Editor's note: The Texas A&M College of Architecture encourages former students to share news and photos with their old classmates. Class Acts news briefs can be submitted to the archone. newsletter via the online Former Student Update form. Digital photos, news briefs and features can also be e-mail to the archone. editor at newsletter@archmail.tamu.edu.

Assistant dean at Blinn

Robert Reid (ARCO) ’70 is an assistant dean at Blinn College and president of the Rotary Club of College Station. Reid also serves as director of business development on the executive board of the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce.

Designing Mountain House, Calif.

Joseph Dacus (BED) ’73 is director of commercial design and planning for ATI Architects and Engineers. He is currently designing all walls, bridges and gateways for the first three neighborhoods in Mountain House, Calif., the first U.S. town to break ground in the new millennium. Mountain House will ultimately encompass 4,000 acres and have 15,000 homes supporting 44,000 residents. The town has been a big hit, selling out all home models in rapid succession.

Levelland city manager

Richard Osburn (BED) ’74 was recently named city manager for Levelland, Texas.

Married and retiring

Steven Miller (BLA) ’75, a landscape architect in Roswell, Ga., was married in 2003. He is wrapping up 29 years in business and is about to retire.

Preserving history

Michael Callahan (BED) ’79, MPA, MUEP, was recently awarded a Certificate of Training in Historic Preservation Program Management from the director of the National Park Service. Callahan is an aviation planner and environmental project manager with Parsons Transportation Group (PTG) and Parsons Management Consultants (PMC) at Washington Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. He also completed an 18-month term as chairman of the airports committee for the American Planning Association (APA) and presented “Green Building Provisions” during the Airfronts Workshop at the 2003 National APA Conference in Denver, Colo.

Busy building

Michael Weaver (COSC) ’82 started Weaver & Jacobs Construction, Inc. in Jan. 2002 after working in the industry for 20 years. With partner Brant Jacobs (BDCR) ’00 and employee Brad Tucker (COSC) ’97, Weaver is currently working on one school, two jails, three churches and other miscellaneous jobs.

Assisting S.A. kids

Michael Lopez (COSC) ’84 was recently named superintendent for the Alamo YouthBuild program in San Antonio. In the program, undereducated or unemployed young people ages 16-24 work to earn their G.E.D. or high school diploma while learning construction skills. They build affordable housing for homeless and low-income people. Lopez recently stepped down as chairman of the Xavier H. Lopez Memorial Scholarship Fund. He was instrumental in developing innovative funding programs that benefited high school students in the predominantly Hispanic west side of San Antonio.

Focusing on hospitality

Craig A. Smith (BED) ’85 is principal of Portfolio Associates, Inc., which specializes in architecture and interior design with a distinct focus on the hospitality industry. The firm strives to create exceptionally designed and buildable projects, deliver unequalled service and provides creative and innovative solutions specific to the clients’ needs.

AIA chapter president

Mary Mitchell Bartlett (BED) ’86, vice president of 3D/International in San Antonio, is currently serving as the chapter president of the San Antonio chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Bartlett has been with 3D/I in San Antonio for over eight years.

Dallas start-up

Nate Northern (BDCR) ’86 is starting his own residential remodeling company, Northern Renovation & Construction. He has worked in the Dallas area commercial market for the past 16 years.

Keeping airports safe

Derek Bustos (BED) ’87 is project architect with Leo A. Daly. For the previous 14 years he worked for Rivers & Christian, a small aviation firm. Bustos was recently involved with security screening implementation in various airports throughout California. He would love to hear from anybody who spent the summer of 1987 in Mr. Cote’s design studio. He can be contacted at dbustos@leodaly.com.

Austin AIA committee chair

Andrew Clements (BED) ’83, (MUP) ’87 now serves as chair of the regional and urban design committee of the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Clements also serves on the national AIA Livable Communities Committee.

Commercializing Dallas

Stephen Meloncon (BED) ’87 is vice president and senior project manager at Carr Development and Construction, L.P. Meloncon moved to Dallas from Washington D.C. seven years ago and has since overseen the design and construction of three million square feet of new commercial office projects.

Teaching art in Weimer

Kim Davis Henry (BSLA) ’88 lives with her husband Jay, Class of ’88; their two daughters, ages nine and 11, on a farm in Weimer, Texas. She is an art educator at Foster High School. The family enjoys attending most of the A&M home football games.

Building career with HKS

Michael D. Wells (BED) ’89, (MARCH) ’95 is an associate/project architect with HKS Architects and has been with the firm for 11 years. Wells and his wife Mindi, a graphic designer with HKS, live in Dallas. Wells has stayed in touch with fellow College of Architecture alumnus Tom Frymire (BE) ’89 and his wife Susan.

Counselor in the limelight

Michael Fox (BED) ’90 practices law for his own firm, Michael E. Fox, Esq., in Los Angeles, California. His practice focuses on business law and litigation with an emphasis on counseling design and construction defect lawsuits. Fox recently defended an architectural designer in a high-profile intellectual property case in Santa Monica, Calif. The case, involving a world-renowned residential architecture firm, is considered to be a substantial test of the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990. Fox was successful in getting the case dismissed. The litigation was featured in Forbes and Architecture magazines, as well as the Los Angeles Times.

South Pacific scholar/architect

Kathryn Ladoulis (BED) ’91 is a project architect for RIM Architects in Honolulu, Hawaii. She spent five years working in Micronesia and relocated to Hawaii in 2000 where she earned a graduate certificate in historic preservation in May 2003. She also received an architecture doctorate from the University of Hawaii in May 2004. Ladoulis and her husband, Edmund Urban, have one daughter, Vienne Kai, who was born in June 2001.

Baffling

Daniel Nicholas (BCRD) ’90 is a first officer for America West Airlines in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is researching the best methods of installing aftermarket sound baffling systems to replace existing minimal decibel standard baffling system.

Future leader

Kathy (Kerney) Owens (BSLA) ’90 is president and landscape architect of Nature by Design Inc., and was named Future Leader of the Year by the National Association of Women in Construction in 1999. Owens is working as a licensed landscape architect in Washington and California, and has provided services for commercial, industrial and residential clients.

On vanguard of green design

Paul Serna (BED) ’90 is principal of Serna Design Consultants in Austin, a firm specializing in cutting-edge green building design and technologies. While at Texas A&M, Serna participated in the Guatemala student exchange program. Some of his recent work includes the master planning of a Catholic church in Austin, residential design, meditation gardens and multi-family housing.

Keeping pets safe

Jennifer Appel (BSLA) ’91 is the president of Landscape & Design Inc. in Houston. The company recently developed a pet-safe fertilizer that is the only veterinarian-preferred landscape fertilizer used at the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Aside from being safe for pets, the fertilizer also increases organic matter in the soil.

On Philly AIA board

Shawn Evans ’93 (BED) has been elected to the board of directors of AIA Philadelphia. After receiving his master’s degree in architecture and certificate in historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, Evans joined the Philadelphia firm of Atkin Olshin Lawson-Bell Architects, where he is now an associate. His recent projects include the new Mainwaring Wing of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the restoration of the 18th century Commandant's House at Fort Mifflin. He is architectural advisor to the Friends of the Boyd, a non-profit organization working to save the historic Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia's last movie palace.

European honeymoon

Barry Peters (BDCR) ’86 is a contracts manager for Marathon Oil Company in Houston. He married in October 2003 and traveled to Paris and Venice during his honeymoon.

Planning for San Diego

Shannon Murphy (BED) ’96 (MUP) ’00 is currently working as a planner with the planning and development department for the city of San Diego. Her husband Wayne (Class of ’97) is finishing up his medical internship at Balboa Medical Center. The two expressed that they love living in San Diego, but miss being close to family, friends and A&M football.

It’s a wrap

Charles Ivy (BDCR) ’96 recently finished working on an ExxonMobil refinery in California and is back home looking for a new job and trying to sell his house.

GIS aficionado

Scott A. Bryant (BLA) ’95 works in the civil engineering field in the Air Force. He has served in Tucson, Saudi Arabia and Alaska. Currently, Bryant is in South Korea, where he works on environmental and real estate issues. Bryant says one of his favorite aspects of his job includes incorporating GIS technology to provide a better decision-making tool for Air Force commanders.

Interning in Dallas

Laura (Massey) Davis (BED) ’97 (MARCH) ’01 recently began work as an architectural intern with Elby S. Martin & Associates, Architects, Inc. in Dallas. The firm specializes in high-end, custom residential projects.

It’s a boy!

Mark Fittz (BED) ’97 and his wife recently celebrated the birth of their first son, Micah, in Honduras. Fittz is currently working in Honduras on a number of design/build services for orphanages, churches, seminaries, hospitals and clinics.

Building from Florida to Arizona

Jake Groth (BED) ’97, (COSC)’98 is a project manager for Wood Partners, one of the leaders in residential living development. Wood Partners constructs and operates apartments, lofts and condos in the region stretching from Florida to Arizona.

Building UT El Paso Bioscience building

Todd Calder (BED) ’96, project manager for J.T. Vaughn Construction Company in Houston, is currently working on a biosciences facility at the University of Texas at El Paso. Calder also completed work on the West Campus parking garage and pedestrian passageway on the A&M campus, and is currently working on a project at the University of Texas. Calder was married to his wife Leah in November 2003. The couple is looking forward to moving back home to their beloved Bryan/College Station.

Advising students, designing stationary

Eppie C. Moore (BED) ’99 is an admissions advisor and special event coordinator at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Moore completed a master’s degree in speech communication from West Texas A&M in May 2003. This summer, she opened an online shop, www.eppiemoore.com, which sells personalized note cards and invitations that she designed.

Peddling high-tech fountains

Chris Burks (ENDS) ’00 is currently working as a Delta Fountains sales representative covering Florida and south Georgia. The company is a specialty manufacturer that designs and produces high-end commercial floating and interactive water features. Some of Delta’s more prominent projects include the Oklahoma City Memorial, Memorial City Mall in Houston, the Calatrava Fountain at SMU, and the Clemantis Street Fountain in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Digital wizardry

Jesse Sandifer (BED) ’00 is partner and founder of Green Grass Studios, a digital creative studio that specializes in modeling and texturing environments, vehicles and characters for films, television and advertising. You can learn more at the Green Grass Studios Web site: www.greengrassstudios.com

Missin’ Texas

Jennifer Crawford (BED) ’02 moved to Virginia, near Washington D.C., with her husband, Matt (ENGR) ’02, who works with the federal government. Crawford said she misses Texas’s affordable housing, warm weather, and lack of a state income tax, but she enjoys seeing the sites in and around the nation’s capital. After a few years in the D.C. area, the couple plans to move back to Texas.

Building UT Medical Center

Kyle B. Kotzebue (BDCR) ’03 is a project engineer with Vaughn Construction. He will be working on the UT Medical Center project in downtown Houston.

Designed brother’s home

Yvette Maldonado (BED) ’03 recently designed and sub-contracted her brother’s new house, which began construction in early September and was completed in January.

Photo gig with Newsweek

Tracy Richmond (BED) ’03 currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, works as an interim photo editor for Newsweek magazine, plans to move to Manhattan soon and to be married within the next three years