Portland State Magazine Spring 2008

ALUMNI NOTES Angela Nusom MSW '05 is a school-co-work coordinator at the Centennial Learning Center, an alternative school for middle school and high school students in Oregon's Centenn ial School District. Nusom is work– ing on her doctorate in educa– tional leadership at Lewis & C lark College. She lives in Port– land with her husband, Julius. Katie Jay Scott '05 is on staff at Stop Genocide Now, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles. Scott founded the Portland Coali– tion for Genocide Awareness while she was a student at PSU. She lectures on global issues of genocide caking place in Africa. Mark Simpson '05 is a seaff en– gineer with Murray, Smith and Associates, Inc., Engineers/Plan– ners. Simpson lives in Portland. Vicki Lynn Wilson MFA '05 had her work tided "Ms. Natural Disaster 2007" featured at the Helzer Art Gallery at Portland Community College's Rock Creek Campus. Wilson's work encompasses sculpture, insrallarion, and performance and has been featured at the Deitch Projects Art Parade in New York City. She reaches at PCC Sylvan ia and the Art In stitute of Portland. MollyWoon '05 is the principal media contact in the Oregon Senate Majority Office, where she has erved as outreach coordi nator for the past year. Damali Ayo MFA '06 is a Port– land-based performa nee artist who brought art and socia l issues co Portland streets-and streets in 20 other scares-in October, when she recruited volunteers to hold a Nationa l Green on top ERIN AL TZ '06 is trying to save the world-one rooftop at a time. She just may do it. Altz exudes creative ideas to spare, the most prominent being a concepr she has based a business on: Edible Skylines. Its mission is so new, even Pordanders well versed in greenspeak may not have heard of the term rooftop agriculture. Alrz looked around and saw ecoroofs sprouting everywhere downtown, and wondered, "Why not grow edible plants on roofs?" Out of chat-and a serendipitous job she obtained by writing a grant for a charter school char wanted a rooftop vegetable garden-Edible Skylines was born. Ir is an effort, she says, to solve multiple challenges in one fell swoop. In designing and implementing rooftop vegetable gardens, she hopes restaurants, schools, and businesses can grow their own food and save on both the financial and eco– logical costs of transportation. She has received media atten– tion for a garden she installed above Rocket restaurant on East Burnside. "Erin is a pioneer in a field char has enormous potential," says Steve Cohen, of the city of Portland's Office of Sustainable Development. "As we see our city become more dense, there is this amazing potential for using rooftops for growing food." 28 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE SPRING 2008 Day of Panhandling for Repara– tions. Volunteers asked white passers-by co pay reparations for enslaving black people, and rhey gave money co black passers-by. Each got a receipt. Laura Devine MBA '06 has been promoted co director of human resources for Williams Co ntrols, a manufacturer of electronic th rattles for com– mercial vehicles. Devine works in the company's Portland headquarters. Karen McCarty '06 is executive admin istrator for KOIN News in Portland. Brenda Sulick PhD '06 is director of federal health policy at the Alzheimer's Association in Washington, D.C. Sulick was the 2006-07 national recipient of the John Heinz Senate Fel– lowship on aging. During her Born and - - - fellowship, she worked with Sen. Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas. Jeff Bailey '07 is in Azerbaijan, a former republic of the Soviet Union, servi ng in the Peace Corps as an English education volunteer. Bailey, a 23-year-old native of Coos Bay, has also taught English in Seoul, Korea. Bill Beers '07 and Doug Heredos MBA '02 competed in the Alcan 5000 Winter Ra lly in February. They drove public roads from Kirkland, Washington, north through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, end ing in Jasper, Alberta. The event is nor a race but a rest of driving stamina, reliability, and navigation. The first-time Alcan Rally com– petitors placed 12th overall and second in class. Beers is a design raised on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Alrz came to Porrland Scace to study psychology. She expanded her perspec– tive after rhe devastating events of9/l l to include a societal con- Erin Altz started a company that designs and plants edible eco-roofs. sideration and worldview. She became interested in globalization and issues related to population growth, the consumption of fossil fuels, and "what we can do to mitigate these problems," she says. "I've always felt chat I could change rhe world and make a difference. I really saw the potential to create change, even on an international level." ■ BY c LI FF co LLIN s