Breadcrumb
Alumni Updates
Lance Torgerson
Geography, 2004
Lance currently works for Off Duty Officers as a security guard and with California State Parks as a Park Aide. His location is Merced, California. He's had several jobs after his 2004 graduation with a BA in Geography in the Eureka/Arcata area and, more recently, in the Central Valley in Merced, CA.
Ira Goldstein
Geography, 1991
Ira has been a Watchmaker for over 30 years, but he will always be a Geographer at heart. Ira still loves looking at maps and traveling with his wife Barbara, whom he met at Humboldt. Ira owns a Timekeeper watch repair in Eagle, Idaho.
Steven Berke
Geography, 1974
Steve has lived in North Idaho for the past 40 years. He has had careers as a cartographer, landman, and right-of-way agent. Steve is currently retired and enjoying traveling and golf.
David Mackey
Geography, 1983
David currently serves as the Senior Manager of the Procure to Pay team at Cerus Corporation, where he works at the global headquarters located in Concord, California. He lives in Martinez, California, which is conveniently close to his workplace.
David began his educational journey at Cal Poly Humboldt, graduating in 1983. He then pursued a Master of International Business at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, completing his degree in 1988. His background in geography provided a strong foundation for his specialization in International Trade Management, a focus that has been instrumental throughout his career.
Over the past 30 years, David has held managerial roles in global operations and processes across seven different companies within the Bio-Tech, Pharma, and Medical Devices sectors. His passion for geography has enabled him to make significant contributions to various projects and operations, including establishing new sites worldwide, sourcing materials globally, providing support to international customers, and managing export and import operations along with their associated regulations.
Throughout his career, David has undertaken two expatriate assignments: one in Paris, where he supported the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, and another in Singapore, overseeing operations in the Asia Pacific region. When not on assignment abroad, he primarily operates from an office in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information about his professional background, David can be found on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/davidwmackey.
Christopher Tuck
Geography, 2024
Since graduating from Humboldt with a double major in Geography and Geospatial Science & Technology, Chris has been working as a Location Intelligence Analyst (GIS Analyst) at GHD, a global Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firm. He provides GIS support on a wide range of projects taking place across North America and sometimes other parts of the world. His day-to-day roles involve data management, spatial analysis, and figure/map production for contaminated site assessments, environmental permitting, transportation planning, utilities and infrastructure mapping, sea level rise impact assessments, and the list goes on. A recent and significant project that he had the opportunity to work on was a stormwater features data collection effort for Del Norte County, where they gathered the location of nearly 12,000 spatial features, including stormwater pipes, culverts, channels/ditches, junctions, outfalls, manholes, and drainage inlets with a high-accuracy GPS unit. Chris started at GHD's Eureka office as an intern but has since been promoted to a full-time role and relocated to their Concord, California, office in the East Bay Area.
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-tuck-b47684283/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BDXlkvIq1Qc6%2BgYZi%2BmBZ7g%3D%3D
Lowell Cottle
Geography, 1998
After graduation, Lowell stayed in Trinidad for a few years and ran the first private kayaking company there, North Coast Adventures. After leaving Trinidad, he worked as an environmental consultant in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, doing stormwater monitoring, sampling, and stream restoration on Caltrans, PG&E, and privately funded projects. Lowell moved to Folsom in 2019 and now works as a Senior Environmental Scientist for the Regional Water Quality Control Board for the State. There, he supervises two compliance and enforcement units, making sure construction and industrial sites are doing the right thing and not harming our most precious resource, water. He oversees about 2,600 permitted sites across most of the 22 counties and still gets into the field regularly with his teams. He says he really loves working for the Water Board, it's a very challenging but fulfilling job...and his company loves Humboldt Grads! They hire Environmental Scientists (Geography grads are especially welcome!), Geologists, Engineers, and anyone with a science background. He would love to hear from my old classmates or anyone else from the Geography Department - Cheers!
Adam Lodge
Geography, 1997
Adam Lodge is currently the Director of Solutions Delivery at Farallon Geographics, where he focuses on streamlining project management processes and managing key strategic client projects. Recently, he relocated to Encinitas, California, after spending many years in the San Francisco Bay Area following his graduation from HSU.
After earning a GIS certificate from San Francisco State University in 2000, Adam began his career as a GIS Analyst at San Mateo County, where he worked for six years. This experience provided him with a solid foundation for his transition into consulting at Farallon, where he has managed numerous projects involving GIS implementation, data development, and application development for local governments. One of the highlights of his career has been developing and implementing a software platform called Arches, which is designed to support the management of cultural heritage information. In recent years, Adam has shifted his focus away from technical work and concentrated on enhancing project management practices within his firm.
For more about his professional background, Adam can be found on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/adam-lodge-pmp-30651a13.
Joy DeBruyn
Geography, 2002 (BA - Geography); 2006 (BS - Wildlife Management)
Joy currently holds the position of Senior Technical Support at H. T. Harvey & Associates, an ecological consulting company, where she essentially fulfills the role of an office manager. She resides in Arcata and has a deep affection for Humboldt County, having left several times only to return each time.
Since graduating, Joy's career path has included valuable experiences working in Sequoia National Park as well as various field jobs across California and Oregon from 2002 to 2007. However, in order to establish a more stable local job and embrace her role as a mother, she transitioned to an administrative position with the ecological consulting company in 2007, where she has continued to work through 2026.
On a personal note, Joy's husband also graduated with a degree in Geography from Humboldt State University (now known as Cal Poly Humboldt). The couple initially met during a Physical Geography field trip and has since been married for 19 years, raising two children together.
Daniel Blazich
Geography, 2020
Since graduating from Humboldt State University (the last semester to be called HSU), Daniel was hired as a Surveillance Officer at Cher-Ae Heights Casino in Trinidad. He is currently one of five Gaming Compliance Officers, with his "slice of the pie" being Title 31 Compliance (anti-money laundering). He tracks, monitors, and reports unusual monetary transactions to FinCen (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), which falls under the Department of the Treasury.
Cody Leviloff
Geography, 2021
Cody is currently working for Mendocino County DOT in the County Surveyor's office, checking maps, determining right-of-way, and operating remote sensing equipment on behalf of the municipal government.