Milestones

Jazmín Aguilera '11

is head of audio at the Los Angeles Times. Most recently, she hosted and produced “The Cut” at New York Magazine. Before that, Aguilera worked as interim executive and senior producer at Conde Nast, developing, producing and scoring podcasts for magazines including Vogue and Pitchfork. She also worked at the New York Times, making episodes for “The Daily,” and at “Snap Judgment” as a producer. She is a two-time Third Coast Audio Festival competition winner, earning both gold in 2018 and silver in 2019 in documentary. Aguilera is an International Women’s Media Fund Grant winner and has earned top ranks on the best podcast episodes of the year lists from IndieWire and Spotify. A native of Santa Cruz, she graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in global studies and is an avid Archie Comic collector.

Cody Makela '08

has been named standout financial planner by Arlington Financial Advisors, an independent financial advisory firm located in the heart of Santa Barbara.

Dawn Wright '94

is among the newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts & Science. She completed an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in physical geography and marine geology. She is the chief scientist at the Environmental Systems Research Institute

Candace R. DesBaillets '07

has joined Fox Rothschild LLP in Seattle as an associate in the Labor & Employment Department. Candace defends employers in individual and class action litigation, including against claims involving discrimination, disability accommodations, harassment, retaliation and wage and hour violations.

Matt Mendenhall '75

Matt Mendenhall '75 has published two books; Adventures in the Justice Factory: Courtroom Tales of a Notoriously Unreliable Witness (2020), and Curios: Poems and Prose (2021).

Dr. Ron J Popenhagen '94

has published, Modernist Disguise: Masquerade in Modern Performance and Visual Culture. Popenhagen's research and coursework at UCSB provided a significant foundation for this manuscript on French/European Modernism. This January 2021 publication is an integral addition to the publisher's series on the modernist 19th and 20th centuries. The Series is Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernism, Drama and Performance. The interdisciplinary book encompasses Anthropology, Dance, French Studies, Indigenous Performance, Literature, Mask, Mime, Music and Opera, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, and Theatre.

Jeanette Morgan Shaw '89

Jeanette Morgan Shaw, ’89, has been elected to the Tigard City Council in Portland, OR. Shaw is the co founder and partner in Techolicy LLC in Portland. She currently is the senior director of Policy, Communications and Marketing for Forth. Previously she was vice president of government relations for National Semiconductor. She also previously served as the executive director of the Oregon Wine Board. She received her executive MBA from Stanford and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of the UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association.

Laurie Von Straussenburg '84

Laurie Von Straussenburg, ’84, has launched her own CPA firm in Mesa, AZ. Her firm provides tax and accounting services for both individuals and corporations. She has been in the accounting industry for 30 years and a CPA for 20 years. She is certified in California, New York and Arizona.

Joe Acaba '90

Joe Acaba, ’90, has been named by NASA to the team that will make the early Artemis Moon missions. NASA’s goal is to put people on the moon by 2024 and Acaba joins a team of 18 astronauts that will be assigned the first missions. Acaba has been a NASA astronaut since 2004. He has logged a total of 306 days in space on three different missions. In 2009 he served on the International Space Station and conducted two spacewalks. In 2012 he flew a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the Space Station and served as flight engineer. He has served as a flight trainer for the Soyuz in Star City, Russia. He received his degree from UCSB in geology, received a masters of science in geology form the University of Arizona, and a ME from Texas Tech in 2015.

Ashley M. Ratcliff '06

graduate of UCSB (major: Sociology, minor: Professional Writing - Editing Emphasis) recently published a self-help memoir, Jesus Year, about her journey with multiple sclerosis — from the jarring decline in health to her diagnosis, to finding her new normal and inspiring fellow chronically ill people along the way. It became a bestseller on Amazon earlier this month.

Sheila Hwang

was among 100 St. Louis-area educators to receive “Emerson’s Excellence in Teaching Award.” The awards pay tribute to area educators from kindergarten to college teachers for their achievements and dedication to the field of education. Emerson is a global technology and engineering company. Hwang is a professor of English at Webster University in St. Louis. She is currently working on a project entitled “The Watering Place in Jane Austen’s Novels: Space, Language, and Consumerism.”

Orlando Johnson '12

a star basketball player at UCSB has signed a contract to play in Australia with the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League. Johnson was selected in the second round of the NBA draft in 2012 by the Sacramento Kings and was immediately traded to the Indiana Pacers. Johnson has played in the NBA and professional teams in Spain, the Phillipines, China, Lebanon, Bosnia and Taiwan. Last year he played for the Avtodor Saratov in Russia averaging 14 points and four rebounds per game.

Chloe Martinez '13

has published a chapbook of poems “Corner Shrine.” She is currently the program coordinator of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse and a lecturer in Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Award in poetry three times.

Arvind Gupta '02

has published a new book “Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner.” The book explores how to use clean-tech to solve some of the most vexing problems facing the world, from food shortages to climate change. Gupta founded and grew IndieBio into the largest biotech seed-fund VC in the world, according to his publicist. Gupta received his degree in microbiology.

Kevin Hall '08

has been honored by the Santa Barbara Independent in its 2020 Best of Santa Barbara issue. His real estate firm was named the “Best Real Estate Team”in Santa Barbara.

Sofia LeBlanc '20

has been named the newest digital strategist at Witmark. She will work on strategic planning projects and public relations programs.

Preston Maag '19

has produced a new film titled “10 Miles Out” celebrating backpacking in the Los Padres National Forest. It premiered at the Nature Track Film Festival. Maag works in Southern California as a social media producer and as a sales specialist at REI. He received his degree in Film and Media Studies.

Vianna Mabanag '20

has been appointed a media assistant at Witmark. She will be developing digital strategies and original social media content.

Gabe Vincent '18

the star standout for UCSB basketball was a backup reserve for the Miami Heat in their recent NBA championship series against the Los Angeles Lakers. He is only the second UCSB player to play in the championship series. Brian Shaw made the finals with the Orlando Magic in 1994-95 and then played on three Lakers championship teams. Vincent is the ninth all time scoring leader for UCSB.

Kelly Edyburn '16

has been appointed assistant professor at the School of Psychology at Loyola Chicago. She worked as an intern at the Travis County Juvenile Probation Dept. in Austin, Texas and later did postdoc research at the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University. The program she joins is based on the scientist-practitioner model and emphasizes social justice and ethics.

John Hinderaker '91

John Hinderaker, ’91, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the U.S. District Judge of Arizona. He is one of 94 federal district judges in the U.S. He was nominated by President Trump in December 2019 and confirmed in September 2020. He previously served on the Pima County Superior Court in Arizona from 2018-2020. He received his law degree from the University of Arizona.

Stanley Moss '72

Stanley Moss, ’72, has published a new work of fiction, Arborea. According to Amazon, this work of fiction describes the collision of a wealthy couple on retreat at an ultra modern resort in the California redwoods, and a band of eco warriors engaged in a stealth operation. The storm of the century hits in this comedy of errors. Moss is a former member of the board of directors of the Alumni Association and past president of the New York alumni chapter.

Steve Ortiz '04

has been honored by Hospice of Santa Barbara with its Philanthropy Award for his work during the COVID-19 crisis at the United Way of Santa Barbara. Ortiz serves as the President and CEO of the Santa Barbara United Way office. The award honors Ortiz’ work with other area foundations and non-profits in providing child care assistance to front line medical providers and support for quarantine, contact tracing and isolation efforts.

Laura Palmer '93

Laura Palmer '93 leads the global go-to-market strategy for Unity’s Enterprise Digital Twin business. Over the last 4 years, Laura quadrupled revenues and played a pivotal role in Unity’s successful IPO in September 2020. Before Unity, Laura held multiple executive positions at Google Enterprise (now Google Cloud Platform, or GCP). She was responsible for Google’s largest revenue-generating region covering the financial services, gaming, media & entertainment, and retail verticals and played a significant role in scaling GCP’s revenue to over $1 billion.

Nancy Seymour '52

Nancy Seymour, ’52, has assisted her husband Bert, in publishing an autobiography of his 29 years in the Ventura County Sheriff’s office. The book is titled, "Cow County Lawman."