Barack Obama has nominated Cynthia Chavez Lamar to the Board of Trustees of the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts Development. She becomes the sixth CC graduate to be selected for a position with the current administration. Cynthia is the director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, N.M., where she works to foster collaborative relationships and projects among Native peoples, organizations, and institutions.

A documentary film by Henry Ansbacher and Daniel Junge was nominated for an Academy Award. The film, “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner,” was a nominee in the short documentary category. The film focuses on Booth Gardner, the former governor of Washington, who led a campaign to legalize assisted suicide while dealing with the devastating effects of Parkinson’s disease.

Rob Gard ’92 was living on the island of Islay off the coast of Scotland last spring when he decided to stop at a local seaside pub late in the evening. “I walked through the door of the tiny pub, proudly wearing my CC Tigers pullover and excited to sample some of the Scotch whiskies offered,” Rob remembers. “I was staggered to see none other than CC English Professor Barry Sarchett (who taught my senior seminar) and his wife, Professor Lisa Hughes, entering the pub from the opposite door. They had come to this island of 2,000 people to enjoy the whisky after attending a conference in Glasgow. We were shocked to see each other, but then realized there was no place else on Earth more likely for us to randomly run into each other than an island with eight whisky distilleries.” The trio spent the next day touring some of the distilleries together; here they are at Bruichladdich Distillery.

Rob Gard ’92 was living on the island of Islay off the coast of Scotland last spring when he decided to stop at a local seaside pub late in the evening. “I walked through the door of the tiny pub, proudly wearing my CC Tigers pullover and excited to sample some of the Scotch whiskies offered,” Rob remembers. “I was staggered to see none other than CC English Professor Barry Sarchett (who taught my senior seminar) and his wife, Professor Lisa Hughes, entering the pub from the opposite door. They had come to this island of 2,000 people to enjoy the whisky after attending a conference in Glasgow. We were shocked to see each other, but then realized there was no place else on Earth more likely for us to randomly run into each other than an island with eight whisky distilleries.” The trio spent the next day touring some of the distilleries together; here they are at Bruichladdich Distillery.Tim Lambert recently participated in an environmental policy career panel at CC. Tim helped to found a research and development company that invented the world’s first biodegradable motor oil. He currently is building a five­million gallon biodiesel plant in Montana.

’94

Pat Vermillion ’94, left, and his brother Dan escorted President Barack Obama and staff members on a fly-fishing trip last summer in Montana. The Vermillion brothers own Sweetwater Travel, which runs fly-fishing operations around the world.

Peter Kent, M.D., let us know about a recent dinner among some CC alumni in Minneapolis. Vice President of Student Life Mike Edmonds was in town for a meeting and took the opportunity to bring together Brandon Nathan, M.D., Adam Kim ,M.D. ’98, and Peter, as well as their spouses. Said Peter, “It was great to catch up, hear about what’s new at CC, and we even started planning a reunion trip to catch a CC-­Minneapolis hockey game at the World Arena sometime in the future.”

’95

Members of the classes of ’94 and ’95 got together in Las Vegas. From left, Sandy Pryor ’95, Cory Bloome ’95, Tad Ware ’94, Kevin Connors ’94, Dave King ’95, Chris Sanchez ’94, and Dan Abromson ’95.

Jory Kate Hawkins married Michael Shane Haslett at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch in Loveland, Colo., on June 20, 2009. Alumni in attendance were Ashleigh Parson Curry ’96, Jeff Curry ’93, Merritt Miller Kazda, Mike Kazda ’94, Hilary Specht, David Coffey ’96, Robyn Barnes Linstrom, and Barbara Diehl ’97.

’96

On August 8, 2009, Dan Burgard married Devon Morris ’99 in a Tiger wedding in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. Twenty-­eight alumni attended, representing six different classes at CC, including Jean ­Marc Duplantier, Jack Denman, Marcus Ohno ’05, Summer Lockett Ohno ’04, Dana Menzel, Alex Burgard ’72 (groom’s father), Emily Burgard Oberheide ’02 (groom’s sister), Erica Lundsten ’99, Allison Meserve ’99, Barbara Conneely Burgard ’72 (groom’s mother), Shehnaz Hussain ’99, Meghan Rothenberger ’99, Mark Hancock ’99, Amanda Wilson ’99, David Johnson ’99, Ryan Smith ’99, Jeremy Jepson ’99, Blaine Olsen, Shawna North Olsen, David Coffey, Bill Mangle, Hillary Specht ’95, Ian Creager, Katy Shopoff ’99, Emmy McNeil Atwood ’99, and Erin Lundquist Manning ’99. Dan and Devon said, “We had a wonderful time with all of our CC friends and relatives!” The couple is now living in Tacoma, Wash.

Marc Webb was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his directorial work on “(500) Days of Summer.” It’s also been reported in the media that Marc has been hired as director of “Spider­Man 4.”

Classmates Melanie Temin ’95 and her son, Elijah, and Michelle Rodolf ’96 and her daughter, Francesca, met at Fiore’s Bakery in Jamaica Plain, Mass.

“The Scenesters,” starring and produced by Jeff Grace, opened the Slamdance Film Festival in January in Park City, Utah. Jeff has won several competitions as a stand­up comedian, and has done stand­up shows with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and Louis C.K. When he isn’t performing, he runs Vacationeer Productions. He has been seen as an actor on the Nickelodeon show “iCarly,” in videos online with his group The Vacationeers, and on the TV series “Mad Men.”

Nick Rosen appears in “Enlighten Up,” a documentary about yoga and spirituality, talking about his experience with yoga. Nick worked as a reporter for the Boulder Weekly, and was a journalist in New York City when the film’s director cast him as the skeptic in “Enlighten Up!” Nick, a passionate climber, also is a partner in Sender Films, whose mission is to “present the dirt­bag heroes of the climbing world to a broader audience.” National Geographic International will broadcast Sender’s six­part series, “First Ascent,” through 2010.

’97

Erik Heger played Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis — one of the largest and most well-known
regional theaters in the country.

In November 2009, Scot Herbst and his wife Amy launched a furniture company, Kaiku Design, based on principles of sustainability. In just a short time they’ve been well received by some large retailers, including the New York Museum of Modern Art. Scot says their success can be attributed directly to the ideas and skills he acquired during his years at CC as an economics major with an environmental science minor. You can see Scot and Amy’s work at www.kaikudesign.com.

An environmental policy career panel at CC included Jennifer DeCesaro. Jennifer recently joined the consulting firm Exeter Associates, Inc., where she works with state and federal government agency clients on renewable energy integration and renewable energy policy development and implementation issues. She was previously a project director at Clean Energy Group (CEG), a nonprofit organization established in 1998 to increase the use of cleaner energy technologies in the U.S. and abroad.

’99

Scott Gleeson is one of 12 fellows chosen for a new regional contemporary art program for arts writers and curators. The Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship aims to encourage new writing that is informed, articulate, inspired, and engages audiences in contemporary art. Through this yearlong program, the fellows will produce new art writing and curatorial projects in mentorship with art world luminaries. Scott, an artist and critic living in Dallas, recently completed an M.A. in art history at Southern Methodist University.

Hitesh Patel married Shefali Brahmbhatt in August 2009 in Pleasanton, Calif. Friends and family from CC attended the wedding, including Mahinda Ratnayake, Mayorvy Cordova Cifuentes, Mark Villanueva, and Hitesh’s brother, Proby Patel ’01.