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Alumni in the News - February 2007

Photo of John Madden Madden Selected for AP Hall of Fame Award
Legendary football coach and sports broadcaster John Madden has been selected as the recipient of The Associated Press Television Radio Association's prestigious "Stan Chambers Award For Extraordinary Achievement." The award is bestowed on an individual by an Associated Press board for extraordinary service in broadcasting. Madden earned both his bachelor's (PE '59) and master's degrees (M.A. -- ED & PE '61 ) at Cal Poly, and played for the Mustangs -- football and baseball -- in 1957 and 1958. Madden is set to receive the award March 3 at the Associated Press Awards Gala honoring the best in broadcasting in California, Nevada and Hawaii.
See the KCOY Story

Alum Assumes Army Reserves Pacific Military Command
Brig. Gen. Alexander I. Kozlov in late January took charge of the 9th Regional Readiness Command and Pacific Army Reserve. Kozlov (B.S., Engineering Science, 1979) served for five years on active duty as an engineer officer and is fluent in Russian. Kozlov's new command is made up of 24 units in three countries spanning seven time zones across the Pacific in Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, American Samoa, Guam and Saipan. Approximately 3,500 soldiers are assigned to the 9th RRC.
Read more in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Ag Alum Is Mayor of Park City Utah -- Home to the Sundance Film Festival
Horticulture alum Dana Williams (B.S., Ornamental Horticulture, 1986), who says he's still a California surfer at heart, is in his second term as mayor of Park City, Utah -- home to the increasingly glamorous Sundance Film Festival. He put his degree to work as an alfalfa farmer in Utah before moving to town and getting into real estate -- then open space preservation, and city government. But that hasn't stopped him from playing guitar in a local rock band and wearing his earring to city council meetings.
Read the Deseret News story

Alum Named Interim President of Cuesta College
Edralin J. “Ed” Maduli (B.S., Aero Engineering, 1967) was appointed Cuesta College’s interim superintendent/president by the community college district’s board of trustees Jan. 10. Prior to joining Cuesta College, Maduli served as the vice president for business services and, prior to that, the director of fiscal and administrative operations at Las Positas College in Livermore. Maduli retired as a lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Air Force after a 20-plus-year career.
Read the Santa Maria Times story

Photo of aaron peckham Alum's 'Urban Dictionary' Now a Top U.S. Web Site
In 1999 Aaron Peckham (B.S., Computer Science, 2005, M.S., Computer Science, 2005) was a freshman. He created urbandictionary.com as a parody of dictionary.com. The spoof online dictionary has since grown to be among the top 1,200 Web sites viewed by Americans, according to search engine Alexa.com, which describes the Urban Dictionary site as "a veritable cornucopia of streetwise lingo." Not surprisingly, more than 75 percent of the site's users are under 35 years of age. But parents can use the site too -- as well as Peckham's 2005 "Urban Dictionary" -- the book.
Read the Wisconsin State Journal story

Pismo Native, Alumna is Among First Women in World of Extreme Surfing
Sarah Gerhardt (B.S., Chemistry 1998) is a professor at Cabrillo College now living in Santa Cruz, and the mother of a three-month-old. But she's also a pioneer in the world of women's surfing -- catching six-story waves at Mavericks off Santa Cruz and the dangerous Dungeons of South Africa.
Read more in the San Jose Mercury News | Read the Profile in the San Francisco Chronicle Click Here for the SF Chronicle Photo

Alumna Writes Book on 'The Father of Hollywood'
A new book, "The Father of Hollywood: The True Story," by Gaelyn Whitley Keith (B.S., Business Administration, 1974), details the true story of the man who put Hollywood on the map. The city and its established place as the film capital of the world can be attributed to the vision and genius of Hobart Johnston (HJ) Whitley, the "Father of Hollywood," according to the book. Movie buffs nowadays know little about Hollywood's history. Few know that it was largely planned, designed and built by H.J. Whitley.
Read the book review in Upstage Magazine

photo of Chuck Liddell on the Wrestling team LA Times Profiles Ultimate Fighting --
and Champ Liddell, Mustang Alum
"Chuck Liddell's rabid fans, who consider him the most menacing man on the planet, might be disappointed to learn that on a September morning, he was splayed in the back of a limousine, drinking an iced coffee sweetened with caramel. The father of two and a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he earned a degree in business and accounting, Liddell is the UFC's light-heavyweight champion. At 37, he is very good at what he does — "beating people up," as he puts it with a chuckle — and has come to personify his sport. On this morning he was headed up the Golden State Freeway to throw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game, an event that illustrates a sport in transition..." Liddell (B.S., Bus. Admin, 1995) majored in accounting and was on the wrestling team during his undergrad years at Cal Poly.
Read the entire Los Angeles Times Story

Bio Alum Retires After 30 Years with Yolo Sheriffs
Captain John Criste (B.S., Biological Sciences, 1972) retired recently after 30 years with the Yolo County Sheriff's Department. As a deputy sheriff, Criste received numerous awards. In 1982 Criste received a letter of commendation from Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. for his heroic response to the kidnapping of a three-month old baby. Criste was selected the department's Officer of the Year in 1982 and received a "Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Service to his Community" from The American Legion, Post No. 77 in 1983. He was later promoted to lieutenant and then captain.
Read the story in the Daily Democrat

Ag Alumna is New Tulare County Farm Bureau Director
Patricia Stever (B.S., 1998, Ag Science) has been hired as the new executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau. She took over Feb. 1. Stever, a native of Exeter, came to the Farm Bureau after serving as a field services representative for the California Farm Bureau Federation in Sacramento, where she was the liaison to farm bureaus in Central and Southern California.
Read the Fresno Bee story

Engineering Alumna Profiled in San Diego Business Journal
Danielle Slagal (B.S., Architectural Engineering, 1999) is now a project engineer at San Diego-based Reno Contracting Inc. After starting out in design and construction litigation, she's moved into construction project engineering and management. She's among a growing number of women overseeing construction projects. The $100 million, 15-floor DiamondView Tower under construction in downtown San Diego is one of her projects -- a 300,000-square-foot Class A office tower.
Read the SDBJ Story

Two Ag Alumni Recognized by Golf Course Industry Association
Thomas Bastis (BS, Ornamental Horticulture, 1995) and Jim Husting (CER, Ornamental Horticulture, 1983) were recently honored by the The Golf Course Superintendents Association of Northern California. The two were among five honored by the association for their professional contributions to the golf course management world. In the Private course category, the Turfgrass Excellence Award was presented to Bastis, currently superintendent at the California Golf Club of San Francisco. Hustings received the George Santana Distinguished Service Award presented for his long-standing commitment to the GCSANC and the turfcare industry.
Read the Golf Course News article

Former KCPR DJ, GrC Alum Continues 'Record Store' Tradition
Eric Kayser opened the new incarnation of Buffalo Records in Ventura in November. Kayser (B.S., Graphic Communication, 1992), a Santa Barbara native, didn't plan on becoming a "record store" owner. began in the early ’90s while a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he studied graphic communication and was first exposed to the intricacies of radio. Kayser’s love for music led him to a stint as disc jockey on his college radio station, as well as a promotion to the position of music director.
Read the Ventura County Reporter profile

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