Issue: Autumn 2005

Class Notes

Who’s Doing What and Where

47
Jane M. Lutz Rifkin of Calabasas, Calif., is the executive editor of Hispanic Times magazine and also teaches seminars in freelance writing at the college level.

52
Francis P. Brady MM ’58 of Encinitas, Calif., recently wrote and published a music book, Creative String Techniques, dedicated to and in memory of the late Vera Barstow, formerly a USC faculty member.

James Thobe retired as president of Amfac Insurance and currently lives in Crystal Cove near Laguna Beach, Calif.

Jim Tunney MEd, EdD ’75 of Pebble Beach, Calif., published It’s the Will, Not the Skill, the ninth book he has either authored or co-authored on motivation, team-building and leadership.

53
Allan P. Lamont DDS ’58 recently retired from the USC School of Dentistry faculty and was presented with a 45-year service award.

Jack Lines MA of Yakima, Wash., hosts a public access cable television show about atheism and also helped organize the local atheists’ club.

55
Gerald Vale DDS of Poway, Calif., received the 2004 Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in February.

56
Sylvester (Marty) Shelton MA wrote Communicating Ideas with Film, Video, and Multi-media: A Practical Guide to Information Motion-Media, which won two awards in the Society for Technical Communications 2004-2005 Southern California Technical Communication Spotlight Awards.

57
Karl L. Boeckmann of Encino, Calif., won the 2004 Fernando Award, the San Fernando Valley’s most prestigious honor for volunteerism.

Joseph R. Cerrell, founder and chairman of Cerrell Associates Inc. in Los Angeles, was elected vice chairman of the National Italian American Foundation.

61
Roland S. Jefferson, a forensic psychiatrist, wrote Damaged Goods, a heist novel based in Los Angeles.

Lynda (Sardou) Wood of Newport Beach, Calif., received the Alumna of the Year Award from Alpha Chi Omega at their 2004 National Convention.

63
Edwin Follick, MEd ’64, Adv. MEd ’69 was appointed library director and university chaplain at South Baylo University in Anaheim, Calif.

64
Richard J. Ward Jr. JD received the 2005 Donald R. Wright Distinguished Service Award from the Pasadena Bar Association.

65
Althea J. Horner PhD recently released two new books: the third edition of Being and Loving: How to Achieve Intimacy with Another Person and Retain One’s Own Identity and Dealing With Resistance in Psychotherapy. She is the associate editor of The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry and serves on the editorial board of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis.

67
Raymond M. Scurfield MSW, DSW ’79 recently published A Vietnam Trilogy, which deals with the psychiatric casualties of the Vietnam War.

68
Terry Burman recently received the Ellis Island Medial of Honor Award from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. He is the chairman and CEO of Sterling Jewelers Inc.

Thom Mayne of Santa Monica, Calif., won the 2005 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the first American laureate to win in 14 years and only the eighth U.S. architect to win in the 27-year history of the contest.

Mel Roberts MBA of Encino, Calif., retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory after working in senior management for 15 years.

69
Lawrence M. Addleson DDS chaired a session on cosmetic and implant dentistry in Venice, Italy, for the World Congress of the International Federation of Esthetic Dentistry in May 2004.

Jeff Mason of Providence, R.I., is founder and president of Healing Homes, which helps family members with disabilities remain at home and avoid expensive institutional care.

70
Elizabeth Hines recently accepted a position with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the National Center for Chronic Disease and Public Health Promotion’s oral health division in Atlanta, Ga.

71
Eugene F. “Gene” Cronin Jr. MBA is a realtor with Intero Real Estate Services in its Orinda, Calif., office.

Salvatore S. Lanzilotti EdD was recognized for “outstanding individual contribution in the field of domestic violence” by the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline of Honolulu, Hawaii, in February.

72
Firouz Naderi MS, PhD ’76 of Pacific Palisades, Calif., was recently promoted to associate director for programs, project formulation and strategy for NASA.

73
Bob Kovitz MPA was appointed governmental and community relations administrator for Oro Valley, Ariz.

74
Edmond Clinton MD was recognized as a newly elected fellow of the American College of Physicians in an awards ceremony during the society’s annual session, held in April in San Francisco.

Arlene Lee DDS recently completed her term as president of the Los Angeles Dental Society.

Joy Barrett Sabol was elected to serve as chair of the board of trustees of WMFE, a network of nonprofit public broadcasting stations serving Central Florida.

75
Michael C. Bowers DDS wrote Forensic Dental Evidence: An Investigator’s Handbook, which provides information for recognizing and professionally managing dental evidence.

Chris Geiger Gobrecht has been appointed head women’s basketball coach at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Roy K. Johnston DMA of Los Angeles recently wrote The System Is Broken, a collection of poetry.

77
Jeffrey J. Pritchard recently published his sixth book, The Seventh Jewel, a young adult novel that follows the adventures of two teenagers who are treasure-hunting in the Peruvian wilderness.

78
Fernando Elizondo EdD, executive director of the California Latino Superintendents Association and president of Elizondo Educational Strategies Inc., published an article in the January issue of The School Administrator titled “A Latino Perspective: Better Teachers and Administrators.”

Cindy Lyon DDS is a member of the San Joaquin (Calif.) Dental Society.

Mark Rios is founding principal of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, a landscape, architecture, design and planning firm. He is also chairman of the landscape architecture program at the USC School of Architecture.

Bill Workman MPA was recently appointed city manager of Redondo Beach, Calif.

79
Juan Guerrero of La Habra, Calif., recently joined Haley & Aldrich, a geoscience consulting firm, as a vice president.

Cameron Smith recently joined Rolling Hills (Calif.) Preparatory School as director of development.

80
Linda Ford was awarded a 2005 Maggie Award for the Best Single Editorial Photograph in the trade category at the 2005 Western Publications Association 54th Annual Maggie Awards Banquet, held in April in Los Angeles.

Richard John of Newport Beach, Calif., was named the top-producing broker at Collins Commercial Corp. for the sixth consecutive year.

Peter Kairoff MM, DMA ’85 of Winston-Salem, N.C., recently released his third CD for Albany Records, titled American Character: Piano Music of George Chadwick. This marks the first time that Chadwick’s piano music has been recorded.

81
Ramona Chang MS ’83, EdD ’00 is director of curriculum for the Torrance (Calif.) Unified School District.

Deborah P. Kolodji of Temple City, Calif., received an honorable mention in the Mainichi Daily News “Haiku in English: Best of 2004” contest. Another of her haikus was selected for Tug of the Current: The Red Moon Anthology 2004.

Donald S. Muehlbach Jr. MS was recently promoted to captain in the Navy and was also named technology director for UC San Diego Extension.

George H. Waxter, a locum tenens physician, spent a year working in New Zealand on South Island near Mt. Cook; while there, he won a bronze medal at the All New Zealand Master’s Game in the two-kilometer open water swim.

82
Steven Bradford was recently appointed chair of the media arts program at Collins College in Tempe, Ariz.

Rudy Castruita EdD, the San Diego County superintendent of schools, authored an op-ed article in the March 7 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune titled “Broken Promises on State Education.”

Maureen M. (Maloney) Taliaferro of Newport Beach, Calif., recently became chief compliance officer for Financial Network Investment.

84
Todd Buch, president of the McCafferty Auto Group of Langhore, Penn., received the 2005 Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award, which recognizes dealers whose performance and leadership have contributed significantly to the success of their business and local communities.

Mike Gin was elected mayor of Redondo Beach, Calif., in a run-off election in May.

Richard Sipes DDS recently received mastership status in the Academy of General Dentistry in Nashville, Tenn.

85
Christine Dumas DDS co-authored In Special Treatment: How to Get the Same High-Quality Health Care Your Doctor Gets. She is a health reporter for NBC’s “Today” show and MSNBC.

John Pace III edited the summer feature film The Honeymooners for Paramount Pictures. He and wife Beth Jeffery-Pace ’84 celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in May 2004.

Mark Viner of Reno, Nev., recently published his first book, Suicide, which examines the medical treatment of suicidality.

Beth Wolfer of Salt Lake City, Utah, was named capital campaign director for public broadcasting station KUED-Channel 7’s upcoming $5 million digital production and conversion campaign.

87
James Flores DDS currently leads the Orange County (Calif.) Dental Society as the organization’s 2004 president. He is joined on the organization’s board by Dimitri Bizoumis CERT ’88, Thornton A. D’Arc DDS ’73 and Jeffry Parsons DDS ’74.

Tamara T. Gregory recently published her debut novel, Passport Diaries.

Tom Shepperd is the head writer/story editor on the Cartoon Network’s upcoming primetime series, “My Gym Partner’s a Monkey.” He also recently directed the feature film comedy Would I Lie to You.

Maria Strong MA published the article “Copyright Enforcement: Basic Considerations and Strategies to Protect Copyrights Abroad” in the 2004 American Bar Association’s International Law Section’s book, International Management and Enforcement of Trademarks and Copyrights. She is a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Smith & Metalitz LLP.

88
Joanne Tortorici Luna PhD, along with other members of her Veterans for Peace Chapter in Los Angeles, received the Local Hero Award from the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence’s Season in April. She is currently the assistant professor in Cal State Long Beach’s Department of Educational Psychology, Administration and Counseling.

Hank Malanowski MS, a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Reserves, was mobilized in April to serve as a strategic planner for the logistics plans and operations section of the installation and logistics department of headquarters of the Marine Corps in Arlington, Va.

89
Heather S. Cruz was named partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in April, working in the firm’s New York office.

Valerie Manusov PhD was recently appointed tenured full professor in the School of Communications at the University of Washington.

Randall Martinez delivered the keynote speech at Operation Jump Start’s 10th annual Scholar’s Day Luncheon in May in Long Beach, Calif.

90
James Bozajian JD was re-elected to a third term on the Calabasas, Calif., city council in March.

John Kabateck was appointed director of external affairs by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February, serving as the governor’s liaison to various external organizations and constituencies, including law enforcement, education, health care and business groups.

Gayle Kawahara DDS was one of three California dentists chosen for the first class of the American Dental Association Institute for Diversity in Leadership, designed to provide personal leadership training for dentists who have racial, ethnic and/or gender backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in leadership roles.

Kathleene “Kat” Derrig-Palumbo recently received her doctorate in clinical psychology and published a book titled Online Therapy: A Therapist Guide to Expanding Your Practice. She is CEO of MyTherapyNet Inc.

91
Scott E. Allen MPA/MPL of Mukwonago, Wisc., recently merged Access Realty, which he founded in 2000, with First Realty GMAC of Waukesha, Wisc., and also acquired the award-winning CedarMill Homes. He will serve as president of CedarMill Homes and as sales manager of the Waukesha office of First Realty GMAC.

Clifton D. Blevins II received the Community Spirit Award from AIG SunAmerica in March, one of six company employees nationwide to receive the award.

Janice J. Lambert was appointed chief financial officer of the Internal Revenue Service, overseeing the custodial accounting of $2 trillion in taxpayer receipts and the organization’s $10 billion annual operating budget.

David Leaser MA recently published Palm Trees: A Story in Photographs, the first coffee-table book on palm trees. The book has been endorsed by the International Palm Society, the San Diego Zoo and the Huntington Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.

Anthony Paradowski is a senior associate at Rios Clementi Hale Studios, a landscape, architecture, design and planning firm in Los Angeles.

Russell Todd Zink is a deputy district attorney for the County of Los Angeles. He also continues to serve in the Marine Corps Reserves as a company commander for the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

92
Lawrence W. Fisher MS of Torrance, Calif., is manager of the mechanical systems development technology branch at the Measurement Analysis Corp.

Brian Heslin recently became an associate with law firm Moore & Van Allen, working in the Charlotte, N.C., office and concentrating in the areas of general litigation, criminal defense, corporate compliance programs and internal investigations.

93
Kerri Briggs MPP, PhD ’96, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Education, was quoted in a recent New York Times article about the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Kerry Perdue MPW ’01 was recently accepted into the Costa Mesa, Calif., South Coast Repertory Theatre’s intensive program for professional actors.

94
Lauren Cabell MA is a news editor at the International Herald Tribune in Paris, France.

Ruth Ellenson recently published The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt, a collection of original essays that includes contributions from USC faculty members Aimee Bender and Gina Nahai.

Christie (Campbell) Haigh MBA manages corporate strategy for Biogen Idec in San Diego, Calif.

Jeanette Harrison DPA ’94 of Tempe, Ariz., recently joined American Express as vice president for operations training.

Lorraine Leavitt EdD, an assistant professor at National University in Costa Mesa, Calif., received the Association of California School Administrators’ Professor of the Year Award for Orange County.

John R. MacRill III was recently promoted to partner in his family’s law firm, MacRill & Associates in Upland, Calif., which specializes in healthcare-related civil litigation defense. The firm will change its name to MacRill & MacRill.

Maria Ott PhD was named superintendent of the Rowland (Calif.) Unified School District, succeeding Ronald Leon EdD ’93.

95
Jean H. Ardell MPW of Corona del Mar, Calif., wrote Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime, which traces women’s struggle for inclusion in the sport.

Breck Eisner MFA recently made his big-screen debut in the movie Sahara.

Shane Martin PhD was recently appointed dean of the Loyola Marymount University’s School of Education. He was named associate dean in 2002 and served as acting dean this past academic year.

Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana PhD of Los Angeles accepted a new position as program manager for the Stupski Educational Foundation.

97
Lisa M. Davidson is the advocacy coordinator for the American Cancer Society in Madison, Wis.

John W. Peck PhD of Palo Alto, Calif., has rejoined the intellectual property law firm of Christie, Parker & Hale. He was formerly employed as a litigation associate with Munger Tolles & Olson.

Rebecca Lynn Wilke EdD of Escondido, Calif., is the author of Improving Teaching & Learning: What is Your Relationship Quotient? She is the president of LEADon Inc., a leadership development corporation.

98
Katy Schneider EdD is assistant superintendent for educational services in the Bonita (Calif.) Unified School District.

99
Casey Cosgrove MBA and fellow Trojans Jeff Grant ’02, Kelsey Durkin ’04 and Mike Willman ’04 launched www.classifiedbuyers.com, an Internet buy/sell site.

Stacy Robinson of Venice, Calif., was promoted to talent representative at Ken Lindner and Associates.

00
Gabriela Mafi MS, EdD ’02 is principal of Rosita Elementary School in the Garden Grove (Calif.) School District and is also the newly appointed executive director of the USC Rossier School of Education’s EdD program.

Viet N. Tran was named Southern California Edison’s new public affairs region manager for the cities of Corona, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Moreno Valley, Perris and Riverside.

01
Patricia Kim JD was elected vice president and president-elect of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California. She is currently an attorney with the Oakland law firm of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean LLP.

Celia Mendoza DDS received a CDA Foundation dental graduate loan reduction grant, made to selected graduates in exchange for working in underserved areas. She is dental chief at the Roybal Health Center Dental Clinic in East Los Angeles.

04
Robert J. Cooper JD joined real estate law firm Pircher, Nichols & Meeks as an associate.

Vindy Lee recently worked on behalf of Bob Hertzberg, a running candidate for Los Angeles mayor.

Kathy Onoye EdD, principal of the Willard Elementary School in Pasadena, Calif., was featured in an article in the March 11 Pasadena Star News titled “Willard School Now Has International Flavor.”

Donahue Tuitt EdD was the keynote speaker and presenter for the recent Competitive Success Series in Trinidad and Tobago, sponsored by the Ministry of Labour, the National Entrepreneurship Development Company and the Entrepreneurial Training Institute and Incubation Centre. He also gave the keynote address as part of the activities for the Trinidad and Tobago Talented Teen Competition.

05
Patrick Adams recently played the role of Billy in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. He was cast in the role three days after finishing his BFA at the USC School of Theatre.