USD-Magazine-Summer-2023

HUSANI WHITLOCK (MA) is a school counselor with the Poway Unified School District. [2017] ALEXIS (DACHS) COUCH (BA) married Gary Couch ’17 (BS/BA) in September of 2022 in Santa Barbara, California. The couple started dating in 2015 while students at USD and since then have continued to love living in San Diego. JOCELINE NAVARRO (BA) reports that she “got married in September at Founder’s Hall surrounded by family, friends and USD alumni!” [2018] INDIRA GALVEZ (BA) is a senior strategy associate at EMC Research. CRYSTAL GAMACHE (JD) writes, “Just got a job at Gonzaga as a law professor.” MIRANDA MAHER (BA) received her Master of Science in industrial-organizational psychology from Illinois State University in 2020. “I currently work on a team of I-O psychologists at a large food distribution company, U.S. Foods, where we design and implement talent programs for 30,000+ employees,” she writes. ROSS MARTIN (BBA) was recently transferred to a software engineer position at his current employer without having a computer science degree. He adds, “My daughter, River, was born on April 14, 2022.” JUSTIN SHIELDS (JD) provided this update: “I recently completed the second of two guest lectures for USD Professor Ralph Folsom’s international business transactions class. The lectures discuss the application of the Section 301 China Tariffs and Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, along with how various customs programs offer businesses opportunities to mitigate the tariff impacts. This is the third year I have delivered these lectures. I am currently a senior global trade Advisor with Ernst & Young, LLP located outside of Washington, D.C.”

CELINE SINGLETARY (BBA) writes, “I’m currently doing my MBA at USD!” KYRA THRUSH (BA) reports that she finished her PhD in computational biology and bioinformatics and moved back to San Diego. [2019] DeZELL LATHON (BA) is finishing an MFA at Loyola Marymount University for directing and creative producing for film and television. He writes that he’s, “also working full-time on a Netflix film apart of the production office.” 2020s [2020] TYLER ARDEN (BBA) was recently promoted to associate on BlackRock’s Retirement Marketing team and moved to San Francisco. ILA FOSKETT (BBA) is a recent Newport Beach resident working remotely in tech for a growing ecommerce software company based in Irvine, California. “Brand marketing is my niche and working from home definitely has its perks,” she writes. MELANIE PACKER (BBA) provided this update: “I joined the JP Morgan Chase firm in 2022 as part of the company’s financial technology/advertising/offers and shopping team. Since I graduated, I have had three beautiful babies. I have two 1-year-olds (boy/girl twins), and a 2-year-old daughter. I got married in the summer 2021 to my wonderful husband and I plan on going back to school for an MBA in the spring of 2024.” MICHAEL R. RUIZ (MA) reports, “I’m currently the lead planner for the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center based out of Honolulu. Our mission is to train all joint forces including foreign countries in an archipelago environment. More than 6,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will take part in this 10‑day exercise, which will span all the Hawaiian Islands. My job is to synchronize all stakeholders to produce a safe training event. I

have worked for U.S. Army Pacific since graduating from USD.” [2021] OLIVIA HAYS (BA) is a first year student in the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program at Colorado State University. JAVIER LUNA (MBA) is working at Eurofins Discovery as a global project manager. SHUSHANNA TEVANYAN (MA) writes, “I took a monitoring and evaluation course at the Kroc School of Peace Studies, which — together with the professor's encouragement and support — has greatly influenced my career choice. When I returned to my home country of Armenia in 2021, I got a job in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as monitoring and evaluation expert. A year later, I was promoted to advisor for coordinating monitoring and evaluation functions. I actively participate in the monitoring and evaluations of programs and projects in the social protection sphere and also collaborate with international development partners in the areas of data collection, analysis and strategy development. At the same time, the Social and Cultural Narratives Lab (an Armenian NGO) has trusted me with the responsibility of being the manager of a project about women and war. I coordinated publishing four booklets on the role of women during and after war, as well as airing eight podcast episodes featuring activist women, including peacebuilders and diplomats.” [2022] DANIEL ALVAREZ (MBA) writes, “I graduated from the MBA program in January of 2022, got married at USD on Sept. 23, 2022, and got a new job that same month. Big year!” BLAKE BEASLEY (BA) recently started working for the NFL Network’s headquarters in Inglewood as a production assistant. DANIEL ALVAREZ MENDOZA (MBA) got married in October 2022 at USD. JAREK MORGAN (BA) has accepted his first position as a development coordinator.

JEREMY RUETH (BBA) accepted an offer to join Epic Systems in Madison, Wisconsin, as a project manager and began the position in April 2023. In Memoriam MICHAEL BURR (BA) passed away on March 13, 2021. LOREN REZNOWSKI ’88 (MA) passed away in Tucson, Arizona, in August of 2022. EDWARD DAVID STARKEY died at the age of 80 on Dec. 15, 2022, from complications related to a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He served as university librarian from 1988 to 2011. There, he led the automation of Copley Library, served on the President’s Advisory Council and participated in the creation of the San Diego Circuit and the Catholic Research Resources Alliance, which is a library consortia which allow researchers to access information resources across participating institutions. In addition, he taught religious studies courses throughout his time at USD and would often greet passing students, faculty members and staff with a smile and a wave. He is survived by his wife, Paulette, son Brendan ’93 (BA) and daughter Eliane ’11 (BA). HECTOR ROBERTS ’97 (BA) died on Feb. 23, 2023. Growing up in San Diego, he was a precocious child who loved to read and excelled in school and at tennis and baseball. During his time at USD, he continued developing his great love of literature — both in English and Spanish. He spent his career as an artist, theater manager, production manager and operations manager. He was a creative, sensitive, passionate spirit. He loved music, was a fan of Mexico’s national soccer team and the Chargers, as well as the Minnesota Lynx. Send Class Notes Submit class notes via email to classnotes@sandiego.edu.

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USD MAGAZINE

[reunion reminder]