On Saturday Oct. 27, 2019 Professor of Art History Kristen Van Ausdall, Art, 1976, passed away. She died at the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. While Van Ausdall had been on medical leave at the time of her death, her passing came as a shock to those who were close to her. She is survived by her husband, Scott Pringle. Van Ausdall had been a resident of Mount Vernon, Ohio, teaching at Kenyon College. After completing her B.A. in Studio Art and English at Humboldt State University in 1976 (inspired by Art History Professor Max Butler), she went on to attain an M.A. from the University of Oregon in 1981 and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1994.

Leona Evans, Natural Resources, 1983, retired from the Lake Valley Fire Protection District (Lake Tahoe) in 2015. She is now transitioning into retirement from her second job as Coordinator for the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy through Lake Tahoe Community College where she served for 14 years. She continues to work on-call for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (Forest Service).

Tyler Smurr, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1995, worked for Sierra Pacific Industries after graduating from Humboldt State but then met a girl and followed her to Texas. He taught middle school science for 14 years, and is currently an Assistant Principal for a San Antonio Middle School. Smurr says he uses his experience at Humboldt State to talk to students about finding the right place for them and seeing the beauty in the world.

For the past 10 years, William Chilson, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 1967 has been working in the renewable energy industry with a focus on development of utility scale power plants. His current position is Director of Siting and Real Estate with Candela Renewables. Candela Renewables develops solar power plants throughout the United States.

After graduation, Stephen Bowlus, Chemistry, 1970, attended University of Illinois (MS '72, PhD '74, postdoc entomology '75), and went into industrial research. He worked primarily in the agricultural chemistry field, starting as a synthesis chemist, then migrating to computational chemistry, molecular modeling and statistics. He retired from industry in 2003. In 2006, Bowlus started teaching as an adjunct instructor at Columbia College in Sonora, California, before retiring in 2019.

Shortly after graduating, Colin Savage, Fisheries Biology, 2018, started working with Washington Fish and Wildlife as a hatchery specialist. During his senior year he worked in rearing many species of salmonids and White Sturgeon.

Leonard A Brennan, Wildlife, 1984, is in his 19th year as the C.C. Winn Endowed Chair for Quail Research at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, Texas A&M University - Kingsville. His seventh book, Quantitative Analyses in Wildlife Science, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press this fall, and was co-edited with another Humboldt Alumnus, Dr. Bruce Marcot.

In 1991 16 years after graduating from Humboldt State, Claudia Cottrell, Fisheries Biology, 1974, graduated from Northwestern Health Sciences University with a doctorate in Chiropractic. After 23 years of running a human chiropractic practice, she went to Options for Animals School of Animal Chiropractic. She now practices exclusively on horses, dogs, cats, and any other animals that are presented to her. Cottrell, says she feels like she has come full circle. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota (her native state) with her husband, Harry Cottrell, who is a native of Arcata, California, and is also a graduate of Humboldt State. They have two adult sons, have always had pets, and still visit Humboldt County.

Andre Degeorges, Natural Resources, 1973, is retired and is living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia hunting & fishing. Degeorges has several publications on researchgate.net under his name that are available to download for free. Publications include a seven volume book on conservation & development in Sub-Saharan Africa, one on the Taliban, many peer reviewed documents, gray literature & PowerPoint presentations on coral reefs, community based natural resource management (CBNRM), dams, wildlife management & hunting issues, and development/foreign aid, etc.

John Hawkins, Upland, 1969, retired from CAL FIRE in December 2018 after serving 55 fire seasons and finishing his career for the last 12 years as the CAL FIRE Riverside Unit/Riverside County Fire Department Fire Chief. Hawkins commanded many of California's major fires over his career, served as a Type 1 Incident Commander on 3 teams and an Operations Section Chief on a federal Type 1 team. Hawkins was recognized as a Certified Fire Chief and graduated from the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program. He is living in SoCal and working part-time as a Wildland Fire Consultant for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.