Breadcrumb
Alumni Updates
Jo Anne Smith (Flueck)
Wildlife, 1982
Recently appointed Chair of Huemul Task Force in the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Has served as Chair for the Scientific Steering Committee for the 6th and 7th International Deer Biology Congress (Republic of Czech and Chile, respectively) and now serving at same capacity for the upcoming 8th IDBC, which is to be held in Harbin China.
Jo Anne
Wildlife, 1982
I was president of the Scientific Steering Committee for the 6th and 7th International Deer Biology Congress (2006 and 2010, respectively, and am serving again for the upcoming 8th congress. Currently I am affiliated with Institute Analysis of Natural Resources (IARN), Universidad Atlántida Argentina in Mar del Plata, Argentina as a Research Scientist. I often work with Werner Flueck, a Swiss who graduated in 1982 from Humboldt with degrees in Wildlife Management and Zoology. We clandestinely eloped 3 months before our graduation so that Werner could receive his green card and then attend graduate school at University of California, Davis. Soon, our marriage will span 29 years. Over the last 20 years, we have worked together on studies related to conservation of the endangered native deer and impacts of exotic deer in Argentina and Chile. Last year we were the main organizers for the 7th International Deer Biology Congress, held in the Huilo Huilo Reserve, Chile, which was the first time the congress was held in Latin America.
Jo Anne M. Smith (professional name Smith-Flueck)
Wildlife, 1982
I was president of Scientific Steering Committee for the 6th and 7th International Deer Biology Congresses (2006 and 2010, respectively) and am continuing to serve at this capacity for the 8th congress. I'm currently affiliated as Research Scientist with Institute Analysis of Natural Resources (IARN)
Universidad Atlántida Argentina
Mar del Plata, Argentina
and am conducting research on highly endangered native and exotic deer in S. America with husband, Werner Flueck, a Swiss citizen, who graduated in 1982 from Humboldt with two bachelor degrees in Wildlife Management and Zoology. He went on to get his PhD at UC Davis in Pathology while I got my Masters there in Ecology. I later went on to obtain my doctorate in Biology at the Univ. Nacional del Comahue in Argentina. We were the main organizers for the recent 7th International Deer Biology Congress held in Huilo Huilo Reserve, Chile.
Wade Eakle
Wildlife, 1982
Wade Eakle, 1982 Wildlife, spent 1982 and ‘83 working at the Institute for Wildlife Studies in Arcata, before serving at the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Station at Arizona State University, in Tempe, Ariz. He then completed a Master’s of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Science at the University of Arizona at Tuscon. In 1987 he worked for the engineering firm Dames & Moore in Phoenix, and then the Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Since 1990, Eakle has been with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the San Francisco District of the South Pacific Division.
Rich Torquemada
Fisheries Biology, ’92 MS, Natural Resources, 1982
Torquemada recently stepped down after four years as a Board Director of the Montana Grape and Winery Association, serving as President for three years. Rich continues to own and operate Luna Llena Vineyards, producing cold-climate hybrid wine grapes to several local wineries and cideries in western Montana. Prior to establishing Luna Llena, he enjoyed a 34-year career as a fisheries biologist and Field Supervisor with the Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, working throughout the western US.
John Swancara
Wildlife, 1982
John Swancara, Wildlife, 1982, has spent over 30 years pioneering reverse osmosis water treatment systems for homes and commercial applications. He pioneered small bottled water plants for small businesses. Currently he is the lead sales engineer for American Beer Equipment in Lincoln, Nebraska designing micro-breweries. John has authored several articles on water treatment.
Brad Ronald Hall
Environmental Resources Engineering, 1981
Brad worked for more than a year with the Humboldt County APCD after graduating in 1981. He was then one of many in a long string of ERE grads who went to Utah State University in 1982. The timing couldn't have been better for a future morphodynamic modeler, as debris flows, avulsing floods on alluvial fans, and an ever-rising Great Salt Lake gave great topics for interesting MS thesis topics. He then started a 13-year Federal hydraulic engineering career with the US Army Corps of Engineers; first with the Seattle District, then with the Math Modeling Branch of the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, MS. Our time in the deep south was broken up with a 1-year research sabbatical at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (U of Minnesota), researching sedimentation engineering processes. Brad then left Federal service and became a principal hydraulic engineer with the Sacramento office of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC). He led interesting and challenging projects on tidal marsh and fluvial restoration design, river engineering design, sedimentation engineering expert witness testimony for the California DWR, and morphodynamic modeling of waterways and floodplains. Project locations were mostly in the western USA, but also included the Rio Paraguay, Rio de la Plata, and Rio Madeira in South America; the Brahmaputra River in Bangladesh; and the Matanuska River in Alaska. Fun stuff! He's now 95% retired and has emeritus status with NHC and is living with his HSU spouse of 40+ years at the family homestead in Glen Ellen.
Cindy Purnell Frakes
Biological Sciences, 1981
After 33 years in the high-tech industry, Cindy Purnell Frakes retired from her most recent position of 13 years as Senior Director, Information Development at Oracle. Her career journey prior to that included stints at Borland, PeopleSoft, Computer Associates, and the Paradigm Group. She's now happily retired, living in Ferndale, WA, and has picked up her binoculars to pursue bird #485 and beyond to add to her life list.
Cindy Purnell Frakes
Biological Sciences, 1981
After 33 years in the high-tech industry, Cindy Purnell Frakes ('81, Biology) retired from her most recent position of 13 years as Senior Director, Information Development at Oracle. Her career journey prior to that included stints at Borland, PeopleSoft, Computer Associates, and the Paradigm Group. She's now happily retired, living in Ferndale, WA, and has picked up her binoculars to pursue bird #485 and beyond to add to her life list.
Tim Kustic
Geology, 1981
Tim Kustic, 1981 Geology, California's 13th State Oil and Gas Supervisor, recently retired after a 32-year career with California's Department of Conservation. Kustic began his state career as a field engineer with the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), in the Bakersfield office. After assignments in the Bakersfield and Santa Maria DOGGR offices, Kustic joined the newly created State Office of Mine Reclamation in 1991. In 2001 Kustic rejoined DOGGR and was appointed by Governor Brown to lead DOGGR as the Oil and Gas Supervisor in 2011. Kustic, his wife Debra, and their three children reside in Sacramento.