Class Notes

Evelyn Golden Shafner (Edu; MA’69; MEdu’72) has published Champa Street, a novel set in Depression-era Denver. She began handwriting the story in a notebook at age 80 and completed it by her 83rd birthday. The book is available on Amazon. Evelyn, a Denver native, is now writing her second novel.

Jane Weil Romberg (Edu) was selected as the 2021 recipient of the Hazie Werner Award in Steamboat Springs for her service to the community over the last 55 years. The award is given each year to a Yampa Valley woman who represents the legendary Hazie Werner’s legacy of volunteer work, community commitment and support of local organizations. Romberg moved to Steamboat from Denver in 1966.

After graduation, Eric Christenson learned to teach writing from ski instructors and pottery teachers who taught by demonstration. He learned the connections between literature and history by teaching the English half of American Civilization in Northern Virginia. His message to undergrad English majors in education is to learn to write well so you can teach it and learn to connect academia and the world, and life can take you far. It took his wife and him in retirement to co-produce a PBS documentary (The Marshall Plan: Against the Odds) and to Paris many times as writers, researchers, and consultants to the State Department. Retired at 82, Eric submits liberal letters to our local paper in our Southern town, tutors high school students heading to college, does a little public speaking, and walks the golf course twice a week.

Nurse theorist and professor Jean Watson (PhDEdu) believes caring goes beyond a patient’s physical healing and also includes healing that occurs on a deeper, spiritual level. She created the Theory of Human Caring, for which she has received countless honors and awards, including 15 honorary doctorates. Watson has also written over 30 books and has been named a Living Legend of the American Academy of Nursing.

Sandra Fuchs Stein (Edu) was named Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year for Pueblo, Colo. Sandy will be honored by the Women’s Foundation of Colorado at their annual fundraiser in June. She has been active as president or founder of more than 50 organizations in the community and was previously named to the Pueblo Hall of Fame, among numerous other honors. She and husband Marvin Stein (Bus’62) have two daughters and five grandchildren. The couple resides in Pueblo, Colo.

Pam Cline Novak is Founder and President of the Spirit Education Foundation. Through madrinos (Godparents), Spirit provides educational scholarships to girls from impoverished families in Guatemala. She and the organization are currently working hard to fund a permanent Spirit House based off the recent success of a safe house for the girls.

Samuel Paul Cummins (Edu) has now retired from both of his jobs. He simultaneously worked as a plant manager at Akzo Nobel Coatings in Matteson, Ill., for 36 years and for the Tinley Park Illinois Fire Department, where he was assistant chief for 40 years. He achieved the designation of chief fire officer and served for 25 years on the MABAS 24 Hazardous Materials Response Team that responded to all HAZMAT calls in the southern suburbs of Chicago. Samuel writes that he and wife Marcia have retired to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and are enjoying the weather.

Since graduation from CU, Deborah Ervin Kramb has taught in three states, gained a Master's Degree in Reading in California, an Ed Specialist degree in Georgia and begun working at Georgia State University supervising student teaching and teaching in the masters in education program. She retired from 30 years teaching in public schools but can't seem to catch on to this 'retirement' thing - now teaching teachers.

Deborah Ervin Kramb is presently a fourth grade teacher in a district in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. "I have taught in Colorado, Southern California and now in Georgia. I have been a classroom teacher in K-5th grades, a math 'coach' for my district and an Area Lead Teacher - teaching teachers. Changing with the times!"

After 31 years working for the U.S. Department of Education (ED), from 1976-2007, and then 13 years working for American Institutes for Research (AIR), Bob Stonehill (PhdEdu) retired from full-time work in May 2020. During his career, he managed a range of research, evaluation and technical assistance initiatives, as well as several large-scale national programs, including the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC), the Regional Educational Laboratories, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and the State Grants to Improve Teacher Quality (ESEA, TItle II). Bob has maintained his connection to CU, as his oldest son received his B.A. in Boulder, and his daughter is now a second-year student at CU Law.

Albert lives in Parker, CO with his wife, Maureen. After retiring in 2011, he enjoys substitute teaching math and science at local high schools. 

Click to read about Albert's Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to the AART. 

Christine (Ricken) Williams retired in 2014 after over 40 years in education in Colorado and California. Her career included: State and National Presenter, Trainer, K-6 teacher (Hudson Elem. Weld Co RE-3, Hygiene Elem. St. Vrain SD and North Mor & Hillcrest Elem. in Adams 12), Director K-12 Education (Adams 14 SD, CO and Antioch USD, CA) and 15 years as Assistant Superintendent (San Ramon Valley USD, CA).

Ed Steinbrecher received CU's prestigious 2014 George Norlin Award. He has served as director of research for CASB, deputy state commissioner of education, superintendent of Platte Canyon School District and professor at CU and DU. He was key in Colorado school finance legislation. Since his retirement, he has served as a consultant in Colorado and South Africa.

Victor Willson, current Department Head of Educational Psychology at Texas A&M University, is the inaugural chairholder of the Douglas J. Palmer Chair in Educational Psychology as of April 2014.

Dr. Paul Marion recently retired after a 47-year career in higher education administration, including the past 30 years in five CEO positions - President of Tiffin University (OH), President of Franklin College (IN), Chancellor of the State College System of West Virginia, President of the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities, and Arkansas Director of Higher Education.

I retired this year after 34 years of teaching.

After 43 years teaching English and writing at various universities across New York, Maureen King Cassidy (Edu) still keeps in touch with her college friends. Cassidy transferred to CU after a trip to Aspen, Colorado, her sophomore year of college. “Aspen was like another universe to me,” she wrote. “I became totally enchanted with the Rocky Mountains, the people and, of course, skiing.” She arrived at CU having never seen the campus in fall 1975 and enjoyed every moment on campus. She lives in Oyster Bay, New York.

Judge Christine Arguello (Edu) received one of Harvard Law School’s “Celebration 65 Awards” for her outstanding contribution to the legal profession and to public welfare. Christine, a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Colorado, writes that it is an honor to have received the award, especially in light of the fact that prior recipients include such luminaries as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Pat Schroeder. Arguello is a previous nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit and is a tenured professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. She is a first-generation college graduate and grew up in Buena Vista.

Christine M. Arguello will be inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame on March 20, 2014. "I was told that it was my work as leader of the Arguello Dream Team, the goal of which is to mentor and inspire young people to attend college and graduate school, that caught the selection committee's attention. Although I went on to attend law school after college, I never lost my commitment to teaching young people."

Susan Cooke Barfield (MEdu), professor emerita at Montana State University Billings, has dedicated her life to advocating for and educating the public about international minorities. A previous Fulbright scholar in Chile and Slovakia, Barfield is working with three Mapuche elders in rural Patagonia, Chile, to create a trilingual (English, Spanish, Mapundungun) book based on a Mapuche folktale. The book, which will be illustrated by Mapuche students, is supported by a National Geographic Society Explorer Grant. In fall 2018, Barfield planned to travel to the University of Vilnius in Lithuania to work as a Fulbright specialist.