Portland State Magazine Winter 2007

ALUMNI NOTES Belief in children rewarded JACKIE COOKE BS '81, MA '92 isproofthattheAmericanDreamisstill alive and kicking, at least in western Oregon. Cooke was named 2006-07 Oregon Teacher of the Year. The award, sponsored by Intel Oregon, comes with a $3,000 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the National Teacher of the Year forum and meet both the Secretary of Education and President George Bush. My grandfather was an Italian immigrant," says the 50-year-old Cooke, who teaches at West Gresham Elementary School. "In Italy he was an olive picker. He came here in the early 1900s for a better life. Education was a really big deal to him." Cooke's father passed that value on to his own five children, who became the first generation in the family to graduate from college, all with degrees in education. Currently teaching first grade half time, Cooke is also co– editor of The Oregon Math Teacher journal, the professional publi– cation of the Oregon Council ofTeachers of Mathematics. She leads mathematics workshops for teachers throughout the state, teaches continuing education courses at local colleges, and has participated in a national outreach program for rural teachers. In addition to her expertise in math, Cooke also loves to read and write and regularly shares her children's stories with her students. She initially thought she'd reach middle school English. Once she got in the classroom, however, she became fascinated by what makes kids tick, and switched to elementary education. Students like award-winning teacher Jackie Cooke just as much as she likes them. In her 25 years of working with children, Cooke says that she has seen several trends emerge. One is that more and more kids are coming to school without any preschool experience to prepare them. Another is the increasing difficulty parents have finding time to volunteer at their children's schools. "In most families, both parents have to work, if there are two parents. We have a lot of single– parent families," Cooke says. Cooke, however, describes herself as an optimist. "I have a lot of belief in human beings, and especially in children." ■ BY ANNE LAU FE '8 Robert Macllveen '76 was granted a fellowsh ip co the American College of Den- tists for "Leadership and Exceptional Contributions co Dentistry." In che past decade, Macllveen has participated in six foreign missions, ranging from Africa co Guatemala. He practices dentistry in Portland and in his spare time flies high– performance gliders. H e earned a private pilot license lase year. 1980-1989 Gary "Mike" Roulier '80 is an Army reservist and was an aide co former Ore– gon Gov. John Kiczhaber. Roulier is home after serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guan– tanamo Bay, and Djibouti. Larry Smith '80 has been host of The Body Smith Workout, an old-school aerobic workout 22 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2007 show on MecroEast Com– mun icy Media, Gresham's nonprofit community televi– sion station, for the past two decades. le is che longest run– ning program on che station. Craig Sorenson '80 was named vice president of sales and marketing at Modular Technology, a prefabricated building manufacturer in Phoenix. Gerry H. Klein '81 is a vice president and senior relation– ship manager with Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Klein attended the September alumni event in San Francisco and sent greetings co profes– sor John Oh in che School of Business Administration. Tracy Bean '82 of Mercer Human Resource Con- sulting, was elected to the PSU Foundation Board of Directors in September. Valerie Fouquette '82 is che senior direcror of student and enrollment services at Blue Mountain Commun icy Col– lege in Pendleton. Fouquette recently opened a business, Your Inner Wisdom, where she and a parrner offer personal and spiritual growth work– shops, retreats, coaching, and consultation around che region. David Gallagher '82 and his wife, Rachel, are running a Portland-based Christian ministry named Open Arms International. Open Arms, which they founded in 2003, leads up to four trips each year focused on outreach to Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and Rwanda as well as Nellore in southeast India. Helen Quirino MS '82 was named an Extraordinary Volunteer by Portland Monthly and the Oregon Commun icy Foundation in their second an– nual nonprofit awards competi– tion. Quirino has helped many people during her 24 years as a counselor at William Temple House. She is most proud of the program she helped start at the Coffee Creek Correc– tional Facility in Wilsonville, where women cake a 200-hour course to learn self-confidence and ocher essential abilities before they are released. Paisan Tungs '82 works for the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco on consumer compliance and community reinvestment act examinations.