After graduating with a B.A. (1973) and M.A. (1976) in Biology, James ventured to the Deep South for his Ph.D. at Florida State University in Tallahassee, a cultural challenge without a doubt. With a predoctoral fellowship from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, he studied the interactions of orchids and orchid bees in Panama. This was parlayed into a Ph.D. (1981) and a job at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, where I have been teaching and studying ever since, making a career primarily of orchid biology and biological invasions. In 2024, the University bestowed upon him the title of Distinguished Professor, a rare honor for which he is grateful to the people of Puerto Rico, and perhaps interrupted the fossilization of an aspiring academic dinosaur.  

Paul Sheppard ('82 Forestry) representing the Old College Try Barbershop quartet, which formed up at HSU in 1981 and sang on campus for a year or two, would like to share that since graduating from HSU, the quartet has been meeting up every now and then to sing and bird, and reminisce about Humboldt.

 They even "met" online in 2020 to sing the Humboldt Alma Mater virtually, the way choirs and ensembles did to wait out the pandemic with music.

They just met up this year in the Mojave Desert, Southern California, and put up a video of their 2025 reunion:

https://youtu.be/s-qMruOoW5E

Exactly 10 minutes long.

After graduating from Cal Poly Humboldt (HSU), Ryan pursued a Master's degree in International Relations, focusing on Russia and the Soviet Sphere and the rise of Putinism during the War in Ukraine. He graduated with a distinction from the University of Kent Canterbury, and he decided to stay in the United Kingdom and entered the hospitality industry. 

He worked in different high-end 4 to 5-star hotels in London, ranging from corporate hotels in the City of London, and now he currently works in East London, dealing with different high-profile clients in and around Canary Wharf and East London. 

Being Trilingual English (native), French (Fluent C2), Spanish (professional C1), and having an international background helped him gain the skills and knowledge that he has learned from his time in Humboldt, as well as in Kent, the negotiation skills and multilingual skills when dealing with high profiled clients. Especially the high-profile corporations located in London. 

He currently deals with hotel Revenue and Reservations and helps the Sales team bring business to his main hotel, making it one of the most popular hotels in the London Docklands area. 

Brandon joined the California Conservation Corps (CCC) in May 2025 as Deputy Director for Legislative and External Affairs. In this role Brandon is focused on strengthening the CCC’s legislative presence and sharing the inspiring stories of the corps members, deepening connections with external and local partners, and also serves as the CCC’s Tribal Liaison.

Joseph has been working with CALTRANS District 1 for almost 6 years now, and he highly recommends it for many reasons, such as great benefits, fantastic work-life balance, great staff, multitude of disciplines including planning, safety, hydraulics, electrical, and the list goes on! 

After graduation, Brad Paulson joined the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA, as a marine geologist to assist in arctic coastal erosion and diving investigations designed to collect long-term data on ice formation in the Beaufort Sea and to study its effect on sediment transport and shoreline dynamics. In 1988, he was hired by an engineering consulting firm (CH2M HILL) as an oceanographer to support various environmental studies and engineering design projects located around the world. In 1993, he earned an M.S. in Geological Oceanography from the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. He is currently a senior technologist and oceanographer with Jacobs Engineering in the Seattle area. He has a diverse background in coastal and estuarine oceanography, water and sediment quality, contaminant transport, outfall mixing zone/dilution analysis, and engineering design. He specializes in wastewater discharge analyses that include integration of field and modeling programs, outfall design, and NPDES compliance and permitting issues. He also serves as an AAUS-certified scientific diver on the Jacobs dive team.

After graduating with her B.A. in Theatre Arts and a minor in Dance Studies from Humboldt State University in 2019, Irma moved to the rainy city of Portland, Oregon, where she worked with a tiny theatre company as a touring actress. During her time in Portland, she also worked as a stand-in for Netflix's 'Trinkets' and TBS's 'CHAD'. During the 2020 pandemic, she decided to move back to her home state of California and began working on her Master of Fine Arts degree in Television, Film, & Theatre at California State University, Los Angeles. She graduated with her MFA in 2023. After earning her Master's degree, she was promoted and became the assistant manager of The Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA. She has also been signed with Rectangle Entertainment, and her television debut was in 2023 when she was cast as Diane Zamora in season 1 of 'Prosecuting Evil with Kelly Siegler'. Irma is now working as a campus admissions specialist at The Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood, CA, and continues to work actively in the film and television industry. 

After working as an RN and rehabilitation clinical nurse specialist in San Diego for 45 years, Kathleen retired (2017) and started traveling around the world. Unfortunately, she had the onset of multiple sclerosis while on a trip to Iceland in June 2023. After a month in hospitals and an acute rehab center, she returned home. She can walk with a cane up to about 50 yards, and use a power carbon fiber folding wheelchair for further distances. Kathleen has started to travel again, although in a different style, and took a 35-day cruise to the South Pacific in early 2025. She misses snorkeling and hiking!

After 15 years working as an environmental consultant, Lowell Cottle moved on to work for the state at the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board as a Senior Environmental Scientist. He manages the compliance and enforcement unit for Construction and Industrial sites for 22 counties in the Central Valley. In addition to this, he also manages the Cannabis Unit. Lowell is excited to manage a team that inspects industrial and construction sites for compliance with State and Federal Water Codes, where he can really make a difference! Lowell's team investigates and tracks down potential sources of pollution from stormwater exposure and works with facility/site owners to comply with the Clean Water Act.

Michael just published his sixth book on California Trees. Read more about "Discover California’s Native Trees: A Guide to the Arboreal Wonders of the Golden State."