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Class Notes
Stan Barrick, ’67, B.A., Mathematics, ’70, Education Credential, ’75, M.A., Teacher Education, is a professor of learning skillsat Sac State where he coordinates the math program for 1,300 remedial math students—about 35 percent of the first-time freshmen. He is also the content co-author of a Sac State website for high school students that gives authoritative advice regarding mathematics preparation for students interested in attending the University. In addition, Barrick oversees an e-learning program for students who completed the Early Assessment Program and are conditionally exempt in their last year of high school. He and his wife, Holly, live in Gold River.
Elizabeth Hurst Jones, ’68, B.A., Social Work, ’75, M.S.W., created the Parent Support Program while employed by Sacramento County in the Department of Social Welfare. As a counselor and since her retirement, Jones has worked with homeless programs and was a Stephen minister for Foothill United Methodist Church. She reports that one of her cases was ongoing for 18 months, but has proven to be a great success. She makes her home in Cameron Park.
Lee Ferrero, ’69, B.A., Recreation Administration, is president/CEO of the Private Industry Council of San Luis Obispo County, Inc. He is also a member of the Leadership San Luis Obispo board of directors and has been appointed to the dean’s advisory committee of the Cal Poly State University School of Business. A special first has occurred in the Ferrero family - Lee and Valerie’s first grandchild, John Ferrero Stout, arrived this past fall in Long Beach, Calif.
Bonnie Neff, ’69, B.S., Business Administration, has just completed her 27th year teaching at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento and was honored at Drexel University in Philadelphia, receiving an award during spring commencement for distinguished teaching. She was among four teachers from across the nation to win the honor in this year’s “Behind Every Graduate Award” program, presented to teachers who had steered students toward college and academic success. At Sac State, Neff’s original career choice was to either be a stenographer/court reporter or an information officer for the United States government. Years ago, a chance fill-in as an economics teacher at a local high school put her on the path to becoming an educator. She lives in Sacramento.
1970s
William (Bill) Enos, ’64, B.S., Business Administration, ’78, M.A., Education, is the president of the Siskiyou County Board of Education and has been the Area 2 Trustee, which includes Mount Shasta Elementary School District, since 1999. On that board, he served as president for seven years. As a lifelong educator, first as a Sacramento-area teacher, principal and superintendent, Enos moved to Siskiyou County where he later retired after serving as the superintendent of Siskiyou Union High School District. He is also the Region 2 Director of the California School Boards Association, representing Modoc, Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Plumas, and Lassen counties. He and his wife, Lillian, live in Mount Shasta.
1980s
Vito Tomasino, ’83, B.S., Economics, M.A., International Affairs, is currently working for Boeing Aircraft/SSE Inc. in St. Louis, Mo. Recently, his novel Kracek was published and is available at amazon.com, bn.com and other sites. The book tells the story of Captain Viktor Kracek, a thinking man’s fighter pilot, who sees his enemies not as faceless inhuman beings, but as good men and women who simply find themselves on the other side of a war none of them want. While others see war as an extension of diplomacy, Kracek sees it as a failure of leaders to resolve their differences with reason. Excerpts can be read on Tomasino’s website, www.vtoma. squarespace.com
Jill Jeffers Bissell, ’85, B.A., Liberal Studies, ’85, Education Credentials, is a self-employed clinical psychologist with an emphasis on restoring family harmony. Bissell is involved in training parents who have adopted Ukranian orphans and their caseworkers on how to work with traumatized children. Bissell resides in Sacramento with her husband, John.
Kathleen (Kathy) Sanborn, ’89, B.A., Psychology, is a musician, recording artist and author living in Grass Valley, Calif. She has appeared on dozens of radio stations and her interviews have been published in many magazines and newspapers, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Her biography is in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who of American Women. Sanborn’s new music CD “Peaceful Sounds” delves into controversial topics including war, poverty and homeless veterans in a style that ranges from folksy jazz to adult alternative. For more information, visit www.kathysanborn.com.
1990s
Christopher N. Cruz, ’90, B.S., Criminal Justice, has been employed with the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons since graduation. He recently relocated back to the Sacramento area where he is CEO for the Eastern District of California, located in the federal building in downtown Sacramento.
Ronnie L. Cobb, ’92, B.S., Business Administration, is the manager of diversity and inclusive programs for the Kaiser Corporation, overseeing all internal and external diversity programs for the region. Prior to his role at Kaiser, Cobb served in corporate-level human resource positions at Paychex Corporation for eight years, and at The Money Store overseeing hiring for 42 states and Europe. He started his career in human resources with the State of California and County of Sacramento. As a student at Sac State, he also played on the men’s basketball team. He lives in Sacramento.
Tanya D. Markis, ’92, B.S., Biological Sciences, is self-employed as a partner in an optometry practice in Grass Valley, Calif. She met her business partner, Diana Holcomb, while attending Sac State. They were both pre-optometry students majoring in biological sciences, and both went on to attend the College of Optometry in Fullerton, Calif. Markis is now married and has a 6 year-old son. She says her practice is doing well and she loves her new home and location.
Henry Kreuter, ’94, M.A., French, and former Sacramento Mascot, the Big Tomato, has just produced his second fitness video. He has served on the boards of the American Church in Paris and the Spanish Association of Jeet Kune Do. He lives in Santa Barbara where he runs www.maintenanceworkout.com. He can be reached at hkreuter@gmail.com.
Jason Jones, ’96, B.A., English, has earned his doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s College while conducting a study in Long Beach about effective math teachers. His plans include speaking at conferences and conducting large-scale policy research in education. Jones and his family have created the Dwight Jones Memorial With Kids in Mind scholarship fund in memory of his late father and they are raising money to give to deserving students from Siskiyou County. He currently manages a children’s enrichment program in the tri-cities area of Union City, Fremont and Newark, Calif. He says the program “gives back to the community opportunities for summer enrichment for children entering grades 4-9.” Jones has taught English at the secondary level for three years and worked in a program that serves disadvantaged students and provides retention opportunities for eligible students to succeed in college. Among other career positions, he spent three years with the University of Phoenix as the department chair for the graduate education program. Jones and his wife, Brooke, live in Pleasanton, Calif.
Ruben S. Lerma, ’96, B.A., Art, ’97, Credential (Education Art), has graduated from Officer Candidate School Phase III training at North Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Wash., and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army National Guard. Lerma was formerly a security forces supervisor with the California Army National Guard in San Luis Obispo. He has served in the military for six years. He lives in Sacramento.
Stephanie Parsons, ’96, B.S., Biological Science, has been hired as project manager for the biological resources and land management group in the Central Valley/ Sierra region at Environmental Science Associates, an environmental consulting firm in Sacramento. Parsons has more than 12 years of experience and was a biologist and project manager at Quad Knopf. She lives in Cool, Calif.
Susan List Bassett, ’97, B.A., Government- Journalism, and her husband Kevin Bassett welcomed their son, Jack Walter, on Dec. 7, 2007. She is home full-time with Jack and working part-time providing legislative and research support for a government affairs group. She is a former Assembly Fellow and State Hornet editor-in-chief. The Bassett family lives in Gold River.
Michelle Cordova, ’97, B.A., Two- Dimensional Art Studio, has been pursuing her artwork and has shown her work in several Sacramento galleries. She married in 1996 and moved to the Greenhaven area to be near the Sacramento Delta, the main inspiration for her work. Since graduation, Cordova has traveled extensively, including journeys throughout The Netherlands, Belgium, England, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and Japan. Cordova credits her teachers at Sac State for the passion she has for painting: Jack Ogden, Jimi Suzuki and Brenda Louie, and for art history, the teachings of Catherine Turrill and Frank LaPena. She is also an Art-o-Mat artist. Art-o-Mat machines are old vending machines refurbished to sell art the size of a cigarette pack. She has sold several of these small works at the Crocker Art Museum and in several locations throughout the United States.
Diedra (DeDe) Stirnaman, ’97, B.A., Communication Studies, reports that she is very happily married to Ray, a command sergeant major in the Army. Stirnaman is a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, headquartered in Washington, D.C. She has volunteered to deploy to Iraq to be the public affairs director of the Gulf Region Division at the Corps’ headquarters in Baghdad. They make their permanent home in Odenton, Md.
2000s
Eric (EJ) Renner, ’00, B.S., Recreation Administration, is a special education teacher, teaching students with mid- to moderate-level learning disabilities at the middle school level. Renner actually walked with the Class of 1997 at commencement but officially graduated in 2000 by finishing “my outstanding six units.” He also received his education certificates in 2006. In college, Renner participated in Air Force ROTC in 1990-91 and later was an officer in Associated Students, Inc. He lives in Fair Oaks.
Andrea E. Garcia, ’04, B.A., Communication Studies (Public Relations), is a health and social services reporter for Solano County’s Daily Republic. At the California Newspaper Publishers Association awards this past year, she garnered first place for feature writing for “Cancer as Creator,” a cancer survivor’s story; second place under the best writing category for “A Mustard Seed,” a story of a developmentally disabled man and his struggle in life; and second place for arts and entertainment coverage. Garcia’s past accomplishments include additional California Newspaper Publishers awards and Associated Press awards. Garcia graduated magna cum laude and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Lambda Pi Eta. She lives in Fairfield, Calif.
Alice Winston Carney, ’98, M.A., Communication Studies, was recently installed as president of Soroptimist International of Greater Sacramento, a worldwide organization of professional and business women who work through service projects to advance human rights and the status of women. Carney is also a faculty member in the Communication Studies Department at Sac State. She and her husband, James, live in Sacramento.
George Raya, ’72: Gay rights crusader
George Raya (’72, Government) can trace the start of his reputation as one of the founding fathers of gay rights to his formative years at Sac State.
“I came out when I was 19 years old. At that time, I was on the student senate which proved helpful in fighting to establish the first club for gay students,”
Raya says. He says the group of 20, “were determined but we were also frightened. At our first meeting, every time we heard a knock on the door, we were afraid it was the police coming to arrest us.” Raya and other club founders received a great deal of support, but also strong resistance. After taking their fight to court, the Society for Homosexual Freedom found its place on the campus.
“Through the club, we worked to demystify homosexuality,” Raya says. “Our message was we were the same as everyone else.”
After graduation, Raya attended UC Berkeley where he made critical ties to gay activists in the Bay Area. In 1974, he became the first full-time gay rights legislative advocate in Sacramento.
Raya’s first victory was AB 489, the “Consenting Adults Bill” authored by Assemblymember Willie Brown. The reform legalized sex between consenting adults and opened the door to gay rights legislation. Raya says, “We wanted to advance gay rights when there were none.”
The passage of the bill was the conduit to a historic meeting at the White House in 1977. For the first time in history, a president allowed a formal discussion of gay rights in the White House. Raya was one of 14 activists chosen to participate.
“The results of that three-hour meeting led to many important federal policy changes that altered the lives of gays and lesbians for the better,” Raya says.
A case manager for the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, Raya continues to participate in causes close to his heart. He is a board member of Sacramento’s Capital Crossroads Gay Rodeo Association (www.capitalcrossroads.org) and is a member of the Sacramento Parks and Recreation Commission.
Raya says. “I’ve worked on national and state issues, and now I want to work with my neighbors on concerns closer to home.”
—Kim Nava
Cary Kelly, ’88: Character study
Sac State has produced a number of characters in its time but perhaps none like Cary Kelly (‘88, Teaching Credential, ‘89, Library Credential).
Kelly, who received her teaching and library credentials from the University, is the lower-school librarian at Sacramento Country Day School. She’s also Scarecrow Clod Strawbottom, Lady Beatrice Teaselpaw, the Cat in the Hat, and a number of other characters inspired by the many books on her shelves. Kelly has a closet full of costumes, props and stage makeup at her disposal to help her transformations. Her goal is to inspire her students to love reading, learning and the library.
“When I become a character,” Kelly says, “the students are totally engaged. The youngest are wide-eyed and giggling, thinking that they are so clever to have guessed it is Mrs. Kelly under the wig. In their minds, it is permission to be creative, theatrical and a little wild and crazy. The learning takes on a new dimension.”
Kelly grew up in Fresno and graduated with a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Utah. Her interest was in dance, not library science, and after graduation, she danced professionally with Ballet West in Salt Lake City for 10 years. The love of dance came naturally for the niece of Deane and Barbara Crockett who founded the Sacramento Ballet in the mid-1950s.
Kelly moved back to Sacramento in 1975 and danced with the Sacramento Ballet for a season. She also taught part-time at Sac State and decided that teaching was something she wanted to do full-time. In 1985, she enrolled in the teacher credentialing program on campus.
Kelly earned her credentials over the span of three years, coming one night a week. “I came on campus mostly in the evenings and had a wonderful experience,” she says. “It was classes, coffee, and conversations about books, curriculum and kids. I met such outstanding colleagues. We still keep in touch and network.”
After receiving her credentials, she began working at Sacramento Country Day School as a sixth-grade teacher and in 2000 became the librarian.
Kelly says she was blessed to have had the opportunity to dance professionally. However, she says, “Being a librarian is the world’s best job and every bit as exhilarating and rewarding as dancing.” — Michael A. Ward