Geology Newsletter - Western State Colorado University

Transcription

Geology Newsletter
FALL 2012
FOR ALUMNI, STUDENT AND FRIENDS OF THE GEOLOGY PROGRAM Introduction
This is now our 7th Geology
Newsletter. So far we’ve weathered
the downturns in the economy and
state funding and are going strong:
 As you can see from the new logo
our name has changed with the
addition of university status. We
want to assure you that this will
not affect our dedication to
providing Western students the
best possible undergraduate
education in geology.
 Western’s Geology program
continues to grow over 80 majors,
more than any time since the early
eighties.
 Dr. Tim Wawrzyniec is the new
Moncrief Chair in Petroleum
Geology. Tim has expertise in
structural geology and LIDAR.
 Dr. Amy Ellwein has joined the
faculty. Amy has expertise in
geomorphology and science
education.
 Dr. Dave Marchetti received the
Gladys W. Cole Memorial Award
form GSA.
 Western will be hosting the 2013
Rocky Mountain GSA section
meeting on May 15-17th. Tim and
Amy are co-chairs of the meeting,
Allen Stork is Technical Session
Chair and Dave Marchetti is
Field Trip Chair.
 Our students have presented their
research result the national AAPG
convention and the GSA Rocky
Mountain meeting. Their projects
made possible by your donations
to the Bartleson-Prather fund and
by the Moncrief Petroleum fund.
Thanks!
New Geology Faculty: Dr. Tim Wawrzyniec
Tim Wawrzyniec came to Gunnison
in the fall of 2010 as an Assistant
Professor of Geology and the
Moncrief Chair of Petroleum Geology
and is excited to be at Western. Tim
grew up in the USAF until his father
retired and the family settled in a
Mosinee Wisconsin, a small town
located near the center of the state. In
the years that followed he learned
about becoming a “cheese head” and
the importance of someday attending a
Packer game at Lambeau Field –
something that was finally achieved in
2001. In 1983, Tim chose to study
Fine Art at the University of
Wisconsin at Stevens Point but
eventually grew weary of the foibles
of other Art Majors and Faculty and
found his true passion in the study of
rocks.
Guided by one of his Geology
UWSP Professors (Marshal Perry
(M.S., University of New Mexico,
1957) and interested in a career in
energy or minerals Tim transferred to
the University of New Mexico in
1987. At that time the UNM Geology
Department had an outstanding
reputation as an “oil” school. In 1986,
the UNM Geology Department had
310 majors enrolled in Mineralogy.
PAGE 2 GEOLOGY ALUMNI NEWSLETTER
Naturally, the oil market tanked and so did the number
of geology majors. When Tim completed Mineralogy
in 1987, there were only 7 other students in the class.
Undaunted by the changing career-scape, Tim
graduated with a B.S. degree magna cum laude in
geology in1990. At the time, there were few industry
jobs and Tim decided to pursue an academic career and
was admitted into the Institute of Technology at the
University of Minnesota. Initially interested in
geochemistry, Tim eventually began studying
metamorphic petrology where he was introduced to the
Taylor River Valley and the Star Peak Mylonite, which
is a carbonate mylonite located at the western margin of
the Star Peak Intrusion. After a short stent in the
environmental industry, Tim finished his M.S. in 1994
and joined his “domestic-partner-to-be” Amy Ellwein
in the graduate program back at the University of New
Mexico where he entered into the fields of study of
Paleomagnetism, Fluid Inclusions, and Fault
Kinematics. Under the advisement of Dr. Jane
Selverstone, he worked on the low-angle normal fault
known as the “Simplon Line” in the Swiss Alps where
he showed that the generation of CO2 during
metamorphism can drive rocks from ductile to brittle
deformation behavior at mid-crustal depths. Closer to
home, and under the advisement of Dr. John Geissman,
he worked on the Elk Range Thrust and the
deformation of the eastern margin of the Colorado
Plateau to demonstrate the importance of dextral shear
and block rotation during Laramide-age deformation.
In 1997, Amy finished her M.S. in geomorphology at
UNM, we later honeymooned in March 16th on the
North Shore of Lake Superior under the splendor of
Halley’s comet. Near the end of his Ph.D. studies, Tim
also worked in southeast China in a project that
addressed the rotation of crustal blocks deformed by the
collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia.
After graduate school and to the dismay of his
advisors, Tim turned down an opportunity to join a
project at MIT as a post-doctoral researcher. Rather, he
chose instead to join Vastar Inc. (a subsidiary of
ARCO, now known as BP America) where he worked
on 4 prospects in the northern Gulf of Mexico, which
were all drilled and all found pay. Houston living left
much to be desired and 9 months passed when Amy
informed Tim that “she was leaving Houston” and that
it would be nice if Tim came with her. Two weeks later
Tim landed a position as a Research Professor at the
Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of
Texas at Austin where he joined the International
Energy Research Team as the structural geologist. It
was a fine time, we were out of Houston, Tim was
excelling as an interpreter of seismic imagery on
projects sponsored by PEMEX. Over the next two
years he worked on a series of projects from the
southern Gulf of Mexico to Matamoros Mexico, and
developed a coherent structural framework for nearly
the entire east coast of Mexico. In the end, Texas was a
bit too weird, or perhaps not weird enough, and Tim
and Amy moved to Minnesota where Tim continued to
consult for the University of Texas. In 2003, Tim and
Amy moved back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where
Amy perused her Ph.D. in geomorphology and Tim
assumed the role of staff Research Scientist and
supervised the UNM Paleomagnetism Laboratory. In
2004, Tim started the UNM Lidar Lab by cobbling
together $60,000 from interested users to acquire a used
lidar scanner. The facility was dedicated to generating
high-resolution imagery of outcrops to facilitate the
digital analysis of outcrop features in the laboratory.
Collaborations with the oil industry and academic
colleagues around the world helped the facility to grow
to $360,000 facility that Tim brought with him to
Western in 2010. Tim also brings with him experience
as a lecturer; while at UNM he offered classes in
petroleum geology, introductory geology, lidar analysis,
alpine geology, and New Mexico Field Geology. On
January 1, 2013, Tim will become a co-Science Editor
for Geosphere, an online, peer-reviewed journal of the
Geological Society of America.
Tim’s current research interests include work on fossil
plate boundaries in Southern Mexico, the lidar-based
analysis of fracture networks in Northern Iraq,
kinematics of the Crested Butte Lineament, kinematics
of the Rio Grande Rift, kinematics of Laramide uplifts,
and the application of gravity and seismic data to
understand subsurface geology. Tim enjoys living in
the Gunnison Valley. Skiing, hiking, and mountain
biking are excellent reminders why life is too short to
live in Houston.
Dave Marchetti
Gladys W. Cole Memorial
Research Award
Dave Marchetti was the 2011 recipient of the
Gladys W. Cole Memorial Research Award from the
Geological Society of America. The award is to
recognize a GSA Member or Fellow between who has
published significant papers on the geomorphology of
semiarid and arid terrains in the United States and
Mexico.
The Gladys W. Cole Memorial Research Fund was
established in 1980 by Dr. W. Storrs Cole in memory of
his wife. The first award was presented in 1982. Dr.
Cole passed away in 1989. He had been a fellow of
GSA for 58 years and was one of the Society's leading
benefactors.
Annual Geology Awards and
Scholarships
We have had three graduating classes since the last
newsletter. In 2009 we graduated 10 students, in 2010 we
graduated 15 students and in 2011 we graduated 13
students.
The RMAG “Hammer” awarded to our outstanding
graduating senior went to Andrew Payton’09, Katherine
Schuller ’10, Amelia McMillin ’11 and to JessePisel ’12
The VAL MITCHELL MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP IN
GEOLOGY, awarded to our outstanding junior went to
Katherine Schuller ’10 in 2009, to Matt McConell ’11 in
2010 to James Haag ’12 in 2011 and to Marcus Hinricher
’13 in 2012
The MENZER SCHOLARSHIP, awarded to encourage a
beginning student to think about a career in geology was
awarded to James Haag ’12 in 2009 and Michael Jury ’14
in 2011.
The RICHARD AND BELVA MOYLE SCHOLARSHIP awarded
for summer field camp went to Matt McConell ’11 in 2010
and to Kevin Clauss ’12 in 2012.
Student Presents at 2012 AAPG
Jesse Pisel ’12 presented the results of his research entitled
“Petrophysical Characterization of the Depositional System
for the Paleocene Raton Formation, Vermejo Park, New
Mexico, USA”, at the national AAPG Convention in Las
Angeles this spring. Jesse worked with Tim Wawrzyniec
on the project.
Join us for the
Geological Society of
America Rocky
Mountain Section
Meeting. The meeting
will be held from May
15th to the 17th on
campus at the
University Center
Bartleson-Prather Geology
Research Scholarships
The Bartleson-Prather Fund for Excellence in Geology
is going strong. As we described in past newsletters, the
fund provides a scholarship and research supplies for
students, on a competitive basis, between their junior and
senior year.
We have awarded three scholarships since the last
newsletter. James Haag ’12, worked with Dave Marchetti
on the oxygen and hydrogen isotope variation of rain and
snowfall in the Gunnison Basin. This two year study
resulted in the production of a local meteoric water line.
Preliminary results show that the Gunnison Basin has a
range of isotopes that is nearly as great as the rest of the
lower 48 states combined.
Jesse Pisel ’12 worked with Rob Fillmore measuring
paleocurrent directions in the Maroon Formation in central
Colorado, to study the potential influence of an ancestral
Sawatch Uplift. Last summer Jesse measured nine different
stratigraphic sections, totaling more than 3000’, and made
over 1000 separate paleocurrent measurments. His work
was presented at the GSA Rocky Mountain section meeting
in Albuquerque this spring.
Jonathon Tree ’12 worked with Allen Stork on the
Nine-Mile Hill volcanic field on the road to Lake City.
Jonathon picked up where the 2006 Geol 411 Research in
Volcanology class left off. He remapped the flows,
measured vesicle and lava tube elongations as well as
collecting new petrographic and geochemical data. His
work was presented at the GSA Rocky Mountain section
meeting in Albuquerque this spring.
Top 100 Westerners of All Time
Hopefully, you have seen the summer, 2011 issue of the
Westerner Alumni Magazine (if not, let us know!) At any
rate, to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Western State
College, the administration decided to put together a “Top
100” graduates list and invited nominations from all alumni,
faculty and staff. According to Tonya Van Hee, Alumni
Director; “Boy, did you ever respond! Thank you! We
received hundreds of nominations and the selection process
was grueling.” As it turned out, our Geology Department
was very well represented with seven of our alums being
honored. Although I didn’t do a statistical analysis, I
suspect that we had one of the best, if not the best,
representations of any department on campus, especially
considering our size. The Geology alums listed are as
follows: Janie Chermak ’79, Peter Dea ’76, Dave Gaskill
’48, Pam Klessig ’78, Paul Rady ’78, Steve Reynolds ’78,
and Tom Shrake ’81. (What’s with this class of 1978?).
There really should have been more of you, but they had to
leave room for the rest of the college.
In 1969 Ray arrived in Gunnison as Assistant Professor
of Physics at Western State College, where he taught all
levels of Physics, lower-level Mathematics, and developed
courses in Meteorology and Exploration Geophysics.
Together, he and Nancy built their home over several years,
and the Ruehle family living room was always filled with
slips of paper containing formulas and diagrams of pulley
and lever configurations for some new project coalescing in
his mind. Those who knew him well will miss the twinkle
in his eye and his mischievous sense of humor.
In Memorium —
Raymond L. Ruehle (1969-2004) - Ray passed
away on October 6, 2011 at the age of 81 in the home he
and his wife, Nancy, built and where they raised their three
sons, Joel, Alex, and Grant.
Ray was born in Rosario, Honduras, on May 14, 1930,
where he and his brothers, and their younger sister, shared
an adventurous and memorable childhood living in a silver
mining community tucked into a steep mountainside rain
forest. Ray put himself through college working in his
uncles’ carnation greenhouses and delivering mail for the
Postal Service.
He received a B.S. in Geophysical Engineering from the
Colorado School of Mines in 1952. Upon graduation he
conducted geophysical exploration in the Colorado
Mountains for Newmont Exploration. In 1954, Ray enlisted
in the U.S. Navy and attended the Naval Postgraduate
School in Meteorology. With the knowledge gained there,
he spent a year at Fleet Weather Central as Staff
Meteorologist, forecasting for all naval units in the Central
Pacific, and also served as Chief Meteorologist for the 7th
Fleet.
After his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1957, he
headed a seismic crew performing oil exploration in
Western Colorado and conducted surveys as a Geophysicist
in Southern Arizona for Phelps Dodge Corporation. He
returned to school in 1960 to complete a M.S. in Physics at
the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also
completed all the required courses for a Ph.D. He worked
in Boulder for three years at the Laboratory for
Atmospheric and Space Physics.
Theodore "Ted" Violett, (1959-2009) - Ted passed
away on May 2, 2010. He taught at Western for 50 years -longer than any professor in the College's history.
Ted was born in Great Bend, Kan., on April 27, 1932,
and attended schools in Kansas City, graduating from East
High School in 1949. He attended the University of Kansas
City before transferring to the University of Missouri Columbia where he received his Bachelor of Science in
Education in 1953 and his Master of Arts in 1954. He
served in the U.S. Army 1954-56 and was stationed in
Huntsville, Ala., where he was involved in scientific
research. His doctoral study for the Ph.D. in Physics from
the University of Colorado - Boulder was completed in
1959 with a dissertation on “Solar Emission Lines in the
Extreme Ultraviolet.”
Ted joined the Western State College physics faculty that
fall, where he taught physics and astronomy for 50 years.
Ted’s professional life centered on his teaching career at
Western State College and he was very proud of his
students and their accomplishments. A 2009 Homecoming
reception honoring his emeritus status after 50 years of
teaching welcomed many of his former students to campus
for the celebration. Ted was a member of the board of the
Gunnison Valley Observatory. He was recently a member
of the Gunnison County Environmental Health Board and
was on the RE1-J School Board in the early 1970s.Ted
passed peacefully at his Gunnison home on May 2.
Faculty News
Inactive (old, retired or escaped) Division:
Bruce Bartleson (1965-1998) continues to serve on the
Gunnison County Library Board and the WSC Alumni
Board. Furthermore, he is now more famous as the
Gunnison weather historian than he ever was as a geologist.
I’ve been writing a column for the local newspaper for
some time and get stopped in stores, etc. (and Facebook) all
the time about Gunnison weather. Still doing fun things like
skiing, mountain biking and fly fishing but not so much in
2011 as you’ll see shortly. We’re still doing great trips and
since last time we have been to: Green Sand beach on the
Big Island of Hawaii, quick weekend trip to Chicago to see
the Cubs play in Wrigley Field; a visit to the Bay Area of
S.F. to see some old grammar school buddies; lots of great
ice skating on Blue Mesa Reservoir (last fall was
phenomenal – you could skate for miles): two visits back to
the Superstitions of Arizona to re-visit the site where I was
nearly dragged (drug) to death by a mule in July, 1956 (see
my Facebook site); had yet another rotator cuff surgery, this
time just a month after Deirdre, so we were both in slings at
the same time (rotator twins) in summer of 2010; and
another trip to Hawaii, this time to Maui where I finally
realized my knees were totally shot. So, last year was a
challenge; I had one knee replaced in April and the other in
July (with a double hernia repair in between). As a result I
spent most of 2011 in rest, recuperation and rehab –
ARRGGH! I was also deeply involved in an election to
build a new library, which did not pass. Most recently I am
involved in organizing and finding my old (1949!) 8th grade
graduating class from Chicago for a reunion. I was just
voted “Educator of the Year” by the Gunnison Chamber of
Commerce.
Mary Lou Bevier (1982-1985) is still teaching at the
University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC along
with her husband Jim Mortensen. She and Jim are both on
sabbatical and here is a brief report:
”Mary Lou Bevier is still teaching geology at The
University of British Columbia, and currently enjoying a
sabbatical year. Last summer she had the opportunity to
revisit her old master's thesis stomping grounds, the
Rainbow Range shield volcano in west-central B.C., as the
guest geologist on a horse-supported back-country hiking
trip. She is also working on another book about the geology
of the Gulf Islands, B.C. Husband Jim and she recently
hiked 274 km of the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain,
saw some cool geology, met some interesting people, and
would like to go back and hike some more there soon. They
ran into Rod Graham, ‘83 recently at the Cordilleran
Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver. Rod is still in
Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and is working in mineral
exploration.” She also admits to spending a lot of time
staring out her window on lovely Salt Spring Island instead
of working on her new book.
Jim Coogan –”I’m finishing up my two year stint as
Exploration Manager for a small oil company based out of
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We are exploring the least
populated parts of the least populated country on Earth - an
opportunity that is well-suited to the traditional strengths
of Western geology grads, including Rod Graham ’83
who just retired as COO, and Justin Tully ‘03 and Andrew
Payton ‘08 who are here as field-tested Exploration
Geologists. The Wild West meets the Wild East. We began
exploring just as the first wells were being drilled and when
much of the area was covered by Soviet era reconnaissance
maps and little else. We’ve since taken the first look at
many rift and inverted-rift basins with modern field work,
biostratigraphy, radiometric dating, seismic, and
stratigraphic wells in undrilled parts of eastern and central
Mongolia. We’ll be presenting some of those results at the
AAPG meeting at the end of April, but we’re more excited
about drilling the new areas in the coming months. It’s the
scientific method in real time.
The best part of this work has been the immersion in a
culture that is steadfast in its millennia-old nomadic
tradition, even through the rapid growth that it shares with
its giant neighbor and rival to the south. Ulaanbaatar is a
Boomtown that would be recognized by any of our 70’s
grads. Like those grads, the boom has brought a smart and
hungry group of young local talent to the forefront. In some
ways, I’ve had to stay in my professor role for much of my
time here as we’ve trained Mongolian geoscientists in the
ways and wiles of modern exploration. Mongolians now
make up most of our very capable staff, so it’s a good time
to head home to the States and enjoy the results from a
distance.
I will finish up in Ulaanbaatar in mid-April, and will
work my way home in May via Tibet. The side travels to
China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia,
London and Paris provided a great snapshot of a different
hemisphere during a period of rapid change. I look forward
to many opportunities to catch up with all of you as I return
to working and playing in Colorado.”
Since this communication, Jim has come back to the
Denver area and is teaching at Western for one semester to
teach Geophysics and Petroleum Geology for Tim while he
is on sick leave.
Fred Peck (1968-88) - Many of you knew Fred and took
classes with him in Anthropology and some will remember
that it was Fred and Bruce who got the very successful
Geology-Anthropology major started in the late 1980s.
Fred retired to Silver City, NM and lived there until
recently when he and his wife Diane were burned out of
their home by a range fire. They are now living in Montrose
and we have recently seen Fred. He’s now in his late 80s,
but retains 100% of his old salty humor and quick wit.
Tom Prather (1965-99) “I continue to enjoy retirement
though stretched pretty thin to keep up with all the fun
activities. I enjoy hiking, mountain biking – mostly with
Bruce and Vandenbushe at Hartman Rocks, some mountain
climbing, golf, skiing – downhill and cross-country, fishingwhile hiking the small mountain streams, floating the river,
and keeping up with my running and exercise. Shaunalee
and I have wimped out some in the winter spending about
half of it in the warmer climates of southern Arizona and
the Anza Borrego area of California. For world travel we
have been to Scotland and Italy. On the geology scene I
have enjoyed some field trips with the department and led a
couple of Western Wednesday outings to view local
geology.”
Vijay Satoskar (1967-68) has finally surfaced after
many years of being an MIA. Ah, the wonders of modern
search engines. At any rate he is now in Florida and here is
his report:
“I was with the City of Jacksonville until September 2011
in their Groundwater Section. I am retired now but I don't
like to be "retired". I am teaching a couple of classes of
Earth Science at FSCJ and I am working on a groundwater
project with the Engineers Without Borders group in
Guatemala. In December, I will be visiting a couple NGOs
in India regarding groundwater projects there. Just trying to
stay creative, occupied and "out of trouble." Sure envy the
Gunnison environment-- no mountains in Florida! Keep in
touch!”
giving talks and publicizing it, and it has been great fun
with lots of curious people with good questions.
I just got back from Utah where I was revisiting some
Moenkopi sections and I have begun writing a paper on it.
Many of you have worked with me on this in the past 10
years and your help is greatly appreciated!
I have been teaching pretty much the same courses
(Sed/Strat, Historical Geology), but to MUCH LARGER
classes. The new petroleum boom has taken hold, leading
to substantial growth in the past few years. It makes field
trips a bit chaotic, but we’re figuring it out. We have had
some top-notch graduates in the past few years and most
everyone is working in industry or is in graduate school.
I am presently gearing up for Field Geology – the mild
winter has enabled us to go up high to map this year, to
areas that mostly have been inaccessible in previous years.
On the family front my wife Hilary continues to tolerate
me and my oldest son Everett started high school this fall –
amazing on both counts. My younger son Henry began
middle school, and both kids continue to be completely
entertaining, although as they get older, in very different
ways.
Active (currently employed) Division:
Robert Fillmore ‘86 – Life in Gunnison is cruising right
along. After seven years of excuses for going out to Utah, I
finally completed my book on the geology of the
Canyonlands region. Geological Evolution of the Colorado
Plateau of Eastern Utah and Western Colorado was
published by the University of Utah Press last year. If you
think the title is long, wait until you see the book. It has
been very well received and all the reviews so far have been
great! Since its publication I have been traveling the wes,t
Dave thigh deep in 40ka basalt in Argentina
Dave Marchetti – I continue to teach Physical Geology,
Geomorphology, Hydrogeology, GIS, and Research in
Quaternary geology – sure keeps me busy. I’ve developed a
new water science class for the ENVS water emphasis
called Water Planet. This course is a blending of
sophomore-level water chemistry, fluvial geomorphology
and hydrogeology. It’s really fun to teach because we do a
big water chemistry project on the Gunnison River and
Tomichi Creek. I’m looking forward to teaching
Geochemistry as a regular part of my schedule starting in
2013.
On the research front my co-authors and I have papers in
review for our work on really old gravel-capped benches
near Escalante, UT, cosmogenic ages of young lava flows
in central Argentina, and the petrology, geochemistry and
ages of volcanic rocks covering the Fish Lake Plateau in
central Utah. As part of the Fish Lake work, we are also
finishing up geologic mapping of four 7.5 minute quads.
We hope to have a field review for at least two of those
quads in summer 2012. Since 2008 WSC Geology majors
Sarah Able ‘08, Andrew Heger ‘08, Rebekah Parks ‘11,
and Mark Mikos ‘12 were funded by the USGS EDMAP
program to help with that mapping. In 2011 I was able to
finish up a few glacial related projects and had two papers
published in Quaternary Research. Since I’ve been at
Western I’ve worked with several WSC Geology majors on
Bartleson-Prather funded research projects. Much of that
work is described elsewhere in this newsletter but I just
want to reiterate how incredibly beneficial the BartlesonPrather scholarships are to Geology majors. Regardless of
whether students are planning to go to grad school or pursue
careers in industry or consulting, having worked on a
significant, self-directed research project provides them
with a tremendous advantage in their future career.
PLEASE support the Bartleson-Prather fund! It’s a great
place to contribute even modest amounts of money and
know that it will make a big difference for a budding
geologist.
Allen Stork – Teaching and research are still great fun!
I’m still doing the “hard rock” and geochemistry
curriculum. This has been mixed in with some time served
as department chair but I’m trying to stay out of that as
much as possible.
I’ve continued my research on the local volcanic rocks.
My Research in Volcanology and Petrology classes have
returned to the study of Neogene basalts in Colorado. In
2010, we expanded our field area out of the basin to the
Crag Crest region on Grand Mesa. This work was done in
collaboration with Rex Cole at Colorado Mesa University
(the old Mesa State). I also had a Bartleson-Prather student,
Jonathon Tree ‘12, rework Nine Mile Hill volcano that
some of you first studied in 2006. He confirmed most of
our hypotheses but added a lot of detail to the story. I hope
to get this work out and published in the near future. This
year’s class has crossed Cebolla Creek to study similar
lavas on Carpenter Ridge.
Judy and I are doing well. We put in a lot of time in the
garden in the summer and Judy is still producing art quilts.
Stop by if you are ever in town and see her quilt of Etna in
eruption that hangs in my office.
Allen and Bruce south of town in the “Gunnison Gold Belt” in 2008
Alumni News
Bruce and Allen have summarized your letters and emails. Thanks for updating us and telling us what you
are doing. Please take a moment to tell us what you're
doing if you haven't already. Information from you
helps us assess the Geology Program. We do listen and
appreciate your comments, whether critical or
complimentary.
Bruce Bartleson or Allen Stork
Geology Department
Western State College
Gunnison, CO 81231
email: brucebartleson@msn.com
astork@western.edu
1960’s Own Abdali (‘68), Sultan Al-Somali (‘69),
Ken Brace (‘62), Peter Buchanan (’64),
William Miller (’62)
1970’s Aboullah Baroun (‘71), Daniel Larsen (’71),
Dennis Stenger (’72)
1980’s James Mathews (‘83)
2000’s Charlotte Bennett-Allen (’04), Deni Harshman
(‘05), Nicole Schmitt (“08), Sarah Henniger (’08)
WSC Geology Graduates by Year
40
30
20
10
0
1970
1980
1990
1966
Michael Arndt - I finally contacted Michael Arndt,
our long-lost Geology alum from 1966. He was the only
Geology graduate in 1966 at the end of our first year
here. Mike went on to get a PhD from Univ. of North
Dakota and then spent some time at Rocky Flats and
he’s now working in law enforcement out in Peyton,
CO for his 3rd career.
1968
We still have a few people that we can’t find. If you
have any clues contact us.
1960
changes, but not enough time to visit. This is my first
time back since 1994.” You should stop by the
department Gil!!
2000
2010
Alumni News
1965
Gilbert Noice is “still with the National Park
Service as a cadastral cartographer. I just got back from
the Virgin Islands helping the National Park there with
boundary issues. I was in Gunnison last September for
my GHS 50th reunion and drove around WSC, a lot of
Linda Barrett - Here’s from a person who knows
how to retire: “I've put off replying to you because,
mainly, people want to hear about people doing
constructive things and making a contribution to
mankind or something like that. I have done none of
that. During the past year I have hiked Lascar volcano
(18,340 feet) in Chile, done extensive hiking in the
Atacama Desert and spent many days hiking in
Patagonia. When I wasn't doing that, I was fishing in
Florida in winter or boating and fishing on Vancouver
Island in summer. On off days I play golf. Now I am
training for an upcoming trip to climb Mount
Kilimanjaro and golfing, of course.”
Danny Pavey - “graduated with a degree in geology
in the fall of '68 but not before being "married" to his
future bride Linda in the Shotgun wedding booth at
Winter Carnival in the old student union. Linda's
roommate knew that Linda had her eye on Dan and
figured that was a good way to get them introduced to
one another. That certainly worked. After graduating
Dan joined with his Uncle Sam as a Combat Engineer
and separated service as a 1st Lt. 3 1/2 years later.
Upon separation from the service Dan went to work for
the State of Alaska as a field geologist and traveled the
state conducting pre-design investigations for new
roads and airfields throughout the State of Alaska. Later
he became the Foundation Geologist for the State of
Alaska directing the field investigations for the State's
bridges, retaining walls, harbors, landslides and similar
projects. He finished his career as the State Department
of Transportation's Chief Geologist. Together Dan and
Linda built a log cabin on their remote property north of
Talkeetna and now they are actively involved in
building a new cabin adjacent to the original as well as
repowering the aluminum river boat that Dan built last
winter.”
“Linda graduated with an elementary
education major and minors in instrumental music and
geology. She worked in the Anchorage School District
before opening her own early childhood education
program touching the lives of many. Together Dan and
Linda, through their church, have joined with numerous
young adults over the past 15 years helping them learn
some of the life skills that so many young adults seem
to be lacking.”
“The Pavey's have two grown sons of whom they are
very proud. The younger is working full time
developing his employers Geographic Information
System while completing his engineering degree while
the eldest has become a respected computer animation
specialist.”
We both thank Western for giving us the foundation
that was necessary to meet the challenges of this world.
Alaska has been good to us these past 42 years and we
are still amazed each time we travel a river and see the
beauty that surrounds us: bear, moose, eagles, amazing
mountains, glaciers and the list goes on.”
1969
Paul Ching is still in the Pacific Northwest and
writes: “Just tell the guys I said hi and best regards!”
Mike Deming has now been retired for 5 years from
the Bureau of Reclamation where he was an
engineering geologist and construction manager.
“These days I switched geology for genealogy looking
for ancestors in the Colorado mining towns. I'll
probably be up in Summit County late May early June
at the Frisco Town Hall chasing out info on my great
grandfather Deming and grandfather. They arrived in
Frisco about 1888. My great grandfather started a ranch
and my grandfather worked in the mines at Leadville
until 1892. He started mining around Frisco in the early
1900's and had two mines he worked on Chief Mtn. just
where you start up Ten Mile Canyon. My mothe’rs
folks arrived in 1880 and started mining at Kokomo
later moving over on the Eagle side and ranching near
Piney Creek. I do lots of fishing, hunting and skiing.”
That’s just what you did when you were here Mike!
Gary Dixon writes; “My life has gotten to be
completely boring, by design. After 33 years with the
USGS and another 11 years on my own, I decided to
almost retire here on the Snake River Plain in
Blackfoot, Idaho. I'm still trying to empty out file
cabinets with outdated, delinquent publications that not
many will find interesting to read, but will clear my
conscience. I still am trying to reduce my golf handicap
to single digits, but that is also a losing effort. My next
trip to Gunnison will be in the summer and hope to get
Tom and D. Vandenbusche on the course. That is, of
course, if Duane hasn't thrown his clubs in the Dos Rios
lake again.
Howard Fishman retired from Chevron in 2010 after
35 years (much of it in Midland, TX). He and his wife,
Lynne live near Park City, UT. He is enjoying skiing in
the winter and hiking in the summer. To keep busy he is
also a math and science substitute teacher at Wasatch
High and a mountain host at Park City Mountain
Resort.
Dick Jones is “still tracking dinosaurs (editors note:
Dick’s Mom and Dad were great dinosaur hunters and
found the famous Dry Mesa dinosaur site which is one
of the most prolific dino sites in the US– look it up in
Wikipedia!). He is playing lots of bridge and still
teaching and directing bridge on cruise ships – “Who
said retirement wasn’t fun?”
Parker Sterner is, I believe, making his first
appearance in our Newsletter. We had a great time
visiting at Homecoming last year mostly talking about
fishing and our rotator cuff surgeries. Here’s his story:
“After graduating with a degree in Geology I spent 40
years in the fly fishing industry. I guess I did minor in
fly fishing at Western. I retired three years ago and
moved to Northern WI which had been our lake home
for the past 44 years. Our oldest son, Justin, took over
the reping business after I retired. Still fly fishing a lot
and building boats, but doing it left handed. Hope to get
out to Gunnison in the next year and doing some fishing
with you.”
1970
James Browne “had a wonderful skiing winter at
Winter Park, Copper and Steamboat. But now reality
check and I have to go back to work as the principle of
Dastardly Deeds Ltd a Landscape Mtz business that I
founded 25 years ago. Recently happily divorced after
18 years. Looking forward to life as a senior single
person at 65 years young.”
Dr. Connie (Nuss) (Dodge) Knight writes as
follows: “I have four degrees in the field of geology,
including a PhD from the Colorado School of mines.
What am I doing in the twilight of my career as a
geologist, other than helping Bruce host great Western
State geology alumni events? Mostly I’m a geologist;
I’m somewhat of a petroleum landman; I’m somewhat
of an engineer. I have interfaced with more attorneys
within the past several years than ever in my life. In
short, I am an oil and gas deal maker – a huckster. Of
late I have been following up on some work that Bruce,
Deirdre, and I began in 1981. During that “early” oil
boom of my career, Bruce, Deirdre, and I teamed up to
develop a sedimentologic play framework for the
“Minturn Formation” in northwest Colorado. (Bruce
and I were bouncing off the walls with excitement, and
Deirdre was trying to contain us.) Over the past few
decades, I have been intermittently updating our
original work in light of new structural, source-rock,
and resource-play concepts. About 10 years ago I
asked Bruce if he was interested in joining me in
acquiring northwest Colorado leases. Bruce
respectfully and promptly declined. Earlier this month
(February, 2012), I sold 10,000 acres of leases in
northwest Colorado. I still own over 7500 acres with
Minturn, Niobrara, and other potential plays. Any
takers? Northwest Colorado possesses various
underdeveloped resource plays. Our sleeper Minturn
play is only one of them. (Editor: Rub it in Connie-How
much would I have made?) On a personal note, I am
married to Roger, a petroleum engineer who is also a
graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. I have a son
Nathan, who is an arborist. My daughter, Elisa is the
mother of two wonderful grandsons. Roger has three
children and seven grandchildren.
I have a passion for introducing our youth to the
wonders of geology. In fact, a few years back, I was a
guest in Bruce’s grandchild’s classroom. I am honored
to report that last fall the RMAG awarded me the
“Distinguished Public Service to the Earth Science
Award.” I am probably one of the only grandmothers
who mails rocks to her grandchildren on a regular basis.
1971
Ken Snyder “Not much to report from Nevada. The
gold business is doing very well, as one might expect. I
retired years ago but have been drug out from under my
rock a number of times (shortage of economic people
world-wide). Doing a bit of consulting for a few
Canadian companies and one Aussie group. Have
resigned from various boards - not much fun, and they
don't usually care what the rocks actually look like. My
big complaint with all these companies is that their
geologists don't bother mapping anymore (the majors
are even worse). I can't fathom how they expect to
correctly interpret geochemistry and geophysics
without a good geological map. These kids prefer to
just download some rough map from the internet and do
a lot of guessing. I guess they pay me to bitch, and
that's what I do best! Some foreigners aren't so
receptive to my candor - last time in Turkey, I thought
they might stuff me down a drill hole. Kind regards to
all.”
1972
Gary Dow retired from the Bureau of Reclamation in
early 2007 and since then has been working on a project
by project basis. He has worked at the Taum Sauk Dam
in Missouri, “but spent most of 2010 working on
Wyaralong Dam near Brisbane Australia. Very
interesting place, lots of "roos" in the area: they get hit
by cars there like deer here in the U.S. I then spent
about 6 months in South Africa during the early 1/2 of
2011, accessing the potential foundation for a new
nuclear plant on the south coast. It’s beautiful there, but
not a place to swim without a wet suit. I've been
temporarily retired since then being "soccer mom" for
the grandkids. If all goes well I may get on with the
Utah Geological Survey so I can work closer to home,
if not I'm fine with soccer mom duties and an
occasional Ski day at Snowbird or Alta. Hope all is well
at Western.”
Tim Kelly writes: “The State Land Board has
approved a deal with ConocoPhillips for $137 million
for our Lowry Range in Arapahoe County (Niobrara
play). I am preparing the final agreements and will be
signing on behalf of the Children of Colorado nee State
Land Board. Big project. Conoco has selected an
engineer from Stavanger to head their team. This lease
has 21,000 acres ($6,500/ac). “The Niobrara is keeping
us very busy. I gave testimony before the Colorado
Parks and Wildlife Commission regarding fracking
under St. Vrain State Park in January (which they are
leasing). Spent some of my vacation in Orlando
digesting that EPA draft report on the Wyoming
Pavillion Field, which they wanted to hear about
relating to St Vrain. I did an injection well application
in that field for Encana’s predecessor 15 years ago. My
old stomping ground. There are 14 members on the
CPW board and half had questions and you’re on
record for this stuff. I had two pages of prepared
remarks so it went well, all in all.”
George Podsobinski “Graduated 1972 with a
Geology major and teacher’s license. 3 years for
Jefferson Co. Schools in Lakewood. Moved to Canon
City School for the rest of my full time career. MA in
1983 with 65 hours past Master's degree. Taught
Geology, Physics and Earth Science for 30 years and
retired in 2002. I taught for the local community
college evenings until I retired in 2002 then during the
day since '02 in Geology, Physics and Astronomy. I
plan to retire again at the end of this semester.”
“Main hobby is motorcycling both road and dirt. My
dirt bike is a Suzuki DR650 which I ride in the desert
SW fall and spring and the Colorado Mountains in the
summer. My road bike is a BMW which my wife and I
take extended trips on. July our plan is a northern route
to Nova Scotia.
Notable. . .taught Geology of the Green River by
canoe for 5 days/4 nights to educators through CSM. I
led a motorcycle trip through the mountains north of
Gunnison touring the mines, geology and history.
Will never forget the "great three" geology profs I
had at WSC (Prather, Menzer and Bartleson) they really
sparked my interest and desire to major in Geology and
stick with it throughout my career. I owe them for my
41 years of educating students in geology.” Thanks
George!
1973
Dr. Dave Lageson had a rather interesting spring to
say the least. This is from the Montana State website:
“Professor of Geology David Lageson and world-class
mountaineer Conrad Anker will leave Bozeman March
18, 2011 for an expedition to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the first American ascent of Mount
Everest. Lageson - who oversees Anker's graduate
studies -- will climb the South East Ridge route of
Everest with other team members who are sponsored
athletes of The North Face, including MSU alumnus
Kristoffer Erickson and MSU geology alumnus Travis
Corthouts. If all goes as planned, the two teams will
meet at the top of Mount Everest and descend together
down the South East Ridge route. The mountain, sitting
on the border between Nepal and Tibet, is the world's
tallest mountain if measured from sea level to summit.
The elevation is 29,035 feet, approximately six times
higher than Bozeman.” “Lageson, 61, has climbed
several 14,000-foot peaks in his home state of
Colorado. He has climbed in the Teton Range in
western Wyoming and numerous peaks in western
Montana. His primary work on the expedition will
focus on "telling the geologic story of Mount Everest"
to schools throughout Montana, as part of an NSF
EPSCoR-funded education/outreach program created
by MSU's Extended University. In addition, Lageson is
planning several research projects to help answer the
many questions that remain about the geological history
of Mount Everest. Lageson specializes in structural
geology, the tectonics of mountain building, and the
structural geology and tectonic evolution of the Rocky
Mountains.” You can follow Dave’s progress at this
website:
http://www.montana.edu/everest/updates/index.htm
Charlie Ponchak ”Debbie and I still own and
operate Kilbanes Cleaners & Tuxedo Rental with
locations all over the Western Slope. San Juan
Geological and Mining Consultants continue to grow
and stay very busy. I have active clients from Florida,
North Carolina, Nevada, California and Idaho to
Arizona. I am primarily working on narrow fissure vein
mining, milling and exploration. The most active areas
currently are the Gunnison Gold Belt south of town and
the Lake City-Silverton-Ouray triangle and the
Uncompahgre Wilderness (Middle Fork of the
Cimarron). It has been a very interesting nearly 40
years in the business.” Charlie, Did you know I rented
a tuxedo from your Gunnison shop for Peter Dea’s, ’76,
award banquet as “Wildcatter of the Year?”
Marty Wittstrom “I left India in early 2010 and
started working here in Calgary pretty much right away.
I had thought that I would go back to Denver and join
the shale gas over investment craze, but this
opportunity opened up before anything there. The last
thing I did for Reliance, the Indian company, was lineup their acquisition of a large Marcellus deal in PA. I
was in Brazil the week of homecoming. I have made
several trips there this year to build relationships and
open an office for a Canadian independent. I have been
nosing around Colombia and Peru as well, but for now
there is more bang for the buck in Brazil… at least for
our goals. I will bring an acquisition vessel to Brazil at
the end of the year and will hope to survey the entire
deep-water portion of Brazil in the next couple of
years… about 1MM km2. I’ll send you some slides in a
couple of weeks. Right now I need to prepare another
presentation for Petrobras, who has also expressed a lot
of interest and with whom I hope to sign a joint deepwater exploration deal by the end of the year. We shall
see”…
1974
Steve Craig “I continue to live a good life in Reno
Nevada as I have lived here since 1986. This past
summer I left Gryphon Gold to take a new job with El
Tigre Silver Corp as Vice President of Exploration.
While in Gryphon I handled all the geologic aspects of
the company and was responsible for gaining all the
environmental permits for construction of the new
Borealis heap leach gold mine. That part drove me
crazy so I quit and switched to exploration and
development of a silver project in Mexico. Now I travel
down to Hermosillo once a month, eat fresh tropical
fruit and sea food before heading out to the
"wilderness" where the project is located. Nothing like
camp living with modest menus of beans and some sort
of strange meat (where is the dog?). When in Reno I
prepare press releases, technical reports, and
presentation material. I enjoy the travel to many
investment conferences to represent the company. On a
personal note, I remarried 3 years ago, am a first time
grandfather, have two demanding puppy dogs, and
taking care of Mom's final years. I travel to Leadville
occasionally to check on the old family house, which is
sitting empty and lonely. I still ski, gave up white water
kayaking around 2005 after my last Class 5 run in
Idaho, and I grow piles of tomatoes and zucchinis in the
summer. Western State College gave me a career where
I have not "worked' a day and I believe that "Life is
good and enjoy everything that comes along".With
warm regards,” Steve.
Ray Hensley “Since I’m now a certified California
State Water Resource Control Board Trainer, I think if
have found something to retire on since construction
dumped three years ago. My wife Anna and I have
started my last business; Stormwater Central, Inc. My
keen business sense told me to start a storm water
consulting business in Southern California, and now we
have had about 1.5” of rain this winter. If things don’t
pan out I may open an offshore drilling consulting
business in Gunnison. Need investors! Fond memories
to all; Ray”
June and Bob Just “June did 16 years at Marathon
Research center involved mostly in seismic modeling
and processing, some interpretation. She also did lots of
cool clay analyses, core descriptions, well log, core,
seismic modeling integration. It is hard to put 16 years
of super interesting work into words. I was so
incredibly fortunate to land on my feet there, every day
was interesting. I have now been with GeoGraphix for
almost 18 years (impossible!) mostly supporting the
geophysical interpretation package known as
SeisVision but also other GeoGraphix modules. Bob
also worked for Marathon Research and then in
exploration for (mostly) natural gas for some time
before ending up working as a geologist advising Indian
tribes for the BIA. Bob and I have 2 great kids. Kelly,
an elementary teacher, and Eric, an agricultural worker
and world traveler. Bob and I have been married 39
years! Oh God, that sounds too out of this world to be
true! We live near the Denver Tech center and really
enjoy having geology friends come visit…so come on
by anytime! I enjoy biking, both road and mountain
biking, hiking, skiing, camping and all the same
outdoor adventures that lured me to WSC.”
1975
Pete Bergmann “I am a couple years into retirement
having spent my last 8 years working years as
Superintendent of schools for Moffat County School
District in Craig, CO. My first job was teaching Earth
Science in Craig in 1977. My wife Deb and I never left.
We raised our family, son Chris & daughter Lauren in
Craig. Deb retired after 30 years of teaching elementary
school and my son Chris teaches science in Fort
Collins. Check out his website https://bergmannscience.wikispaces.com/ - damn good
teacher! My daughter Lauren is a kindergarten teacher
in Craig, CO. Both kids are married; we have our first 9
month old granddaughter. We are still living in Craig,
but also have a place in Loveland CO close to our
granddaughter. I have done some consulting, but mostly
we have been playing! Rafting, skiing, backpacking,
biking, etc. I now have time to pursue a couple of
passions: ceramics, photography, and archeology of
NW Colorado. I see Jeff Holway annually either in CO
or IL. Will ski with him in March. Also play with sister
Mary quite often. Bruce, I know you keep in touch with
her also. She said she had a great time with you during
the Pro Cycle event last summer. Life is good! I love
waking up to only my agenda every day. Will touch
base the next time we are in Gunny.
Fred Conrath “I currently work at the BLM Arizona
State Office and I am the Lead Geologist for the BLM
in Arizona for the mineral material and the solid and
fluid mineral leasing programs. The specifics of my job
include budget responsibilities, developing policy and
guidance and technical expert for the aforementioned
programs. I am the liaison between the Arizona staff
and the Washington Office staff and perform oversight
on the field office geologists. I also work on performing
validity exams on common vs. uncommon variety
mining claims. Karen is also a BLM geologist and she
deals with mineral material and locatable mining issues,
including mine permitting, enforcement, and royalty
collection. She is currently working out of the Lower
Sonoran Field Office in the Phoenix District. Katie is
now 24 years old and she is working on her graduate
level public health certificate at CU’s Anschutz
Medical Campus in Denver. Tomorrow she is
interviewing for the Master of Physicians Assistant
program at Rocky Mountain College, where she
graduate in 2009 with a BS degree in pre-med biology.
I really like Phoenix, because I can sit outside year
round in my new courtyard and I also ride my mountain
bike and road bike year round. Karen, not so much, she
is not used to the heat. We live on the very north edge
of town and I can ride my bikes out of my garage
without having to drive anywhere. I have flexibility in
my job, so I leave for work at 5:30 AM and leave work
at 2:30 PM to take advantage of the HOV lanes. Being
a small town guy I do not relish sitting in traffic jams,
so I had a paradigm shift and shifted my awake hours. It
turned out to be a boon for me as I can ride every day
after work since it never rains here (maybe 4 times a
year). We are also building a swimming pool which
should be done before Thanksgiving. That should help
with the four months of extreme summer heat. Can’t
wait to use it. Deirdre and I had a great time visiting
with Fred and Karen in January (when it was cool) –
Thanks again for a great time!
Elliott Crist “I’m still in Reno and trying to consult
a little less. Sometimes I am successful at this and
sometimes not. Clients can be very persuasive. Lately,
I've been working in New Mexico on a porphyry copper
prospect. I started out my career looking for these
beasts, so I guess it is time for my career to have run
full circle. It's interesting to change model types from
time to time and porphyries are among the most
interesting of all mineralizing systems. Other than work
and normal day to day necessities and routine activities
Debbie and I have done some traveling and will
escalate this activity. We went to Spain a couple of
years ago which was a great trip. We spent two weeks
exploring Andalusia (Southern Spain) and want to go
back to explore Northern Spain sometime, maybe when
the politics settle down a bit. It was pretty neat seeing
all of the amazing historical architecture and the 17,000
year old paintings in a cave that they allow only lantern
light. Last summer, we took a canoe trip down the
white cliffs section of the Missouri River. It was great.
We went in early August so one really wanted to be
camped under a big cottonwood tree by 2:00 in the
afternoon, but there were a lot of interesting hikes to
take after the day started to cool. I didn't know that
many bald eagles existed. The geology is pretty, one
accompanies the White Cliffs Sandstone, only about
100 feet thick, for most of the trip and there are a few
thrust faults just to throw a few wrinkles in the works.
Shale underlies the White Cliffs and makes the most
disgusting gray ooze. We could only imagine what it
was like for the Lewis and Clark party to wade
upstream towing heavy boats behind them sinking in a
foot or more most of the way. I always figured those
guys were tough, but one has to retrace their steps to
understand just how tough. Of course we were paddling
with a 3+ mph current in trim canoes and hardly had to
work to make 15 miles a day. I don't think I ever told
you about another canoe expedition that my family took
about 10 years ago. I remembered the San Juan River
trip from WSC days that ended in Mexican Hat and
decided that it would be neat to continue the trip on
down toward the reservoir. We got to the put in and
almost abandoned the idea, even after driving from
Reno. The water level was atrociously low. We decided
we could make it in the canoes and inflatable kayaks
but wrapped a canoe permanently on a rock about 10
miles downriver on a 50 mile trip. We could have made
it out with the remaining craft, but we ran into another
party with a heavy raft that was nearly impossible to
portage with 2 people and with the low water, there was
a lot of portaging. So we made some fast friends and
traveled together. We found out we were the only craft
on that section of the river when we were picked up 3
days later. We had read about the fern covered
amphitheaters and other beautiful hikes that had been
reported by many only a few years earlier, but the
drought had wiped the walls clean except for a few
petroglyphs. It was still a great trip and I would
recommend it if the water is higher. That brings you up
to date. In short, trying to figure out how best to spend
the last 30 years or so (hopefully) on this earth.
Adventure is at the top of the list.”
John Danahey is still at the Rocky Mountain
Arsenal after 20 years! Good to see you in Golden
John!
Peter Herzberg is retired in Corning, NY where wife
Tina Oldknow is Curator of Modern Glass at the
famous Corning Museum of Glass. Check out their
website: http://www.cmog.org/about. They travel
frequently to Europe and especially Scotland. Peter
writes that he’s looking forward to relocating
somewhere in the West in the near future.
Jeff Holway “After graduating from Western in
1975 I married Karen who was also a 1975 Western
grad. I went on to get an MS in geology and an MBA
from Arizona State. In 1978 I took a job with a big
bank in Chicago, primarily making loans to energy and
mining companies. Karen and I have three boys ages
20-26. We live in Deerfield, Illinois which is a suburb
of Chicago. Over the years the bank where I worked
was gobbled up by JP Morgan and my position
metamorphosed into one of a partner in their private
equity business. That business was focused on buying
mid sized companies across all industries. I joined
several co-workers in 2005 to start Water Street
Healthcare Partners which is a private equity business
focused exclusively on the healthcare sector. Although I
no longer use my geology background in my career
(with the exception of the excellent discipline), we do
like to travel and see (and sometimes actually
understand) landforms around the world. Karen and I
are just back from a trip to New Zealand where we got
up close and personal with volcanoes and glaciers.
Hope to see some Westerner's soon.”
Ron Thoreson - After graduating from Western in
1975, I went on to complete my MS degree at the
University of Idaho. After completing my studies at the
U. of I. my wife and I moved to Elko, Nevada were we
spent the next 18 years working at various mines out of
Elko and Carlin. Most of the early years were spent in
exploration around the Freeport Mining Co.'s Jerritt
Canyon Mine and Newmont Mining Co.'s Rain Mine.
My final 10 years there were spent as Senior Mine
Geologist at the Rain Mine and Newmont's portion of
the Post/Betzie mine. I then transferred to Newmont's
newly acquired Twin Creek Mine. Where I spent the
next 4 years. In 2001 I left Mining and purchased a
Papa Murphy's Pizza Restaurant in South Reno. There
is nothing like getting out of your comfort zone and
trying something totally different. We opened our
second store north of Sparks, Nevada in Spanish
Springs in February of 2010. We are lucky to have a
great staff at our first store (2 have been with us for
over 10 years and one just reached 6 years) to take care
of business so that Barb and I can concentrate on
building the business in the new store. We are having a
great time and we have been able to take some time to
go the the southern latitudes each year. Barb and I have
4 sons and at the moment we have 9 grandchildren and
step-grandchildren. We geographically cover the
continent with our oldest living in Jacksonville, Fla.,
our next oldest lives in Post Fall, Idaho, our third son
lives in Phoenix, AZ., and our youngest lives in the
Reno area. Our oldest son and his wife just had their
3rd son in December 2011 and our second oldest son
and his wife are expecting their latest child this July. So
my wife is racking up the frequent flyer miles to go
visit all the grandbabies.
1976
Stu Cohen “I'm retired living on Vallecito Lake.
Doing my best to accomplish the "ings" in life. Hiking,
skiing (telemarking with some younger guys who can
break a trail), biking, golfing, kayaking, sailing and
looking to add to the list as I acquire more toys. Vote to
legalize Pot, it got us through those Gunnison winters
and makes all the "ings" doable.”
Peter Dea writes: “On the adventure side of life,
Cathy and one of our sons, Austin, and I spent two
weeks in Bhutan trekking into the Himalaya's within
ten miles of Tibet last fall. Austin, WSC PLRM '10,
works as a landman for Noble and brother Drake as
landman for Cirque Resources. Cort studies screen
acting and business at Chapman University when not
studying abroad(s) in New Zealand. My annual 100
mile week long Roundup Riders of the Rockies
horseback trip (150 guys including 6 WSC grads), took
us into the NW San Juan's near Owl Ck Pass and Big
Cimmaron Ck - spectacular Tertiary towers. In 2012 we
ride through the Big Horns. Cathy and I found steep untracked powder on our annual heli-ski trip to the
Monashee and Cariboo Ranges in BC in February. At
Cirque Resources we continue to drill wildcat
exploration wells targeting tight oil reservoirs with
horizontal drilling in the Rockies. Board seats include
Encana, N. America's 2nd largest natural gas producer,
and Denver Museum of Nature and Science. The
DMNS geology team excavated the single most
significant Mastodon discovery in NA, the last two falls
in Snowmass (see dmns.org). Bruce and Deirdre joined
us for the dig one weekend. I serve as Vice Chair for
the Western Energy Alliance and the Alliance for
Choice in Education; member of the Colorado Forum;
and on advisory boards of WSC PLRM and Colorado
Fiscal Planning Team; and the Governor
Hickenloopers' Canadian Ambassador Group and TBD
Colorado. Never a dull moment”.
Editors note:Peter left off one rather important
events in his life. In May of 2010, he was selected as the
“Wildcatter” Of The Year” by the Independent
Petroleum Association of the Mountain States.
Cathy Hedin McNeil “Life has essentially come full
circle for me, except that the circle is actually a spiral in
3 dimensions. I am a ski bum again, and am an older,
(hopefully wiser) and slightly less altered version of
who I was in the 70’s. My husband, Mike, and I still
own the ranch in the San Luis Valley that has been in
his family since the 1800’s but now we lease almost all
of it to a 3rd party. We have kept a handful of cows and
still have a scaled down version of our direct market
grass fed beef business, with mostly wholesale accounts
in the San Luis Valley and Gunnison Valley. We now
rent an apartment in Mt. Crested Butte where we stay
for a good part of the year and I’m getting around 60 70 days of skiing per year for the past 5 years. I do
appreciate having lift service to be able to ski all the
extreme terrain we used to only be able to access by
hiking. (Part of getting older).I also play bass guitar in a
rock and roll band in C.B., Better Late Than Never,
with WSC alum, Bill Dowell, frequently touring the
Gunnison Valley between Butte 66, The Talk of the
Town, and the Last Chance. (It really is a full circle but
yet a step up the spiral). In the summer you can find me
in C.B. on Sundays, peddling grass fed beef at the
Crested Butte Farmers’ Market. Our daughter, Kelly, is
all grown, graduated from WSC, and is now a CPA at a
firm in Alamosa. She owns her own house, and will
hopefully make enough money to eventually support
her parents in their ski bum-hedonistic lifestyle in a
manner in which we would like to become accustomed
(with frequent trips to tropical places during the winters
when it is a crappy snow year like this one but still
dreadfully cold in the SLV). I no longer do anything
related to geology, which I do miss, but don’t really
miss working in the mining industry. My last foray into
that world was quite a few years ago when I was forced
to spend a day at the U.S. Dept. of Justice (Denver)
while they questioned me about my work at
Summitville (superfund site) as they built their case
against Galactic and Friedland. (At least they let me
time it in conjunction with a Don Henley concert at Red
Rocks I was already planning to attend, and so I had my
hotel room cost reimbursed). Even with grey hair and
wrinkles life is good!”
Denis Hall “still lives in Crested Butte where he is
now semi-retired. He says semi-retirement means he
still does the same stuff, but now doesn't feel as guilty
about doing it. Geology remains a great love in his life
and he considers himself very fortunate to live in the
middle of the laboratory where he studied. He doesn't
drive to Gunnison to annoy his horse without thinking
about the Jct. Creek-Precambrian contact at Almont.
And he never rides his mountain bike at Hartman Rock
without thinking about the ring dike and trying to
discern its varying composition. Old habits die hard.”
1977
Al Clough writes in from Alaska: “Until about a
year ago I was “living the dream” flying float and
wheel planes in SE Alaska. I commonly got to fly
fellow Geology Alum Tim Hall as he commuted to a
mine development project in adjacent Yukon, Canada.
All changed last winter with a call from Alaska
Department of Transportation. Now have job as
Regional Director for Southeast Region Alaska
Department of Transportation. This means I have roads,
airports, various marine facilities, and public buildings
to construct and maintain stretching from Yakutat to
Hyder. It’s not quite as much fun as flying but as a
consolation we have a cannon to conduct avalanche
control in the Juneau area. Shooting down avalanches
with a 105mm howitzer is almost as much fun as flying.
Life is good, our ski area has a 200” base, and the days
are getting longer.”
Colleen (McShane) Cope “I really love working
with students in earth science education in Fort Collins.
Being part of their world is an experience like no other.
Teaching about the earth “as a system” has expanded
me into the fields of astronomy, weather and climate,
and oceanography. Along with teaching, I’ve worked
with the Colorado State Climatologist for two years
creating science videos about weather concepts using
students as actors. I’ll be starting a new project with a
leading atmospheric science researcher at CSU to
develop climate science modules for high school. I’m a
wife of 22 years and mother of two teenage sons. We
spent 12 days together rafting the Grand Canyon after
our oldest son graduated from high school – a magical,
spiritual experience for all of us. If this sounds corny I
don’t mind (I’m getting more sentimental as the years
go by) but I treasure those days at Western and how
they impacted our lives -- greatly! Thanks to Bruce and
Tom.”
Gail Case Davidson “ After working 7 years for
Homestake Mining, 1st in Gunnison and then in SE
Utah, the mining bust of the early 1980s landed me
back in Gunnison where I’ve worked for the City of
Gunnison for the past 30 (gasp!) years. I started in
engineering and now have been the City Clerk for the
past 10 years. This affords me the opportunity to be a
part of this fantastic community. My husband Kevin
and I get back to the mesas and slot canyons of Utah at
every opportunity! PS – Rob Fillmore’s CO Plateau
book is awesome!”
Bob Dickerson is “coming up on his 10th year
anniversary working with S.M. Stoller Corp, an
environmental consulting company specializing in
radioactive waste sites of the DOE. During this time
Bob has conducted surface mapping and subsurface
structural and geohydrological studies at Yucca
Mountain, on the Nevada Test Site, and at CNTA in
Nevada, and at Pantex in the Texas Panhandle, all for
the DOE. Additionally, Bob has been conducting
various geomorphology, paleoclimate, paleohydrology,
and geoarchaeology studies for the US Air Force in
support of cultural resource management at Nellis Air
Force Base in Nevada. Much of the Yucca Mountain
research and some of the Air Force work has resulted in
dozens of published USGS geologic maps and
publications, Air Force publications, abstracts, and
some journal articles. Bob and his wife Pam continue to
climb rock and ice together as well as work as river
guides in the summer. Bob and his son Will continue to
practice Tae Kwon Do together, with Will having
earned his deputy black belt and Bob having earned his
First Dan black belt.”
Lauren (Hart) Ellison “I’m still in Durango working
at the BOCES. I’m transition Coordinator for Special
Ed. youth and also managing a mentoring program for
at-risk high school youths. Recently married to a music
teacher (Carl), and we both like to travel, ride the
horses in summer and camp in the mountains. This last
winter was about broken bones from a bicycle wreck
and no skiing, but hoping for a better next winter. I still
ride every summer in Gunnison County.!”
Freddy Frankel Freddy is still with Chevron
(originally with Texaco) and I hope he won’t mind me
reporting that he “won the esteemed Chevron
Chairman’s award for his efforts on getting Chevron to
buy into the Marcellus play with a multi-billion
purchase of Atlas and subsequent acquisitions.
Recognition from the majors like that is very rare so
this is very significant.” (from Peter Dea, ’76).
Freddy also reports “I’m still in the NATO team
(North American Tight Oil) and looking at what makes
those plays work or not – fairly interesting since natural
gas is going to be $1 pretty soon…I made a
presentation to the Chinese - with a translator – 45
slides took 2.5 hours !
Rod McCabe “Not much happening here. I've been
working on robotic devices lately on my own. I call
myself a re-inventor. Everyone re-invents the wheel but
I re-invented a temperature controlled push button
faucet and shower controls. There are plenty of patents
out there that cover this but I wanted one so I built it.
Every generation gets lazier so I figure robotics is a
good place to be. Not real exciting but that what’s up
with me. I also collect SS now. Rod (sheepman)”
Kimla McDonald is “Still doing the same work as a
midwife, I've brought about 600 babies into the world
so far. Staying active in environmental politics and
Native American rights as a founding board member of
the 25-year old non-profit group The Cultural
Conservancy (website is nativeland.org--check it out!).
I am most proud of my son who is a freshman at Brown
University and my daughter who is working for the
Community Resource Exchange in New York City.
Still living in Washington DC and enjoying my trips
back to Colorado and New Mexico--recently went cross
country skiing near the Rawah Wilderness and saw the
only real snow of the winter. I would love to come back
to Gunnison to see the new Taylor Hall, where I spent
many, many years working and studying. Thanks for
keeping everyone in the loop!”
Malcolm Pierce writes in from the highest town in
Colorado: “My education was good to me. Worked in
the 'field' all over the place - New Mexico (w/ Fred
Frankel), Texas, Denver, Australia, Oman , Denver –
First minerals , then O&G , then O&G software. I am
now retired near Alma, CO. I have a lot / Palapa down
in Baja (Los Barilles) where I spend part of winter. I'm
always up for a hike, bike or camp or. - let me know!”
Tom Pronold “Tom is working on a new play in
Kansas that he stumbled upon ( a lot of good things
come that way) while well sitting. He describes it this
way - “Speaking of dirty work, this play came about
while I sat 5 wells on this project because I wanted to.
And at this stage in my career, committing to do well
site work is similar to 17 year old Katniss Everdeen
committing herself to death in the Hunger Games, a
popular movie and a book I just finished. I believe that
you have to rub your nose in it once in a while to stay
sharp.” “Also, I did attend a technical talk presented by
our local geologic society featuring Oklahoma City
consultant, Kurt Rottmann, ’72. Do you remember
him? I went up after the talk and exchanged memories.
I'm sure he doesn't get many WSC grad's in his
audience around here. A very good talk, I might add, on
a difficult topic-the Mississippian of Kansas and
northern OK.”
Doug Taylor “I have had two wonderful careers in
underground mining, living in Colorado, Montana,
Alaska and now Nevada. We raised two wonderful
kids, Michael and Emily. Unfortunately, I don’t see
many WSC alums but I think of Gunnison and
Colorado frequently.” Doug – you aren’t too far from
Ken Snyder, ‘71 over in Elko and just a little more to
the bright lights of Reno, where Laura Ruud, ’82 can
put you in touch with everybody.
Gene Urie “Still working as a consulting geologist
doing gold exploration in Nevada in the summers and
as an avalanche forecaster/ski patrol in the winters at
Alpine Meadows, CA. Married to Susan (Cole) Urie
(WSC BA Biology, ’78.” Just to make me jealous Gene
always sends pictures of his winter Caribbean cruises
on his sailboat. What a life for a former ski bum!
1978
Eric Bard “has a son in college at Portland State
Univ., OR and getting very good grades! I am working
putting well logs with seismic data creating attributes to
image interesting geology.”
Jeff Dark I had a really nice chat with Jeff at the
Golden alumni party this fall. We talked quite a while
and I reminded him how much Tom and I appreciated
his talk on the Mancos Shale on one of our spring field
trips many years ago. He was the last speaker on the
last day after a long drive and Jeff got out of the van
and said (with that slightly southern fried accent of his)
“That’s the Mancos over there, but everybody is really
tired and nobody wants to hear me talk about a bunch
of mud.” We gave him an A+.
Ed Devenyns “I’ve been in Reno NV since 1984 and
in the minerals industry since I graduated from WSC in
1978 with a double major in Geology and Business. I'd
say I've always been on the administration side of the
Mineral Industry having worked for major mining
companies as well as junior exploration companies in
positions from President, Vice President, Corporate
Development and Director of Lands. I am presently on
the Advisory Board for a Canadian junior exploration
company with projects in Nevada and Mexico and Land
Manager for a producing copper mine in Arizona. As
you know Nancy and I have also had several other
businesses along the way and she still does providing
the concessions for Hot August Nights in Reno. Dave
Ernst and I are still partners in an exploration property
we located in 1984 which is being explored by a
company that has it leased. The last 34 years have
flown by. Nancy and I are still married; we have three
daughters: Katie, 21 graduating from UNLV this May
with a degree in Criminal Justice (plans for law school);
Morgan and Paige (both 18) graduating from high
school in June; Morgan is going to Boise State this fall
and Paige Truckee Meadow Community College in
Reno. It's been quite a while since I've been back there
and as a result I have a 35 acre parcel in the Round
Mountain at Roaring Judy Ranch that I'd like to sell if
you know of an interested party. Great to hear from you
Bruce, hello to Tom and Deirdre, and give me a call the
next time you are in Reno. Best regards,
Greg Embery “I'm doing well, staying busy. I'm
working on an offshore project in Namibia and we have
a heavy oil (CHOPS) project in Canada. I Just drilled
two successful wells with seven more in the hopper.
How's everything back in Gunnison? Hope you’re
doing well and stay in touch."
Mark Fernandes “Life is good. Still living in CT
but getting ready to move to VT. My Son Justin is
working and playing in the Pacific Northwest and
daughter Elise, kind of working in Beaver Creek CO.
Wife Donna getting ready to retire from teaching HS
science. I am running my own company doing mainly
telecommunications construction throughout New
England. I’m in process of building new home in
Wardsboro, VT. Hope to be living there by 2013.”
Pam Klessig “As an update, last year I continued on
with the company (Concordia Resources) on a retainer
as a consultant. I also serve on the board of Concordia
and of Kirkland Lake Gold. In addition, I am a board
member on a non-profit – Food Bank of Northern
Nevada. I’m still trying to decide what I am going to do
with the rest of my life besides hiking and walking with
the dog. Pretty blasé overall. I’m sure something will
happen one of these days but right now I’m in a holding
pattern”. Pam was also endangered by a big fire in
Reno last fall which almost, but not quite, took her
house.
Myra (Vaag) Lugsch “Consulting work in the oil
and gas industry didn’t last, as usual, so Myra is now
working for Formation Environmental in Boulder. The
company is small and the work is interesting—
groundwater monitoring and field investigations at
several phosphate mines in Idaho, a former copper
smelter and refinery in Montana, and a processing plant
in Wyoming. She is also working on a natural resource
damage assessment of the Lower Willamette River in
the Portland Harbor area. Now that twins Mitch and
Dean are in middle school, there are fewer volunteering
opportunities at school. However, the kids schlepping
has increased dramatically (swim team, baseball,
basketball, lacrosse, movies, youth group, etc.). Myra,
Bill, and the boys spend time together skiing (they ran
into Ken Nibbelink at Steamboat when they happened
to share a gondola car last year), bicycling, and taking
summer road trips to see the National Parks and
National Monuments in the western U.S. The alumni
gathering at Connie’s house in Golden last fall was
fun—great to see so many old friends!”
Larry Moyer “I am still doing a combination of
geologic consulting and oil and gas prospect generation.
Promoter is not a pejorative term in my vocabulary. I
have also been teaching a class in Energy Development
for the Petroleum Land Management curriculum in the
Business Department at Colorado Mesa University –
being a Western guy at heart, the politics and pretension
are amazing. Further, I am also an instructor for
PetroSkills in Basic Petroleum Geology. This means
teaching mostly young engineers and business types. It
takes a while to get them to understand that profanity
and vulgarity are considered art forms in the world of
the Petroleum Geologist. I am just getting up to speed
with this outfit. I have been in Grand Junction since
1987. With all of the data and internet now, it is much
easier to be here on the frontier. An amazing number
(by west slope standards) of geologists are relocating
here. For the first time ever, the Grand Junction
Geological Society will host the AAPG Rocky
Mountain Section Meeting in September. I still try to
work on exploratory type projects and now realize after
34 years that I am barely competent to be involved.”
Carol Ostergren “Hello friends, Life is great here in
northern California, my job is still fun every day and I
still learn new stuff every day and have wonderful
partners for data development of a geospatial type-imagery, elevation, hydrography and so forth, that
supports science work across the agency and beyond. I
travel as much as I can, not usually far, but last week to
central Florida to make friends with a new 2-month-old
niece. I take my 14-yr-old son with me when I can, and
show him the colleges nearby so he remains motivated
on the academic front (between soccer games and video
games). Other recent travel: Boise, Salt Lake, San
Diego, Phoenix, High Lonesome Ranch in SW
Colorado, Minneapolis, Hawaii, and lots of local spots-Tahoe, Fresno, Redding, Yosemite, Reno. I had a really
fun reunion with Pam Klessig ‘78 (thank you, Pam!) in
Reno a few months ago, total blast and really took me
back to the Western days of study and debauchery. I get
to Reno and Las Vegas more frequently now, so maybe
we can make it a bigger gathering next time. I hope
everyone is doing well and happy and healthy and
prosperous. I love to hear what you all are doing.”
Paul Rady “has lived for the last 30 years in
the Denver area, working for Amoco, Barrett, Pennaco
and now Antero. Antero has grown to be a large private
company based in Denver. They have been a part of the
"Shale Revolution" with the Barnett, Woodford,
Fayetteville, and now Marcellus shales. Antero will
spend more than $1B this year drilling and acquiring
shales. Antero's geologic staff boasts a number of WSC
Geology graduates, including Andrew Wood ‘04,
Jason Eliassen ‘02, Josh Shaw ‘02 and Rebekah
Parks ‘11. Paul attributes a lot of his success to the
outstanding education he received at Western. Paul and
Katy have four young daughters at home. Paul spends
his free time helping raise their youngsters, coaching
girls’ soccer, and riding his road bike. He has ridden his
bike in Europe for the last twelve summers with his two
older sons, Tim and Jeff, who are also WSC grads.”
Rick Stefanic “After way too many years with the
Government I’ve finally joined Bruce &Tom in the
ranks of the sort of retired. In April of 2011 I threw in
the towel. I was the Rocky Mountain Regional
Environmental Scientist/Geologist for the B.I.A.
located in Billings, Montana. I say sort of retired
because several companies that I had worked with got
wind of my plans to abandon the government and work
as a volunteer on bike path development in Billings.
They offered a substitute plan/opportunity. I took one
company up on the offer. I am now a consultant with
Cardno-TEC with an office I started in Billings. My
focus is assisting companies with environmental
compliance associated with (energy) development on
federally administered acreage. (If you or your
company needs some help in this arena I’m at
RJStefanic@tecinc.com). If you are coming to Billings
and just want to have a few barley pops, I’m at the
same email or you can call 406/850-2500. First rounds
on me, and then we charge the rest to Emeritus Bruce.”
1979
Janie Chermak “Still at the University of New
Mexico and was promoted to Full Professor 2007. I've
been an Associate Editor for Water Resources Research
since 2009. Most of my research is still in energy and in
water (right now I'm working on shale gas well
production). I've had the opportunity to be on a couple
of interesting review panels in the last few years (The
National Research Council's Committee on
Understanding the Impact of Selling the U.S. Helium
Reserve and last fall, the review panel for the
Economics Sustainability Plan for the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta for the California Delta Science Panel).
Very diverse groups of people and really interesting
work but more cool than any of that to me is that one of
my PhD students received the Popejoy Prize for
outstanding dissertation at the University of New
Mexico in 2010. He's now at the Naval Postgraduate
School in my old department. Another thing I'm having
fun doing is that I have an affiliation with the Global
Energy Management Program at the University of
Colorado-Denver and teach a course on global energy
markets. All the students are in the energy industry.
They're challenging, they're enthused, and they get
excited about all sorts of things. I really enjoy that.
Things outside of work? I garden, I run, I like to travel
and I'm a political junkie.”
Ken Nibbelink “Well not much new, just that I got
married a year ago to Stacy and have an 8 month old
little baby girl named Brooke. We live in Steamboat
Springs and I travel 1/2 time to Houston for work. I'm
Chief Geologist for Hyperdynamics where we are
exploring for oil in a large deep water block in Guinea,
West Africa.”
Kevin Taylor “I left Terracon Consultants, Inc. after
7.5 years and moved to Olsson Associates in Golden
heading up their soil and groundwater remediation
group servicing the energy sector. Peg is counting the
days to retirement from teaching. My son James
(Western geology grad 2008) is putting the finishing
touches on his Master’s thesis. He has a position
secured with Noble Energy in Denver in their
exploration division.”
1980
Lindie Brewer is working with Denver Water in the
engineering department.
Larry Coats is in hotel management and gets
around to various great resorts like Beaver Creek and in
the Bahamas. Like me he’s had trouble with knees
(hasn’t everyone?) and had various surgeries and is
expecting replacements in the near future.
Carol (Mooney) Hogsett “I continue to work at Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as a Senior
Recruiter and Student Liaison for the High Performance
Computing and Information Technology organizations.
Love my job! I have the opportunity to travel to many
universities in search of the best and brightest college
students in Computer Science, Information Assurance,
and IT to come to LANL for internship opportunities.
It’s very rewarding to be able to see these students grow
into real jobs at LANL, and begin their careers at the
nation’s top national laboratory. We have the world’s
fastest and largest computers in the world and the
opportunities for students to work in this environment
are exceptional. My husband, Vic, and I love living in
northern New Mexico. We will celebrate our 15 years
of marriage this year! We live in a rural area north of
Santa Fe and love the culture, food, and environment
here. And it’s just a short jaunt to Gunnison and the
southern reaches of Colorado. We just returned from a
fantastic vacation to Panama, where we stayed for 1
week at a coffee plantation (excellent coffee!) at the
base of the Volcan Baru, in Boquete, Panama. The
geology of this area is very interesting, and I spent quite
a bit of time checking out beautiful walls of columnar
joints. After a wonderful stay there, we moved along to
the Bocas del Toro area, Isla Bastiamente, where were
stayed another week at an incredible Eco-lodge (Al
Natural). Then moved along to Panama City where we
were able to watch ships move through the Panama
Canal – an amazing engineering accomplishment.
I continue to dabble in geology by leading various
groups through the Jemez Mountains to learn about the
Jemez Volcano. Many years ago, I had an opportunity
to teach Geology at a small Liberal Arts College in
Minnesota – Gustavus Adolphus College – and I still
maintain a relationship with their faculty. The geology
instructor at GAC has asked me to lead a field trip for
Spring Break this year through the Jemez and the
Harding Pegmatite Mine, a small group of 15. They
will be returning through New Mexico after spending a
week in Canyonlands, Utah. Sound familiar? I am
really looking forward to the geology interactions! Vic
and I also do some interesting archeology/paleoastronomy studies with a friend of ours on some
significant petroglyphs in and around the Pajarito
Plateau. The ancient Indians around here were pretty
smart when it came to measuring solar events, solstice
and equinox. I am very fortunate to be able to share
Christmas Eve almost every year with some dear
friends from WSC Geology Department – Kevin Taylor
and Scot Donato. What fun we have and fond
memories we share from WSC. And of course
Facebook has many WSC friends to keep track of. If
New Mexico is in your future plans, I hope that you
will make contact with me! carolhogsett@msn.com
and on FB. All the best – Carol (Mooney) Hogsett”
Fritz Merz “Still at ExxonMobil after 31 years and
now overseeing our capability development on
Unconventional Resources – to the rest of industry it is
not “Unconventional”, just Shale Gas and Tight Oil!
Our purchase of XTO has brought us into this arena and
we are all coming up the learning curve. I find these
resources very exciting and it has the feel of the early
80’s again. Those darn Colorado Geologists beat
everyone to the party again! Now that I reached my
milestone B-Day where I can leave EM with full
retirement I would like to try and get back to Colorado
again and finish off my career where I started! I am remarried to a wonderful lady from Lithuania for the last
4 years who was in Houston doing medical research
and currently getting her Master’s degree in nursing. I
have a 12 year old stepson and 18 year old teenager
who hopefully will going to school in Greely or Ft.
Collins next year. He has completely lost his mind
enjoying his Sr. year in High School and we all hope it
returns in time for college! Am glad we were never like
that, ha ha!! Cheers.”
Scott Mossman “I am now a private consultant
specializing in gravity and magnetic methods for
energy, mining and engineering concerns. My official
shingle over the door is SMGM Consulting, which
oddly enough stands for Scott Mossman Gravity &
Magnetics. I have a website at
www.smgmconsulting.com where you can peruse what
I services I offer. I've been working in oil & gas
exploration, geothermal, mining, and am currently
negotiating for some consulting work with the World
Bank overseas. As of January, I am now vice president
of the Pacific Coast Section of the SEG (Society of
Exploration Geophysicists). This takes me to
Bakersfield at least once a month where I'm also able to
check up on my parents in their retiring years. My
office is in Santa Monica Ca. where I live 4 blocks from
the beach with my new wife Jayna, we were married
just a little over a year ago on 1/1/11 (I know, it'll be
easy to remember my anniversary). Jayna is a
psychotherapist and an artist with a new book out and
we're also busy with preparation for a new showing of
her art at a restaurant in Century City. My son is in his
senior year in school in NYC, and my daughter is
teaching at a Montessori school in Denver. We get out
hiking as much as we can, there are sure a lot of places
for us explore in California.”
Jim VanMeter “I have been working in the oil & gas
industry as a geologist since 1980. In 1987 I went back
to school for my master’s degree from the Colorado
School of Mines and graduated in 1990. After that I
worked in Houston for Tenneco Gas Pipeline (3 long
years) and then came back to Colorado to work as a
consulting geologist in 1994. For the last 18 years, I
have been working unconventional shale, coalbed
methane and basin centered gas plays in the US for
various clients and also working overseas in Myanmar
and other areas. A year and a half ago I was in
Afghanistan of all places! In January of 2011, I joined
Rex Energy Corp. in Denver as a senior geologist for
their (soon to close) Rocky Mountain division. If all
goes well, I will then transition to a new start-up
company called Wyzonaco (as VP of geology) which is
taking over the Rocky Mountain assets of Rex and will
be acquiring other acreage in the Rocky Mountain
region. I’m still living in Conifer CO and have been for
the past 6 years. I love to play golf and I travel quite a
bit when I get the chance. I will keep you updated as
things progress.”
1981
Scot Donato is with the Bill Barrett Corporation in
Denver.
Caron (Sanford) Koll “Life is good. Working for
ARCADIS (formerly BBL) an environmental and
infrastructure consulting firm has been a challenging,
rewarding and exciting career as a geologist and project
manager. As of March 9th, I will have 28 years with
this firm and fortunate have had the opportunity to
work in a culture of talented coworkers and clients who
have all become great friends. Work is never dull and
there is always much to learn and as well as teach. I'm a
professional Geologist in PA and a Licensed Site
Professional in MA, both achievements I attribute to the
fundamentals provided through WSC. Thank you Bruce
and WSC for a great education that has taken me to
fulfilling career that allows for a balance between home
life and career. I'm happily married with two young
adult daughters living in Marcellus New York. I'm an
avid telemark skier and kayaker, both activities I
observed in Gunnison. Being a poor student, I never
had the opportunity to try either sport until graduation
from WSC. I've been hooked ever since.” You were
never a poor student, Caron!
Eric Lipinski “is still living and working in Denver,
and has been employed as Vice President-Geosciences
with Cornerstone Natural Resources LLC since its
inception in October 2008. Cornerstone is a small
private equity company and is an active operator,
developing both the Bakken and Three Forks reservoirs
with horizontal completions in North Dakota.
Cornerstone also employs Shannon Townley ‘06 as a
geologist in their Denver office. Prior to Cornerstone,
Eric spent several years with Patina Oil & Gas in
Denver from its inception in 1996 until the company
was sold to Noble Energy in 2005. During a portion of
that time, Paul Rady ‘78 served on Patina’s Board.
Denver has a great oil community, and WSC is well
represented in the business! Eric and his wife Lana try
to spend as much time as possible in their “warm
climate” home in South Texas as they are both losing
interest in cold weather. Eric and Lana have a daughter
Robin who will be attending Trinity University in San
Antonio, TX in the fall of 2012 (tried unsuccessfully to
talk her into WSC’s PLRM Program), Robin is an avid
soccer player and will be playing for the Trinity Tigers;
she doesn’t anticipate many games being cancelled due
to snow.”
Bryan Roberts is “Principal member of Excalibur
Group, LLC, an environmental engineering and
remediation company domiciled in McLean, VA
providing technical consulting, regulatory compliance,
design engineering, and third party technical reviews in
the mid-Atlantic region employing 20 geologists,
engineers, scientists, and chemists since 1999. With
staff in PA, MD, VA, NC, and CO who all work from
their home offices supporting a broad private sector
customer base. I serve as the chief financial officer and
principal hydrogeologist to assess environmental
liabilities associated with manufacturing, petroleum,
fabricators, and insurance companies while
collaborating and teaming on business development
initiatives. Excalibur also provides professional
recruiting services for a select number of international
firms placing engineers and marketing professionals.
Continue to enjoy hiking, biking, skiing, golfing,
upland bird hunting, volunteering for our church and
community, and raising five children.” Bryan was up
here last summer and sent some great pictures of him
and family hiking in the Schofield Park area. Sorry I
missed you Bryan!
Tom Shrake “I am now in my 15th year as President
and CEO of Pacific Rim Mining Corp. For the past ten
years we've been focused on low-sulfidation gold
exploration for bonanza vein systems. We're up to
about a million and a half ounces of very high grade
gold ounces in El Salvador, Central America. We have
our first project in the US in 23 years and it's within
driving distance of my house. Quite a change after 23
years of international exploration in seven Latin
American countries. Thirty-five years ago my wife
Anne and I were married on the porch of the old Ohio
Creek schoolhouse. We will have an empty nest later
this year when our youngest heads to college. Our
oldest, Robert, works for Schlumberger in Saudi as an
engineer. Our middle daughter, Katie, was one of the
few that got accepted to nursing school here at UNR;
and, our youngest, Mariah, looks to be heading to CSU
in Fort Collins to study physical therapy.”
Gary Skipp is still with the USGS in Denver.
Don Sweekind “continues to work at the USGS at
the Federal Center in Lakewood. In the nearly 20 years
he has worked at the USGS he has never had a project
in Colorado! Most of Don's work involves groundwater
issues in Nevada, California and Utah. Don uses GIS
and 3D geologic modeling to create subsurface
geologic frameworks for numerical groundwater flow
models. Don lives in Golden CO with his wife, Karen
Smith. Their daughter Reid started at Oregon State
University last fall as a Biology major.” Really good to
see you at alumni party in Golden, Don – it’s been
awhile!!
1982
Kristen Andrew Hoeser “I’m still a senior engineer
at Entech in Colorado Springs – a geotechnical
company. We weathered the recession and things have
been picking up nicely at work. Personally, we’ve been
very busy with family the last few years. My oldest son,
Cory (23) got married in July, 2010 and my husband
Tony and I catered the wedding with lots of help from
the family. He and his wife live here in Colorado
Springs. My youngest son Aaron (21) still lives at home
with us – the recession makes it awfully hard on those
just getting out of school with no experience. Tony and
I finally took my dream vacation where we started at
the Grand Canyon (south rim), then Vermillion Cliffs,
north rim of the Grand Canyon and then a loop of all of
the National Parks in Utah. I was in geology heaven!!
I’ve been to several of the places individually, but
immerse myself in all of it at once was wonderful! I
highly recommend doing that to all geology alumni
who haven’t done it yet!”
Dennis Beaver “Still doing solar, primarily for
residential customers – Shine on!” Dennis also has a
house in Salida and we frequently see him up at
Monarch ski area.
Ray (Cheeno) Cherniski “After 12 years in the
beautiful mountains of northern New Mexico (skiing &
biking in Angel Fire) and working at Questa
Underground Moly mine, I accepted a transfer to
Houston, TX in January, 2011. My current assignment
is with Chevron’s Mid-Continent Business Unit as
Operational Excellence and HES Planning &
Performance Manager. (That’s a mouthful, Ray!)
After 29 years, this is my first assignment with
Upstream E&P – but, I’m having fun. Greetings to all
alums!” This looks like a major career move Ray –
Congratulations, and don’t forget us when you’re old
and rich.
Phil Mulholland “I am currently working as a Senior
Mine geologist for Kinross at the Kettle RiverBuckhorn Mine in north-central Washington. I have
been working interchangeably between explorationdevelopment and production most of my career and
some of that time as an independent. It has been a blast.
My wife and I raised twin daughters, now 22 years old one soon to graduate from U of Montana in geology.
Free time is spent fishing, kayaking, cycling and
cursing on the golf course. Phil notes that he runs into
Katye McConaghy ’98 on some of his projects.
Eric Ruud - “Eric got a new job in November 2011
and is now the Sample Prep Manager for Inspectorate
America, one of the largest laboratories in the world.
He is happy that he doesn’t have to travel with this job,
except for the occasional road trip to Elko or
Winnemucca! He still volunteers as the Snow Sports
Director for the local Junior Ski Program. Skiing is still
his passion but the knees aren’t cooperating as much as
they used to.”
Laura Ruud “ Laura left the Mechanical
Engineering Department at the University of Nevada,
Reno in August 2011 and went back to managing the
office for the Geological Society of Nevada in Reno.
She’s been the bookkeeper for the Society for 21 years
so the move is a good fit for her. It’s good to be back
among working geologists! She’s having fun organizing
meetings, putting a monthly newsletter together,
helping organize field trips to mines and everything else
that a 1,200 member organization needs her to do. Eric
and Laura ski almost every weekend during the winter
and are having a great time. They met some WSC
friends at Crested Butte for a ski trip on February 24th.
It was a beautiful day and it made us realize how much
we miss it! One of the highlights of the trip was having
breakfast with Bruce and Deirdre Bartleson and Dave
and Carol Primus at the “W” Café. Felt like old times.
Our son Alex is now 23 and working on a Masters in
Computer Science & Engineering while working parttime with a Mining Engineering firm in Reno. Our
daughter Erica is 22 and a senior at UNR getting her
degree in Dietetics and working part-time at the
Geology Student Center on campus. It’s a perfect place
for her to work because she says she “gets” the Geology
students and their sense of humor!” Life is good in
Reno!
1983
Sue Barrett “Has it really been 'several' years?!?
Glad to know/read that you are doing well. Love that
Gunnison country area. I am doing very well too! :)
Enjoying Wyoming and loving what I do. .... and would
love to visit with any of our fellow geology graduates
when they are traveling through the Cody area! Keep
me posted too on any up-coming reunions. It would be
nice to see you and everyone again. With Love &
Light.... Sue”
Brad Boshetto “I am just entering my 24th year with
Shell. After spending the last 5 years as the Health
Safety Security and Environmental (HSSE) Manager
for Shell's Alaska Venture, I have taken a 4 year
assignment in The Hague, The Netherlands, as the
HSE/Sustainable Development Mgr for Shell's
Greenland Venture. Over the next 3 years, Shell will
shoot ~8000 sq km of 3D seismic, cut 11 stratigraphic
control cores and drill 2 wells in Baffin Bay. In the
mean time, my wife, 13 ear old daughter and I have
readily shifted our fun focus from fishing, camping,
skiing to Euro-touring. Our goal is 1 in-country and 1
out-of-country trip per month. So far, so good and
yesterday we were rewarded with an eruption of Mt
Etna while in Sicily for Easter holiday!”
John Evans “Not much new in my life these days.
Still in Broomfield, married to Liz whom I met at CSU.
Our son, Alex is a freshman at CSU, and his sister Lily
is in fourth grade. So, we're still raising kids. I work in
real estate (never thought I'd say that) and property
management, mostly in connection with a warehouse
operation that Liz's Dad started in the 1950's. It's a
family business that allows us to stay in one place and
be around family. We've been to Disney World about 6
times in as many years, and have traveled to
Williamsburg, Virginia, Washington DC, and
Oceanside / San Diego, CA in the past few years. One
unusual thing we do is take Dahon folding bicycles on
many of our trips. I have fond memories of riding the
San Luis Rey trail in Oceanside, and riding as a family
around Washington DC. DC is a very bike-friendly
town with on-street bike lanes and it's legal to ride on
the sidewalks, which suprised me. Lily and I have been
to Eldora several times this year where she has taught
herself to snowboard, and I try to keep up on my
telemark skis. I watch with passing nostalgia the shale
gas drilling boom going on in northeastern Colorado.
Must be an exciting time to be a geology undergrad.”
Rod Graham “I have just returned to the minerals
exploration business after a strange two and half year
detour into the oil business. I went to work for a small
publically listed oil and gas outfit in September 2009,
and in the process of trying to staff up the exploration
department I ended up with a big Western State
component – Jim Coogan as exploration manager,
Justin Tully ’02 and Andrew Payton ’08 as
geologists. But the “awl bidness” never did hold much
appeal for me and I finally stepped down at the end of
February. I’m now working for Tien Shan Resources,
looking for gold, copper, and other metals in Central
Asia. I’ll continue to be based in Mongolia where I
have now lived for over twelve years, but will be
branching out into Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and maybe
Russia and China. Nothing else has changed much, and
I continue to spend a week or two in Gunnison every
winter for the ice fishing at Taylor Park.”
Elloitt Lips “I am living in Salt Lake City working
as an engineering geologist. I have my own consulting
company (Great Basin Earth Science) and have had
some really fun projects in the past few years. I do quite
a few investigations for geologic hazards – landslides,
rockfalls, earthquakes, and floods for either new
development (mostly large municipal projects or roads)
or for attorneys involved in litigation. I also do some
consulting on mine permitting. Overall, life is good. I
am married with one 17 year-old daughter who keeps
me active and even though she doesn’t waive her arms
enough to be a good geologist, she usually beats me in
most other debates. I still run rivers 3-4 weeks a year,
but have not skied in two years due to knee problems.
We get out for other camping/hiking trips and I still get
together with my 5 fellow geology graduates of 1983
for our annual Destinations Unknown trip. I miss
Gunnison and all the rest of the folks, but it’s good to
keep in touch with Bruce.”
Jeff Littfin, Whitefish, MT: “Worked in Denver for
Daniel Geophysical ('84-'87) making maps, modeling,
and software development primarily for the oil and gas
industry. Worked with Geographics Information
Inc.(87-91) developing a digital cartographic database
from USGS 7.5min topos and output the data a variety
of formats for computer mapping software as well as
created custom maps and generated Lat. Lon's for well
locations from footage calls for API. Worked for
MineSoft LLC. ('91-'92) as a International and National
Sales Manager selling a relational database software
package used primarily for GIS and mining
applications. Moved to Montana in ('92) to pursue a
lifestyle rather than a career. Worked for several
companies as a computer technician/consultant selling
and supporting hardware and software to schools and a
wide variety of businesses. Started Littfin Consulting
Inc. ('03-Present) as a computer consultant providing
networking and general trouble shooting for computer
systems and applications. I'm still active with skiing,
hiking, biking, archery hunting, fishing, kayaking,
sailing, waterskiing, snowmobiling and dirt biking.
Been worn hard and put away wet plenty of times with
outdoor activities. 7 surgeries, 6 broken bones and I'm
still kicking...just not as hard. Lots of hobbies that keep
me out of the bars & trouble such as sculptures, wood
working, and playing guitar with a band on a regular
basis.”
Dale Marcum “I’m still a principal with Cotton,
Shires and Associates, Inc…a small engineering
geologic consulting firm in Los Gatos, CA. Almost 25
years now…time flies. Office work has increased over
the years, but I still get to get out and map rocks fairly
often. Most of our projects are in the Sierra, but Elliot
just got us a rock slope stability project in Utah, so that
has been fun working with him. Married with two boys
(11 and 15) in Los Gatos, and they keep us busy. I got
semi-serious with the guitar a few years back, and have
been playing in a local band…but don’t plan to quit the
day job. Rock on….”
Chuck Place Here’s a really interesting letter from
Chuck: “I still have my own company and work all
over the US on Green Energy projects where we take
large industrial wastewater plants and clean the water to
make biogas. On a current project in GA, we’re
cleaning the biogas to “pipeline quality” gas which will
replace all the natural gas purchased by the facility.
They’ll be the 1st slaughter or food processing facility
in the US to operate completely on gas generated from
their waste. I guess it’s my age, but I find I want to
vacation more now and work less. My wife and I try to
vacation at some warm beach at least 3 or 4 times a
year during the cold months, the rest of the year we’re
on the local lakes and work on our tans. I think that is
more fun than work anytime. We have a couple of
farms in west Texas. The drought this year was really
tough and we received only 1.5 inches of rain all year.
Our crops were a total loss this year, as were most nonirrigated crops in Texas. The only bright spot is the
insurance companies had to pay record amounts to the
farmers this year because commodity prices were so
high last year. I still work on geology with my oil field
prospects. I plan to drill another well in KS in early
2012. My farms are near Haskell, TX. That is about an
hour north of Abilene. There are a few oil fields in that
area. The Midland area is amazing. The oil companies
there are still hitting 600 to 800 bbl / day wells. It’s
incredible how much oil comes from there. I live over
the Barnett Shale play in Dallas/Ft Worth. There are
about 6,000 wells here now. Most wells in the cities are
directional wells, so one well pad with 8 wells. Those
wells are averaging 1.5 MCF of natural gas / day. There
are still 10,000’s of locations left to drill with 100%
possibility of making a gas well at each location. I still
like drilling wells, it makes life interesting, especially if
you find the location, pay to drill it and bare all the risk
for the results. I usually only drill in OK or KS, where
lease and drilling costs are reasonable. Gas prices are
very low now and that affects my business. Since we
make biogas (Methane, CO2, H2S) from waste, it’s
pretty tough to make a project pay back in two years.
That is what all the major industrial companies require.
If it can’t recoup their investment and set them up to
make them millions of $ in two years, they won’t do the
project. The ads you see on TV for Green Energy or
caring about the environment are very frustrating to me.
ALL major companies don’t care a thing about the
environment unless it makes $ for the company now,
not years from now. I’ve worked for most of the major
industries in the US and they’re all the same.
Regulations, fines & government grants are the only
thing that makes them act. The uncertainty with the
direction of Regulations from the Obama administration
has most companies sitting on their hands as well. It’s
too bad the US can’t just decide to go with Green
Energy to replace some petroleum imports and quit
arguing about global warming. That argument will
continue for decades and drag down progress with
Renewable Energy. It’s amazing how many Cities and
large industrial facilities I go to that could generate free
energy for their tax payers or stockholders. It’s usually
too much work to get anything to happen on a City
project, so I don’t even try those. It’s a shame that all
that free energy goes to waste (or in the atmosphere)
every day in the US and most people don’t even know
about it.”
Jeff Stewart “I'm coming up on 20 years with the
USGS doing water-quality analysis. Fracking studies
should keep me going for the next 10 years. Thanks
guys! I keep busy raising two sons with my wife of 14
years, Mary. When that isn't enough, I coach youth
basketball and try to keep skiing, though the "tele" skis
just collect dust now.”
Bob Twiddy “I have been living in the Denver metro
area since 1988 and continue to fight the weekend ski
traffic in the winters. I spent the early part of my career
in the Environmental field before jettisoning that for a
sales career for the Timken Company. I sell roller
bearings, predominantly to heavy industry such as coal
mines, power plants, wind turbines and steel mills. It
does warrant some travel to some garden spots such as
Gillette, WY and Billings, MT. Fortunately I run across
a few ski hills, trout streams and mountain biking trails
along the way. This keeps me somewhat sane. My
significant other of 13 years, Beth, and I have blended
together a family. Her daughter Eva is now a
sophomore at CSU in the engineering program. My
daughter Hannah is a sophomore in high school. We are
all at the age where we seem to be going in all
directions at different times….we see each other
occasionally. We come to our senses at times and
coordinate a river trip, or escape to a little getaway near
Buena Vista (with bikes, boats or skis in tow), and visit
our new favorite spot of Costa Rica. I still participate in
a Destinations Unknown group with Jeff Littfin, Dale
Marcum, Elliott Lips, Kent Wheeler and Brad
Boschetto (Class of 83). Each year one of us plans a trip
to a destination that is a surprise to the others…until
just before take-off. Sometimes the families are
involved, sometimes it’s just the guys (these tend to be
test-o-thons that leave us whimpering sometimes, but
you can always tell how much fun we’ve had by how
hurt and dirty we get!). Either way, it keeps us in touch
with each other in a world where it’s increasingly
difficult to make time for our friends. I also still attend
the Alumni Ski Weekend most every year, just so I can
get my hands on a delicious BartleBurger…Thanks
Bruce”
Kent Wheeler “I moved to Salt Lake City in 1987
for the skiing and have been there ever sense. I am
running an Environmental Consulting firm (IHI
Environmental) of about 70 people with offices in Utah,
Colorado, Arizona, California, Washington, and Dallas.
It seems like I hardly do any geology anymore, as the
management activities have provided a new challenge
in my life, not better but different. I’m married (since
1991) with two daughters (8 and 15). Boating, skiing,
and climbing still dominate my life with a little fly
fishing and surfing tied in. I still do a trip every year
with 5 other geology alums (Elliott Lips ‘83, Jeff
Littfin ‘83, Brad Boschetto ‘83, Bob Twiddy ‘83, and
Dale Marcum ‘83). Most trips now include the
everyone’s family (18 people), the last five have been a
Desolation/Greys canyon raft trip, kayak trip in the
Gunnison Gorge, a three week trip to Alaska (Denali to
Wrangle St Elias), Lake Powell, and a tour of
California’s beaches (San Cruz to Lake Tahoe). Life is
still really good!!”
Joe Winston “I became a licensed attorney in
Colorado in 1991, graduated from DU Law School. Just
started my 21st year in practice in Colorado Springs. I
have three children, Haydn, Susan and Claire.”
Mark Winters “Thanks for following up and
keeping me in the loop. All is well with me. Not much
is new (and that’s OK). Heli-skiing is now an annual
affair (Revelstoke most recently, bottomless powder
every run!), and I skied at Mt. Bachelor on the 3rd of
July this year! Trust you are doing well. Thanks and
regards, Nanook”
1985
Andrea (Heller) Albershardt “Greetings friends,
isn't life grand! The winter of 2011 I traveled from
Gunnison County to explore the mountains of western
North Carolina. There is such a great diversity of plants
and birds here in this Appalachian Blue Ridge
Mountain area. Gunnison does not get the visits from
the many migrating birds that wing through this
geography. Some early mornings, I take my coffee into
the garden for a few minutes to observe the songs and
colors of visiting birds. Love came a knocking at my
door and I am now a happy and excited married
woman. Andy Albershardt was a student at Western in
the 70's when I arrived at Western. A perfect August
blue sky day in Crested Butte framed our wedding.
Andy had been living in North Carolina and so I have
landed here in Black Mountain just east of Asheville.
This area is proud of its sustainable gardens, art, food
and music. I do miss skiing although North Carolina is
a mountain and road bike paradise. There are steep
roads everywhere. I hear that North Carolina has 97,000
miles of paved roads. My Australian shepherd Rina is
my companion on walks, hikes and bike. I continue to
love writing, teaching, sewing, jewelry making and
lifelong learning. Come and visit and best yet, keep in
touch! Love, Andrea L. Heller Albershardt”
(gunnigaln2life@hotmail.com)
Cindy (Klinker) Jenkins “Living in Kazakhstan
(again) with husband Steve who is still with Chevron.
We have a home in Gunnison and spend summers there,
which is great! I see Robert and Bruce with some
frequency and Tom sometimes as well. The kids are in
boarding school, one graduating from Colorado Rocky
Mountain School in Carbondale in June 2012 and the
other attending school in New Hampshire. Life is
good.”
John Lamborn “We are living in Sterling, AK about
1 mile from the Kenai River. The fishing is pretty good
in the summer. Moose hunting can be in the back yard.
There was a grizzly bear doing laps around the house
this fall but didn't cause any problems. It did get our
attention though. I have visited with Dan Vogel ‘85 a
few times in the last year and he is doing well. I haven't
spoken with him since hunting season; I should call him
and see how he did. I got a moose this year but not out
the back door.”
1986
Kathy Northcut – “I ended up getting a Masters at
Colorado State in TESL in 1995 and a doctorate at
Texas Tech in Technical Communication & Rhetoric in
2004. That has served me well and I’m now tenured at
Missouri S&T (formerly Univ. of Missouri at Rolla)
and doing some interesting things. I get back to
Gunnison occasionally but missed you at the Writing at
the Rockies conference in 2009 or 10. I actually do use
my Geology background in a sort of creative way – I
studied the controversy surrounding Protoavis texensis
(controversial Triassic bird-like fossil) and especially
the visual representations of it. I finally have a
publication about it coming out this year. Suffice to say
it was very fun to follow illustrators around while they
painted dinosaurs. If I ever have a chance to be in on a
dig, I would gladly pay for it.” Kathy, you ought to
contact Kelli Trujillo at the Univ. of Wyoming geology
museum!
1987
John Axelson “I’m still working for the Colorado
Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) as an
environmental protection specialist. It has been just
over five years and with the high level of oil & gas
activity in Weld County my job is extremely busy. I
still work from my house as a field office in Brighton
which allows me to have quick response time to oil &
gas locations in NE Colorado. Besides work, I still
enjoy taking the family on camping trips and fly
fishing. My kids Emily (9) and Sydnie (13) are growing
up way too fast. Both are doing great in school and
Emily has shown a lot of interest in geology. We often
go rock hounding on camping trips and Emily uses my
field guide to rocks & minerals (now very tattered) that
I bought as a freshman at WSC bookstore in 1983.
Where does the time go ?”
Doug Holzman “Yup, still in Hood River. Probably
till I die. Still working for Frontier Airlines (for the
moment). Hoping they stay in business till I retire. Still
windsurfing, mountain biking, kayaking, and just took
up my new sport - kiteboarding. Kids are 13 and 15
(oldest just started High School). Also still married to
my 1st wife (unlike many other pilots). Life is generally
very good.”
1988
Scott Effner is being a bit brief and modest when he
writes “back living in Gunny.” Scott and his wife
Susan Wyman are running the most upcoming and
thriving business in Gunnison. It’s located in an old,
well kept mansion on Main Street just a block from our
house and have a state of the art geochem lab for
testing water/rock interactions in their basement. Their
company, Whetstone Associates, specializes in
groundwater, geochemistry and hydrologic engineering
and has clients all over the Western US, Latin America
and even Mongolia, mostly in mining. They now have
14 employees and have hired four WSC graduates and
several interns who have passed through. See their
website at http://www.whetstone-associates.com/
Mark Owen “I am the Sr. Archaeologist for Stell
Environmental Enterprises. Stellcontracts
archaeological and Section 106 compliance work at
Fort Carson in Colorado. Beyond the purely
archaeological realm, I am involved with range and
building planning, NEPA, wildland fire treatment
efforts, and site protection and preservation projects.
Currently reside in Fountain, Colorado with my
librarian/historic archaeologist/historian/genealogist
wife Pam. Return to fish the Gunnison area several
times each year (mostly in Cochetopa Park and Taylor
River drainage basin). Post B.A. at Western State I
completed an M.A. at New Mexico State University. I
count prehistoric warfare, the Paleoindian occupation of
southeastern Colorado, and lithic artifact analysis as my
primary research interests.” Good seeing you last fall,
Mark!
Carol (Gallatin) Rieger “At this time I am living
happily as a wife and mother of two wonderful little
girls. Starting late in life on a family has been such a
welcome joy, that I cannot imagine life not being
"Mama". Samantha is now 5 and will start Kindergarten
in the fall at a local charter school focusing on foreign
language immersion. Sam will be part of the Spanish
program. So far I am happy with what I see as her
education path through 3rd grade, especially with the
reading and math curricula. This 5-year-old likes
Smurfs, dinosaurs, rocks, dancing, singing, riding her
scooter, and hiking. Amelia is now 16-months old (yes,
I was almost 46 when she was born). Ever the
analytical child, she has easily figured out how to
manage the stairs before crawling on her hands and
knees, loves books, takes the caps off jars and bottles,
and can operate a remote better than me. This child
scoots around like a chimp, would rather be outside any
day, and is extremely affectionate. We are concerned
that she has an affinity towards older men with facial
hair (like her father). My husband Terry works out of
the house, takes care of the girls, and enjoys hiking,
camping, long-distance running, and target shooting.
We will celebrate 6 years of marriage this month and
will return to Dinosaur National Monument this
summer (with the girls), where he fatefully proposed to
me in July 2005 (overlooking the Uinta Uplift). As for
me...I am still working for the same company (23-1/2
years) and have a mix of technical and project/program
management responsibilities. We will see if I hit the 24year mark. I'd love to say I have been doing volunteer
work in Morrison, but time is precious between family
and work, so something had to give for a while. I still
manage to get out and enjoy geology and paleontology
with my paleo-compadres and my trusty hammer,
brushes, and [dental] picks. Samantha may join us this
summer on a local excursion. To finish, we hope to
travel this year and are looking to visit Terry's family in
the Chicago area, camp out in Dinosaur NM, and
[maybe] take a road trip to Gunnison in early fall. It has
been almost 25 years since I graduated, and I'd like to
see the school/town after reading so much about the
changes over the years. Wow!!!!!!!!!! Time flies...”
1989
Annie (Clements) Eckman “We are still in Colorado
Springs, with life going by at what feels like 100 mph.
Our girls, Laurel and Fiona, are now 12 and 8 years old;
John and I will soon celebrate our 22nd year of
marriage. It's amazing that he has put up with me for so
long, honestly. I am splitting my time professionally
between a long term contract with the Colorado Oil &
Gas Conservation Commission (in Environmental
Protection, with John Axelson '88) and consulting on
my own, mainly due diligence for oil and gas related
property transactions. John (also WSC, Biology '89)
still cuts up dead people and assorted body parts at
Penrose St. Francis Hospital. We camp or ski as many
weekends as possible, and are thankful every day to be
back in Colorado. Maybe not as thankful as Scott
Effner’88 who is actually making a living, as a
geologist, in Gunnison. But waking up to an amazing
view of Pikes Peak each morning isn't so bad. I have
been enjoying my position on the WSC Alumni Board
of Directors for the past couple of years (thanks to
Bruce for suggesting me). Western still feels like home,
and I love getting back at least a few times every year.
If you haven't been on campus for a while, you have to
check out the totally revamped, amazing Taylor Hall,
not to mention the Union and the wonderful addition to
Hurst. There are exciting changes on the horizon, as
Western celebrates its 100th year and unveils a name
change from College to University. It was a pleasure to
connect with geology alums at the WSC-School of
Mines tailgate in the fall, and the alumni ski weekend
BBQ. When I met the legendary Bob Twiddy’83 I
nearly fainted. And that Dennis Beaver ‘82 turns up
everywhere! During the fall gathering, I was inspired to
put together an ongoing Denver area Geology Alumni
happy hour. My enthusiasm may have been stoked by
the cocktails I was enjoying that lovely fall day in
Connie Knight's ’70 backyard, but it was my birthday,
and I was fresh from a flight into DIA from Vegas. Bob
Dickerson's ‘77 suggested location (the Mellow
Mushroom on the 16th Street Mall) worked out well in
November. Great pizza, a more than decent beer
selection, and free validated parking (Tabor Center
underground garage). If you would like to join us for
the next happy hour and don't already get the email
invites, please let me know: anneckman@comcast.net
Hope to see you there!”
Christine Peak is “still residing in Montrose,
Colorado and consider it a privilege to live in the
beautiful west. Still married to Jim Peak, it will be 40
years this year and yes, we plan to celebrate. Still travel
to Australia and other overseas locations as often as
possible. Mexico, Honduras and China are amongst the
latest. Mushrooming in the Fall and the production of a
huge vegetable garden in the spring...for more than
ourselves each year. I am now on the Board of the
Montrose County Housing Authority and have become
more involved in politics. Remember that I am a citizen
of the USA now and have that "freedom of speech". I
am healthy, happy and enjoying life. Son Jefferson is a
professional photographer, claiming Fashion
Photographer of the Year for Denver this year and I
market his product through
modelmayhem.com/180431. I do this by critiquing
pictures. Daughter Kara is still with NABORS
International Drilling Co. in the financial department
located in Houston. Interestingly, she is engaged to a
man who puts the safety programs into the oil and gas
rigs and storage facilities...he has contracts with 15,000
companies ((Exxon Mobile, BP (post accident), Shell))
and rapidly growing. Amazing stuff. I do not pretend to
understand all the details of his work.”
Norm Yoast “I have been teaching at Craig Middle
School now for 19 years. 22 years total. I recently
earned my masters from Grand Canyon University in
Phoenix in technology and curriculum development. I
currently teach 8th grade science, river watch, 6-8th
grade gifted and talented and some science exploratory
classes. I also am the girl’s basketball coach at Moffat
County High School as well as football and track at
CMS. My wife Deb still teaches at CMS also. We have
two kids, Colten is a 10th grader at MCHS and Lindsey
is a Sophomore attending Western State College,
majoring in geology (yes) and math(gets that from
mom). We still spend our summers exploring geology
NW Colorado.”
1990
Julie Coleman “I'm still working as the San Juan
National Forest Archaeologist in Durango, Colorado.
Until the "divorce" of the BLM and FS and the end of
Service First on October 1, 2011, I was the
Archaeologist for the San Juan Public Lands, in charge
of all the BLM and FS lands in SW Colorado. Life is
great in the San Juans- still enjoying great powder days
and backcountry excursions in huts! Off to Guatemala
and Honduras this year to escape mud season!” Julie
was recently honored as the 2012 recipient for the
Archeology and Historic Preservation Award by the
Center of Southwest Studies in Durango.
1991
Greg Hill “I am currently Vice President,
Exploration for Kinetic Gold Corp., a company that I
co-founded in 2011. We are a private junior exploration
company working in the Great Basin and employ a
prospect generator business model. For the past five
years, I have lived in Tahoe City, California with my
wife Laura and ten year old daughter Alaina. We spend
much of our free time in the great outdoors, skiing,
hiking, running, and playing.”
Liz (Wallner) Francisco I’m the archeologist for the
BLM Gunnison Field Office. Spend my free time
skiing, hiking, hunting, and relaxing!
1992
Elizabeth (Budzien) Toivonen “Not much is
happening in Canberra. I still work for AECOM in
contaminated sites auditing. All of my projects are still
in NSW (generally Sydney), so I work from home
around 3 to 4 days per week and spend the other day or
two a week in either our Canberra or Sydney office. In
the last year I completed two of my major (and
favourite) projects, both of which I project managed
and conducted all of the technical reviews and reporting
for more than 6 years, so my feelings are mixed – sense
of accomplishment with a bit of “now what?”. The first
project involved auditing one of the largest dioxin
remediation programs in the Southern Hemisphere. The
site is currently being redeveloped as high rise
residential apartment buildings with commercial shops
on the ground floor. The other project was auditing the
assessment and remediation of a Defence facility which
will be redeveloped for mixed residential, commercial
and open space (including national park/nature reserve
areas) land uses.I have stepped aside from the team
leader role in the Canberra office to focus on a more
technical role across NSW. This also allowed one of the
younger guys, who we were grooming for the Canberra
team leader role, the opportunity to step up and take on
greater responsibility within the team and it was a way
for me to remove myself from the chauvinistic attitude
and bullying rampant in our Canberra office (quite sad
in this day and age and something that I haven’t
experienced in the other AECOM offices in NSW – or
anywhere else I have worked for that matter).Trevor
and I have pretty much decided to move to the US,
providing Trevor’s visa comes through ok, most likely
to Oklahoma to be closer to my parents. I’ve been in
Australia a long time (going on 17 years) and they are
getting older, so we’d like to spend some quality time
with them while we still can. A week from Wednesday
(21 March) we are off to Oklahoma for almost three
weeks to celebrate my Dad’s birthday and we will start
looking at houses, etc. The Aussie dollar is high, so the
timing is definitely good, and the job situation in
Oklahoma is looking pretty promising, although I might
take the opportunity to do more study.”
1993
Dave Lazorchak “Here’s brief rundown on the last
18 – no make that 19 –years since graduating (can it
really be that long ago?). I worked as an archaeologist
in the private sector most of the time up until 2000. I
held many non-degree related jobs during the off season
to pay the bills (bouncer, bartender, carpenter, fence
builder, landscaping just to name a few). I then started
with the Bureau of Land Management in Montrose as a
seasonally employed archaeological technician; after a
while Julie Coleman stole me from Montrose and I
started working in Gunnison. After a few years I was
hired on as the field office archaeologist and geologist.
About three years ago they split my job and I decided to
become the geologist (much to the chagrin of
management). As is usual, additional duties were
handed to me, so now I am the geologist, the abandoned
mine specialist and the collateral HAZMAT guy. I
never had the time or the money to continue on to a
master’s degree or a PhD, but it’s never too late….
Currently I’m working towards becoming a Certified
Mineral Examiner for the BLM- it’s much tougher than
Bruce or Tom’s classes ever were! And as always
trying to help balance the multiple uses of our public
lands in a safe and responsible manner. Somewhere in
between I found time to get hitched to a wonderful
woman named Jennie, who’s always there no matter
how silly I am. We still call Gunnison our base of
operations, but things change all the time.”
Bob Richardson “Please, I'm still hibernating and
not quite awake yet. I guess you could say I'm not
going through life for credit, just doing an audit you
might say. No more tests, Ha! So other than getting
fatter and occasionally hanging around Florida and the
Bahamas with my feet in the sand ( my head has always
been there ) I don't really have a lot to report. Since
Tom introduced me to sailing and warmer weather, I
continue to be pulled toward the more laid back aspects
of life and try not to take much very seriously. To quote
A.E.N: "What, me worry". I mean, what’s the point,
right? I'm the guy in those Corona ads. I guess that's
what retirement is supposed to be like. But I really
wouldn't know since I've they say I've been retired most
of my life anyway. So really, nothing new dude! Time
to light a Fatty! “
1994
Suzanne (Schauer) Carmody is married to Shaun,
living in Colorado Springs with our two daughters Kiri
(12) and Cambria (7). I am still teaching Earth Science
and Geology at Widefield High School and loving it!!!
Eric Dillenbeck – “I think the last time we talked I
was in Gunnison, looking to make a move back to
Colorado from Houston. Well it wasn't long before I
came across an opportunity that was too good to pass
up........ in Europe! I now work for Maersk Oil in
Denmark. It was time for a change and I have never
seen much of Europe so I took it. I have been here a
year now and have been traveling non-stop, Spain,
Italy, Sweden, Netherlands, England........Copenhagen
is a great little city, the weather is pretty poor, but
otherwise a great place to live, more bicycles than
cars! I'm working West Africa Exploration,
specifically Angola. I was in Luanda recently and
found it to be a country of extreme contrasts, modern
high rise offices with little more than dirt tracks
surrounding them. The oil money is pouring in, and
there's a sense of optimism, but the extreme poverty is a
bit overwhelming.”
Rob Linnenberger “I am entering into my tenth year
of teaching in BVSD this year. I have spent nine of
those years at Monarch High School in Louisville, CO
which thankfully is a short ten minute bike ride from
my house. Traffic is a little more congested here than in
Gunnison- I really do miss that little town. I teach
Physical Science, which could also be called Intro to
Chemistry and Physics, to ninth graders and Earth/
Space science to 11th and 12th graders. (Earth/ Space is
a lab based elective that students can opt to take if they
want a fourth year of science. I have taught as many as
three sections of Earth/Space science and as few as one,
but this year I am at the mean of two. The class is
broken into one semester of Astronomy and one
semester of Geology where I introduce the basics of
Physical and Historical Geology to students. We
usually take one field trip to Fiske Planetarium on the
CU campus in the Fall and a culminating Geology field
trip in the spring to either Lee Hill Rd. or down to Red
Rocks Park and the I-70 road cut. Afterwards, students
produce a cross section of Boulder Geology and do a
basic write-up containing information about each
formation. I am still trying to figure out how to improve
the importance and use of Earth Science at the high
school level. Lately, I have come to the conclusion that
I need to teach either an Advanced Placement
Environmental Science or an Advanced Placement
Geology. The implementation of technology in the
classroom is an educational interest of mine and
something that I may pursue a Master’s. Last year I was
fortunate to be included in a classroom 3D pilot
program through BVSD and Texas Instruments which
allowed us to provide students with three dimensional
animations of various content. I believe that we were
one of eight high schools in the country to have access
to the technology. Second semester this year Monarch
High School will be piloting a one student/ one
computer program where each freshman will bring a
laptop to school and we will do some work together
using "the cloud." The details are still being hashed out.
In 2009, I started the Monarch Mountain Bike Club and
2011 will be our second season of cross country
mountain bike competition in the Colorado Cycling
League. This year I doubled the club's size from 8 to 16
riders. On the league website www.coloradomtb.org we
have a team photo in the roll over images. We will
compete against the Crested Butte and Gunnison teams
at the first race just outside Nathop on September 18th.
Anna, my wife of nine years and I just welcomed our
second son, Owen Robert, on March 6th. Our first son,
Ethan Charles, turned eight in August. Anna completed
a Master's of Electrical Engineering at CU last year and
was accepted into the PHD program this spring. She
works as a computer engineer at a small optics
company in Lafayette. I have continued to pursue the
outdoor sports that distracted me so much at Western
State but in a more prioritized fashion. They continue to
give me great joy and are something that I now share
with my oldest son. Without them I would be in below
average physical condition because I cannot bring
myself to exercise at a health club. Every year I become
more opinionated and more interested in politics and
pet causes.
Kirsten (Forkner) Sanders “I continue working at
Six Points Evaluation and Training managing the
Residential Services Program. Six Points is in the midst
of a Capital Campaign drive to raise funds for a new
building, so it's an exciting time to be a part of the
organization. Not exactly using my Geology degree in
my work life, but I certainly enjoy sharing what I've
learned while hiking, camping, and backpacking around
the area in my free time. Skiing at Monarch and cross
country skiing with my boyfriend and dogs occupied
my weekends this winter. My old house, big yard, and
vegetable garden keep me busy the rest of the time. I'm
looking forward to spending a week in the Dominican
Republic in a few weeks.”
Kelli Trujillo “Well, I guess you could say that I'm
working as a mitigation paleontologist out of Laramie
and also am the manager of the UW Geological
Museum, and that the museum is just starting a major
upgrade of the building and exhibits this summer”
1995
Brian Cellura “ Since it has been a while I will try
to bring you up to date on what I have been doing,
currently I am w orking with Miranda Gold, where I
head up the Generative programs both here in Nevada
and in Colombia SA. Back in 2002 I was working on
finishing up my Master Thesis, at the University of
Nevada of Reno, I became a specialist in stratigraphy,
in particular biostratigraphy with a focus on the Roberts
Mountains Thrust. As a specialist in biostratigraphy I
formed my own consulting company Cellurian Sciences
(get it) for a few years where I would help company’s
break out the stratigraphic units in both the upper and
lower plates of the allochthon, this work helped to
elucidate and expand the known favorable gold
horizons here in Nevada from just the Silurian Roberts
Mountain Formation all the way to the upper Devonian
Weban Formation dramatically increasing the number
of potential targets for companies to explore for. In
around 2004 the company Miranda Gold was put
together. When I joined it was just the President, our
VP of Exploration and I. The company had grown
dramatically, and we now have offices here in Nevada,
Colombia, and have projects in Nevada, Colombia and
Alaska. I head up the generative programs for Nevada,
and am responsible for making sure the company and
field operation are running smoothly. As it happened
with me I often like to go back to the pool of young
students and bring new blood into the industry so for
many years I have brought students from Western State
out to work with Miranda for the field season to help
them gain experience and get an idea of what it is like
to work in the field of exploration. My time these days
is split between my work here in Nevada and our start
up program in Colombia SA. With Beth and our
daughter Casey we are no living in the Spring Creek
Nevada. While finishing up my Master’s Degree in
Reno I spent a few years running the Great Basin
Brewery in Sparks, the love of beer and brewing never
dies especially geologist, so we have finished a new
brew shed here at the house and are currently up and
running brewing beer again.”
Eric Jordan “Life and work are hectic at the
moment- challenging, fun at times, but intense. It was
great to run into you last July in Gunny. Where was itthe Firebrand? We had a great summer vacation in
Colorado- spent the week up at Irwin hiking around and
observing all the activity associated with CS Irwin
group. I am still with the same company (Hatch Mott
MacDonald), and living and working in the New York
Metro area. My wife and I have a new baby girlAmelia. She is now two and growing up fast as they
say. We bought a house in Nyack, near the Tappan Zee
Bridge- we're doing well and really enjoying our time at
home raising Amelia. I’m now involved with three
major tunnel projects in New York, from Manhattan to
the Catskills! Although, I work in a densely populated,
urban environment, I draw upon and teach the
'geotechs' the fundamentals of field mapping every day.
The City is ruled by engineers, but some of us geo's are
making inroads. I cannot tell how grateful I am to have
gone through the rigors of the program and especially
field camp with you, Tom and Allen. It has paid off in
spades. I'd like to say Hello to all my classmates, 19941996, and Tim Leech (biology guy that hung out
downstairs with the cool department) - what’s up?”
1996
Kurt Feltus Kurt operates Double Top Frame &
Finish Custom Homes in Crested Butte. He “still enjoys
the mountains in winter and Blue Mesa in summer”
Alan Wartes “I am living in Denver where I work as
writer, musician, and urban farmer. My family owns
and operates a community supported agriculture (CSA)
project called New Leaf Gardens. The produce is 100%
local and organic.”
1997
Becky Biglow “The latest is that I'm working with
the US Agency for International Development. My
current project is leading trainings in Lebanon (Beirut
area) on the topic of wildfire/forest fire-related erosion
control and other post-fire response strategies.
Previously, I was working with the Inyo National
Forest in Bishop, CA as a hydrologist. Prior to that I
worked in the field of architecture and green building
after attaining a Master of Architecture degree from the
University of Oregon. Fortunately, geology-related
watershed management work has been a handy, healthy
and fun economic refuge from the collapse of the
construction industry. Thank goodness for geology! I'm
still enjoying skiing, biking, hiking, and traveling too.
I'd love to hear from people: becbiglow@yahoo.com ”
Erik Bjornstad I have been living in Gunnison since
graduating from WSC in 1997. My wife Jennifer and I
have 2 kids, Emma, 8 and Evan, 3. I have been working
at SGM here in town as a surveyor for the last 6 years,
running around in the hills and making maps. My part
time job has become the unofficial IT guy for my
neighbor Bruce Bartleson, who in exchange gives
impromptu lectures to my kids about Geology. All in
all, life is good
Casey Dukeman “I’m finishing my 7th academic
year teaching at WSC (in Anthro. and Geology).Little
Jacob is graduating from high school next year, I was
elected Vice President of the Rocky Mtn.
Anthropological Assoc. and am continuing research in
Rocky Mountain archeology.”
Casey is now running the Sheidan WY offices of
SWCA dong archaeological and environmental
consulting.
Sean Hlousek “I am still working at Cirque
Resources in Denver. I work for Peter Dea ‘76 so you
know it's going to be an outstanding company with a
bright future with leadership like that! I'm in charge of
maintaining our GIS data including several hundred
thousand acres of leases. I also provide the Geology
group with mapping and data support. It's a fantastic
job and I work with a very sharp team of individuals
and have projects all over the Rocky Mountain West so
there is a lot of variety in my work. I live in South
Denver with my 15 year old dog and commute
downtown year-round on my bicycle. In the winter time
on the weekends I spend my time at Loveland Ski area
trying to understand the truths of standing on a board
sliding on the snow. In the summertime I'm in the
mountains with a pack getting taunted by fish. In the
Spring and Fall I visit Southern Utah and review
geomorphology and stratigraphy. I still make it to
Gunnison every summer, except now I float down the
river through town and camp nearby. Give us a call
when you’re floating past Sean!!
Lynn Padgett “2012 has been nuttier than ever. I am
in the last year of my first 4-year term as Ouray County
Commissioner. I am a candidate for re-election
(www.LynnPadgettForOurayCounty.org) and am
actively fundraising for another tough race. I was
honored to receive the Colorado Counties, Inc.
Commissioner of the Year award at their winter
conference in November (following in Hap Channel’s
footsteps) and Best Local Elected Official by the Ouray
County Plaindealer for 2012.
Over the winter, I worked with a broad range of folks
to get consensus on support for a resolution I proposed
at the National Association of Counties Legislative
conference in March. That work resulted in a
unanimous approval by the Public Lands and Energy,
Environment and Land Use steering committees to
support NACo adopting a policy (at the bottom). This is
the first time NACo has taken a position on Good
Samaritan/water quality and it was exciting to see
support from AZ, CA, OR, WA, UT, CO, NM, and
many others. I am hoping that the resolution brings
more understanding and momentum to the issue -allowing bona-fide Good Samaritans to be able to
measurably improve water quality through passive
and/or active mitigation at abandoned mines where they
have no connection or financial responsibility for past
mining activities without fear of lawsuits under the
Clean Water Act. Improved water quality will enhance
agricultural, recreational, ecological, municipal and
industrial/mining opportunities and will provide new
jobs. A few other issues that I’m working on that
Western alum might appreciate – trying to get middle
mile infrastructure (fiber optic) to achieve much needed
broadband speed, bandwidth, and redundancy in the US
550 Uncompaghre/San Juan Mountains corridor; a new
mountain biking trail system on BLM lands outside of
Ridgway that will connect to the existing and
expanding trails in Ridgway and the Ridgway State
Park; and a conversation with Colorado Counties/
County Commissioners, state/federal regulatory
agencies and hardrock mining companies to help us all
understand who regulates what (at the fed/state/local
levels), identify regulatory gaps and overlaps, and find
opportunities to streamline regulations for better
outcomes. Kids are awesome – ages 8, 10 and 12 now.
We just made our annual pilgrimage to Legoland which
was colder and cloudier than Colorado over spring
break and we’ll be starting the summer off with
Bluegrass Kids Camp at the Pagosa Folk N Bluegrass
Festival the first week of June. Jeff has his DRMS
(Division of Mining Reclamation and Safety) “Dream
Job” of developing and closing abandoned mines across
western Colorado. He is currently working on some old
copper mines near the Utah border. We have been
neglecting our fly-fishing the last several years and are
hoping to fix that this summer in Gunnison country.”
Any time Lynn!!!
1998
Stephanie (Foggia) Lovell “I’m nearing my 2 year
anniversary as a state regulator for the Alaska
Department of Natural Resources in the Mining
Section. I contribute (as a member of the large mine
program) in the permitting and compliance of the hard
rock mines throughout the state.”
Katye McConahgy “I am working for Kinross Gold
in Washington State as a Sr. Geologic Modeler.”
- But hold everything- we have a late breaking news
flash “My family and I are moving back to Salida! I
just accepted a job as a Sr. Geologist with Climax
Molybdenum.”
Chantal Simonpietri “As far as what I have been up
to ... the quick skinny is ... went to law school at
Vermont Law School for enviro law/water law,
graduated in 2003. Clerked for the VT Water Resources
Board during and after school, then lobbied for the
Vermont Natural Resources Council for a year, then
took a job in sustainability and renewable energy
education admin in Mendocino County, CA with the
Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland. Worked
there for 1.5 years then burned out and went to
Argentina for a while, came back and was hired to do
Operations and Production at the Harmony Festival in
Santa Rosa, CA (that’s a 25,000 person music and
conscious living festival), then was hired by Michael
Franti and Spearhead (a band) to manage their
merchandise for the Power to the Peaceful Festival in
San Francisco and then went on their US and Canada
"Yell Fire!" tour in 2006. Finished that and went back
to Ukiah, got in a relationship, pregnant, gave birth and
have been mama for the most part since then, my son
Osho was born on Christmas Day in 2007, will be 4 this
year and is wonderful. Recently I have been practicing
law in the family law world, dependency, child custody,
drug rehab, FAR from water law and salmon and
riparian habitats! And, just this month started my own
production company, and am now producing events in
my area, bringing music, art, dance to Ukiah, as well as
helping produce others events and musci festivals. Life
keeps on rolling!”
Tessa (Walker) Watson - “Hi all! We moved to the
UK for my husband’s job in late April 2011. We are
enjoying getting out and about. Have seen quite a few
sights, but there is so much more to see. We have a trip
planned for the Jurassic Coast in early June. We are
busy with life here. Both children are in British primary
school. I am still running the house and training for
races. We are enjoying England and have been to Paris.
Have really liked going new places an living the
culture. It's so much better than going tourist style. We
like getting an apartment or cottage and shopping for
meals at local grocers; don’t get me wrong, we like the
restaurants and touristy thing too, but it's interesting
living in the culture. It is surprising how foreign the UK
can be. Good learnig experience.”
1999
Rebecca Bailey “I am doing great! I am still living in
Girdwood and working as a geologist at BP in
Anchorage. I'm enjoying my job as reservoir
management geologist for two fields on the North
Slope. I do a lot of geocellular reservoir modelling as
well as general integration, mapping and description.
Personally, I am doing well. I live at the base of
Alyeska Resort. We have had a very snowy winter here
and the skiing has been great.”
Brian Coven “Kimmy, Ruby and I are doing well.
We made it back to Colorado about 15 months ago after
two years in central Arkansas & Houston (some of the
stereotypes about Arkansas are true). I scored a job at
Anschutz Exploration after Justin Tully’02 left to go to
Mongolia. I have his contact info if you need it. Since
I’ve been here, I’ve worked in the Appalachian,
Williston, DJ, Hardeman, and southern Alberta basins. I
love this job! Exploration is a great way to continue
learning the science of geology. Ruby started
kindergarten this year and she loves riding the bus to
school. She had her first season pass last year and
learned to ski by herself. Kimmy is still a full time mom
and she will be working as a substitute teacher this year
as well. We have two dogs named Fez & Louie. Fez is a
pure bred Baja Especial (mexican mutt) & Louie is a
cock-a-poo.
Adam Perney “I am married and have a daughter
who will be 3 in March 2012. I am out of the Marines
after seven years of combined active duty and reserve
service. I graduated from Colorado School of Mines in
2009 with a Master’s of Science in Mining and Earth
Systems Engineering. After graduation I worked for
Freeport McMoran at Henderson Mine as a mining and
geotechnical engineer. My wife Bai took a job in Japan
in 2011 so I resigned my job and moved to Japan and
now I am a stay at home dad slowly learning some
Japanese. That about covers it really. I did do a long
road trip during the summer of 2011. I drove from the
UK to Ulaanbataar Mongolia in an event called The
Mongol Rally. It is not a race but a charity driving
event for cars that have no business driving that far. I
drove a Daihatsu Hijet van. My years of mountain and
jeep road driving at Western and living in Colorado
came in handy. Also the geology field trips in the
school vans on roads that they should probably not be
on but were anyway helped. I will send some pictures
of the trip.”
Jason Staetter “Life is good! I'm living in my
hometown, St. Louis, MO. I have a four year old son
named George. I work for URS Corporation, in the
Environmental Group, as an Environmental
Scientist/Geologist. We work in environmental
remediation performing subsurface investigations
through mainly soil borings and groundwater
sampling...pretty exciting...”
2000
Duncan Drummond “No crazy journeys or
adventures as of late (only if you don't consider reading
Dr. Fillmore's new publication an adventure). I am
currently focusing on my family, my career, and staying
in-shape so I can recreate when I have the time. I still
live in Chico, CA and work as a geologist for a small
environmental consulting firm in Northern California. I
am also planning to complete my California
Professional Geologist exams in the spring of 2012 and
possibly find the time to begin master’s work at Chico
State in the Fall of 2012. I'm not boarding as much as I
would like, but somehow I manage to hit a majority of
the weekday powder days. Overall, life is fulfilling for
someone who is never satisfied :)” Duncan adds that his
firm frequently is able to hire seasonals – Thanks
Duncan!
Betsey Wagner “I am a CPA in Denver. I specialize
in natural resource accounting – mainly oil & gas
clients. I’ve lived in Denver with my two kids since
2007 (yes, my last name is back to my maiden name!).
Hope all is well in Gunnison, I’m hoping to get back for
a weekend after tax season!”
2002
Charles Kieser “I own a motel and RV park at the
foot of the Big Horn Mountains. of Wyoming. I am still
involved in photography, computer programming,
hiking, snowboarding and off road motorcycling and
mtn. biking. The skiing, hiking and snowmobiling in
the Big Horns are excellent. Come on out!”
Joel Ruehle is still in Gunnison and owns a business
called “Quick Draw Carpet Cleaning” and is one of the
few senior carpet inspectors in the nation. Joel is
married, just had a daughter and has become deeply
involved with Gunnison Volunteer Fire Department.
Justin Tully “A word from Mongolia: After leaving
the Denver oil and gas world a short 2 years ago, I find
myself entering the third year (and field season) of a
truly unique and exciting career move. Following
invitation from Jim Coogan, we landed in Ulaanbaatar
Mongolia in the spring of 2010 to build the first
Mongolian based oil and gas exploration team. We
quickly realized the infancy of both the industry and
geological understanding in this part of the world. Like
a child unleashed in a candy store I have been charged
with the amazing task of conducting frontier
exploration over a land area equal in size to the
Republic of Ireland. From practically nothing we have,
over the course of many months in the field and frigid
months behind a computer, demonstrated the
components of a petroleum system through outcrop
studies, built the first chronostratigraphic framework
for central Mongolia, acquired 2,200km of 2D seismic
and drilled 2 ~1,500m continuous stratigraphic core
holes! These and other advancements accomplished in
such a short time by this small combined
U.S./Mongolian exploration department are truly
amazing. As a result, the first exploration wells ever to
be drilled in this part of the world won’t be too far off
now, which is exciting. While descriptions of frontier
exploration of the Gobi-Altai ranges in Outer Mongolia
may conjure likenesses to an Indiana Jones adventure,
there is another side to the Mongolian experience.
Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, is where we base all of our
operations and bunker down in the frozen doldrums of
the Siberian winter. It is a typical 3rd world city, from
what I’ve experienced, in that it tends to be
overcrowded and under infrastructured, all the while
displaying the grim reality of a widely separated elite
upper-class and remarkably low income lower-class.
The idea of a wealth spreading middle class is
beginning to develop, but will take some time. That
said, it’s certainly an interesting place to visit in the
summer months with many new green spaces and
tasteful architecture popping up around the center and
discos, nightlife and worldly cuisine to rival any
medium sized U.S. city. Not to overlook the
astounding history to be discovered and one of the few
remaining countryside experiences that reveal people
living off the land more or less as they did 3,000 years
ago (less the Chinese satellite dish and MTV). As a
kindred spirit of the Gunnison Valley, recreation has
held as important a role as work during this tenure. The
local ski area is a bit reminiscent of central
Massachusetts skiing, backcountry is nil locally, but the
lure of the glaciated Altai Mountains farther to the west
remains. Ample vacation time has allowed travel home
to Boston more often than when I lived in Colorado, as
well as opened up worldly destinations I’ve long
dreamed of visiting or whichever one the dart happens
to land on. In October 2010 I started a second passion
in BASE jumping, May this year I will be returning to
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland to continue developing my
big-wall skills there. It has been a great pleasure to
have made friends with the local search and rescue
team here in Mongolia, which affords the opportunity
to skydive from their Russian MI-8 helicopter several
times a year. If it were to end tomorrow there isn’t a
regret I could think of from making this move.
Regardless of new horizons I may chase down the road,
this one couldn’t have happened without WSC geology.
Thank you.
2003
Alantha Garrison “I got married in 2005 and
worked as a geotechnical engineer in Southern
California 2005 through 2006. Most of my work was in
subsurface investigations, soil sampling, and
compaction studies for residential and commercial
developments. I’ve been working at Gunnison County
Electric Association since 2007 and perform energy
audits around the valley as well as many other member
services for the coop, including weather data collection.
It’s a great job and I’ve had lots of opportunities to
continuously learn new things. I had a son in August
2010 and have been trying to keep up with him! We go
out hiking in the mountains and the Utah canyonlands,
as well as rock climbing, biking, snowmobiling,
snowboarding, cross country skiing, four wheeling in
our truck, and target practicing. Life has been really
good!”
Jen McHarge “I am currently working as an
exploration geologist in the oil and gas industry in
Stavanger, Norway. In my career so far I have had the
opportunity to research reservoir quality in the Piceance
Basin; geologically assess near-field leads in West
Africa, and prospect in the offshore of Greenland and
Norway. I must admit that when I envisioned my future
as a student at WSC I was quite happy with the idea of
mapping and exploring around the beautiful mountains
in my own backyard. I never dreamed I would have the
chance to live and work in another country! Big thanks
to my professors and classmates during my time at the
WSC - they inspired my love of geology and gave me
the best college experience I could have imagined. Stay
tuned for news of my next adventures! Go
Mountaineers!!” We recently received word that Jen
was is now in Australia.
2005
Perry Hooker “After WSC, I spent 4 years looking
for gold in northeastern Nevada before moving to
Missoula, MT to pursue a Master's degree in Computer
Science. I'm on track to finish in May, after which I'll
either enter a Ph.D program or find a job!”
2006
Casey Dick “Things are going well. Upon my
graduation from the University of Oklahoma last spring
(MS Civil Engineering - Water Resources focus), Julie
and I moved to Denver with our two kids Emily (3) and
William (1), where I joined the water resources group
of AECOM Technology Corporation. We purchased a
renovated older home near downtown Denver, which
provides me with a convenient commute (10 min. via
bicycle). I send my heartfelt thanks to the faculty at
WSC (especially the three of you) for providing me
with a solid scientific and mathematical foundation that
has allowed me to successfully pursue my dreams. I am
doing what I love and am able to support my family
with Julie staying home with the kids. I couldn't be
happier.”
Donna Hepner is “self-employed as consultant and
wellsite geologist in North Dakota on horizontal wells.”
We see Donna now and then as she cruises back
through town for R&R.
Kim Rousch “In short, I'm working as a
Geotechnical Associate with the ExxonMobil Upstream
Research Center in the Collisional Orogenic Systems
Analysis group and am waiting to hear back from grad
schools. Say hi to Vandenbushe next time you see him!
I wish all the best to you.”
Dylan Tullius - “I am well, and have a new family
now. Wife Sara, married 2 years next month, and new
baby boy, Tayo born Dec 23rd. I should be done with
my MSc. by the end of the summer on the
sedimentology and reservoir potential of the Lower
Cretaceous Isachsen Formation, Sverdrup Basin,
Canadian Arctic Archipelago. I am looking forward to
at least two publications in the next few months. I am
currently looking for work, (and you can print that) but
doing well and enjoying life in Calgary Alberta. Miss
the slow life of the small town and hope to get back
there one day, but ready to search the world over for a
few years and find my niche.”
2007
Amanda Mullett “I am currently a doctoral
candidate in the Geography department at Kent State in
Ohio. My dissertation research integrates GIS and
spatial analysis, archaeology, and geology. I am
attempting to identify the different land-use patterns
and mobility choices for multiple archaeological groups
throughout the Ohio region by mapping the distribution
of various projectile points in relation to the source of
the raw material that the points were constructed from. I
am currently in the process of collecting data and
writing different sections in my dissertation, and my
graduate date will be Spring 2013. (If you are looking
for a GIS, Archaeology, Geology, and Geography
faculty member any time soon...) How are things in
Gunnison? Is anything new happening in the basement
of Hurst? I miss you all and think of the great
experiences you all allowed me to have at Western.”
Nathan Rogers - “I’m staying close to home lately.
I spent the last few years working on my M.S. at C.U.
working on the Mancos Shale in the Piceance Basin.
Still using the knowledge from what you guys at
Western State Geology Faculty taught me!”
2008
Andrew Payton After graduating from Western in
December 2008, I took a job with Whetstone
Associates which allowed me to live in Gunnison for a
few more years. During the early months of 2011, I was
craving a drastic change. Excitedly, I landed a job in
Juneau for a mining & oil and gas consulting company.
My girlfriend and I packed our bags, and had even
bought ferry tickets for this move. Several weeks before
the move, I received an e-mail from Jim Coogan
outlining a fantastic opportunity in Mongolia. I had to
take it! Since moving to Mongolia in May of 2011, the
past year has been packed to the brim with vivid
memorable experiences, including many ups and
downs. I have been intimately involved in the frontier
exploration of enormous blocks of land in the GobiAltai region of Central Mongolia, approximately 400
mi wide x 100 mi in height. With some vintage Russian
geologic maps, cached GoogleEarth, and a GPS our
navigational skills have been an essential part of the
job. With no trees, tundra-like vegetation, few to no
existing roads (definitely NOT paved) and a vast
peneplain extending into the horizon, becoming
disoriented is not hard. As one can imagine, the wind
and sand blows often here, and some have had tents
broken and/or blown away. No matter where we go, or
how isolated we think we are, we always see signs of
nomads, whether it be small cans, a random shoe, piles
of dung, or old ger sites. One gets the impression the
Gobi is a timeless place.
One aspect of the job I have enjoyed and benefitted
greatly from is working with Petro Matad’s academic
collaborators: Dr. Cari Johnson (University of Utah),
Dr. Stephan Graham (Stanford), and Dr. Brian Horton
(University of Texas). I’ve observed and gained an
understanding of the beneficial relationship between
industry and academia. Their expertise and knowledge
has helped me to refine my future career aspirations.
Working in the field and the Ulaanbaatar office are
polar opposite parts of my experience. Ulaanbaatar has
experienced tremendous growth over the past decade,
and there are signs of these growing pains everywhere.
It has been a positive and at times very difficult
experience living in this city. Unbelievable traffic, air
pollution, and general crowdedness have been
considerable challenges for me. Mongolian is a very
difficult language to learn, and although I can speak a
few basic phrases and direct a taxi around, I largely
have little understanding of the language. However, I
have learned to pronounce and understand some
Cyrillic, which has been amusing to me. Many of my
Mongolian coworkers I have found to be very friendly,
funny, and caring people, I am impressed by many
aspects of their culture. However long I continue my
stint in Mongolia, I will always be grateful for taking
this opportunity. Time and again, my education at
Western has been paramount to my work here. I cannot
be thankful enough for the high technical capability of
the Western State geology program, as well as the
down-to-earth and caring attitude of every professor in
the program. Thank you so much!
You can keep up with Andrew’s adventures at his
blog site: paytonageo.blogspot.com.
2009
Greg Meldrum “I've just been working with SWCA
as an Environmental Consultant (Cultural Resource
Technician), mainly conducting archaeological survey
and site monitoring. For the job I've surveyed for
seismic projects, well pads and wind farms in Colorado,
and have monitored in Wyoming for the Greencore
Pipeline Project. Also, since graduating, I've worked
with the BLM in Gunnison as an Archaeological Field
Technician during the summer of 2010. I enjoy fly
fishing, sluicing and snowboarding in my free time.”
Edmund Morrison “Still working to reduce energy
use & support future considerate &ethical energy
production.”
Tanner Sowa “Well, I've spent the past 2 years and
some months in the oil field. I've racked up a pretty
impressive amount of job titles ranging from the bottom
all the way to the top. I started out as a mud-logger on
the east coast which I quickly learned was worthless.
The oil companies expect a certain lithology and when
you report differently they think you are an idiot. I then
moved up to geosteering still on the east coast, which
was better but still gone lots of days for little pay. I
finally took a leap and went directional
driller/MWD/LWD consultant about 1.5 years ago,
which landed me way over my head and in charge of
steering oil/gas wells during drilling. After several
months I figured out the ropes and haven't turned back
since. Being a directional driller has enabled me to
work in 6 different states and start picking away at my
college loans. Over my travels I realized just how great
the Western State Geology program is. I have worked
with grad students from UT, A&M, and other big name
schools and felt that my geology education doesn't even
compare. I feel that when I do decide to go back for my
masters I'll be well prepared thanks to you and the rest
of the Western professors.”
2011
Matt McConnell “Continuing education at Colorado
School of Mines towards a Masters in Petroleum
Engineering and gaining experience in both geology
and engineering at Antero Resources in Denver.”
Thomas Sunderland “I hope all is well, and you are
doing fine. I have enjoyed working at the BLM in
Lander Wyoming, and I am the project lead on several
uranium EIS's. I am also permitting and overseeing
several gold mining operations.”
2011 Spring Field Trip to Southern New Mexico
The multiple uses of vans
Your donations have been critical to the development of the Geology Program
If you give to WSCU remember that you can designate a gift or pledge directly to the Geology Department through
one of the funds listed below.
Geology Fund – for general use by the department (equipment – field trips …..)
Bartleson-Prather Geology Research Scholarship (for student research)
Valerie Ann Mitchell Memorial Geology Scholarship
Richard W. and Belva R. Moyle Geology Scholarship
Rady Endowment in Petroleum Geology
Moncrief Endowment in Petroleum Geology
Gifts go to the WSC FOUNDATION, ASPINALL- WILSON CENTER, P.O. BOX 1264, GUNNISON, CO 81230

Geology Newsletter - Western State Colorado University

Transcription

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