Notes from the Class of 1990

Writer and filmmaker Shane Kuhn (Psych), author of The Intern’s Handbook, is releasing the second book in his John Lago assassin series, Hostile Takeover, on July 14. The New York Post called The Intern’s Handbook, which is expected to become a feature film from Sony Pictures starring Dave Franco, “a sexy, darkly comic thriller.” Shane and his family split their time among Massachusetts, Colorado and California.

Hank Adams (Fin, Hist) is CEO of Sportvision, the leading innovator of digital sports content and broadcast enhancements. The company produces televised content for more than 3,000 live events worldwide, with a viewership of more than 300 million annually. The co-founder and former CEO of Real Fans Sports Network was named to Sports Business Journal’s “Top Forty Under Forty” list of sports executives and to Crain’s Chicago Business “Forty under Forty.” He lives with his wife and three sons in Evanston, Ill.

Publications around the world have featured Michael Rieger’s (Art) images of catastrophes, including the 9/11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and more than 30 other global disasters. His work also has been shown in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and is part of the Smithsonian’s Photographic History Archives. He took a break from his normal style with his latest book, Inspiration Exists – A Working Meditation, a year-long photo-a-day project.

Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve named Emily Porter (Adv) its coastal training program coordinator. Emily designs, organizes and conducts technical training programs for environmental professionals. She previously taught environmental biology and environmental policy at Florida Gulf Coast University.

CU Boulder professor Roger Pielke Jr. (Math; MPolSci’92; PhD’94) was quoted in USA Today and the Daily Mail about the pros and cons of banning Russia from the 2016 Olympics following its doping scandal. Roger has authored many books and is now working on one about sports in society. He lives in Boulder.

James Burack (Law) was promoted to director of Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. James has been with the department for two years as its chief of investigations following 12 years as an administrator and police chief of Milliken, where he helped lead the town’s response to the 2013 floods.

John Brozovsky (DBA), professor of accounting and information systems in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, was reappointed the Wayne E. Leininger Faculty Fellow in accounting and information systems. John joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1989. He has published 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, one book and two book chapters.

Photographer Dorie Hagler (PolSci) produced a “Humans of New York”- like campaign in New York City that focuses on women’s stories and uses them to fight for equality. To promote her campaign, called Me&EVE, Dorie held events on Mother’s Day, Equal Pay Day and at the start of Women’s History Month. She believes that by giving women a platform to share their stories, her campaign can be a catalyst for change in the equal rights fight.

Boulder resident Cam Low (Advert) was named CU Advocate Cheerleader of the Year. A member of the Boulder Alumni chapter’s board, Cam frequently volunteers at CU events and uses social media, graphic design and photography to promote them.

David Novotny (ElEngr; MS’96) received a Department of Commerce Silver Medal for his work as part of a National Institute of Standards and Technology team. The team designed and implemented a new type of high-frequency antenna measurement system based on accurately controlling an industrial robot with a laser tracker.

In January the American Classical League, an organization that aims to promote classical studies to the general public, announced Sherwin Little (MClass) as its first executive director. Previously, Sherwin taught Latin and Greek for 30 years in the Indian Hill School district in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Bill Young (Econ), an international pilot, stays in a lot of hotel rooms. To document the interesting carpet patterns he sees all over the world, he started an Instagram account called @MyHotelCarpet. In November his daughter, Jill, posted the account to her own Instagram page and called for it to have more followers. Her request went viral, and within a few days, 536,000 people followed his page. The story was covered by several major news outlets, including ABC News and Buzzfeed. Bill lives in Dallas with his family.

Michele Heller (Jour’90) was hired as the media relations and communications manager for the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She came to the Washington, D.C.-based think tank after serving eight years as an Obama administration appointee at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, where she was the senior communications adviser involved in strategic messaging, media relations, and speech and op-ed development for members of the FDIC. Before starting her new job, Michele traveled with her middle-schoolaged children throughout Europe and Asia, primarily in the mountains and remote villages of southwestern China. Michelle has held various editing and reporting jobs in Washington, D.C., Beijing and Hong Kong, including at the Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers, and the Hong Kong Standard. She lives in Washington with her husband, their two sons and their dog.

Editor Gregory Foley (Engl) of the Idaho Mountain Express traveled to Norfolk, Va., Sept. 29 to accept the General Excellence Award from the National Newspaper Association. There were 1,405 entries for the award from across the nation, according to the NNA. In 2003, Gregory published a novel, The Clarity of Light, about a French-American artist who travels to reunite with her ailing grandmother. He lives in Sun Valley.

Elizabeth Slater Jasper (Econ, Phil) was named chief legal officer for the Denver-based community health program Nurse-Family Partnership Service, where she has been a part of the executive team for more than five years. Elizabeth lives in Denver with her husband, David, and son, Francis.

In 2016, David Steinmann (Phys) discovered a new species of daddy long-leg spider while exploring Mallory Cave in Boulder. These spiders, named Sclerobunus steinmanni, after David, moved into caves over 10 million years ago. David, a research associate with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, has discovered many new invertebrate species in Colorado caves, including an unusual new worm from a cave in Steamboat Springs. His daddy long-leg discovery was documented by National Geographic.

The Weight of Water, the latest production from documentary filmmaker Michael Brown (Geog), tells the story of blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer’s kayaking trip through the Grand Canyon. The film received several awards, including the People’s Choice Award at the 2018 Denver Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the 2019 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Michael lives in Boulder. 

This year, Rick Case (Real) celebrated 30 years with his Boulder-based company Nite Ize. In 1989, Rick dropped his flashlight during some night fishing, so he created a head-mounted flashlight after his family loaned him $1,500. Since then the company has grown to sell over 500 products worldwide.