Breadcrumb
Alumni Updates
Cynthia (Cindy) Rawlings (formerly Rawlings Rohde)
Art, KHSU volunteer and staff 10 years, 1983
Cynthia Rawlings (previously Rawlings Rohde), 1983, art, received Citizen of the Year recognition from the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce in 2013 for organizing the Downtown Coos Bay Wine Walk. Since 2007, the event has earned over $130,000 to support local non-profit organizations including Coos Art Museum and the Egyptian Theatre Preservation Association. Rawlings has lived in the Coos Bay-area since 2001 and has worked at The World newspaper for nearly 8 years. She was president of the Bay Area Rotary club in 2010-11.
Bridget McGraw
International Studies, 2012
Bridget McGraw, 2012, International Studies, began at Internews Network, an international non-profit organization. At the organization’s headquarters in Arcata, McGraw is subgrant analyst focusing mostly on a new project promoting independent media in South Sudan. McGraw writes, “Every day at work I use the skills and experiences I gained at university.”
Julie King
Music, 1985
Julie King, 1985, Music, (née Reich) went on to earn a Master's degree in music (choral conducting) but pivoted her career to the nonprofit sector. King is currently vice president of Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group and engages in executive search as well as advising nonprofits on capacity building. She also serves on the Board of Directors of BeadforLife, a social enterprise serving women living in extreme poverty in Uganda. King and her husband, Chuck, live in Redwood City, Calif., where Julie rows on Bair Island Aquatic Center's competitive crew team.
Monica Topping
Journalism, 2009
Monica Topping, 2009 Journalism, launched the Small Town Big Art calendar project after successfully funding the project via KickStarter. The calendar profiles prominent Humboldt County artists. Topping was inspired to start the project the U.S. Census published a statistic that Humboldt County has more working artists per capita than any other county in California.
Jed Haley-Brooks D'Abravanel
Politics, 2007
Jed Haley-Brooks D'Abravanel, 2007, Politics, is currently attending law school at American University.
Anthony Medrano
Politics, 2000
Anthony Medrano, 2000 Politics, worked at Ohio University for a few years and moved back to Hawaii before finally settling down near Lake Mendota, Wis., where he is a doctoral candidate in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently, Medrano is several miles away in Malaysian Borneo, conducting dissertation research as a Fulbright fellow. Medrano’s interest in the social history of oceans stems from his formative years at Humboldt and its intellectual ecology.
Marisa Penkauskas
Journalism, 2012
Marisa Penkauskas, 2012, Journalism & Mass Communication, is the marketing manager for Interactive Fitness, a company producing interactive stationary bikes, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Amanda Eldridge (Lang)
Journalism, 2001
Amanda (Lang) Eldridge, 2001 Journalism & Mass Communication, lived in four major cities since graduating. She’s now married with two children and finally settling down in Denver.
Salina Cuddy
English, 2011
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.
Jamey Brzezinski
Art, 1978
Jamey Brzezinski, 1978, Art, recently retired from teaching after a 32-year career as a professor of Studio Art for various California colleges and universities. For the last 20 years he taught for Merced College, chairing the Art, Music, and Drama departments for 12 of those years. Brzezinski was the editorial cartoonist for the Lumberjack from 1977 to 1978 and Northern California editor of Artweek Magazine from 1991 to 1992. He lives with his wife, also a retired art professor, in Pacifica, Calif. He spends his time making art, playing jazz ukulele and bass, writing, and curating art exhibits for the California State Court Building in San Francisco.



