Alumni Updates
Philip Harris, 2012
Submitted: July 12, 2017
Philip Harris, 2012 English, after graduating and being rejected from the five grad schools, took two years off. I was admitted to San Francisco State University's MFA Fiction program in 2014. In the three years of Harris’ MFA, he wrote two novels, a collection of short fiction, a collection of short nonfiction, and a chapbook of prose poetry, which has been accepted for publication through Nomadic Press. The chapbook is a collection of prose poems dealing with identity and culture. Harris cites his time at HSU in the Writing Practices program as establishing the foundation of his writing. “The Flowers in my Mothers' Name” debuts this fall.
Jennifer Lee Swagert, 2014
Submitted: April 13, 2017
Since graduating in 2014, Jennifer has been living on the outskirts of Seattle, WA, participating in a variety of programs that are aimed at the studying the effect that global climate has on urban rodent populations. Additionally, Jennifer will be publishing an article titled "Magic Cards and Where to Freud Them" in the Fall 2017 issue of Knucklebones magazine.
Jade Mejia, 2016
Submitted: February 24, 2017
Jade Mejia is enrolled in the Simmons College School of Library and Information Science pursuing a Masters of Science Degree in Cultural Heritage Informatics.
Vanessa St.Oegger-Menn, 2008
Submitted: February 11, 2017
Vanessa St.Oegger-Menn, 2008 English, is the Pan Am 103 Archivist and Assistant University Archivist at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York.
Leticia-Andrea Snoots, 2014
Submitted: September 9, 2016
Leticia-Andrea Snoots is currently in her final year of graduate school at the University of the Pacific. Snoots is working on a Master's of Education with a concentration of Student Affairs. Snoots adds, "I am supported in this journey by my partner of five years, James, who I met as an undergraduate at Humboldt State University! Life couldn't be better!"
James A. Freeman, 1980
Submitted: July 1, 2016
James A. Freeman, 1980 English, recently published "Biblical Time Out of Mind: Myths, Maps, and Memories" along with co-author and HSU emeritus Professor Tom Gage.
Robert Brundage, 2016
Submitted: April 13, 2016
Robert Brundage, 2016 English, has officially accepted enrollment at the University of San Diego where he will pursue a Master of Education in the Teaching English as a Second Language, Literacy and Culture program. With this degree, Brundage hopes to be a competitive candidate for English teaching jobs all around the globe.
Justin Tretten, 2012
Submitted: March 2, 2016
Justin Tretten, 2012 English, moved back to Colorado after graduating HSU. In Colorado, Tretten earned his teaching license. He now teaches sixth grade language arts in a middle school.
Darryl Womack, 1987
Submitted: January 13, 2016
Darryl Womack, 1987 English, has written his first book, “Tales of Westerford: Dragons, Knights and Kings,” to be released in June.
Steven Olsen-Smith, 1990
Submitted: November 5, 2015
Steven Olsen-Smith, 1990 English, recently published "Melville in His Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of His Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates" The book is available from the University of Iowa Press.
Joel Heng Hartse, 2007
Submitted: August 27, 2015
Joel Heng Hartse, 2007 English, taught at universities in China for two years after finishing his M.A. in English at HSU. Hartse completed his Ph.D. in TESL in the Department of Language and Literacy at the University of British Columbia, and as of September 2015, has a teaching-focused, continuing faculty appointment as a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. Heartse lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and their two sons.
Chloe Elliott, 2015
Submitted: May 18, 2015
Accepted to the CSU Monterey Bay Single Subject Credential program for the 2015-2016 school year!
Janice Wieman Parke, 1967
Submitted: May 1, 2015
Janice Wieman Parker, 1967 English, became active in her local land trust after retiring from her third career. Parker was interested in setting aside what little open space was still available in her town. Parker writes that, “the skills I received at Humboldt in writing and public speaking, have become my greatest assets as the president of Common Ground Land Trust. The environment was not my major in college, but it is now.”
Gillian Wegener, 1990
Submitted: April 5, 2015
Gillian Wegener, 1990, English, is the founding president of the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center. Wegener is currently the poet laureate of the city of Modesto. Her work in bringing poetry to the wider community led the Stanislaus County Commission for Women to honor her as one of 10 Outstanding Women of Stanislaus County for 2015. Her second book of poetry, This Sweet Haphazard, will be published by Sixteen Rivers Press in spring 2017. Wegener lives with her husband and daughter in Modesto, Calif.
Everardo Cuevas, 2014
Submitted: April 3, 2015
Everardo Cuevas, 2014 English, has been accepted into the master's program in Critical Studies in Literacy and Pedagogy at Michigan State University. Additionally, he has been awarded an Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship (AAGA) from the College of Arts & Letters at MSU. This assistantship, which recognizes leadership potential and is offered to only two percent of graduate assistants, will provide two years of full funding toward the master's degree.
Michael Colin Bresnahan, 1995
Submitted: August 26, 2014
Michael Colin Bresnahan, 1995, English, married Natalie Rist in April.
Lauren M. Connolly, Ph.D., 2006, 2010
Submitted: May 20, 2014
Lauren M. Connolly, Ph.D., 2006 and 2010, English, completed her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at El Paso in rhetoric and composition after earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Humboldt State University. She is an assistant professor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.
Salina Cuddy, 2011
Submitted: October 10, 2013
Salina Cuddy, 2011 English, has begun a Master of Arts program in Sociolinguistics at the University of York in England. Cuddy’s focus is language and power, looking particularly at language and gender as well as language and class.
Jana Rivers-Norton, 1991
Submitted: September 4, 2013
Jana Rivers-Norton, 1991, English, is now a tenure-track, full-time English instructor at Cochise Community College in Nogales, Az., after graduating with a Master of Arts degree in English from Humboldt State in 1991. Rivers-Norton also earned a Doctorate in Human Sciences at Saybrook University in 2002.
Kim T. Griswell (formerly Halliday), BA 1993; MA Lit/MATW 1995
Submitted: July 26, 2013
Kim T. Griswell, 1993 English, 1995 English, (née Halliday) has been a professional editor for more than 15 years, including a 9-year stint with _Highlights_ (Yes, Goofus and Gallant live on!). Griswell achieved a milestone as a writer this July when she published her first book, _Rufus Goes to School_, with Sterling Children's Books (a division of Barnes & Noble).
