Portland State Magazine Winter 2007

ALUMNI NOTES Being all that he can be DAVI D COWS ERT '0 5, MS ' 06 , a graduate of PSU's student-run Ooligan Press and now head of a Portland-based publishing house, was in the Marines and Army for 14 years, fought on the front lines in the Persian GulfWar, and worked as a police officer. It was nor a typical route to becoming a publisher, which is what he has been since he and four other PSU Ooligan alumni formed Ink & Paper Group last summer. Alumnus David Cowsert and four PSU students started a publishing group in Portland. '86 on Black Affairs, on Hispanic Affairs, and on Women's Affairs. "My goal is to encour– age chem to work together. They'll be much stronger than they would be alone." Amy Lee Fairchild '99 is support services coordi- nator for Meneal Health Association of San Mateo County in Cali fornia. 2000-2006 Chad Allen Albright '00 is a portfolio manager at Key Bank in Portland. Albright works on high-end conscrucrion loans, underwriting, port- folio management, syndica– tions, and mezzanine loans. Bur the burly Florida native, who spent his high school years in Utah, grew up around books. Ar the rime Cowsert was born, his father was a librarian who drove their town's first bookmobile; and by age 12, Cowsert was working in a library. The day following his graduation from high school, he was in boor Irina Batrakova '00 has been hired by Samuels, Yoelin, Kantor, Seymour & Spinrad, LLP, one of Oregon's oldest law firms. Ray Elliott '00 is new direc– tor of che Porcland Lesbian Choir and will help the group celebrate its 20th anniver- sary season. As che founding artistic director of Conflu– ence, che Willamette Val- ley M ixed GALA Chorus, Elliott has experience working with people from a variety of musical backgrounds. Aaron Meyer MED '00 is a world-class violinist who has recorded and released a series of CDs and has performed for a number of Oregon Public Broadcasting projects. Recently, he traveled through– out the W ilsonv il le School 26 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2007 camp for rhe Marines. He served six years, then moved to the Army for eight years. By then he had a family, though, and grew tired of constant travel. So he became a police officer for 10 years, first in Texas and then in Vancouver, Wash. While there he obtained a bachelor's degree at PSU in community development, with a minor in writing. He then completed a master's from PSU in writing, with the focus on publishing and writing instruction. "With Ooligan, I had the opportunity to actually work on a book," he says. "Ir no longer was theoretical or academic. It was exciting and thrilling, rhe culmination of what I wanted to do all along." As chief executive of Ink & Paper Group, Cowsert already has overseen the release of rwo books, with several others in the pipeline, and is developing a magazine. The umbrella group includes five separate imprints publishing socially responsible nonfiction, poetry, literary fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and comics and graphic novels. Cowsert credits Ooligan with giving him and his colleagues practical, hands-on experience. "Ooligan Press is sending out people who are very competent from the beginning," he says. "They can hit the ground running." ■ BY CLIFF COLLINS District as pare of his acclaimed Classroom Music Project. Erin Peterschick '00, MPA '05 and Craig Hamblin were married in November in San Francisco. They live in Olympia, Washington, where Pecersch ick works in the governor's office on a mental health transformation grant chat she wrote. Hamblin works in the state auditor's office. Ian Berry '01, a local film– maker, recencly had his shore film, Brenda Dives, selected to be in che 33rd NW Film & Video Festival at che NW Film Center in Porcland. Dan Eller MS '01 was accepted by University of Washington School of Law to pursue a master of law degree in taxation. Eller is a tax artorney for Schwabe, Wil– liamson & Wyatt in Porcland, where he lives with his wife, Jen MS '00, and their five– year-old daughter, Madeline. Audrey Luna '01 was che grand prize winner at the Ninth Altamura/Caruso Inter– nationa l Voice Competition and received a $12,500 cash prize and a trip to Italy to sing. Luna, a coloratura soprano, sang "The Bell ong" from the opera Lakme by Leo Delibes at the New York competition. Rolla Selbak '01 is a Film Action Oregon 2006 Women's Vision Film Grant cash recipient. Selbak is a working filmmaker and director of one fearure film, three narra- tives, and two documentaries. Selbak's fearnre film, 3 Veils, is intended to inspirationally -