Notes from the Class of 1974

Chambers USA ranked Michael B. Van Sicklen (Engl) of Dodgeville, Wis., as a top attorney in 2014. Michael is a retired partner and litigation lawyer with Foley & Lardner’s Madison, Wis., office. He represented clients in civil and commercial litigation, bankruptcy and more.

Rocket scientist Kevin McNeil (Math) spoke about the exploration of Mars during a lecture series for children at the Cortez Cultural Center Plaza in Cortez, Colo. He worked for Marietta/Lockheed Martin for 28 years, 25 of which he spent developing spacecraft for NASA missions, including missions to Jupiter, Venus, Mars and comets. He retired in 2007 and moved with his wife to Ridgway, Colo.

Former NBA and Buffs basketball player Scott Wedman (RelEst) was inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. He played at CU from 1971-74 and is ranked 19th all-time for scoring, with 1,251 career points. Scott was the sixth overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. He won two titles with the Boston Celtics, in 1984 and 1986, the first former Buff to earn an NBA title.

Mark Johnson (Engl) wrote the book Apprehensions & Convictions: Adventures of a 50-Year-Old Rookie Cop. The memoir tells the story of his experience as the oldest rookie police officer in Mobile, Ala. Mark previously spent 20 years as a public relations director and executive director for United Way.

Mariko Tatsumoto Layton (Psych; Law’77) was the first Asian woman attorney admitted to the Colorado Bar. While practicing law, she dreamed of writing books. In 2015 she wrote Ayumi’s Violin, which was the winner of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Gold Award. The novel for middle schoolers is a multicultural fiction that takes place in California and Japan in 1959.

Darryl Varnado (PolSci; MPubAd’76) was named to the Washington Business Journal’s 2016 list of minority business leaders. He is executive vice president and chief people officer for Children’s National Health System. Darryl received the award for his creative and successful contributions to the employee population and his passion for providing employees with a positive workplace and a leadership and workforce development program. He also created a paid parental leave policy that offers new families enhanced leave benefits at full salary beyond their standard short-term disability time. Originally from Louisiana, Darryl now lives in Falls Church, Va.

Five-time All American track and cross-country star Ted Castaneda (Soc) will be inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame Nov. 17. Ted competed in two U.S. Olympic trials and is one of the seven original inductees into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame. Ted lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is head coach of women’s outdoor track and field at Colorado College.

Laura Katz Olson (PhDPolSci) has been a professor of political science at Lehigh University since 1974. Laura researches aging, health care and women’s studies. To date, she has published eight academic books and a novel. Her latest, published this year, is a memoir titled Elder Care Journey: A View from the Front Lines.

Last fall Ron Stewart (PolSci) retired from his position as director of Boulder County Parks and Open Space. He became director in 1999 and worked on projects including expanding open space, hiring volunteers and creating trails.

After working for more than 35 years as sports director at WLNE ABC 6 in Providence, R.I., Ken Bell (Comm) is retiring. Ken covered some of the most memorable moments in New England sports history, including the Celtics championships of the 1980s, the Red Sox winning the World Series and numerous Patriots Super Bowl victories. The Colorado native loves to spend time outside running and hiking.

Robert Garroway (MCDBio) has served on the board of the New York State Society of Orthopedic Surgeons since 2013 and will complete his term in 2019. He has been practicing hand and sports medicine on Long Island for 35 years.

Shelley Diamond (Phil) served as artist-in-residence for the U.S. Forest Service, San Gabriel Mountains, which spans a huge region between Los Angeles and the Mojave. She wrote, “My project had to serve the community and environment I was privileged to live in. My home was a big 1920s lodge. The Forest Service was there during the daytime, I was alone at night. This lent some Shining pizazz to the week I teach at L.A.’s Juvenile Hall — the San Gabriels are visible from the yard. Students considered my lesson: Photography to prompt reflections about this ‘alien’ place. Challenged: Why would we ever go there? Eventually sugar pines and wildflowers cast their spell. They got it, and flew outside the walls.” Fremont, Calif., resident George Whaley (PhDBus) is co-editor of the Society for Case Research’s Business Case Journal. George is an emeritus professor of human resource management for San Jose State University’s management school. 

Fremont, Calif., resident George Whaley (PhDBus) is co-editor of the Society for Case Research’s Business Case Journal. George is an emeritus professor of human resource management for San Jose State University’s management school. 

Kenneth R. Miller (PhDBio) was elected president of the board of the National Center for Science Education. He is a professor of cellular biology at Brown University and has published a new book, The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness and Free Will. In November 2017, he delivered the keynote address for the Colorado Science Teachers Association’s annual meeting in Denver. He will be back in Colorado in September 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of CU Boulder’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. He will give a public lecture on the state of American science.

For the past 28 years, Patricia L. Wright (Art’74) has taught art in NYC-area public schools. After CU, she lived in the San Francisco Bay area and served in the Peace Corps in Africa. Now retired, Trisha exhibits her black-and-white photography in galleries throughout greater New York, and credits her CU photo classes with Charles Roitz for introducing her to the alchemy and healing powers of photography. She is creating a photo series documenting her experiences as a breast cancer survivor. This summer she and fiancé David Lawton will marry. They plan to live in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Author Roger P. Barrick (Law) lives in Roseville, Calif. In 2012, he published At the Gates of the Wolf’s Lair. Set in 1944 Berlin, the novel follows the life of Robert Felsen, the son of Jews who fled Germany after “The Night of Broken Glass.” In the book, Felsen is a detective and investigative reporter who takes on a mysterious and dangerous case that “threatens to destroy all that he loves in life.” 

Dave Engles (CivEngr) received the 2019 Engineer of the Year Award from the Wyoming Engineering Society. Dave and his wife Catherine live in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he is a principal in EnTech, Inc. Professional Engineers.

In 1977, Lionel D. Lyles (MGeog; PhD’77) became the second African American man to graduate with a doctoral degree in geography from CU Boulder. In February, he was a guest on the Just Folks: Conversations with Emma podcast in Baltimore. Lionel’s episode, “Wake Up, Stand Up for Your Rights,” covers social, political and economic issues that face our society today. The podcast is available by name on YouTube.

J. Dirk Nies (Chem) has worked on environmental issues since graduating from CU. Recently, he wrote an article on climate change titled “An Incommodious Question: Can Renewable Energy Tackle the Existential Threat?” which was published in the Crozet Gazette. He also has written a book, Floriescence: Foundations for Human Flourishing on a Thriving Planet – A Visionary Synthesis of Science, Ethics, and Aesthetics Crafted to Promote Well-Being in the 21st Century.

After nearly 50 years of leading human resources organizations, Darryl Varnado (PolSci; MPubAd’76) retired from Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he had served as the executive vice president and chief people officer for the past nine years. Over his career, he also led HR teams at the Adolph Coors Company, Tennessee Valley Authority, Coca-Cola Company, U.S. Airways, The Nature Conservancy, Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises and the University of Colorado Hospital Authority.