Breadcrumb
Alumni Updates
Jeremy Bisson
Wildlife, 1999
Jeremy Bisson, 1999 Wildlife, spent six years working as a biologist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office Observer Program after graduating HSU. In 2006, Bisson moved to south central Idaho, where he has been working as a wildlife biologist in the Burley BLM Field Office for the last nine years. His focus in Idaho has been sage-grouse habitat restoration where he’s had success in developing a landscape scale habitat restoration plan and collaboration.
Mark Hudgens
Fisheries Biology, 1999
Mark Hudgens, 1999 Fisheries Biology, was recently appointed the superintendent of the Mt. San Jacinto State Park. Hudgens spent the last 14 years in the Perris district, which measures roughly 8,800 acres compared to the 14,000 acres of the Mt. San Jacinto park.
Kevin Orris
Mathematics, 1998
Kevin Orris, 1998, mathematics, first went to Humboldt in 1984 as a Wildlife Management major, at which time he met his wife Bonnie. He returned to Humboldt in the mid ’90s and received a degree in Mathematics and his teaching credential. He has been teaching math at Golden Sierra High School for the last 12 years. He loves every minute and is very proud that he has encouraged several students to attend Humboldt.
Tonja (Olson)Tallent
Biological Sciences, 1998
Tonja (Olson)Tallent, 1998, Biological Sciences, worked at a winery as a microbiologist, then for a bio-tech company doing the same. She recently left corporate America and started a business with her husband and now happily runs a tea-bar in Fair Oaks, Calif.
Christopher J. Watt
Geology, 1997
I have been working for a local engineering firm (LACO ASSOCIATES) for the past 15 years and was recently elected President and CEO.
Deanna (Wade) Carpenter
Environmental Resources Engineering, 1997
Deanna Carpenter, 1997 Environmental Resources Engineering, (née Wade) is married to Mark Carpenter ('98, Wildlife Management) and was recently promoted to the rank of Commander with the U.S. Navy's Civil Engineer Corps in Newport, R.I. Carpenter is currently serving as chief staff officer of the Seventh Naval Construction Regiment.
Peter Schmidt
Wildlife, 1997
Peter Schmidt, 1997 Wildlife, recently accepted the Refuge Manager position at Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Ruby Valley, Nevada after spending 14 years at Tualatin River NWR in western Oregon. Schmidt is moving from an urban refuge with 2,200 acres to the most remote refuge in the lower 48 states with almost 40,000 acres to manage. The nearest services are 60 miles when the pass is open.
Kyle Chang
Natural ResourcesNatural Resources Planning and Interpretation, 1997
Kyle retired from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Lieutenant Supervisor for San Bernardino and Riverside Counties after almost 24 years with the Department.
Colin Gallagher
Natural Resources, 1997
Colin Gallagher, Natural Resources, 1997, went into the U.S. Peace Corps after Humboldt graduation of 1997. He came back to the U.S.A. in 2000. He worked various local government gigs, picked up a master's degree along the way. He got into crypto and helped design cryptocurrencies and electronic wallets in a manner so as to foster efficient microdonations in the early years of decentralized cryptos (2009 - 2015). He did a software QA gig. He is currently working for a crypto-fiat exchange and enjoying life.
Andrew Jensen
Fisheries Biology, 1996 (BS) and 2000 (MS)
Andrew Jensen, 1996 and 2000 Fisheries Biology, and Melanie Jensen, (’96 Wildlife Biology), met in an Icthyology class in 1992. Then 10 years passed and they bumped into each other in a grocery store in Santa Rosa, Calif., and exchanged phone numbers. After a year or so they got together for dinner, spent several months becoming friends, and got married in 2004. Andrew now works as a senior environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife working on anadromous fish restoration, and Melanie works for PG&E in the Gas Service Engineering Department. They settled in Redding, Calif., and have two daughters, and several pets. In September 2013, they visited HSU and showed their girls where they had met, and let them run around on the soccer field near the Fisheries and Wildlife Building. Andrew writes that HSU was a wonderful place to go to college, and hopes their girls will pick HSU for their college education. Interestingly, Melanie's mother, Dolores Mattax, and aunt and uncle, Patricia Mattax and Jim Ingram, also attended HSU in the early 1950s. Patricia and Jim ended up getting married, and Jim is in the Hall of Fame as a football player and coach for HSU.