Alumni NewsWinter 2026

1950s

Lew Polizzi, ’56, published Benny Beaver: A Child’s Ecology Primer, an illustrated children’s book, available from Author House.

1960s

Dick Evans, ’69, published In the Shadow of the Bridge: Birds of the Bay Area with Heyday Books, featuring his photographs of the San Francisco Bay Area’s exuberant variety of birds. Evans also authored or coauthored the photography books The Mission, San Francisco and the Bay Area: The Haight-Ashbury Edition, and San Francisco’s Chinatown. Check the site for more details.

Kenneth Giles, ’69, MBA ’72, wrote Geology of the Lower Owyhee River, Oregon’s Grand Canyon, a free downloadable ebook, available at the website.

John Oades, ’68, M.S. ’73, retired director of the U.S. Wheat Association West Coast office, was honored by the College of Agricultural Sciences with the John Oades Legacy Award.

1970s

Gayle Fitzpatrick, ’78, was honored as Philanthropist of the Year by the Foundation for Fraternal Excellence.

Louis Slangen, MBA ’71, published The Book of Life Lessons: 50 Lessons for Work, Life, and Everything in Between, available from Amazon. Organized as a collection of insights, it follows his experience leaving The Netherlands with only $200 and two suitcases to start a new life in the U.S., and then building a career as partner of the global healthcare company Invacare.

1980s

Micheal Allen, ’85, represented Team USA this October as one of three American athletes in the 1-Dog Bikejoring Masters Class — a race where a dog runs in front of a bike, pulling the rider — at the 2025 IFSS World Dryland Championships in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He competed against 35 nations and 350 athletes.

Kelly Howard, ’81, senior accountant for the Oregon State University Alumni Association, retired this September after 10 years of service.

Christi Kasten, ’86, senior associate executive director for the Oregon State University Alumni Association, retired this October after more than 20 years of service.

Photo by Alex Gauthier

Pooya Tadayon, Ph.D. ’98

Pooya Tadayon, whose contributions at Intel significantly shaped the semiconductor industry’s roadmap for high-performance, cost-effective manufacturing, joined OSU’s College of Engineering this fall as a professor and the executive director of semiconductor research programs. Before retiring from Intel in 2024, he spent 27 years there in a variety of leadership roles, culminating in his position as an Intel Fellow and director of assembly and test pathfinding. Most recently, he worked as vice president of packaging, test and platform engineering at startup Ayar Labs. Tadayon’s role at OSU is to help develop innovative research agendas and contribute to semiconductor-focused academic programs.

1990s

Scott Baker, ’92, microbial molecular phenotyping group leader at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for his research contributions to fungal genetics and biotechnology.

Dr. Benjamin DuBois, ’94, was recently ranked the No. 8 shoulder surgeon in the U.S. by Newsweek, making him the highest- ranked shoulder surgeon in the entire Western United States.

Maggie Gauger, ’97, was named CEO of Athleta, the athleisure clothing brand owned by Gap Inc. A 20-year veteran of Nike, Gauger most recently served as general manager and vice president of the company’s North American women’s business.

2000s

Nikki Neuburger, ’04, chief brand officer at Lululemon and former marketing lead for Nike and Uber Eats, was named among the “World’s Most Influential CMOs” by Forbes.

Photo by Lacey Desserault

Jill Allen, ’02

Jill Allen, director of research and development product excellence at the Tillamook County Creamery Association, was honored with the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Alumni Leader Award. Allen oversees the development and sensory evaluation of Tillamook’s award-winning cheeses, yogurts, ice creams and other dairy products, and her work ensures that each product meets the highest standards of taste, texture and sustainability. Allen also serves as a judge for national and international cheese and dairy competitions.

Darcy Sexon, ’06, relationship manager and vice president at AgWest Farm Credit in Pendleton, Oregon, was honored with the 2025 College of Agricultural Sciences Distinguished Luminary Award.

Bob Topping, Ed.M. ’02, Ed.D. ’06, published The Shadows of the Ghost Platoon, available from Amazon. The book follows a platoon of green replacement Marines as they begin a 200-mile, 270-day trek through South Vietnam and, in October 1969, face one of the fiercest battles for Mutters Ridge during Operation Idaho Canyon and the aftermath of the withdrawal of the Third Marine Division.

Photo courtesy of Lindsay Schnell

Lindsay Schnell, ’09

Lindsay Schnell, senior writer for The Athletic, the sports publication of The New York Times, won the 2025 Billie Jean King Award, presented by the Associated Press Sports Editors for excellence in women’s sports coverage. The award, which includes a grant from the Billie Jean King Foundation, recognizes outstanding portfolios of four stories. Schnell’s submission featured her USA Today piece on Olympic athletes Ilona Maher and Chase Jackson and their fight to expand beauty standards — a story she wrote during her 2017-to-2024 tenure there. Schnell joined The New York Times in January 2025.

2010s

Katie Bennett, ’13, attorney with Miller Nash LLP, was elected executive board secretary of the Federal Bar Association, Oregon Chapter. She was also appointed to the Oregon State Bar Business Litigation Section Executive Committee.

Rebecca Olson, MFA ’11, assistant vice president of engagement and communications at Portland State University, won a CASE gold award in profile writing for “Kicking It Old School,” which tells the story of a group of PSU alumni who bonded over hacky sack nearly 50 years ago and remain connected.

2020s

Sharon Garcia, ’20, published two new books: Homeschool Unleashed: How to Start, Plan and Thrive in Your Homeschool Journey, a guide to homeschooling, and Poetry of Despair, Love, Spirituality and Prophecy, a book of original poetry.

Lexi Reed, ’21, is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and works for a company called ACG Sports Mental Performance, providing mental performance coaching to individual athletes, teams and coaches from youth to professional level all over the country.

Alexandra Szarabajko, MPH ’21, Ph.D. ’22, program chair of exercise science at Columbia College in South Carolina, was recognized with the 2025 Teaching Excellence Award from South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities last spring.

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