Staying in Touch

Katherine Park Woolbert ’07, also known as Kathy Park, majored in creative writing and minored in theater. She is a sculptor, painter, English professor in the Prison College Program since 2013, martial artist, cancer survivor, long-time resident of the San Luis Valley, and author of five books:

• Soaring Over the Wall: A Volunteer’s Collection of Prison Freedom Stories, self-published. 2000. A mashup of artwork, prose, and journal entries that describes the volunteer-run Prison Integrated Health Program the author founded, administered, and taught for four years at FCI Dublin California, the West Coast federal prison for women. Available as a free PDF through the author’s website dreampowerartworks.com

• Seeing Into Stone: A Sculptor’s Journey, published by Mercury HeartLink, Albuquerque, NM. 2011. A memoir chronicling the author’s 15-year apprenticeship with stone sculptor Gordon Newell

• Coyote Points the Way: Borderland stories and plays, published by Mercury HeartLink, Albuquerque, NM. 2015. A compilation of fiction, nonfiction and 10-minute plays inspired in part by living in the borderlands of the San Luis Valley

• Aikido off the Mat: One woman’s journey using Aikido principles to stay sane in body, mind and spirit published by North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA. 2018. A hybrid memoir describing the author’s 40 years of practicing and teaching the peaceful martial of Aikido

• Bowing Into Sensei Glioblastoma: poetry and prose, self-published. 2021. A hybrid memoir exploring how to use Aikido principles to understand and work with having aggressive brain cancer or any other lifethreatening malady, as well as to understand and work with the unstable nature of this challenging world, especially during political upheaval and the pandemic

Recent exhibitions:

50-year retrospective of paintings, sculptures, and quilts, Cloyd Snook Gallery, Adams State University, October 2021

Ongoing exhibition of paintings and sculpture, dreampowerartworks, Alamosa Colorado

•2010s

Barbara L. Espinoza-Ulibarri ’11 has been employed at Center Head Start since Oct. 1999 (23 years). Barbara was in the first cohort to receive approval for early childhood degree endorsement. “I enjoyed being part of the Adams State community. My two children have also graduated from Adams State University. I have been married to Patrick for 32 years.”

McKenzzie Lange ’19 was hired by the Denver Broncos as a partnership marketing associate last summer.

•2020s

Corporal (E-4) in the United States Marine Corps Kenai Douglas ’21 is the Adams State veterans/military affairs coordinator. He is on the Alamosa Veterans Memorial Park Board. According to Board Vice Chair Janet Yohn, he and his staff have been a tremendous addition to the board. “They have gone above and beyond our expectations for help. It is a pleasure working with this group of young adults,” Janet said.

Pictured: Corporal Douglas and his fiancée Jayden Fischer ’23, with Koda.

Master Sgt. James Elliott ’22 is a Mental Health Integrated Operational Support Manager, Air Force Medical Readiness Agency. He worked on an Air Force project in collaboration with New York University while pursuing his Master of Science in applied sport psychology. According to the article produced by the Air Force Surgeon General’s Public Affairs Office on Feb. 18, 2022, the project developed a toolkit for mental health technicians working with Airmen and Guardians outside of a traditional clinical setting. The goal was to address individual and unit-level health concerns early before they have the chance to negatively impact the mission. The project aligned with the Kinesiology Department’s “build it model” and holistic approach and integrated and comprehensive services. “I am very glad for the overlap in my professional and academic worlds.”