Alumni Notes – Spring 2024

Kendall Fay, B.S. ’82, Littleton, celebrated her 10-year anniversary as a solution architect for Datavail, a Colorado-based IT services company. 

Leanne Alarid, B.A. ’89, Santa Teresa, New Mexico, was awarded the Peter Lejins Research Award by the American Correctional Association for research contributions in prisons, jails and probation and parole in 2023. 

Alana Johnson, B.A. ’97, Columbia, Maryland, celebrated her fifth year at NASA, her “NASAversary,” and currently serves as a Senior Communications Specialist. 

Joe Palmer, B.S. ’97, Aurora, completed his doctorate in November 2023 and was promoted to assistant professor and director of Clinical Education for the University of Colorado’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program within the CU School of Medicine. 

Nelson Henry, M.P.H. ’98, Denver, retired from the Denver Police Department after 31 years of service.

Jase Wagner, B.S. ’01, Edina, Minnesota, was recently appointed president and CEO of a farm credit cooperative serving and supporting agriculture and rural communities. 

Lori Lopez, B.A. ’06, Longmont, received St. Vrain Valley Schools 2023 Teacher of the Year Award. 

Aaron Lucero, B.S. ’09, Pueblo, celebrated eight years of employment with Pueblo Community College and was awarded Employee of the Year for APT Employees. 

Eric Palmer, M.A. ’13, Alamosa, published their first book, Static Lines: Letters from a Kansas City Paratrooper, the true story of a World War II paratrooper. 

Scott Schmaltz, B.A. ’14, B.S. ’14, Chicago, Illinois, started a new role as manager of Market Intel and Customer Experience at Cintas. 

Mason Walter, B.S. ’14, Starkville, Miss., was hired as Mississippi State football’s new director of football sports science. This is the next step in Walter’s impressive career which includes working with 29 combat and acrobat Team USA Olympic and Paralympic teams. 

Amanda Andrews, B.A. ’18, Atlanta, Georgia, after working in public radio for several years, had stories published and shared nationally on NPR. 

Kevo Ellis, B.A. ’18, Minneapolis, Minnesota, began a new role as program manager for Grid Catalyst, a clean energy accelerator focused on northern climate solutions. 

Zachery Laki, B.S. ’20, Bozeman, Montana, gave a presentation on Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR and FMCW digital holography for long-range, three-dimensional, coherent imaging at Photonics West 2024, a globally recognized event held in San Francisco attracting over 24,000 optics and photonics professionals from more than 70 countries. He will publish a paper on that topic and graduate with his master’s of Optics and Photonics from Montana State University. 

Oscar Whitney, B.A. ’21, New York City, New York, is making their Broadway debut this spring in Alicia Keys’ new musical, Hell’s Kitchen, at the Shubert Theater. 

Lauren Derrick, M.A. ’21, Villa Rica, Georgia, passed the exam necessary to become a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst. 

Mary Claxton, M.M. ’21, Greeley, was recently promoted to director of Teaching and Learning for Music Will, a nonprofit that serves music educators and their students. 
Jim Oberlander, Ph.D. ’23, Bowling Green, Ohio, after completing their doctoral degree, moved into an administrative director role at the University of Toledo.