Alumni Updates

Find classmates by name, major, or year of graduation

Ashley (Perez) Mezeske , Environmental Studies, 2015

Submitted: January 6, 2024

Ashley moved her family from Humboldt to rural Michigan in August of 2023. While living in Humboldt, Ashley worked briefly in the nonprofit sector, helping to provide resources for various aspects of childcare for a local organization. She has been a stay-at-home mother after having her first child in 2018. She plans to open up her own business with an interdisciplinary environmental lens this coming year. She says the concept of a “third place” and the loss we have of them in society has become very interesting to me lately. She loves Humboldt! 

Henry Mulak, Journalism, 1984

Submitted: January 4, 2024

Henry Mulak is developing a branded media company following 40 years of reporting, including for the "Big Three" broadcasting networks in the United States. The Ah! Channel (https://ahchannel.com) focuses on artificial intelligence. This comes on the heels of some six years studying computer science and business in Stanford University's Continuing Studies program. Henry was ahead of the curve when OpenAI released ChatGPT in November of 2022, quickly joining a startup in the development of digital personas. "The potential for growth here is tremendous," Henry says, noting that business models in everything from media to healthcare are changing rapidly.

Chris Manning, Journalism, 1990

Submitted: January 3, 2024

Humboldt State University was one of the greatest decisions of Chris's life! He has since gone on to have an award-winning and successful career in music performing, production, sound engineering, and sound for film. He works at Skywalker Sound in Marin County on sound for major Blockbuster movies. Chris intends to return to Cal Poly Humboldt to help him finish a creative historical Novel he has been working on for 7 years. 

Samuel R Harper, Fisheries Biology, 2014

Submitted: January 1, 2024

Since graduating, Samuel has become a user experience designer at Infinity Ward, having worked on popular video game titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. He is earning a master's degree in Human Factors from Bentley University. Samuel has also taught UX courses at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Central Florida. Samuel currently resides in Austin, Texas.  

Virginia Howard Mullan, Anthropology, 1980, 2006

Submitted: December 28, 2023

After teaching middle school, all subjects, at Bridgeville Elementary for 31 years, Virginia decided to put more time into her writing. In the last few years, the North Coast Journal, Senior News, The Sun, The Times-Standard, and The Eel River Valley DAR Newsletter have included her work in their publications. Virginia published a book entitled "What Remains: the People and Places of California's Expositions" about California World's Fairs in 2021.

Shiloh (Green) Soto, Environmental Studies, 2016

Submitted: December 13, 2023

After graduating from Humboldt, Shiloh earned her M.A. in interdisciplinary humanities at UC Merced, where she will also graduate with her Ph.D. in the spring of 2024. Her graduate work is housed in the Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies and analyzes a public history project she directed with the San Joaquin Valley's city of Livingston. Shiloh moved back to Humboldt in 2022 and eventually found exciting work on campus in Cal Poly Humboldt's College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences as the College Graduate Programs & Recruitment Coordinator! 

Donald Cresse, Economics, 1985

Submitted: December 12, 2023

After 27+ years, Donald Cresse has retired from the LA Department of Water and Power. He worked as an energy conservation rep and then as a supervisor in recycled water. Cresse claims that Drs. Ruprecht and Jewett were instrumental in his education and is thankful for their guidance. Also, Dr. Lehman, who taught him "Appropriate Technology." Cresse says if not for Humboldt and these great professors, he would not be happily retired.

Patricia (Patty) Brown, Natural Resources, 1977

Submitted: December 4, 2023

Patty retired twice, but you might not know it from how busy she still is. Her first career was as a park ranger for California State Parks in the redwoods and the desert, the National Park Service in Alaska at Katmai and Lake Clark, then on the Kenai Wildlife Refuge, ending in 1995. She then decided to pursue a less itinerant life as a middle school science teacher in Alaska. Currently, she volunteers on the ambulance crew and does humanitarian work in winter at the U.S.-Mexico Border. She was recently elected to the local planning commission in Haines.

Natalie Burghardt, Environmental Science & Management, 2020

Submitted: December 1, 2023

Jesse Bobrow and Natalie Burghardt are engaged! They both attended Humboldt State University from 2017-2020. 

Claire Roth, Environmental Studies, 2017

Submitted: November 30, 2023

Claire lives in Eugene, Oregon, and works as a Program Manager with the educational nonprofit Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation (BEST). BEST advocates for better, more convenient, and safer transportation for everyone, no matter their mode of choice or ability, and believes that community partnership and collaboration are the keys to finding sustainable and equitable solutions to transportation challenges and that the voices of the most vulnerable users of the transportation system should be continuously elevated. Claire also serves on two local nonprofit boards: Shift Community Cycles and the Whiteaker Community Council. She believes that nonprofits fill the gap that governments cannot cover.

Pages