Class Notes

We Want to Hear From You
Tell your fellow Hornets what’s new in your life. Sac State Magazine welcomes your news on job changes, relocations, marriages, babies, additional degrees, community service, etc. Send submissions by mail: to Sac State Magazine, 6000 J St., Sacramento, CA 95819-6072 or by e-mail to alumni@csus.edu. Please include your name, year of graduation, degree and contact information.

1950s

Robert (Bob) Byron Taylor, ’56, B.A., Education, writes: “I was a member of the first class that studied on the then mud fields of Sac State. I am also the unproud owner of one of the worst transcripts ever accumulated at our fair campus. I joined the Air Force, and through a great program called ‘Operation Bootstrap,’ I was able to bring my grades up to the point where I could return to Sac State and graduate. My experiences in the Air Force led to employment at the Dallas Times Herald newspaper in Texas, where I was the editorial cartoonist for 31 years. In 1980, I was elected president of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. I mention all of this simply to express my gratitude for Sac State’s patience regarding my teenage UNSTUDY habits and giving me a second chance.” Taylor and his wife, Anne, make their home in Auburn.


1970s

Robert ‘Bob’ Little, ’71, B.A. and ’79, M.A., Art, says that by the time he received a master’s degree, he had already worked 21 years for the National Guard. In 1980, he was in the job of his dreams as a graphic artist and continued in that vein until his retirement in 1993. Since then, he and his wife, Carla, have served as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spending 18 months each in Puerto Rico, Brazil and Spain. In his spare time, he has written two musicals, two books and reworked illustrations for a children’s book his mother wrote 50 years ago. His latest musical was performed in Sacramento last November. They live in Sacramento’s River Park.

Betty Miller ’74, M.A., Drama, retired in 2007 after teaching drama and French and directing plays at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento for 38 years. She was also the Foreign Language Department chair for 30 years. Miller created the Readers Theatre program at Rio, conducting many workshops and performances for schools and community groups throughout the region. She also had groups participating in the Lenaea Festival at Sac State for many years and directed more than 100 plays and Readers Theatre productions. While teaching, she was a volunteer for the Sacramento Police Department’s homicide unit for 10 years and is a volunteer for Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary. She resides in Sacramento.

Peggy Piccardo, ’73, B.A., Family and Consumer Sciences; ’92, M.A., Administrative Credential, and three other degrees, is currently the principal at Arden Middle School in Sacramento. She is proud to say that Arden has an API score of 835, and the school ranks in the top ten nationally for Science Olympiad. Arden’s band program also receives high honors for its outstanding music. Piccardo says that her success as an educator for the last 34 years is directly linked to her studies at Sac State. She and husband, Alan, live in Sacramento’s College Greens area.

Edward Winkler,’79, B.S. and ’84, M.S., Civil Engineering, is vice president of the engineering firm CH2M Hill and is the regional client services director in Northern California. He accepted the position after completing 28 years of public service in the water industry. Winkler and his wife, Trish, will be “empty nesters” soon as daughters Chelsea and Krista are away enjoying college life. The Winklers live in Carmichael.

1980s

Molly Watkins, ’88, B.A., Communication Studies, was one of six Northern California women honored at the “Common Threads” awards ceremony at UC Davis in March. The luncheon is sponsored by the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation. Giving back to her community, Watkins created Ag Venture to show children how food is produced. She is a rancher and family farmer and lives with her husband, Kenny, in the San Joaquin County town of Linden.

1990s

Richard (Rick) Balazs, ’97, B.A., Environmental Studies, is the senior project manager for the Sacramento County Department of Economic Development and was instrumental in the Mather Redevelopment Project. Backpacking, snowboarding and kayaking take up some of the leisure time for Balazs and his wife, Carolyn,’99, B.S., Natural Sciences and Mathematics. They are the proud parents of nearly 1-year-old Alex. Carolyn, who is an environmental specialist with Sacramento County, writes: “I appreciate the knowledge and treasure the memories I gained during my time at Sac State.”

Mary Forster, ’91, B.A., Communication Studies, has been active for the last five years volunteering for the foundation where her children go to school. She has served as president for the last two years. Recently, she finished schooling to be certified to help people through violence-free relationships. Forster will be working to help individuals in the court system and will be going to schools to talk about safety and healthy relationships. She lives in El Dorado Hills.

Larry (Jeff) Hone, ’91, B.S., Biological Sciences, is director of continuous improvement for Nelson Laboratories, Inc., in Salt Lake City. He is now listed in the National Registry of Microbiologists. In November, he was certified as a Registered Microbiologist in Consumer Product Quality Assurance Microbiology, specializing in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and cosmetics. The goals of the registry are to minimize risk to the public by identifying qualified microbiologists and to encourage mastery of microbiological knowledge and skills that contribute to improving the human condition. Jeff and his wife, Becki, live in South Jordan, Utah.

Kimberly (Kim) Ann Hunter, ’90, B.A., Communication Studies, was appointed general counsel for the California Highway Patrol last September. While working and attending Sac State at night, Hunter was a spokeswoman for various state agencies. In her mid-30s, she returned to night school at Lincoln Law School and passed the bar on her first try at age 40. Hunter writes, “My eldest daughter, Adeline, will start at Sac State next year, and my youngest daughter, Denise, will start her senior year at St. Francis Catholic Girls School. We all live in Sacramento, with two cats and a mini poodle in Midtown.” Hunter says that every day is challenging and interesting and points out that her clients are willing to lay down their lives for her and her fellow Californians.

Mark Massari, ’92, B.A., History, was appointed UC Santa Barbara’s 13th director of athletics on August 18, 2008, by Chancellor Henry T. Yang. Massari arrived on the Santa Barbara campus after serving seven years at Oregon State University, most recently as senior associate athletic director. The Napa native played four years of Hornet football (#32) for Coach Bob Mattos and began his career as an athletic development intern at Sac State. Massari and his wife, Kim, live in Santa Barbara.

Todd Sleizer, ’93, B.S., Mathematics, and his business partner, Scott Morris, ’93, B.S., Criminal Justice Administration, engaged the help of their Realtor, Heath Charamuga, ’94, B.S., Business (Real Estate), and on Jan. 1 took over the old Hudson Dive Center on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento, renaming it The Northern California Swimstitute. They currently offer lap swimming, swim lessons for all ages and abilities, birthday parties, recreational swimming and water aerobics. Sleizer lives in Fair Oaks.

2000s

Janet Aly, ’08, B.A., Art Studio, has been participating regularly in local solo and group art exhibitions along with various national and international art exhibitions, publications and private collections. Aly received a New Orleans City Council Proclamation in recognition of her artistic contribution to the International Muslim Artist Exhibition at the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History in 2007. She also participated in the Liturgical Arts Festival: Come Creative Spirit, in May and June, in Springfield, Ill., a national exhibition of religious art in all its forms. Aly will be featured in an article about Muslim women in Azizah Magazine, and had a solo exhibition at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op this May. Visit her web site www.janetaly.com.

Nicki Croly, ’07, B.A., Communication Studies (Public Relations), is attending graduate school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for the Student Affairs in Higher Education program. She works at Carnegie Mellon University as the graduate assistant for fraternity and sorority life, advising seven fraternities and sororities, the Pan-Hellenic Council, and Up ’til Dawn, which raises money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She has a graduate position on the 2009 Annual Conference staff for the Northeast Greek Leadership Association and a practicum this semester at University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in the Student Activities, Leadership, and Community Service office. After graduation, Croly plans to return to California.

David Hornbeck, ’08, B.S., Business Administration (Real Estate), has earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional designation from the United States Green Building Council. An associate with Grubb & Ellis Company, he is among the first commercial real estate agents in the Central Valley to receive the designation. Hornbeck is an associate specializing in the leasing and sales of industrial properties in the Sacramento and Stockton areas and joined Grubb & Ellis in 2008 following a 10-year tenure with the United States Marine Corps. He lives in Rocklin.

Ryan Leach, ’04, B.S., Business Administration (Marketing), is the creator of LostZombies.com, a web site that won two awards at the SXSW (South By SouthWest) Interactive Awards in Austin, Texas, this past March. SXSW is one of the top festivals in the world. Leach writes that he wanted to show what graduates from Sac State can achieve. He makes Pleasanton his home.

Kathleen Cassidy Peck, MPT, ’08, M.A., Physical Therapy, has joined Laguna Physical Therapy & Hand Rehabilitation in Elk Grove as a full-time physical therapist working with children and adults. While attending Sac State, Peck was a sales associate at LaFoot Plus, a technical shoe fitting retailer in Sacramento, which gave her experience in orthotic fitting and adjustments and gait analysis. Laguna Physical Therapy offers physical therapy, hand therapy and pediatric rehabilitation.


DeDe Cordell, ’96: On duty in Iraq

Photo: DeDe Cordell in IraqThey say hard work can get you to where you want to be. For DeDe Stirnaman Cordell (’96, Communication Studies), that place was Iraq.

Cordell is a civilian public affairs specialist with the Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. In April, she returned home from a six-month tour of duty in Baghdad as the public affairs director for the corps in the Gulf region.

“I have an adventurous spirit, and Dad raised a patriot,” she says, explaining why she volunteered to go to Iraq.

She was responsible for promoting public awareness of corps projects and activities.

“Being there was like public affairs on steroids,” she says. “You do everything, you do it at 150 mph and you do it nonstop for 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week.”

She says her tour in a war zone was not as scary as she initially thought. “We had moments, but none that would cause any trauma. My husband’s big concern was not that something would physically happen to me, but that I might see something terrible that would change me. It didn’t happen.”

Cordell says her educational experience at Sac State not only helped her in her career, it helped develop her work ethic.

“I was not blessed to have full-ride scholarships or parents who could afford college, so I had to work hard to continue to go to school,” she says. “But I learned what I was made of and how to reach people, and that came in handy in Baghdad.”

Now that she has returned from what she describes as an “awesome experience,” she is getting reacquainted with her husband, dog and life back in the United States.

“You don’t realize the things that you miss, like colors,” she says. “There is so much color here, and I don’t remember it being so vibrant. Everything there was beige.”

—Michael A. Ward

Jamillah Moore, ’92 and ’95: Leading the way for students

Photo: Jamillah MooreSometimes the path through life takes you right back to where you began. For Jamillah Moore, it took her back to Los Angeles, the place where she grew up. Along the way it brought her through Sacramento and to Sac State.

Moore (’92, B.A., Communication Studies and ’95, M.A., Intercultural Communication and Public Policy) is the president of Los Angeles City College, part of the state’s largest community college district. The nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District has more than 130,000 students, and LACC has more than 17,000.

“My mother and father both attended LACC, and to have their daughter as the president is quite exciting for them,” she says, “but I just call it good karma and the universe opening back up.”

She enrolled at Sac State through the University’s Educational Opportunity Program, which provides support for students from historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged groups.

“EOP showed me that access equals success,” Moore says. “I learned that the foundation for students was to give them the resources they needed, the tools to navigate the college process and the opportunity to succeed. As the president of a large urban college, I have a unique appreciation of students who have needs because I was one of those students. I had an economic need.”

Her early goals as a Sac State student were to move into broadcast journalism and “to have Katie Couric’s job.” But she ventured off that path when she began mixing journalism and politics.

“I had internships in television and radio then did an internship with a program (Sacramento Semester),” she says. “I became intrigued by the process of how the media work in tandem with policy and informing constituencies.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree, she accepted an internship with the state Senate and found that she enjoyed education policy even more than the media. Since then, she has been a senior consultant for the California State Senate Select Committee on College and University Admissions and Outreach, director of governmental relations for the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and the senior vice chancellor for governmental and external relations for the California Community Colleges System Office. She became president of Los Angeles City College in 2007.

“Getting an education opened the door for me,” she says.

— Michael A. Ward