NEWS OF ALUMNI & FRIENDS
Maria Amador (’04) played basketball at Cochise College and transferred to earn a bachelor’s degree. She is senior pricing analyst for Liberty Power. “Little did I know that Cochise helped me with my first step toward an MBA and a great job. It changed my life and my family’s life, and for that I am eternally grateful.” • Tamara L. Arnwine (’96, '99) attended the Sierra Vista Campus and today is a Maryland resident and a lead accountant for the Department of Justice. “My most memorable event at Cochise College was attending the Phi Theta Kappa induction, researching the words to the song, and singing it with my daughter.” •
Dr. Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto, who attended Cochise College as a Buena High School student and went on to earn her doctoral degree from Duke University, is a political scientist whose research analyzes how social identi-
ties shape political behavior. She is a political analyst for Univision and CNN en Espanol and she appears on MSNBC, FoxNews, NPR, and Sirius XM. She is a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. • Omar Gallardo (’00) is a teacher for Omega Alpha Academy in Douglas. Larry (Russell) Jones (’84) pursued a bachelor’s degree at the University of Arizona and works with the information technology team of Swiss firm Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. At Cochise, Jones made friends from around the world and remains in touch with several from India, Japan, the U.S., and Mexico. He also worked as a tutor, nursing center assistant and resident assistant. He spent 14 years in the U.S. and seven in Japan and has been in Europe for the past 10 years. “Cochise College gave me a plethora of fond memories. Cochise was very much a crossroads in my life, and I'd do it all over again.” • Sue Krentz (’74) submitted her information at the 2011 Cochise County Fair and is a rancher at the Krentz Ranch east of Douglas. • Talia Retana of Bisbee last attended Cochise College in 2002. Today, she is an administrative assistant with the Boys & Girls Club of Bisbee. • Betty (Rachilla) May, who last attended Cochise College in 1965, continued
school in California and is a registered nurse at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. • Erin (Unger) Tingle (’09) works for Healing Hearts Animal Rescue and Refuge. She also describes herself as a photographer, housewife and horse handler. Cochise College memories? Graduation and snack bar runs during summer ceramics class. • Terry Tingle (’04) is an EMT/firefighter for the Sunsites/Pearce Fire District. • RETIRING Patricia Fuller, administrative assistant in the Math & Sciences Department, retired in October. • Women’s Basketball Coach and Social and Behavioral Sciences Instructor Steve Lane retired in May. • Janice Mersinger, who last served as an administrative assistant in the former Sierra Vista Campus dean’s office, retired in June. • Gail Shaughnessey, a faculty member in the humanities, retired in May. •
Mark von Destinon, whose father worked at the college during its early years, retired from his position as an instructor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences in June. Von Destinon held both administrative and faculty positions during his tenure at the college.
FROM OUR READERS
Dear Accolade, The unidentified person in the photo on the back page of the Summer 2011 Accolade is Theron Healy of Douglas. She was, as I recall, a cheerleader on the Douglas High School squad and graduated from there in the early 1970s. The other people in the picture were all Bisbee-Douglas cheerleaders. Cindy Hayostek (’72) degree from Wayne State University in three years and joined the Navy WAVES in 1944. She earned a master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan even after she was advised “to give up her place to a man who would not quit the program because he got married.” Malik also earned a master’s in English literature. She went to Columbia University on a full scholarship to complete a doctorate in psychology.
IN MEMORIAM
Kathrine T. Johnson, a career and academic counselor who last worked with the TRiO Student Support Services program at the Douglas Campus, passed away in June. Johnson worked at the college for approximately 10 years. •
In 1964, Malik drove her two children from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Bisbee, with only the name of a realtor in hand. She arrived in time to celebrate the opening of Cochise College and to settle into her new job teaching English. She was a fixture at the school for 24 years.
Alicya Malik, one of the college’s first faculty members, passed away Sept. 12 in Phoenix.
Share your news and updates at www.cochise.edu/alumni or email alumni@cochise.edu.
Born in Rossford, Ohio, Malik earned a bachelor’s
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