1950s

Benito Casados ’59 of Huntington Beach, Calif., launched a Web site, www.youaskandy.com, designed to provide young students ages 9-14 with answers to questions about the world that students traditionally ask. How heavy is the moon? What is an erg? The site is a collection of questions and answers he provided for many years with a syndicated newspaper column called Ask Andy.

1960s

Charley Johnson ’61 of Mesilla, N.M., has been honored by Schreiner University, Kerrville, Texas, as a Schreiner Distinguished Alumnus at a banquet during the university’s annual recall weekend. He was named to the Schreiner Athletic Hall of Honor in 2003. He also has been inducted into the Albuquerque/New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame.

Jim Bradley ’63 of Las Cruces has been inducted into the Albuquerque/New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame.

Garrey Carruthers ’64 of Las Cruces has been named as the first director of NMSU’s Domenici Institute. The institute will conduct public policy research and help with maintaining retired Sen. Pete Domenici’s archives at NMSU’s library.

Dave Durgin ’67 of Los Ranchos, N.M., is considered one of the founding fathers of technology commercialization in New Mexico. As a serial entrepreneur, he has helped start and grow dozens of technology companies in the state. As one of the founders of both Quatro Ventures and the Verge Fund, he helped build what is now a thriving venture capital community in New Mexico. He is the founder, former director and vice chairman of Next Generation Economy Corporation as well as founder and former director of the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He is a member of and former chairman of the advisory board to the dean of NMSU’s College of Engineering.

1970s

John G. Burgess ’71 of Sedan, N.M., was inducted into the prestigious N.M. Activities Association Hall of Fame, March 12. He played basketball for NMSU from 1966-1970, starting for the Aggies at the Final Four in 1970. He worked at Alamogordo High School as a teacher and coach for 11 years and in 1985 accepted the principal’s position at Clayton High School. He has served numerous NMAA committees and boards. He has served as athletic chairman, district chairman of the NMAA Commission and has served on the NMAA realignment committee.

Pat Woods ’71 of Grady, N.M., has been elected Second Vice President to the Farm Bureau board at their 91st annual meeting in Albuquerque in November 2008. Pat and his family are committed to agriculture and preserving a way of life that has its roots in the heritage of the homesteaders. Woods’ own family operation joined the growing number of ranchers and farmers who have reached the century mark.

David W. King ’71 of Stanley, N.M., has been elected by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission as vice chairman. Commissioner David King is a third generation New Mexican, farmer and rancher as well as a veteran government leader in the state, federal and municipal governments.

John J. Arcari ’72 of Medfield, Mass., has joined the PHT Corporation as Chief Financial Officer. PHT is the leading provider of electronic patient reported outcome solutions used in more than 390 clinical trials worldwide. Arcari’s broad areas of expertise include public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, international operations and successful enterprise system implementations.

Sherry Ward ’73 of Las Cruces recently received the 2009 Carl Faubion Outstanding Library Staff Employee of the Year Award in a ceremony at Zuhl Library. The award was made possible by former NMSU President James E. Halligan and Mrs. Ann E. Halligan, who established the Carl Faubion Memorial Endowment for the NMSU Library in 2007. The Endowment was established in memory of Carl Faubion, Mesilla Valley farmer and former NMSU regent, who passed away Oct. 29, 2005.

Robert O. Stanton ’74, Ph.D., of Plainview, N.Y., was awarded an Outstanding Faculty Achievement Medal by St. John’s University. Stanton is an associate professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at St. John’s University.

Mike Pool ’75 of Carmichael, Calif., has been tapped to serve as the acting national director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Washington, D.C. In this position, he will oversee 256 million surface acres. Most of this public land is located in 12 western states, including Alaska.

Paul G. Conover ’76 of Colorado Springs, Colo., broker and owner of Conover Realty and Investment Co., is currently serving on the board of the Palmer Land Trust, which was recently honored with the El Pomar Foundation Award for Excellence as the top Environmental Organization in the state of Colorado.

James Borrego ’77 of Santa Fe has been appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson as a regent at the New Mexico School for the Deaf. Borrego, a partner at Borrego Construction, is a graduate of Santa Fe High School and has an engineering degree from NMSU.

Abe Peña ’78 of Grants, N.M., was honored by the Grants-Cibola County Chamber of Commerce as their citizen of the year. After being born and raised in San Mateo, Peña went off to college, received a degree from NMSU and went to study sheep in Australia. When the sheep farming died out he decided to help the government and then serve in the Peace Corps and in the U.S. Foreign Service. He continues to write a historical column about local people, events and communities in a local newspaper and has done so for more than 30 years.

Robert Sullenberger ’79 of Arlington, Colo., has been chosen to serve as its new police chief. He is a 28-year veteran of law enforcement, having served his entire career with the Boulder Police Department. His current assignment includes overseeing patrols, investigations, community services and SWAT teams.

1980s

Joel D. Brown (Jody) ’80 of Tupelo, Miss., is editor-in-chief of OneNewsNow.com, a Web site presenting news from a Christian perspective. He is married to the former Kathy Weitzel ’83 and they reside in Tupelo, where she is a mortgage loan officer.

Erik Ness ’80 of Las Cruces has received the Dane Lane Award for Media Relations Excellence for the second year in a row from the American Farm Bureau Federation. He also received first place awards for the year’s best news story in the print category and best radio commentary in the audio production and writing category.

Jerry A. Armijo ’81 of Socorro, N.M., was reappointed by Gov. Bill Richardson to a second, six-year term to the Board of Regents of New Mexico Tech. He is a lawyer in Socorro and together with his wife Lillian Mendoza ’81 have three children, one of whom (John) is a freshman at NMSU.

Manuel Arrieta ’81 of Las Cruces has been appointed as state district judge for New Mexico’s Third Judicial District. He has almost 25 years of expertise in personal injury, commercial, juvenile and appellate law.

Andrew Jaynes ’83 of Albuquerque has joined the Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union as vice president/business portfolio manager. He previously worked as a State Farm Insurance Agent and also as a senior vice president and regional president at First Community Bank in Rio Rancho.

Richard Rhodes ’83 of El Paso, Texas, has been appointed to the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation by Gov. Rick Perry. He is president of the El Paso Community College. He joins three others on the corporation, which is responsible for guaranteeing loans made under the federal, guaranteed student loan program.

John M. Valentine ’84 of Albuquerque has been promoted to the position of senior vice president for Bank of Albuquerque. He has 25 years experience in the banking industry and has worked for Bank of Albuquerque for four years.

Charles G. Perez ’86 of Spring, Texas, is director of Air Passenger Operations, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, Houston, Texas.

Lil F. Holguin ’88 ’94 of Las Cruces was inducted to the 2008 New Mexico Bowling Hall of Fame in Superior Performance. Holguin bowled for an NMSU club from 1992-1994 and is a two-time National Women’s Champion.

Richard Fourzan ’88 of Harlingen, Texas, has been granted full professorship at the University of Texas in Brownsville. Fourzan will be working with the University of Houston Cooperative Doctoral Program.

Paul F. Reed ’88 of Farmington, N.M., published a book in August 2008 titled “Chaco’s Northern Prodigies: Salmon, Aztec, and the Ascendancy of the Middle San Juan Region After AD 1100.” The book discusses recent, cutting-edge Chacoan archaeology in the Middle San Juan and Four Corners area.

Kerry Locklin ’88 of Fresno, Calif., former New Mexico State Aggie tight end, has been named the Kansas Jayhawk’s defensive line coach.

Miles Dabovich ’88 of Lubbock, Texas, has been named Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s administrator for the South Plains District. The announcement came from Darrell Dromgoole, AgriLife Extension associate director for county programs at College Station. He will be responsible for all administrative duties in the 22-county district.

1990s

Dale Sewell ’91 of Picayune, Miss., is helping NASA return humans to the moon by 2020 as the test complex construction manager at the John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. Currently his focus is on the A Test Stand Complex, where there are two stands that have been used to test and prove flight-worthy various stages of rocket propulsion.

Craig Springer ’91 of Albuquerque received the Excellence in Public Outreach Award from the American Fisheries Society.

James Witcher ’93 of Las Cruces has received the New Mexico Earth Science Achievement Award for his work with geothermal energy.

Cheryl Nolan ’93 of Carrollton, Texas, has been named vice president and chief information officer for Omniflight Helicopters Inc. In her new role she will lead the company’s information technology efforts including developing and implementing strategies to upgrade its current information systems infrastructure.

Christopher J. DeLara ’94 of Albuquerque has become a partner and shareholder of Guebert Bruckner, P.C. DeLara continues his law practice in the areas of complex litigation, professional liability and negligence, and insurance bad faith.

Don E. Graham ’94 of Santa Fe has accepted and been promoted to an IT Network Specialist III, with the Department of Information Technology.

Chris Hickman ’95 of Windsor, Colo., has been named senior vice president for Ice Energy, Utility Solutions, underscoring the company’s strategic focus on large-scale utility system offerings. He will be instrumental in leading the sale and delivery of the company’s energy storage and smart grid technologies, providing utility companies with powerful, cost-effective solutions to address the growing demand for clean, renewable energy and to manage their load profile.

Edward M. Avalos ’96 of Mesilla Park was nominated to serve in President Barack Obama’s administration. Avalos was nominated for the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ronald McKinney ’96 of Algonquin, Ill., was recently named campus director for The Art Institute of Houston-North.

Justin Sparks ’96 of Lawrence, Kan., has been appointed senior vice president at the University National Bank. He previously served as executive vice president and chief lending officer at Union State Bank in Arkansas City, Kan.

Marcus J. Rael Jr. ’97 of Albuquerque has been named Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year by the New Mexico Bar Association and was recently appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson to serve as a member of the New Mexico Lottery Authority. He is the managing partner at Robles, Rael & Anaya P.C. where he focuses his practice on environmental compliance and regulation, governmental and administrative affairs, and real property and land use.

Susan Schnase ’97 of Ralston, Neb., has been named one of 10 Outstanding Young Omahans. Schnase is a 1990 graduate of Bellevue East, where she was active in forensics, drama and band. She also was part of numerous productions at the Bellevue Little Theatre.

Raul P. Sedillo ’99 of Albuquerque has been promoted to partner at Butt Thornton and Baehr P.C. He practices in the areas of employment litigation, general liability litigation, government entities, civil rights, insurance law, bad faith litigation, professional liability, trucking and transportation defense.

2000s

Darren Court ’03 of Las Cruces recently published “Images of America: White Sands Missile Range,” which covers the history of the missile range since its founding in 1945. As WSMR’s museum director since May 2007, he found no compilation of WSMR’s history. The book is on sale at the WSMR Museum Gift Shop and several local bookstores.

Sara Prada ’03 and Javier Prada ’00 of Las Cruces became Peace Corps Volunteers in Honduras. They are working with small business development projects in the city of Comayagua in central Honduras.

Jeffrey A. Barslou ’05 of Las Cruces completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill.

Gabriel Nunez ’05 of Los Angeles, Calif., won the title in a freerunner world championship in Camden, London. Nunez is a professional freerunner, a sport which combines efficiency of movement across an urban landscape with gymnastic agility and a dash of hip-hop. He also appeared in Adam Sandler’s “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.”

Deidre E. Wright ’05 of Albuquerque has been promoted by Pulakos and Alongi Ltd. to senior accountant. She has six years experience in accounting and previously worked as a staff accountant at the Albuquerque office of a national public accounting firm.

Lindsey Keller ’07 of Truth or Consequences, N.M., has been promoted to branch manager at White Sands Federal Credit Union.

Timothy J. Tamminga ’08 of Las Cruces, completed U.S. Navy basic training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. During the eight-week program, Tamminga completed a variety of training, including classroom study and practical instruction on naval customs, first aid, firefighting, water safety and survival, and shipboard and aircraft safety. An emphasis was also placed on physical fitness.

Gabriel Vasquez ’08 of Las Cruces has been hired as a reporter for The Las Cruces Bulletin. Vasquez will be focusing on reporting and editing the Business Section, The Bottom Line produced for the Greater Las Cruces Area Chamber of Commerce and El Prospero produced for the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces.

Beth Sitzler ’08 of Las Cruces has been hired as a reporter for The Las Cruces Bulletin. Sitzler will be focusing on writing for the Health and Church pages and the Homes and Southwest Living section.

Melissa Hubbell ’08 of Albuquerque returns to town as the new Los Lunas beat reporter for the Valencia County News-Bulletin.

Cristobal Rodriguez ’09 of Manor, Texas, completed his Ph.D. program in Education at the University of Texas at Austin.