable “It’s so hard. It’s so discouraging. You have to really listen to the anywhere that I’m working.” voices that are telling you you’re doing a good job. Whether it’s teach- Even the endless driving isn’t really an issue, at least not anymore. ers or fellow students in an acting program telling you, or actually “Now that I have GPS — because I’m a fool, direction-wise — I can getting cast, or just having a good audition, you have got to listen.” get around. When I first started coming out here, like five years ago, He leans back, pensive. it wasn’t that common to have a GPS, and I was completely reliant on “You can’t kick yourself over not working. I have personally felt tre- maps. I would literally go seven miles in five hours if it was raining. But mendous about many, many, many auditions — and then I didn’t get now I have a handy satellite thing talking to me. Life is really a lot better.” the part. It had little to nothing to do with what I brought. You bring Speaking of the good life, at a taping of “The Vegas Renormal- who you are and what you do and that’s it. You can be worth a gold ization” episode, the studio audience is atwitter with excitement. mine to some people, but not to everybody.” They’re seated in rows of straight-backed chairs on tiered risers facing a

24 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 25 series of tall black, wheeled screens that hide the show’s set from view. full run of the show that afternoon, and then they rewrite some more. An enthusiastic audience-warmer urges everyone to hold hands, burst Friday we do a repeat of that; we rehearse all day and then the writers into song, compete for prizes and generally make fools of themselves. and Warner Bros. and CBS all come to the Friday run-through. And then This particular audience is eager for taping to begin, and is, in fact, on we have the weekend.” the verge of hysteria in anticipation. When the lights go down, there’s His gaze is direct, his manner, utterly charming. Parsons is one of those a rustle of excitement that doesn’t abate, even though the dimming people with the gift of seeming like they can’t think of anyplace else merely signifies that the monitors hanging from the ceiling are about they’d rather be. to show a previous episode of The Big Bang Theory. More than one per- “For me, personally, I’m so grateful to have those weekends. I don’t son sings along with the theme song: “Our whole universe was in a hot know how I’d memorize some of the longer passages if I didn’t have that dense state / Then nearly 14 billion years ago expansion started. Wait.” time. I really treasure having time alone to focus without being tested Twenty-two minutes later, the big moment has arrived. One by one, with a run-through. On Mondays, we come in early and stay pretty late the cast members emerge from behind one of the wheeled screens. because we stage it with the cameras and lighting and pre-tape any “Kunal Nayyar as Koothrappali!” “Simon Helberg as Wolowitz!” “Kaley scenes that are technically difficult, because when you do it in front of a Cuoco as Penny!” “Jim Parsons as Sheldon!” “Johnny Galecki as Leonard!” live audience, they can get pretty tired.” Sustained, wild applause. All of them seem really tiny, except for Parsons, It’s exhausting just hearing about it. “Tuesday we come in late, 11 or who, at 6-foot-2, looms over his castmates. When taping begins, the noon, and we go through the entire show again for the cameras. Then screens are removed from in front of just the particular set featured in we run the show for the producers again. Then we have dinner, do the the scene, and the audience settles, more than ready to laugh. live show at 7 and tape until around 10:30.” One would think that having a live audience could be distracting for the And the next day? Get up and start the process all over again. “That actors, and Parsons says that in a way, that’s true. “It can be. That’s why I don’t day we’re always like zombies, no matter how easy the taping was.” look out at the audience; if I start looking at them, it really distracts me. “ Not to mention the dozens of people milling about a few feet from the Sheldon: It’s very simple. Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock actors, bustling here and there with pages of new lines, wheeling back crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors and forth with cameras and lights, scurrying in with make-up brushes decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock and props. It’s dizzying to imagine the pressure of all those people with vaporizes rock, and — as it always has — rock crushes scissors. their eyes on you, not to mention the millions out there in TV-land. “I try to run my lines while they’re actually doing costume and make-up,” Parsons says. “I figure if I can get the lines out while they’re doing all of In spite of the distractions, Parsons can’t seem to stop waxing that, then I’ll be OK in the scene.” rhapsodic about performing in front of a live audience. “It’s a wonderful But there is an energy that comes from acting in front of an audience marriage of the theater and the camera work. The advantage is that if that makes all of the hullabaloo worth it. “It makes the show better,” he you mess up, you get to do it again. The disadvantage is that you still says. “It’s so similar to doing theater in front of a live audience. When want to get it right, because things don’t get any funnier the second you’re rehearsing, the audience is the missing character. This show has time around.” that in common with theater: You work and you work to get it as sturdy And his character Sheldon is not only the funniest on the show, but also as possible and as honest as possible, and you know you’re going to play the one with the most complicated speeches. Which isn’t all that surpris- in front of them, but it never fails that certain things become black and ing; after all, he is supposed to be an incredibly gifted physicist. white when the audience is there.” “The problem is that Sheldon is not only brilliant, but he has no social It’s fascinating to watch, this carefully choreographed ballet. The film- niceties to him at all, so he finds no reason to condense something for ing is done linearly, probably more for the actors than the audience. somebody. Why would the whole list of facts bore you? He thinks, ‘You Once each scene is good to go, a woman stands with a clapboard that should probably have all of the information at your fingertips like I do,’ digitally records a time code. Time and again, her soft voice precedes the so he goes through every excruciating step of an explanation.” definitive clack when she snaps it shut: “Camera A … B … C … and X. His star is clearly rising, but Parsons says he’s nowhere near the point Common mark!” Then she steps out of the way and a voice calls out, where his celebrity impedes him from going about his business. “I’ve “Continuing on, and action!” seen some photos of me when I was out shopping that surprised me, because I didn’t know they had been taken, but that’s a rare occurrence.” He laughs. “Let’s put it this way. I’m not getting mobbed. I sign scarce, Parsons’ dressing room is upstairs, just a few dozen steps from where the few autographs in real life. I guess I’m pretty low on the excitement show is filmed. It’s nice enough: overstuffed neutral furniture, some photos, totem pole of the people you can see in L.A. right now.” a few personal mementos. He’s a bit manic after the show, which isn’t sur- He stifles a yawn. It’s getting late. So he leads the way, down the stairs, prising, given the schedule that leads up to filming each week’s episode. single-file, through a long, nondescript hallway, past one metal door after “We start out Wednesday morning with a table read, then we stage another after another until he pulls one open to the moonlit night. His cast- the whole show. We usually go home pretty early that day and get mates glance up, then go back to their own business. Goodbyes are said. rewrites that night from what they heard at the table read.” So far, so Parsons turns back to his colleagues, and then takes his place good. “Then we rehearse all day on Thursday and show the writers a among them.

26 USD MAGAZINE FALL 2005 27 m

Tracy Reines has a peculiar way of telling time. She recalls most of the last decade less by strict chronology than by geographical calamity: In 2002, it was New York after 9/11. Then wartime recon- struction in Afghanistan (2004), the tsunami aftermath in Sri Lanka STORM (2005) followed by famine in the Horn of Africa (2008). But it was a refugee camp in the Kigoma region of Tanzania (2000) that left perhaps her most indelible memory. On the front lines of catastrophe That’s where Reines met the man with the scar. He was one of the thousands of displaced survivors who’d escaped to Tanzania after fleeing civil wars in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, and massive floods in Mozambique to the south. The man bore a hardened wound beneath his chin that stretched from ear to ear, a ghastly memento left behind by an assailant’s machete. “To me, it was the most horrific example of the darkness of T he ground begins to shake in China. A massive humanity,” she says. “But at the same time, he was alive, he had a family — two little kids running around — and he was tending his wave surges violently toward Sri Lanka. Ferocious winds own little garden in this refugee camp and just living his life.” At the time, Reines was a backpacker-turned-volunteer-humani- and turbulent waters pummel levees in Louisiana until tarian. Now she’s director of the American Red Cross International Response Operations Center, but the image still serves as a reminder they shudder and crack. We all know what happens next. of perseverance in the face of peril. “I’ve seen so many people in so many terrible situations, and their For most people, the utter devastation wrought by ability to cope and be resilient still amazes me. When you see that over and over again, it becomes very difficult to complain about a disaster — both natural and man-made — snares our atten- subway train running late. Everyone has their daily annoyances, but by Nathan Dinsdale that just puts things into incredible perspective.” tion for a few fleeting moments with horrifying television After earning her communications degree from USD in 1994, Reines spent months traveling throughout Southeast Asia before returning clips, shocking headlines and somber radio bulletins. to San Diego to teach English as a Second Language. Then she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years training teachers in rural villages Then it’s back to our regularly scheduled program. (“It was very basic; no electricity, no running water”) in Namibia. “I fell in love with [Africa] when I was in the Peace Corps,” she But for others, the real work has just begun. They are the says. “I just connected with the environment, the people and the continent in general. It’s a very dynamic, very emotional place, and ones responsible for rendering immediate aid to devastated I had a very strong affection for it.” After leaving the Peace Corps, Reines spent months backpack- populations in the aftermath of a catastrophe. They are ing across southern and eastern Africa. Then catastrophic floods hit Mozambique. She felt an urgent desire to help and suddenly found also the intrepid workers who help shattered communities herself standing outside a Red Cross command post. “It’s kind of funny to look back at me just knocking on their door recover, rebuild and protect against future disasters. When and saying, ‘Hi, I want to volunteer,’” she recalls. “I didn’t know anything about how the system worked. It just felt very immediate. lightning strikes and the world splinters, two USD graduates I wouldn’t say it was exciting, it was just very visceral and tangible and pressing.” are among those helping to pick up the pieces. She worked as a Red Cross volunteer in the Tanzanian refugee camps before returning to the United States to earn her graduate degree in international education policy from Harvard, while also interning in the American Red Cross department she now heads. After graduation, Reines spent about 18 months working as part of the Red Cross international family assistance program, which is aimed at providing aid to the families of the more than 500 victims of the 9/11 attacks who were either foreign nationals or were supporting dependents outside the U.S.

R SUMMER 2009 29 governments after a natural disaster. However, there’s a sizable gap between the allocation and implementation of those resources as they navigate through at least three (local, state and federal) differ- “ Reines says she welcomes “dipping my toe” into some semblance ent bureaucracies. C ome hell or high water” is a phrase typically of a typical 9-to-5 life and she eventually foresees herself working “Programs that are supposed to be very simple can languish for on more of a policy level, possibly with education reform within the years going through all the red tape,” she says. “We’re only just now cast about with casual bravado. But for Reines and United States. For the time being, however, she’s still invigorated implementing projects from the 2005 storms because of how slowly by her work despite the rigors it commands. the process works. That can be incredibly frustrating, but we find Gerbasi it might as well be a job description. Their “I don’t have any huge lofty ideals or naiveté about this work,” ways to be creative and do everything we can with what we have.” she says. “It’s complicated, it’s painful and it can be very ugly and In addition to helping residents recover from the damage of past work is predicated on bringing hope and comfort In 2004, Reines became an education manager for the Interna- frustrating and heartbreaking. But I also believe in this organization, storms, Gerbasi works to help insulate communities in the region tional Rescue Committee in Afghanistan to help train teachers and and I feel profoundly fortunate to have a job that I love. You have from future disasters. That’s no easy task when considering the to people and places wracked with devastation and ensure that Afghani girls had equal access to schooling. The contro- to put your energy somewhere, and if you can affect people’s lives geography of southern Louisiana and how particularly susceptible versial assignment took place far from the relative safety of Kabul, in a positive way — even for a moment — I think that’s a good use it is to devastation. despair. Needless to say, it’s not labor for the meek. in a remote region near the Pakistan border where Taliban funda- of your energy.” “If you don’t live here, it seems like common sense to say, ‘Don’t mentalism still reigned. build on the flood plain,’” she says. “But the topography is very dif- The day she arrived, a United Nations employee was shot and ferent here. You go from sea level to an elevation of maybe 15 feet “It can be very emotional, especially for the individuals who’ve killed and schools were burned to the ground. Reines had to be J ennifer Gerbasi didn’t have to wait long. Mere and that’s all. It’s completely flat and it’s mostly bayous and canals. been directly impacted,” Gerbasi says. “You certainly want to be driven everywhere by convoy; she wore head-to-toe Western If you see a light in the distance here, it’s probably a bridge.” attentive to that, but you also have to stay focused on the bigger clothing, while her Afghan counterparts wore burkas. weeks after taking over as a disaster recovery planner Compounding the problem is the fact that the parish’s booming picture in order to do your job efficiently and effectively.” “It was a very complicated and complex environment but it was economy — consisting largely of crabbing, fishing, oyster farming, Bearing witness to widespread pain and suffering simply also phenomenally interesting,” she says. “It could be a bit nerve- in southern Louisiana, her first disaster came calling. shipbuilding and off-shore drilling — necessitates that the popula- comes with the territory — but so does the ability to do some- wracking, but the people I met and worked with were fascinating tion live in close proximity to the water. thing about it. And while Reines and Gerbasi have no grand and, again, incredibly resilient.” And when word spread that Hurricane Gustav’s arrival “In reality, you can’t move out of the flood plain,” Gerbasi says. illusions or naiveté about trying to save the world, both are In late 2004, Reines rejoined the American Red Cross to head “We have one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the emboldened by the fact that what they do affords them rare up hurricane relief operations in Grenada, then tsunami disaster was imminent, her reaction was immediate. nation with a huge housing demand; only eight percent of the opportunities to make a real difference. response in Sri Lanka before returning to work at American Red region is on buildable land.” “I don’t think everyone can be saved just by giving them a Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We just left,” she recalls with a laugh. “When they said a hurri- Instead, Gerbasi is helping to design and implement new building tarp and a bucket,” Reines says. “But I believe in what I’m doing. “I think there’s a very particular profile, a set of skills and interests cane was coming we didn’t sit around and think about it.” and zoning regulations in order to allow communities to mitigate I feel privileged to have a job I love where I can work with fan- that make you able to do this kind of work,” she says. “There’s not She wasn’t alone. Gustav sparked one of the largest evacuations the risks of living in an area vulnerable to natural disasters. And in tastic people and be a part of what’s happening in the world. that many people who want to do it and can do it beyond a year or in U.S. history across a region still nursing wounds inflicted by a region where erosion absorbs “a football field a day” of coastland You just have to shine your little light wherever it makes sense two. I just feel like a very fortunate person to have the experiences Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Then, 12 days after Gustav made landfall, into the Gulf of Mexico, building up natural safeguards — including and, for me, this is what makes sense.” I’ve had and to be in the position I’m in.” Hurricane Ike struck. Talk about on-the-job training. erecting barrier islands and planting trees — is an essential part of As director of the IROC, Reines oversees a team of six people who “We’re always on the edge of another storm,” Gerbasi says. “It’s her work. But those measures will take years to implement. In the are responsible for handling the logistics of every international disas- just a fact of life in this part of the country. But one of the major meantime, yet another hurricane season approaches. ter response undertaken by the American Red Cross. That includes complications is that we’re also always working on recovery pro- “Realistically, it’s going to take decades,” Gerbasi says. “Until then, managing internal operations, dispensing funds, mobilizing response grams for previous storms when the next one hits.” we have to figure out how to pull people above the water and build teams and deploying stockpiles of emergency supplies, all with the After graduating from the USD School of Law in 1995, Gerbasi better within the existing landscape.” understanding that lives literally hinge on their job efficiency. spent years working on environmental policy issues in California The work can be heartrending. She routinely works with citizens “I’d say 85 percent of what we do is not on the international news,” and elsewhere before earning a degree in environmental manage- whose homes have been in disrepair for years while waiting on she says. “Our resources are limited, but there is always something ment from Cornell University, then a master of laws in advocacy long-delayed government assistance. And while she relishes the happening. A lot of the things we’re working on right this minute — from Georgetown University. opportunity to help alleviate that immediate suffering, her real floods in Colombia, floods in Sri Lanka, food security in the Horn of She eventually became director of policy and legislative affairs focus is on making sweeping changes that will impact the region Africa, aid in Gaza, cholera in Zimbabwe, fires in Australia, an earth- for the Tennessee Clean Water Network, an advocacy organization for decades to come. quake in Costa Rica — most people don’t even know about.” focused on water quality issues. In June 2008, after years of butting “It’s a wonderful feeling when you’re able to help people,” Reines spends less time in the field these days and more time heads with government bureaucrats, Gerbasi officially became one Gerbasi says. “At the same time, my focus is more on long-term shuttling between D.C. and the Red Cross’ international headquar- when she joined the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. issues. When you can get an ordinance or a piece of legislation past ters in Geneva, Switzerland, but in the last two years has still assist- The biggest difference? “I can’t sue them now in order to get the city council or the state legislature (that) makes a broad change ed on the ground with flood relief in Mozambique and overseeing things done,” she laughs ruefully. “Filing a lawsuit or an injunction in the community value or a shift in consciousness in order to build food security assessments in Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. was pretty effective in Tennessee. I can be a little bit of an apologist toward a better future, that’s very gratifying.” “There’s no question that when you travel a lot you crave nor- (now that I’m working within the government), but in many respects malcy and predictability,” she says. “So to quench that thirst, last it just gives me better access.” year I bought a house and I bought a dog. That said, I have a lot of But access doesn’t guarantee expediency. Gerbasi oversees the housesitters and dogsitters.” Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the Terrebonne Parish plan- ning and zoning department. The federal program — administered through FEMA — is intended to provide recovery funds for local

30 USD MAGAZINE [decadence] A TASTE OF CHOCOLATE For Diolinda Monteiro, it’s all about the ingredients

by Kelly Knufken t’s a rare rainy San Diego day, never left the USD campus. She front and center when thinking and that’s not sitting well with got her master’s, then taught part about ingredients. And the scien- IDiolinda Monteiro. The rose- time in biology and eventually tist in her stokes the ritual of mary caramels she’s planned to became director of the McNair faithfully recording the details of make in her remodeled kitchen in Scholars program. each concoction in her kitchen San Diego’s hip Kensington neigh- “It was just such a family,” she lab notebook. The chocolate- borhood may not turn out exactly says. “I had such a great experi- stained pages bear notes like, right in this weather. ence and education there.” “texture & flavor are perfect” for “It’s not a caramel-friendly day,” But in 2007, Monteiro decided it her vegan banana mocha choco- she says. “They just won’t set up.” was time to make a go at her pas- lates or “ganache is a bit stiff” for But there are plenty of other sion, and Diolinda’s Chocolates was another entry. sweets that will turn out perfect- born — her first job outside USD. And it’s that notebook she can ly. With a tempering machine She’s not out to be the next Go- refer to if, say, a set of caramels whirring in the background, diva or even Chuao Chocolatier. she’s made turn out to be pralines: Monteiro methodically moves She sees herself as a private food Was the culprit a rogue boiling NOTES from tangerine ganache for a artist who can develop personal point or the ingredients?

truffle to lemon fondant, then relationships and be deliberative But on this day, it will be the back to those pesky caramels. about her chocolate. rain that’s to blame. As she pours Monteiro’s business philosophy And when it comes to chocolate, the melted caramel into a frame, for Diolinda’s Chocolates is simple: “I see it as something that is uplift- she releases a creamy, sugary use the best organic, fair-trade in- ing. I enjoy it as something to eat rosemary scent into the air. A lat- gredients she can find. when I’m celebrating and as some- er taste of the gooey mixture re- “I don’t like to compromise thing to eat when I’m sad. I don’t veals an inspired flavor. when it comes to ingredients.” like the idea of just sitting down to Given her petite build, Monteiro That’s why she continually exper- a pound of chocolate and just con- takes some ribbing as a chocolate- iments, thinking about the sources suming it. I like to really enjoy it.” maker. “I don’t eat a whole lot of of her chocolate or seeking out She also has the patience to it; I’m constantly tasting, but it’s California-grown walnuts, always craft each piece she makes with not a gorge-fest.” keeping in mind what’s involved love. A woman at a cooking store And truly, the tasting is contin- in producing the final product. once told her not to go to the ual, as Monteiro perfects each While she also uses a commer- bother of making her own fon- decadent chocolate piece. Again cial kitchen for her business, “I do dant, but that’s not the kind of reflecting that inner-scientist, all my best thinking and testing candy-maker Monteiro is. Monteiro says, “I think it’s silly to here,” she says of her home’s “It’s so much fun,” Monteiro stay with something and not ex- mint-green and granite kitchen. says, pulling and swirling and periment.” CLASS “Sometimes I wake up at night scraping at a hot, sugary fondant Sometimes a recipe will call and think of a new pairing.” mixture for more than 10 min- for corn syrup and white table Indeed, the rosemary caramel utes. The mixture will go back to sugar, but those are not the in- was one such late-night creation. the stove — not too much heat, gredients of choice for Monteiro. Another inspired concoction or all that pulling and scraping So her science background helps was the Douglas fir caramel she will have been wasted — and her figure out how to achieve made for the contractor that flavored with six drops of lemon the desired taste and consistency worked on her family’s 1935-built oil. The result of all this candy using, say, honey and evaporated home for the better part of a year. crafting is a lovely, melt-in-your- cane juice instead. “That’s so much fun, to say, mouth, sweet-lemony drop un- “The chemistry is really neat ‘I know Leonard’s a contractor, like any store-bought fondant. and fun,” she says. so I’m going to make him some- Her science background lets But even good chemistry can’t thing out of wood.’” her exercise a love of the chemis- save today’s rosemary caramels, For years after earning her bio- try of her creations and helps her which simply won’t set up on this TIM MANTOANI TIM

CLASS NOTES logy degree in 1993, Monteiro keep environmental concerns rainy day.

32 USD MAGAZINE SUMMER 2009 33 Andrea, an advertising executive in Theological School at Claremont in Diocese of Phoenix, Ariz., and has [1983] law license after being a stay-at- JOAN MOHR (M.A.) is a research Modesto, Calif., and still enjoys being 1960s Tallahassee, Fla. California. She is preparing for ordi- traveled extensively throughout the SUSAN PAULSON (B.A.) has lived home mother for 11 years. She is fellow for the history team at the In- involved with the sport of golf. nation to the vocational diaconate. United States, parts of Canada and in Chicago for 20 years. She and her licensed in California and Idaho. stitute for Learning. She researches, [1963] PATRICIA (NEWMAN) WAGON- The focus of her ministry will be pas- Mexico as well as the Panama Canal husband, Tom, stay busy raising their writes and develops modules on [1991] CHARLES WICAL (BBA) is retired ER (B.A.) is the proud owner of toral care at the parish level and hos- this past year. three children, Emily (16), Ben (13) TINA (VAN HOOK) SWALLOW current historical perspectives for KENNETH POLLOCK (J.D.) was in Oregon. “Although I don’t know “Tish’s Health & Herbs” in Borrego pital chaplaincy. and Abby (11). (BBA) and her family moved to educational affiliates working with elected as a district court judge in how one can retire on over 12 acres Springs, Calif. She says the business is LINDA DUBROOF (J.D.) was pro- northern Virginia after living the last the Learning Research and Develop- the 8th Judicial District of Nevada. of mostly forested land, having a lot a “dream come true” in a community REGINALD GATES (J.D.) publish- moted to associate chief in the Inter- COL. JAMES REILLY (B.A.) lives three years in Japan. Tina retired ment Center at the University of He began his term in office in Janu- of the proper tools and machinery she now calls her home. She enjoys ed his second book, Daring Disclo- national Bureau of the Federal Com- in Hawaii after living in Japan for from the Naval Computer and Tele- Pittsburgh. Before that, Joan was a ary 2009. helps.” Charles enjoys kayaking, raft- participating in community theater sures, on July 15, 2008. The 194-page munications Commission. Her hus- three years. James and his wife, Amy, communications Command in Japan. contributing historian and outreach ing, bicycling and hosting family in and Chamber of Commerce, and going book is a compilation of short stories band, Tom McGinnis, was promoted have been married for 18 years. They Her husband, Chandler, was current consultant for the National Czech [1992] the McKenzie River recreation area. to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, based on personal experiences. Regi- to the rank of admiral in public have two children, Ian (8) and Ava (5). operations officer on the staff of the and Slovak Museum and Library, KARLA CLEARY (B.A.) gave birth “Life is good. We are blessed and which surrounds Borrego Springs. nald’s first book, The Barefoot Lawyer, health service and appointed assis- commander of the seventh fleet. and a teaching fellow with the history to a girl, Ava Michelle Cleary, on June we’ll always have San Diego County was published on May 5, 2006. tant surgeon general. “Our 12-year- PATRICIA WILSON (M.Ed.) Their children, Beau (10), Cate (8) and department at the University of 20, 2008. and USD in our heart.” [1974] old son, Tommy, pitched and played retired from San Diego City Schools Jay (6), are enjoying their return. Tina Pittsburgh. Joan’s area of expertise DWIGHT PRESTON (J.D.) works JAMES HITZELBERGER (BBA) first base for his baseball team that in June 2003, after 33 years in the now works on maritime defense is in U.S. immigration history with GREGORY FELTON (MBA) moved [1965] at a private law firm, Lewis and Pres- began a California division of Group won its league championship.” district. Patricia’s last 21 years were strategy for Cisco Systems. “Life is an emphasis on Slavic settlement to Lake Tahoe in 2004 and loves it. DAVID DUBIE (B.S.) spent 30 years ton, in Elizabethtown, Ky. Dwight be- Excellence, a private tutoring com- spent in the Physical and Health great!” she says. and institution-building throughout Gregory and his wife, Kim, have three after his college graduation at the gan his law career in private practice pany, in September 2008. James has BARBARA O’BRIEN (BSN) is re- Disabilities Program at Naval Hospi- the industrial mid-Atlantic region at sons, ages 15, 14 and 10. “All hours Garrett AiResearch Corp. in Phoenix with Lewis, Bland and Preston in 1974. enlisted USD students to tutor col- tired. She and her husband, Robert, tal San Diego, then Lindbergh Sch- [1986] the end of the 19th century. She is are filled, but not with the standard in the jet engine division. “It was a He was elected Hardin County’s attor- lege prep classes (SAT, ACT, PSAT) live in Hilton Head, S.C., where they weitzer Elementary. She adopted DEANNE CALVERT (B.A.) is the a lecturer and scholar on the Czech American fare of TV and fast food,” great experience,” David says, but ney in 1978 and also remained in pri- as well as private tutoring and tutor- enjoy playing golf, skiing in the win- one of her former P&H students in in-house state lobbyist for Sanofi- and Slovak Legion in Siberia from he says. “We fly, sail, actively partici- “then I entered my fun career — buy- vate practice until 1982 when he was ing under the No Child Left Behind tertime and spending time with fam- 1988. Jackie has CP and joined Patri- Aventis Pharmaceuticals and works 1917-22, and has compiled an exten- pate in search and rescue patrol at ing, selling and restoring older col- elected as Commonwealth’s Attorney program. USD alumnus Frank Walsh ily and friends. cia’s family of four other children. in the capitals of Alaska, Oregon, sive photographic collection on Heavenly Ski Resort, etc. We are one lector cars. This is an extraordinary for the Ninth District. He returned to is a local contact for the company. The family resides in Winnsboro, California, Idaho and Nevada. the subject. big, happy family.” hobby turned profession, interacting private practice in 1992. “We’re trying to make a difference LT. COL. ROBERT QUINNETT Texas, enjoying their mules and horses. Deanne and her husband, Philip, with a group of people that want to in the San Diego Unified School (B.A.), and his wife, Khemarin, and “We love trail riding, RVing, horse- have one son, Jack (4). GINA GUIDI-BILLIGMEIER (B.A.) ‘own their dream.’ I hope my fellow [1975] District as well as San Diego County,” their son, Erik, 7, are on their third back pleasure riding and the lovely lives in Linden, Calif., with her hus- alumni enjoy their second career as CRAIG FOX (J.D.) retired in April James says. year of an accompanied U.S. Army lakes all around us.” Patricia and her PAUL GARSON (BBA) moved back 1990s band, Mike, and daughters Sofie and much as I do.” 2005. tour of duty. Robert is a military husband, Al, have seven grandchil- to New Mexico to run the family busi- Sydney. Gina is an elementary school 1 CARMEN (PYLE) MacDONALD adviser to the Kuwait Armed Forces. dren ages 2 /2 to 21. ness, Garson and Sons Religious [1990] teacher and helps her husband farm THORA WALSHE-WOLFE [1977] (B.A.) directs the music program at The family lives under the authority Goods. Paul is active in the Sigma Chi JULIE KINGSTON (B.A.) has a their ranch. (CRED., B.A.) retired in May 2008 THERESA DE LA TORRE (B.A.) the Marine Corps Air Station base at of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Prior [1984] fraternity and hopes to recolonize a successful Web site business in Los after 39 years in education and pur- manages a laboratory for an ento- Miramar for Sunday morning Mass. to his current assignment, Robert JACQUELINE AKERBLOM (B.Acc.) chapter at USD. Angeles. No marriages, no kids and WENDY HIMES (B.A.) moved from chased a condo in Imperial Beach mologist and also works as a CPR She also plays piano for private par- served an unaccompanied tour of was recognized as the American So- very happy being single, she says. Tyler, Texas, to Parker, Colo., two years for the winter months. “I look forward instructor on the side. ties, weddings and funerals as an duty with the XVIII Airborne Corps ciety of Women Accountants Educa- PAULETTE LEAHY (LL.M.) recent- “Anyone who wants to say ‘Hi’ please ago. Wendy is a stay-at-home mom to attending USD intersession for organist and pianist throughout in Iraq for one year. He is in his 34th tional Foundation’s 2008 Balance ly finished a term as immediate past get my e-mail address from USD.” to three boys, Liam (7), Evan (4) and alumni,” she says. [1978] San Diego. Carmen studied cham- year of military service — 23 active Awards’ Woman of the Year. president of the Western Pension and Connor (8 months), but works out of MICHAEL BROWN (J.D.) has relo- ber music at Fontainebleu, France, and 11 years in the reserves. Akerblom is a managing partner of Benefits Conference Joint Council of CATHY (PERKINS) MORRIS the house on weekends. [1966] cated to Carlsbad from Lafayette, La., before returning to USD to get her women’s initiatives and programs Presidents. She also served as a con- (B.A.) gave birth to her son, Mi- JOYCE COSTELLO (B.A.) retired to reopen a law practice specializing in California Clear teaching credential JOHN RENDE (J.D.) retired from for Grant Thornton LLP. ference committee member for the chael, in August 2007. He has a big DAVID MULLEN (M.A.) and his in 2005 after 34 years of teaching federal and state securities law, arbi- for music, French and Spanish. She his work with the Drug Enforcement Western Benefits Conference’s annual sister, Rachel Kate, who is 4 years wife, Linda (Johansen) ’92, recently biology at San Diego City College. tration, broker-dealer regulation and taught Spanish and French at Craw- Administration on April 18, 2007. U.S. JAMES PADILLA (MBA) transi- meeting in Seattle. Paulette is a board old. Cathy joined Countrywide moved to Omaha, Neb., to be closer Joyce and her husband, Dave, moved expert witness testimony. He has 26 ford High School for 14 years and Customs and Border Protection in tioned into a second career as an member for the Coronado School of Insurance Services as vice president to her family. They have one son, to Colorado in 2006 and live in Long- years of experience, including serving took trips to Paris for student- the office of professional responsi- attorney in June 2006. James and his the Arts and Spreckels Organ Society. of district sales in April 2008. Frankie (8), and two daughters, Mag- mont. “We thoroughly enjoy living as trial attorney for the Enforcement exchange programs. Carmen re- bility hired John on Sept. 18, 2007. family moved to Arizona where he She is a member of the California gie (7) and Mary (5). Linda works part close to the mountains and our family.” Division of the Securities and Exchange ceived scholarships from the Embas- began working as an assistant attor- Bankers’ Association Trust State and SUZANNE PURNELL (M.Ed.) got time as a therapist for Capstone Be- Commission; general counsel for three sy of Spain and Department of [1982] ney general in protective services. Federal Government Affairs Commit- married on Aug. 11, 2008. havioral Health. Their children attend [1967] nationwide securities broker-dealers; Education in Washington, D.C., to JEANINE DEIGHAN-FAGAN The family now lives in Prescott, Ariz., tee, working on legislation. the local Catholic school. GILES CONWILL (B.A.) was ap- and financial adviser for a major wire study Spanish instruction techniques (B.A.) and her husband, John Fagan where James is the unit section chief KRISTINA (BENTSON) RAY pointed chairman of the history de- house. Michael is a lecturer and author along with other Spanish teachers ’82, are still doing well and keeping for all child enforcement activities in [1988] (B.A.) was appointed communica- JASON ROMERO (BBA) has three partment at Atlanta’s Morehouse on capital markets; arbitrations, broker- from around the world in Santiago busy with their four children, ages 19 northern Arizona. He manages attor- LAURA CHECKMAN (B.A.) and tions manager for the City of Carlsbad, children — Sierra (8), Sage (7) and College in April 2007. “I am also a dealer compliance and regulations. de Compostela, Spain, for a summer. to 4. John is a family practitioner and ney general offices in four Arizona her husband, Mike Murdock, are on Nov. 17, 2008. Her primary responsi- Sofia (2) — and has been living in priest of the Diocese of San Diego Jeanine continues to promote oncol- cities: Cottonwood, Flagstaff, King- both teachers at St. Joseph School in bilities include overseeing the city’s Puerto Rico for “five wonderful and I look forward to coming back TONY SALAY (BBA) has lived in MARILYN MENGES (M.Ed., Ed.D. ogy drugs for Roche Laboratories. man and Prescott. “I enjoy the work, Ogden, Utah. Their son, Oliver, is in comprehensive communications years.” Jason works for General Electric to USD as a professor,” he says. Laguna Niguel for 12 years. He and ’88) retired from hospital chaplaincy Both enjoy running, golf and friends. and while we miss San Diego, we are second grade at the same school. program. Ray has more than 20 years’ as a general manager for a consumer his wife, Shelley, have two children: in August 2008. She and her husband very happy to be settled in Prescott,” experience in designing and imple- finance business. He has been running son Matt, 18; and daughter Kaela, 11. have a St. Bernard puppy, Cambridge. JASMIN SAIDI-KUEHNERT (B.A.) James says. [1989] menting communication programs in marathons and recently began tri- Matt is expected to attend USD this launched Rare Natural Care with her PATRICE CARINGTON (BBA) at the local, state and national level. athlons. “Life has been very good,” 1970s fall. He plays baseball and swims for family in January 2008. A fully or- SHARON WONG (B.A.) volunteers recently became a board-certified Jason says. “Best to all Toreros!” his high school. Kaela is involved in ganic and all-natural skincare line, with a few organizations. hypnotherapist with advanced FREDERICK SCHULTZ (B.A.),his [1973] cheerleading and gymnastics. 1980s the company won “Best of Show — certifications in stress management, wife, Helen ’91, and their 11-year-old DAVID SMITH (BBA) and his wife, CHARLES VITUNAC (J.D.) is the Best New Vegetarian Product 2008” [1985] emotional intelligence, overcoming son Logan recently moved back to Sandi, celebrated their third wedding city attorney in Vero Beach, Fla. He [1979] [1980] at the April 2008 Natural Product BERNADETTE BUENTGEN (J.D.) fears and phobias, and improving self California after living in Colorado for anniversary in September 2008. They is married and has two children: E. ANN DUMOLT (B.A.) is a THE REV. MICHAEL DEPTULA Expo West. For more information, recently moved from Boise to Eagle, worth. Patrice is working on a board five years. Frederick is general manag- have two children — son Jamison (2) Doug, a lawyer in Vero Beach, and second-year student at the Episcopal (B.A.) is with the Roman Catholic go to www.rarenatural.com. Idaho. Bernadette is reactivating her certification in medical hypnotherapy. er for a private country club outside of and daughter Andrea, born in July

34 USD MAGAZINE [reunion reminder] SUMMER 2009 35 [move that bus] THE SUPER BOWL OF HOMEBUILDING Brothers go to extremes for Fresno family, providing them with unveiling of a lifetime

by Ryan T. Blystone he door of the limousine home in less than a week. As well tive and keep going.” Riojas has opened onto Fresno’s East as being fully furnished and deco- been an inspiration to others, T Robinson Avenue. One rated, this particular extreme especially children, with physical by one, the town’s newest VIPs makeover included environmental disabilities. She grew up in Easter emerged. They were home, but and energy-saving features and Seals-sponsored programs and they didn’t yet realize exactly incorporated standards set by the later worked as an ambassador what that meant. A larger parked Americans with Disabilities Act. for the organization before land- vehicle was positioned to shield “We enjoyed the family’s ing her current job with the local their new house from their view. reaction to the house as the bus housing authority. Then the Riojas family shouted in departed to reveal their new Ryan and Brandon understood unison, along with 6,000 onlook- home,” says Brandon De Young, that being responsible for the ers: “Move that bus!” vice president of operations. rapid-fire construction effort Faithful viewers of the hit ABC- “Our family was standing would impact their business, TV show, Extreme Makeover: Home behind their family, so their big-time. The episode, broadcast Edition, know all about that reactions were obscured to us nationally on March 8, was seen phrase and its accompanying at the time. But as we watched in 70 countries worldwide. “This moment of truth. (Note to the ‘Move that bus!’ occur on film, was the Super Bowl of home- uninitiated: it means a new home, the varying expressions from building for us,” Ryan says. built from the ground up in 106 the family members of surprise, Despite the intense schedule, consecutive hours, is ready to be delight and tears of joy were the De Youngs didn’t compro- shown to a deserving family.) extremely gratifying. Seeing mise their building standards, but This particular revelatory their faces glow with excite- they did get a big assist. A special moment was aimed squarely at ment and appreciation made hot concrete mixture for the foun- Mary Ann Riojas, a single mother the long hours and stress from dation enabled workers to begin of four teenagers who has lived this project worth it.” construction after only three her entire life without legs and The show’s crew, ably led by hours instead of 28 days. Team- with only one fully functioning host/carpenter Ty Pennington, work among the volunteers — arm. But the unveiling was also chose De Young Properties to which included USD graduates an epiphany of sorts for brothers lend a hand to a deserving Erin Parnagian ’04 and Andrea Ryan ’03, ’04, and Brandon De Fresno, Calif., family in November, Machado ’03 — was essential. Young ’07, along with their par- but the company didn’t know just “The first night on site we had ents, Jerry and Paula, owners of who they’d be building for until electricians, ventilation workers, De Young Properties. Jan. 8. That’s when Pennington framers, inspectors and others. The De Youngs’ homebuilding emerged from the bus to shout, It’s not normal to see so many company — along with 4,000 vol- “Good morning, Riojas family!” people working all at once, but unteers and the team of the TV into his trademark bullhorn. I’ll never forget walking around show — built the 3,200-square- “It was a truly humbling expe- the house and seeing everyone

LA BELLA VITA PHOTOGRAPHY VITA BELLA LA foot, two-story pumpkin-orange rience for our company to be with smiles on their faces,” Ryan asked,” says Ryan, vice president says. “To have that many people Brothers Brandon and Ryan of finance. “The Riojas’ story working together to get the De Young say that being motivates everyone. She’s over- project done was wonderful.” part of TV’s Extreme Makeover come incredible obstacles. Her It sounds like everyone feels was extremely gratifying. story teaches us all to stay posi- right at home.

SUMMER 2009 37 2008 — and the family lives a suburb dith Shakespeare Company NYC, as returned to teaching high school. ADRIA PENNER CLINE (B.A.) ELIZABETH SKANE (J.D.) has He and his wife reside in Rancho Cu- is a post-doctoral scholar and re- Germany to work for the U.S. State of St. Paul in Minnesota. well as a teacher at Pace University She teaches at Miramonte High married Daniel Penner Cline on May merged her own law firm with a camonga, Calif. search associate in a cancer research Department in Berlin at the U.S. in Lower Manhattan. In 2008 she School in Moraga, Calif., does con- 31, 2008, in an outdoor garden wed- small Los Angeles-based firm so she lab at the San Francisco VA Medical Embassy at Brandenburg Gate. The [1993] directed Elizabeth Rex for Nicu’s sulting curriculum and coaching ding in Chico, Calif. can spend more time at home with JEANNE TANNONE (B.A.) opened Center. new job involves flying for the Ger- LARA (SMITH) BLAIR (B.A.) and Spoon Theatre Company, which work for the University of California, her 2-year-old daughter, Lindsay. her own boutique, specializing in man Navy from its naval air base in her husband, Dave, and two daugh- moved to off-Broadway in August. Berkeley, History Social Science Proj- LAUREN POLEK (B.A.) stays busy In October 2005, Elizabeth formed bikinis, lingerie and exotic dance- MICHELLE (ABARIENTOS) TILL- the small city of Nordholz, Germany. ters moved back to Washington Joanne also teaches annually at ect and lives in San Francisco. with boating and living just north of Jampol, Zimet, Skane and Wilcox. wear. She also has her own label, MAN (BBA, M.A. ’06) recently cel- Evelyn attends the local German state after living in New York for Collin College in Plano, Texas, where Charlotte, N.C. She and her husband “The practice has done well, and we Pretty Kitty, offering custom bikinis ebrated her ninth wedding anniversa- kindergarten, and Carter is expected three years. Lara owns a fine art por- she recently directed Shakespeare’s LEE SPANNHAKE (B.A.) has two have a son, John (4), and daughter, now have expanded from Los Angeles and clothing. ry to Percy Tillman. Their daughter, to start there later this year. trait studio in Camas, Wash. Lara Comedy of Errors. kids, ages 4 and 7, and works full time Stephanie (2). and San Diego into San Francisco Janea, is in kindergarten in San Diego. and Dave ran in the Phoenix Mara- as a lead physical therapist for a home and Las Vegas,” says Elizabeth, not- CHERYL VERBER (M.A.) and MOLLIE WOLF (B.A.) loves living thon, their fifth, in January 2009. [1994] health agency. She and her husband, [1996] ing that she was admitted to the bar Pamela Alexandra were legally mar- LAURA WOMBOLT (B.A.) gave in Brazil and working for John Deere. ELIZABETH (GANSE) CAC- William, will be celebrating their 11th KIMBERLY BENEVIDES (B.A.) in Nevada in 1999. ried at Universal Spirit Center in birth to her third child, Isabella Kate, “I love reading all about USD hap- GABRIELLE FREEMAN (B.A., CIARONI (B.A.) returned to the Bay wedding anniversary this summer. and her husband, Manny, celebrated San Diego on June 28, 2008. They on March 6, 2008. penings in the USD Magazine!” M.A. ’01) and her husband, David, Area after teaching second grade in their third wedding anniversary on CHRISTOPHER SMITH (B.A.) and live with their furry companions in welcomed their second child, Cyrus Venezuela. Upon her return, Eliza- ERIC TORYKIAN (BBA) married Nov. 26. “No children yet,” Kimberly his wife, Nicole, welcomed the birth San Diego, where Pam works as a [1999] David, on Oct. 2, 2008. Big sister Au- beth met and married Steven Cac- Juliet Brace on April 26, 2008, at writes, “just two cats, Mason and of their first child, Delaney Ruth, on real estate broker. They travel fre- CYNTHIA HARF (LL.M.) was rora is enjoying her new playmate. ciaroni. The couple celebrated their Founders Chapel. The reception was Rambo.” Manny is a lineman for July 22, 2008. quently to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, named a San Diego County Top At- 2000s Gabrielle is teaching classes at East third wedding anniversary in 2008. at the Hotel del Coronado. Eric is the AT&T, and Kimberly works with her where they own several vacation torney 2008 in the area of family law. Carolina University and online for Elizabeth teaches third grade in San West Coast sales representative for father as a loan officer for a mort- SARAH THOMPSON (B.A.) lives condos. Cheryl rents these condos Cynthia has been associated with the [2000] North Carolina Virtual Public Schools. Jose. Besides teaching, Elizabeth American Defense Systems. Juliet is gage broker in Sacramento. In their in south Orange County with her and those of other owners through law office of Myra Chack Fleischer KRISTIN (McMAHON) CO- loves being outdoors, running and the director of marketing for FMT free time, they love to travel and ride husband and three children. Sarah is her business, www.veryvallarta.com. since mid-2007. Cynthia, her hus- VARRUBIAS (B.A.) and her hus- CATHY HAMMOU (MBA) still walking. She completed her 12th Consultants in Carlsbad. The couple their mountain bikes around Folsom working on a master’s degree in edu- Pam and Cheryl also share a psycho- band, David Kaiden, and their two band, Eddie, welcomed their third works for Schlumberger in Houston, half-marathon in October 2008. lives in Del Mar Highlands. Lake near their Roseville, Calif., home. cation at night while staying home therapy practice in San Diego. boys, Tanner Reese (4) and Cooper child, Cruz Eduardo, in March 2008. Big recently moving from global IT stra- “To the Class of ’96, I would like to with her children during the day. Dane (2), welcomed a baby girl into sisters Victoria, 4, and Gabrielle, 2, are tegic sourcing manager to process LCDR. DANIEL ETTLICH (B.A.) [1995] say, ‘Hi,’ and hope each of you are [1998] the family, Montgomery “Emmy” enjoying helping out with Cruz. In ad- and business systems manager. In served a seven-month individual RICHARD BRUECKNER JR. (B.A., doing well!” [1997] CHRISTINA COVINGTON (BSN, Claire Kaiden on Jan. 31, 2008. dition to being a full time mom and her new position, she is in charge of augmentee deployment in Baghdad J.D. ’07) is prosecuting gang and NATALIE (McDONALD) HAYES MSN ’00) gave birth to a fourth wife. Kristin works full time as a third- a global team that is responsible for in fall 2008 as a naval officer. gun crimes. He surfs often and is en- NEAL CLEMENS (B.A.) is serving (BBA) and David Hayes were mar- child, Catherine, in July 2008. JORDAN HOPCHIK (MSN) be- grade teacher and has a party-planning IT applications supporting Schlum- joying life in Ocean City, Md., where in the U.S. Air Force as a Catholic ried in the Oregon high desert on came the first nurse practitioner in business on the side. Eddie continues to berger’s supply-chain organization. CATHY GONZALES (B.Acc.) has he lives on the beach. Richard surfed chaplain. He was deployed to Iraq Sept. 13, 2008. The wedding party DAN DUFRESNE (B.A.) married the state of Pennsylvania to be cre- work for Frito-Lay and is happy to have been promoted to partner at KPMG, in Costa Rica in the winter. “I love for six months. included USD alumni Nicole Button, Elise McPherson of Sandpoint, Idaho, dentialed to perform colonoscopy another “man” in the house. KELLI (KOENIG) HORNER (BBA) an audit, tax and advisory firm. Gon- visiting San Diego and USD every Kerry (Degenhardt) Forsell, Katie on Oct. 4, 2008, at Founders Chapel. independently in 2008. launched a boutique marketing and zales, who has been with KPMG since August,” Richard says. LCDR. JOAQUIN CORREIA (B.A.) (Sirek) Smith and Megan (McAu- Dan is in-house counsel and director ELIZABETH (JABLECKI) JOHN- public relations firm, Zebra Partners, 1996, provides advisory services to moved to Sicily, Italy, to serve as the liffe) Emery. of government relations for Epsilon CLAIRE PATIN (B.A., M.Ed.) mar- SON (J.D.) married Jason Johnson in in Seattle in January 2009. Kelli went clients in the San Diego area. She MAJ. JEFF CHAMBERLAIN (B.A.) executive officer of the communica- Systems Solutions, a defense con- ried Frank Falcone III on Feb. 9, 2008, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., on Sept. 15, to work at Nintendo in 2000 and was lives in Carlsbad with her family. returned from his third deployment tions station for the U.S. Navy. CARLOS MARTINEZ (B.A.) tractor headquartered in San Diego. at USD’s Founders Chapel. Frank is a 2007. Elizabeth is practicing family law with the marketing team, where she with the Army; he has 18 years of married Sahlee Melad in 2003. They 2008 graduate of San Diego State at the law office of Elizabeth M. Lewis. led hundreds of product launches, JE’NELLE SMITH PASQUAN military service to his credit. He has SEAN FLANNERY (BBA) and his have a 4-year-old daughter, Olivia RNEST GOVEA (B.A.) deployed to University, earning a Master of Sci- including the successful launch of (B.A.) gave birth to her second been reuniting with family and wife, Jodie ’96, had their first son, Christine. Carlos worked for the San Iraq with the 13th Marine Expedition- ence in mechanical engineering. JOHN SULLIVAN (B.A.) and his Wii. She and two Nintendo execu- child, Adalei, in 2007. “Now that we friends since his return. In January Jack Quinlin, on May 20, 2007. Diego Padres baseball organization ary unit in 2007 and was promoted Claire and Frank moved to the Chi- wife, Christina, live in Las Cruces, tives left to launch Zebra Partners have two little girls, they keep us 2009, he was promoted to general for nine years until 2005. He served as to the rank of major. Ernest is the cagoland area this past summer for N.M., with their children Jack (2) and “with the goal of bringing some of on our toes,” she writes. A retailer at manager of Equity Thru Energy. He DAVID MULLINS (B.A.) earned a director for Team Mexico during the unit’s logistics officer. He was de- Frank to pursue employment at Ar- Lily (8 months). John has been in con- our unique marketing principles to the Westfarms Mall in Connecticut joined the energy management firm Master of Fine Arts degree from the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He earned ployed again in January 2009. Before gonne National Laboratories. Claire struction project management since life for other brands.” One of the picked up Je’Nelle’s jewelry line. “Be- in 2008 as director of sales with nine Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 2005. His an M.A. in Asian Studies from San Di- that, Ernest and his family moved to is substitute teaching as her Califor- graduation from USD, most recently company’s initial clients is San Di- tween making jewelry, my contract years of previous experience in sales short stories have appeared or are ego State University in 2001 and is a San Clemente, Calif. nia teaching credential is being with Southern U.S. General Contrac- ego-based Sapphire Energy, a lead- work in the insurance industry and and marketing for Nabisco Biscuit Co. forthcoming in The Yale Review, The 3L at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. transferred to an Illinois certificate. tor. The company is in the process of er in the algae-based fuel industry. my family, I am a very busy and hap- and Scholastic. Massachusetts Review, New England Carlos lives in Chula Vista. EVAN HLAVACEK (B.A.) and his She plans to pursue a permanent constructing a federal courts build- “It was hard for me to leave San Di- py person.” Review, Cimarron Review, Fiction and wife, Jennifer ’99, relocated to teaching position in 2009. The cou- ing in Las Cruces. Upon completion ego, but having Sapphire Energy JENNIFER GERBASI (J.D.) has North Dakota Quarterly and have ELIA PIROZZI (LL.M.) is a superior Prescott, Ariz., so Jennifer could ple recently adopted Ginger, a of the project, the family plans to as a client not only hits a personal SHARMAN (LUTZ) RICE (B.A.) earned two more degrees — Environ- been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. court judge in the county of San start a full-time teaching job at 4 ½-month-old pointer mix, “who move back to Austin, Texas, where passion I have for green alternatives and her husband, Jeff, welcomed the mental Management at Cornell Uni- David has been awarded fellowships Bernardino, Calif. He presides over Yavapai College. Their daughter, is a lovely addition to our home,” John and Christina look forward to and forward-thinking solutions for birth of their daughter, Elizabeth Jane, versity and an LL.M. in Advocacy at from Yaddo and Sewanee Writers’ criminal and civil matters including Ava, is 3 and “looks a lot like her Claire says. raising their children and enjoying the environment, but it also gets on August 29, 2007. She joins big Georgetown University Law Center — Conference, and he recently com- misdemeanor and felony arraign- Daddy,” Evan writes. the Texas Hill Country. me back to my roots in San Diego,” brother Thomas, 4. Sharman is enjoy- since obtaining her law degree from pleted a collection of short stories ments, pre-trial conferences, proba- BRIAN RICHARDSON (B.A.) and she says. ing her time as a stay-at-home mom. USD. Jennifer has been published in titled Long To Love You. David lives tion modifications and violations, MICHELE (FREIDHOFF) SEIBOLD his wife, Daniella, welcomed the [2001] several journals on international in Omaha, Neb., with his wife and criminal motions, criminal trials, (B.A.) married Brian Seibold on July birth of their first child, Chelsea DEVON BOZLINSKI (B.A.) has TRACY PATTON (B.A.) lives in MEGHAN SELWAY (B.A.) left USD trade, water and public services. She two children. He is a resident assis- sentencing and unlawful detainer. 21, 2007. Diane Richardson, on Jan. 25, 2008. been working at Science Applica- Alexandria, Va., where her husband, to pursue a teaching credential in now heads up hurricane recovery ef- tant professor of creative writing at Prior to becoming a judge, he prac- The family has relocated to upstate tions International for 5½ years as a Jeff, works for the U.S. Air Force at Northern California and, after com- forts in Louisiana in the Planning and Creighton University. ticed in the areas of land use, real ECHRISTINA SPEVAK (B.A.) New York to be closer to family. Brian dolphin trainer for the Navy Marine the Pentagon. Tracy is a stay-at-home pletion, moved to Manhattan and Zoning Department. Most important estate and business law as an attor- earned a doctorate from Oregon continues to work as an associate Mammal Program. Dylan Gaudet ’00 mother for Kate, who was born Aug. worked for a learning center. Meghan to her is her daughter, Sophia Pearl JENNIFER NAKORCHEVSKY ney in the Inland Empire. Elia has Health and Science University in attorney for Geico Insurance. and Devon bought a house in La 10, 2008, and 21-month-old Jack. transitioned into public relations. Gerbasi Roberts. “My husband, baby (B.A.) gave birth to a son, Ivan Alek- had articles published by the South- Portland, Ore., in 2006. Christina then Mesa in September 2007. “Enjoying After three years in New York, she and I evacuated for our first hurricane sey, on July 2, 2008. He joins his big western University Law Review and accepted a post-doctoral position at BRYAN WEATHERUP (BBA) and life working on the house with the JOANNE ZIPAY (MFA) is the artis- moved back to San Francisco. in September 2008. The excitement sister, Olivia Ruth, who was born the University of Oregon Journal of the University of California, San Fran- his wife, Elizabeth ’01, moved with two dogs,” Devon says. tic director and producer of the Ju- After the dot-com crash, Meghan never ends. Be well.” Dec. 31, 2005. Environmental Law and Litigation. cisco’s Cancer Research Institute. She daughter Evelyn and son Carter to

38 USD MAGAZINE [reunion reminder] SUMMER 2009 39 SAMANTHA (DEVORE) DUNBAR “I continue to work out and run as KARA (BRANIFF) WELLER (B.A., as an assistant professor at Pacific ten is working at Leesville Road Ele- a senior representative of employee (BBA) and Jason Dunbar ’08 were much as the weeks allow me to, travel M.A. ’06) and her husband, Jason University of Oregon, and Lisa works mentary School in Raleigh, N.C., as communications for Northrop Grum- married in June 2007. The bridal par- whenever possible and see my family ’01, (J.D. ’04, MBA ’06) welcomed “fu- for Hewlett-Packard. the kindergarten, third- and fourth- man Corporation in Los Angeles. ty included alumnae Mollie Jones, on a regular basis,” Samuel says. ture Torero” Hunter Braniff Weller to grade counselor. “I work with an Katherine (Hill) Rehder and Renee the world on Feb. 16, 2008. ANN SCHOTT (B.A.) is in her amazing staff and wonderful kids,” ANNA (DIEGO) DECLERCQ (B.A.) (Duma) Vigo. Samantha and Jason CALEY COOK (B.A.) married fourth year teaching kindergarten at Kristen adds. “My family and I are is working toward a Ph.D. in Spanish live in San Diego. James Ballew ’02 on June 7, 2008. [2003] an elementary school in Hillsboro, very grateful for all the wonderful Literature at the University of Califor- USD alumni in the wedding party JOCELYN (TAFOYA) CASTILLO Ore. Ann vacationed in Belize with things in our lives.” nia, Riverside. MEGHAN CLARK HURLEY (BBA) included Danielle Deblieux, Katie (J.D.) has become a shareholder in her family in summer 2008. and Daniel ’01 were married in Oct- Fenelli and Nicole (Ott) Zilliox. Caley the Albuquerque, N.M., law firm of SOLAIMAN MESDAQ (BBA) JENELLE HAWKINS (B.A.) moved ober 2007. Mike Kirkeide, Mark Epes is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the Univer- Moses, Dunn, Farmer and Tuthill. MELISSA SHOTELL (B.A.) gradu- opened his own business, Tabac, a to San Francisco and works as mar- and Jennifer (Salter) Vasquez were all sity of Colorado, Boulder, in journal- Jocelyn serves as the Young Law- ated from dental school in May 2008. specialty coffee and hookah lounge keting and special events associate in the wedding party. Daniel was ism and mass media. yer’s Division Liaison to the State Bar Melissa is now in advanced residency in downtown San Diego. The busi- for a nonprofit organization called promoted to regional vice president of New Mexico’s Business Law Sec- at Ohio State University. ness’ Web site is www.tabacsd.com. Level Playing Field Institute. “Our of mutual funds sales with Evergreen ANDREA FERRADA (B.A.) is a tion. Jocelyn also serves as co-chair “We also manufacture cigars and goal is to find innovative solutions Investments, a division of Wachovia. traveling nurse and does relief work in of the Committee on Women in the HEATHER SPENCE (BBA) spent roast our own blend of coffee,” for unfairness in education and the Daniel and Meghan relocated to The foreign countries during her time off. Legal Profession, which was the 2008 18 months working in Caracas, Vene- Solaiman says. workplace with program to help Woodlands, just outside of Houston, She has been to Indonesia, Bangla- winner of the New Mexico State Bar’s zuela. Heather received her MBA in low-income students of color go to as a result of Daniel’s promotion. desh and Peru; most recently she award for outstanding committee. May 2008 from Notre Dame. CAPT. ANDREA NEWHOUSE (UC) Berkeley and graduate debt- spent a month in Haiti, where she (B.A.) left the U.S. Marine Corps in free,” she says. KARINA KIRANA (B.A.) married worked with Hands On Disaster Relief, ANDREW FLETCHER (M.A.) mar- AISHA TAYLOR (B.A.) was accept- July 2008 after serving four years on Derek Vollmer on Sept. 6, 2008, in an organization that rebuilds houses ried Tiffany Maguire on Aug. 9, 2008. ed into a Ph.D. program at Portland active duty. She is serving in the JESSICA (MILBOURN) REED Milwaukee. Karina and Derek met and schools after natural disasters. State University in the field of indus- Inactive Ready Reserve and was (B.A.) married Christopher Reed ’05 through their mutual friend, Beth MARY ANN (CANE) KAWAKAMI trial/organizational psychology. promoted to the rank of captain on on Sept. 6, 2008, in Cyprus Shore, San Rogers-Witte. In attendance at their NATASHA RADWAN (BBA) (BBA) married Stewart Kawakami on Aisha is expected to begin the pro- Aug. 1, 2008. She started a new job Clemente, Calif. The newlyweds live wedding were Kendra Shorten received her J.D. from Whittier Law May 9, 2008, in Hanalei, Hawaii. gram in September 2009. She plans as a defense contractor with AUSGAR in Hawaii. Wochos, Kelly Lynn and Beth Rogers- School and is now a practicing attor- to move from Washington, D.C., to Technologies, working in Point Loma Witte. On Nov. 1, 2008, Karina and ney in Orange County. Natasha spe- JENN (TORIO) MARQUIS (BBA) Portland and leave her current posi- at SPAWAR. Andrea planned to start [2006] Derek celebrated their marriage with cializes in real estate and business law. and her husband, Dom Marquis ’03, tion as executive director of the the part-time MBA program at USD CARYN ANDERSON (J.D.) joined a second wedding in Bali, Indonesia. welcomed their first child, daughter Women’s Ordination Conference. in Spring 2009. the complex civil litigation practice In attendance at the Bali wedding MARVIN SERHAN (MSGL) updat- Kaylee Jean Marquis, on July 3, 2008. group at Luce Forward Hamilton

were Matt Wheeler and Diane Dumas. ed a paper he originally wrote for a Jenn has put her event-planning ca- [2004] JAY PARKER (MSEL) says, “Our and Scripps LLP. Caryn represents BURCH ALAN Karina and Derek live in Washington, 2001 USD ethics class and entered it reer on hold to stay home and raise JIMMIE ELLIS (Ed.D.) was select- 2006 move to the Great Inland clients in matters involving class D.C., with their dog, Dasher. into the John Ben Sheppard Journal Kaylee. Dom continues to work for ed by the LDS Church to be the coun- Northwest (near Spokane) has prov- actions, contract disputes, employ- [profound impact] of Practical Leadership’s essay contest. Ernst & Young in Denver. ty director for all humanitarian proj- en to be a great blessing. We enjoy ment law, unfair competition law, SISTER SHARON McGUIRE The University of Texas editorial ects in Vietnam that are sponsored seeing and visiting friends and busi- consumer protection law, white- JUDITH RAUNER [1937-2009] passed away (Ph.D.) has been appointed to board chose Marvin’s paper as the ENRIQUE MONTEAGUDO (J.D.) or co-sponsored by the LDS Church. ness colleagues.” In August 2008 Jay collar crime, professional liability from a malignant brain tumor on March the steering committee and govern- cover story for the journal’s Spring passed the USPTO Patent Bar exam. Jimmie and his wife, Julia, are to be returned to consulting for the De- and trade secrets. ing board of Catholic Scholars for 2008 issue. Marvin, a retired U.S. Enrique works for ISE Corporation, a stationed in Hanoi until 2010, but partment of Defense programs, 23, 2009. Her life was dedicated to family Worker Justice. Navy captain, was a graduate of the heavy-duty hybrid vehicle manufac- Jimmie’s position was expected to which he hopes will bring him back JAMES BLACK (B.Acc.) runs his and community service. In 1980 — while Naval War College and Navy Fighter turer, as their patent manager. have him traveling to check on vari- to San Diego on occasion. own accounting practice. He reports LISA POPKINS (B.A.) was married Weapons School. Marvin’s 27-year ous projects. These include the distri- that he is one section away from ob- raising four children — she wrote and on Oct. 4, 2008. naval career culminated as com- JULIA (FERRIOLO) RAUSCHER bution of wheelchairs and a vision DAVID ROSALES (BBA) married taining his CPA license. self-published a handbook for nonprofit manding officer of Fleet Aviation (B.A.) has been married to her project with U.S. doctors operating Kendra Tarrant on Dec. 20, 2008 in SHAUN SUMNER (B.A., J.D. ’07) Specialized Operational Training husband, Seth, since July 15, 2006. on cataracts. Julia planned to teach Corona del Mar, Calif. LINDSEY BUDNY (B.A.) and Jason organizations titled, “Helping People welcomed Dominic Frank Anthony Group Pacific Fleet. Since leaving They were married at the Bernardo ESL students at a university in Hanoi. Kehrer ’05 were married in Founders Volunteer.” She founded USD’s Center for Sumner on Oct. 21, 2008, at 11:32 active duty in 1997, Marvin has Heights Country Club in San Diego. PETER SCIABARRA (MSGL) re- Chapel on June 28, 2008. “We met in a.m. Dominic was born at UCSD worked in the utility, telematics and They live near San Diego State Uni- CLARK GULER (BBA) and his wife, tired March 28, 2008, from the U.S. undergraduate chemistry lab at Community Service-Learning in 1986 and Medical Center in Hillcrest weighing security industries. He works for IBM versity with their black Labrador. The Courtney Leaver, were married Oct. Navy after 27 years onboard the USS USD,” Lindsey says. Lindsey is a man- served as its director until she retired in 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and measuring as a business development executive couple works for their pool servicing 19, 2008, at a vineyard in Escondido. Midway. He was named director of ager at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix, 18 inches in length. supporting their Intelligent Utility company, Rauscher’s Pool Care. Seth field operations at Vistage Interna- and Jason is expected to graduate 2002. The innovative course-based service- Network team. Marvin lives in Camas, takes care of all the maintenance, MARISSA LYFTOGT (BBA, J.D. tional in San Diego on June 18, 2008, from medical school in June 2009. learning program that she began in 1995 [2002] Wash., with his family. repairs, sales and customer service, ’08) was hired in December 2008 as and is enrolled in the Ph.D. program SAMUEL ASSAEL (BBA) signed and Julia does the accounting. Julia an associate at Fisher & Phillips LLP, a at USD’s School of Leadership and REBECCA (ESPARZA) CONTRE- has led to over 80 courses from depart- a contract shortly after the 2002 JUSTIN SMITH (B.A.) married also works in childcare and is taking law firm that specializes in labor and Education Sciences. RAS (M.A.) and Rigo Contreras Jr. USD baseball season with the Detroit Amanda Phelps ’03 on Dec. 4, 2004. early childhood education classes. employment law, in Irvine, Calif. Prior were married July 6, 2007. They pur- ments across the university that incorpo- Tigers, where he played one year in the They welcomed daughter Savannah to finishing her law degree, Marissa [2005] chased their first home on Dec. 4, rate relevant service-learning components minor leagues. After that, he started Grace Smith into the world on Aug. MICHAEL ROWELL (B.A.) married was a legal assistant at Puente Con- MICHAEL BEIDLER (MSGL) is 2008. Rebecca is coordinating a col- in the business world as a wine repre- 28, 2006. “We love our life together,” Lisa (Johansen) Rowell ’04 on May sulting. She lives in Costa Mesa. attending the Army’s Defense Lan- lege outreach program called San into their classroom studies. Rauner sentative with Gallo Wine Co. Eight Justin writes. Justin and Amanda are 31, 2008, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Mi- guage Institute in Monterey, Calif. Diego State University Talent Search. touched a great many lives with her work; months later, Samuel found his way both in education. Justin has taught chael received his Ph.D. in mathe- KRISTEN (SEMON) LYNCH (B.A., into the finance field with JP Morgan pre-algebra, algebra 1, geometry, al- matics from Penn State in 2007, M.A. ’07) and her husband, Patrick, CHRISTINA BERTSCH (B.A.) CHRISTINE CYR (B.A.) and her read testimonials from colleagues and Chase Bank as an account executive. gebra 2 and psychology. The family while Lisa earned a master’s degree welcomed their son, Riley, who was graduated with a master’s degree in husband, Fernando Clemente, have former students or make a donation to a Samuel has been at his current job for lived outside of Philadelphia for four in computer science engineering in born on May 6, 2008. “He is healthy mass communication research from a son, Alejandro, who was born in five years and enjoys the relationships years but now lives in The Wood- 2008. Michael and Lisa have relocat- and happy and has brought much the University of Colorado, Boulder, August 2006. “I am currently stay- scholarship fund in her name online at he has built with friends and clients. lands, Texas. ed to Oregon where Michael works joy to our lives,” Kristen writes. Kris- in May 2008. She is now working as ing home with him and enjoying www.sandiego.edu/csl/judyrauner.

40 USD MAGAZINE [reunion reminder] SUMMER 2009 41 every minute,” Christine says. She is He previously worked for the non- ing company. (See story on page 36.) Brooke says. In addition to acting, enjoying her time in San Francisco. GINA (ROALDI) HOGUE (M.A.) der-serviced Catholic schools, he USD Athletics Department. (See story studying nutrition and is consider- profit Baltimore Urban Debate Brooke has modeled for Perfect “I have been in contact with several and her husband, Sonny, had a daugh- will receive his master’s degree in on page 15.) ing pursuing a degree in osteo- League, an organization that enrich- JULIE DILLING (B.A.) attends Wedding Guide and has also gotten USD graduates who currently live in ter, Kaya Marie, on Nov. 21, 2007. secondary education and a certifica- pathic medicine. es the lives of Baltimore City middle medical school at American Universi- involved with them on a business the Bay Area,” she says. tion in Spanish. SISTER HELEN HAMMACK, RSCJ, and upper school students through ty of the Caribbean School of Medi- level as an account coordinator. KATHLEEN HOLLOWAY (B.A.) is served as associate professor and ASHLEY EVANS (B.A.) lives in Los participation in team policy debate. cine. Julie is living on the island of St. “I do advertising sales, bridal shows ELIZABETH SALES (LLMT) is an teaching English to businessmen for JENNIFER RANDLES (MSN) lives chair of the biology department at Angeles and works as an assistant to Maarten. “It has been challenging, and handle client accounts.” attorney for Butterfield Schechter a private school in Milan, Italy, “just in San Diego with her husband. She USD from 1969 to 1971. She passed the hosts and anchors of the enter- LAURA SMITH (M.Ed.), her hus- but the USD Biology and Chemistry LLP in San Diego. Elizabeth special- like I told USD Magazine what I was works as a clinical nurse specialist in away in Atherton, Calif., on March tainment television show, Extra. band Steven and their children have Department gave me the foundation KRISTOPHER KILDOSHER (B.A.) izes in ERISA Litigation, employee planning on doing for an interview the emergency department at Palo- 16, 2009. relocated to Dover, N.H. Laura teach- I need to become a successful medi- is in his second year at the Bethel stock ownership plans, pension and for the last issue!” mar Medical Center. KERRY FARRAND (B.A.) attends es physical education at Pittsfield El- cal student,” Julie says. She complet- School of Supernatural Ministry in profit sharing plans, employee ben- JOHN O’TOOLE (BBA ’86) passed Alliant International University and is ementary School in Pittsfield, N.H. ed her second semester in January Redding, Calif. He is expected to efits, business law, qualified domes- JENNIFER JONES (M.A.) has SANNA (HENZI) ROOT (MSN) away on Aug. 2, 2008. He was an at- in the Psy.D. program in forensic psy- She also coaches a middle-school 2009 and expected to return to graduate in May 2009. tic orders and tax law. joined the board of the San Diego married Jeffrey Root on May 30, torney and had lived in Orange chology. boys basketball team. the U.S. for her rotations. “I am very Human Dignity Foundation. 2008, in Maui, Hawaii, shortly after County since 1988. “He enjoyed trav- grateful for the worthwhile opportu- RAYMOND MERCADO (B.A.) is SARAH SPEED (J.D.) is the direc- graduation. The couple lives in Hun- eling, listening to music — particu- DANIEL GIESE (BBA) and his wife, LAURA (STANCZAK) STRALEY nity and being able to serve those pursuing a Ph.D. in political science tor of the Pennsylvania State Director JENNIFER (TOPLEY) JOSSELYN tington Beach, Calif., while Jeffrey larly the symphony where he was a Shannon ’00 had their second child, (B.A.) married Christopher Straley who are in need.” at Duke University. He also serves as of the Humane Society of the United (M.Ed.) married Jeff Josselyn of finishes his last year of surgical resi- season-ticket holder — baseball and Gavin Daniel, on Nov. 4, 2007. on Dec. 20, 2008, at Founders Chapel. a consultant to plaintiffs and defen- States. Sarah advocated for recently Riverside, Calif., on June 6, 2008. dency at the UC Irvine Medical Cen- playing with his German shepherd, MICHAEL COLIN DOWD (BBA, dants in patent litigation. passed anti-puppy mill legislation Jeff is a helicopter pilot in the U.S. ter. Sanna took a position as trauma Joey,” writes his wife Nancy. SULTANA AKKAN KASSEGNE CHELSEY WATKINS (M.Ed.) and B.A.) is working for the Vanguard that will positively affect hundreds of Navy. Jennifer works in the San injury prevention coordinator at the (MBA) joined Leap Wireless Inter- her husband, Sheldon, moved back Group in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is run- JENNIFER MILLER (BBA) is a thousands of dogs held in Pennsylva- Diego Unified School District as a UC Irvine Medical Center. JUDITH RAUNER ’95 (Ed.D.), a national (Cricket Wireless) and has to San Diego from Bloomington, ning a football ticket business, www. first-year law student at Loyola Law nia’s commercial breeding kennels. resource specialist at Jones Elementa- visionary community service leader been enjoying her job as manager Ind. Chelsey accepted a principalship DesertSeats.com. School. ry and Zamorano Elementary schools. AARON SHELLEY (MBA) complet- and author who founded USD’s Com- of capitalplanning and putting all at Southwestern Christian School [2008] ed his Marine Corps career on Sept. munity Service-Learning Program, of the people management skills in Chula Vista. Sheldon finished his ASHLEY (CLEMENTE) FULMER OLGA NAVARRETE-MOTE (BSN, BENJAMIN BRUESEKE (J.D.) and PAUL KHAIT (MSEL) and his wife, 30, 2008, and finished a tour with died peacefully from a malignant and finance and accounting knowl- teaching credential and coaches (B.A.) was married at Founders MSN ’08) is teaching for the nursing his wife, Lori, are living in Las Vegas. Julia, welcomed the newest addition the Naval Reserve Officers Training brain tumor on March 23, 2009. Her edge she acquired at USD into prac- Mira Mesa High School’s varsity Chapel in August 2007. In fall 2007 program at San Diego State University. Benjamin is a law clerk for the Clark to their family, Mia Danielle Khait, on Corps Unit, San Diego. He works for family suggests contributions to the tice. “My studies at USD have been baseball team. Ashley entered the teaching cre- County District Attorney’s Office. “I July 28, 2008. Paul and his family Calloway Golf Company in Carlsbad Dr. Judy Rauner Scholarship at the transforming and enabled me to dential program at the University CARRIE PACELLI (B.A.) started a passed the Nevada Bar and I love it have since moved from San Diego to as a principal financial analyst. University of San Diego. For informa- position in an area where there are YONG YEH (J.D.) is a second-year of California, Riverside, and re- master’s program in education (sec- out here,” he says. Santa Clara, Calif. tion, go to www.sandiego.edu/csl/ many opportunities for career associate in the tax department at ceived an internship at Sierra ondary biology) after graduating LEONIDA SILAO (B.A.) says, “I’ve judyrauner. (See story on page 41.) growth,” she says. Weil Gotshal and Manges LLP in Middle School in Riverside as a sev- from USD. She expected to graduate JASON CHAN (J.D.) founded East- PAMELA LANDY (B.A.) is a first- been enjoying time to myself and am New York City. enth-grade life science teacher. in March 2009 and then planned to ern Leaf during his first year of law grade teacher in Chula Vista. currently searching for a temporary JENNIFER MALKOWSKI (B.A.) Ashley received her preliminary move to Maadi, Egypt, to work and school. Jason’s company is in its job to begin paying off loans and to teaches in the Department of Commu- [2007] teaching credential in June 2008 pursue a second master’s degree in fourth year of business with a large JEFFREY LEWIS (B.A.) makes cos- save up for grad school — if I decide Have You Moved? nication Studies at USD. “Go Toreros!” KATHRYN AGOSTINELLI (B.Acc., and continues to teach at Sierra anthropology. warehouse and office with several metics at a San Diego-area personal to go through with it.” Leonida also is B.A.) is in her second year at UCLA’s Middle School, where she is a volley- employees. For more information, care manufacturing facility. contemplating teaching English in E-mail your new address to alumni@ ERIGENA MILLAN-COFFEY School of Law, where she is pursuing ball coach and the yearbook adviser. JOSEPH QUIROZ (B.S./B.A.) got visit www.easternleaf.com. Japan or South Korea for a year. sandiego.edu, or mail it to: University (M.Ed) married Jason Coffey on a specialization in business law. She a full-time job at Northrop Grum- ANN MANCHESTER (MSN) was of San Diego, Advancement Services, July 1, 2007, in National City, Calif. planned to work with Foley and Lard- MONICA GREENWALD (B.A.) has man’s Unmanned Systems Develop- DANIEL CHIRIBOGA (B.A.) was in married in September 2008 at RYAN SWEETNAM (BBA) has 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego CA 92110. ner in Los Angeles as a summer asso- been attending Vanderbilt University’s ment Center in Rancho Bernardo. Quantico, Va., for training in the U.S. Founders Chapel. been working on establishing and LINDSEY PARKER (B.A.) works ciate beginning in May 2009. School of Nursing. She expects to He supports the integration and Marine Corps and expected to go on expanding Extreme Clean, a compa- as a graphics designer in Carlsbad graduate with a master’s of nursing in testing of systems for the ground to Pensacola, Fla., for Navy flight CRISTINA MARES (B.A.) is a ny that offers a wide range of exteri- for the Upper Deck Company. She is JOY CHESBROUGH-BERRY pediatric primary care in August 2009. segment of the Global Hawk pro- school. teaching assistant in Cassà de la or maintenance services. He started Send Class Notes a designer for Upper Deck’s creative (M.A.) recently took a job managing She hopes to work as a pediatric nurse gram. “It has been a superb first Selva, a small town outside of the business four years ago. “The sports division and specializes in the all of MAP International’s philan- practitioner in Phoenix. job, providing me with opportuni- LT. DEREK GOTTLIEB (B.A.) was Girona, Spain. She expects to be in university instilled strong values Send class notes to one of the following company’s NFL products. thropy and development national- ties to travel and to lead teams. I’m commissioned from the Air Force Spain until June 2009. “I am enjoying and morals which have structured addresses and depending on space, ly. As senior development director JENNIFER (BROWN) GRIFFIN hoping in the next few years to at- NROTC at San Diego State Universi- Spain immensely. I returned (here) the company’s core while providing we’ll do our best to get them in VANESSA PERRY (B.A.) is en- of philanthropy services, she man- (B.A.) married Naaman Griffin on tend grad school to work toward an ty on May 23, 2008, becoming a after spending my junior semester an ethical, compassionate and envi- USD Magazine as soon as possible. rolled at San Diego State University’s ages and supervises a team of five Aug. 16, 2008. The couple now lives MBA in some sort of operational second lieutenant on active duty. at USD in Madrid,” Cristina says. ronmentally friendly service to the Class notes may be edited for length Master of Science in Rehabilitation national regional development rep- in Spokane, Wash. management, possibly in conjunc- Derek and his wife, Ann (Jeffries) community,” Ryan says. Learn more and clarity. Engagements, pregnancies, Counseling program. She specializes resentatives for MAP, a global relief tion with an MSE in Industrial Engi- Gottlieb ’08, celebrated their wed- ALEXIS (OLSEN) MELROSE at www.extremecleansurfaces.com. personal e-mail addresses and tele- in psychiatric rehabilitation. and development nongovernmen- JASON HANCOCK (MSRE) relo- neering,” he says. Joseph lives in ding day on May 24, 2008. The day (B.A., CRED.) married Brian Mel- phone numbers cannot be published. tal organization. “My next step is to cated to Dallas and is working for Clairemont and has “no desire to after that, Derek and Ann graduat- rose ’06 at Founders Chapel ANDREW RABITOY (M.A.) was take a job with MAP in Europe and Criterion Development Partners, a move away from San Diego any- ed from the University of San Diego. on August 23, 2008. E-mail: [email protected] recently hired as the director of the manage their international devel- company that develops apartments time soon if I can help it.” The couple went on their honey- In Memoriam Web site: www.sandiego.edu/usdmag BBA Career Management Center at opment and fundraising, globally,” in Texas and in the Northeast. moon in Kauai and Maui, Hawaii. MICHAEL PAA (J.D.) is an attor- U.S. Mail: USD Magazine Class Notes, Emory University’s Goizueta Business she says. JOY RICHARDSON (BBA) was em- “It was a wild three days, to say the ney for Blanchard, Krasner and TOM HAGEDORN, USD men’s University of San Diego, Department School in Atlanta. BROOKE HOYT (B.A.) has pursued ployed as marketing coordinator for least,” Derek says. The couple is French in La Jolla. tennis coach, passed away after an of University Communications, C. BRANDON De YOUNG (BBA, acting post-college. “I have been Diedrich Coffee after graduation. now in Columbus, Miss., where Derek 18-month battle with leukemia on 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, CA 92110 MATTHEW SKARZYNSKI (B.A.) MSRE ’08) completed his Master of fortunate enough to land agents in After working in Orange County, Ca- is attending Air Force flight training CHRISTOPHER RAMSEY (B.A.) is March 21, 2009. His wife Melissa and was awarded a Fulbright U.S. stu- Science in Real Estate at USD in 2008. Los Angeles, Orange County and lif., for a year and a half at Diedrich and Ann is attending Mississippi a graduate student at Providence his sister Sandy were at his side. Those Please note that Class Notes dent scholarship to Malaysia and is He is now vice president of opera- San Diego. I was recently credited Coffee, she was offered a promotion State University to earn a master’s College in Providence, R.I., where wishing to honor him with memorial submitted after May 1, 2009, working as an English teaching as- tions at De Young Properties in Fres- on www.imdb.com for the last film and the opportunity to move to San degree in counseling. “We can’t he’s in the Providence Alliance for gifts are asked to make a donation in will be considered for publica- sistant in the province of Kuala Ter- no, Calif. De Young Properties is a I was in and I am part of a local im- Francisco. Joy is now assistant brand wait to see USD again and see the Catholic Teachers program. Follow- his name to the Leukemia and Lym- tion in the Spring 2010 issue of rengganu through November 2009. land development and home build- provisation troupe, Hinges Improv,” manager for Diamond Foods and is changes,” Derek says. ing a two-year commitment to un- phoma Society of San Diego or to the USD Magazine.

42 USD MAGAZINE [reunion reminder] SUMMER 2009 43 Be a part of USD history.

The Student Life Pavilion is nearly complete, scheduled to open this fall.

This new center of campus life — reflecting the needs of today’s active, technologically savvy students — will provide

large open spaces, a multitude of dining options, work spaces for students and a marketplace

open late into the evening. Be a part of history by having your name, or that of your organization,

etched into the Plaza Mayor on a 24” by 3” paver stone.

If you love what you do, you’re a success.

After graduation, our students go on to the sort of challenging careers that make a life worth living. Whether they pursue the arts or business, science or the law, health care, conflict resolution or another path entirely, their USD education provides a foundation that’s sturdy enough to build a life upon. Your gift makes their journey possible. Create your mark. A paver stone can make you a permanent part of USD. Give today. Call (619) 260-4724 or go to www.sandiego.edu/giving. Call (619) 260-7514 or go to www.sandiego.edu/studentlifepavilion for more information.

PICTURED: ALUMNUS ANDREW FIRESTONE ‘98 (WITH DOG TWIGGY)

OFFICE OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS NON-PROFIT ORG. 5998 ALCALÁ PARK U.S. POSTAGE SAN DIEGO, CA 92110-2492 PAID SAN DIEGO, CA UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO / SUMMER 2009 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED PERMIT NO. 365

A USD MAGAZINE