Alumni Updates

Jessica Elaine Sepulveda

Biological Sciences, Biology, 2017

Jessica Elaine Sepulveda, Biology, 2017, recently got this amazing opportunity to work in startup using stem cell technology to reduce humans impact on the environment. Unlike most stem cell technology that focuses on medicine, VitroLabs Inc goal is to reduce our ecological footprint by making ethical leather in a lab. Her job entails making induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), differentiating our stem cells into skin cell and generating leather. By producing leather in a lab from iPSCs we can eliminate the need for cow hides will still supplying the market with this particular textile. She finds her work satisfying and is able to fulfill her graduation pledge in several ways: our product is ethical & ecological.

Kaelie Pena

Forestry & Wildland Resources, Rangeland Resource Science, 2017

Kaelie Pena, Forestry & Wildland Resources, 2017, converted to a full-time permanent position with the Forest Service upon graduating and is coming up on her two year anniversary as a Rangeland Management Specialist with the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in the Bridgeport Ranger District.

Jolene Saldivar

Biological Sciences, 2017

Jolene Saldivar, Biological Sciences, 2017, has committed to the University of California, Riverside's Plant Biology PhD program and will begin this summer. She is also the recipient of the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, which is the most prestigious diversity fellowship offered at UC Riverside.

Michael Barnes

Communication, 2017

Michael Barnes ('17, Communication)  claims it's been a whirlwind since he graduated from Humboldt! Since his formative years as an undergrad studying under the great minds of Joshua Frye, Maxwell Schnurer, Armeda Reitzel, Scott Payton, and Leslie Rossman (now at the University of Denver), he continued to earn a master's degree in Communication from San Diego State University. He is now working toward a Ph.D. in Communication at Ohio University, where he is studying Interpersonal and Organizational Communication from various methodological perspectives. He cannot thank the faculty at Humboldt enough for believing in him and pushing him to go beyond! 

Mildred J. Correa

Art, 2017

Mildred J. Correa, 2017 Art, had been offered and accepted an incredible full-time career opportunity at a non-profit in her hometown, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, Calif. Correa's prior positions during her time at HSU including at the Academic and Career Advising Center, the Library, the Learning Center, and Student Access Gallery guided her to realize that she value working for organizations that positively impact community through design. Correa is happily employed at the Armory where everyday she is spreading awareness about this education and gallery space.

Claire Roth

Environmental Studies, 2017

Claire lives in Eugene, Oregon, and works as a Program Manager with the educational nonprofit Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation (BEST). BEST advocates for better, more convenient, and safer transportation for everyone, no matter their mode of choice or ability, and believes that community partnership and collaboration are the keys to finding sustainable and equitable solutions to transportation challenges and that the voices of the most vulnerable users of the transportation system should be continuously elevated.

Claire also serves on two local nonprofit boards: Shift Community Cycles and the Whiteaker Community Council. She believes that nonprofits fill the gap that governments cannot cover.

Jacqueline Heinzen

Anthropology, 2017

Jacqueline Heinzen, Anthropology, 2017, received her MA in Applied Anthropology from HSU 2017. She has started work as a User Experience Researcher with Binary Defense, a cybersecurity firm based out of Hudson, Ohio. It's her first full-time job where she was hired specifically to apply her research skills as an anthropologist!

Suzan Homsombath

Forestry & Wildland Resources, 2017

Suzan is living in the Sierra Nevada foothills, practicing forestry and growing her career as a forester. 

Diana Argueta

Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2017

Diana Argueta, Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2017, returned to the world of immigrant rights after many years of being away, and she loves it! She is am currently a social worker case managing two programs housing children in custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Unaccompanied Refugee Minors. She advocates for children who have no one to care for them in their country of origin or in the U.S. as they start their life over in this country and apply for political asylum.

Ariana Hendren

International Studies, 2017

After completing her degree Ariana Hendren, International Studies, 2017, earned a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate. She caught the travel bug after studying abroad in Spain with the HSU World Languages and Cultures Department. She is now teaching elementary-middle school students at an English Academy in South Korea with her boyfriend whom she met while living in Arcata. They will soon move to a new country to continue their teaching adventure.