Class Acts: Former student news

The College of Architecture encourages former students to submit news items for the Class Acts section of the arch|one e-newsletter. This section highlights professional achievements, as well as news briefs about marriages, births, retirements, bucket list accomplishments or whatever else former students care to share with the college community and their former classmates. News and photos may be e-mailed directly to the editor .

CLASS OF 1964

Paintings by Raymond Gomez ’64 ARCH/COSC was featured in “Structure: Space and Form, Component Relationships That Make the Whole,” Sept. 28 – Oct. 14, 2012, at The Remsenburg Academy in Remsenburg, N.Y. Gomez, an outstanding alumnus of the College of Architecture, attended an opening reception for the exhibit.

CLASS OF 1970

John Shanahan ’68 MARCH, ’70 MUP , is leading a planning, design and real estate economics team advising Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, which is managing the loans of Ireland’s 180 largest debtors with the aim of obtaining the best achieveable return for the state. Shanahan is the managing director of [Leinster Planning Advisors] (https://www.facebook.com/LeinsterPlanning) in Drogheda, Ireland, an urban planning, public policy and economic research consultancy.

CLASS OF 1974

[ ] (http://www.arch.tamu.edu/community/formerstudents/outstanding-alumni/past-honorees/111/) [Lars Stanley] (http://www.arch.tamu.edu/community/formerstudents/outstanding-alumni/past-honorees/111/) ’74 BED had his LEED Platinum home studio in Austin [highlighted] (http://issuu.com/margaretandersen/docs/final_coolhouse_web?mode=window&pageNumber=14) in the “Cool House Tour 2012,” a look at the Texas Solar Energy Society’s choices for capital city homes featuring the best in sustainable building and design.

Stanley, a member of the AIA College of Fellows and an outstanding alumnus of the College of Architecture, designed the studio with a green roof, rainwater collection, solar photovoltaic cells, gardens and landscaping that incorporates permaculture techniques.

CLASS OF 1975

John “Jocko” Taylor ’75 BARCH died while paddleboarding near Port Aransas, Texas.

Taylor was a member of Zachry Construction’s Corpus Christi office and [president] (http://www.abc.org/Newsroom2/News_Letters/2012_Archive/Issue_18/ABC_is_mourning_the_sudden_death_of_ABC_Texas_Coastal_Bend_Chapter_President_John_Taylor.%20He%20died.aspx) of Associated Builders and Contractors’ Coastal Bend chapter.

“He’s a good man,” Mark Roach, Taylor’s close friend and immediate past chairman of the Coastal Bend chapter’s board of directors [told] (http://www.caller.com/news/2012/may/07/associated-builders-and-contractors-president/) the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. "We have a huge hole in our hearts. It's just an absolute shock."

CLASS OF 1977

Charles Darnell ’77 BED was appointed associate vice president or facilities at Utah State University in November 2011. As USU’s chief facilities officer, Darnell has administrative responsibility for design and construction of capital projects and master planning for the Logan campus as well as regional USU campuses throughout Utah.

Darnell also provides oversight of facility maintenance, landscape maintenance, and utilities production and distribution on the Logan campus.

CLASS OF 1980

[ ] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/winter2004/ArchoftheStars.html) [David Applebaum] (http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/winter2004/ArchoftheStars.html) ’80 BED interviewed a society columnist on the grounds of [Kykuit] (http://www.hudsonvalley.org/node/175) , the Rockefeller estate in upstate New York, for a National Geographic Channel series pilot about great U.S. houses.

The unnamed series is in the development stages and an airdate for the show is yet to be determined.

“I am confident we are creating a wonderful, one of a kind show that will be entertaining and informative,” said Applebaum, a distinguished alumnus of the College of Architecture, who has designed homes for many Los Angeles celebrities including Cuba Gooding Jr., Diane Keaton, and Frank Sinatra.

CLASS OF 1983

Jim Vandenberg ’83 BED, MARCH ’85 , a construction executive and architect for the U.S. Department of State, is project director for construction of the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, Life Support Area at the former Sather Air Base in Baghdad International Airport. The $107 million project includes living quarters, office space, communication and utility infrastructure improvements for the flight operations for the U.S. Department of State.

Vandenberg will move to Kabul, Afghanistan, in October to oversee apartment and office building construction at the U.S. Embassy. Although the compound is frequently rocketed and mortared, the construction will move government employees into safe and secure living and working facilities. Vandenberg also oversaw projects in Iraq in 2004 and Afghanistan in 2008.

CLASS OF 1984

Michael G. Lee ’84 BSLA has been appointed the Reuben M. Rainey Professor in the History of Landscape Architecture and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia.

Lee has previously taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, and Connecticut College.

Lee is the author of The German “Mittelweg: Garden Theory and Philosophy in the Time of Kant” (2007) and co-editor with Mirka Beneš of “Clio in the Italian Garden: Twenty-First-Century Studies in Historical Methods and Theoretical Perspectives” (2011).

CLASS OF 1994

Lilia Y. Gonzales ’94 BED, ’97 MARCH was appointed Texas A&M University architect effective August 1, 2012. She will chair the Design Review Subcouncil, part of the university’s Council on the Built Environment, and serve as adviser on design and planning projects and the university representative in facilities planning and construction.

Her most recent post was director of planning and development for the University of North Texas System.

Jonathan D. Winkles Sr. ’94 COSC helped earn a national Associated Builders and Contractors Eagle award for his company, Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing, as Chamberlin’s senior project manager for a restoration of the city of Houston’s Central Permitting Center.

Winkles was part of a team that performed the LEED-Gold restoration of the center’s masonry structure, overcoming numerous unforeseen existing conditions.

Class of 2000

Elissa Shaw ’00 BED moved to Australia three years ago with her husband Greg Mizell. They’re living happily abroad with their three daughters, Jordan, Meryl, and Micah.

CLASS OF 2001

Keith Kizzie ’01 MARCH gained National Council of Architectural Registration Boards certification and is a licensed architect in Georgia and Texas.z

CLASS OF 2005

Chase Ashorn ’05 BLA married Sherri Verm in a Dec. 31, 2011 ceremony at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Sealy, Texas. Ashorn works in the Houston office of [The Brickman Group] (http://www.brickmangroup.com/index.php) , a commercial landscape architecture firm.

CLASS OF 2003

Jake Donaldson ’03 BED , founding principal of [Three Square Design Group] (http://www.threesquaredesigngroup.com/) in Houston, was [featured] (http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2012/11/30/three-square-design-group-takes.html) in the Nov. 30 – Dec. 6 issue of the Houston Business Journal. Donaldson’s firm specializes in projects for office, industrial, medical and retail industries.

CLASS OF 2006

Jamie Brown ’06 BED is a senior marketing coordinator for the Houston office of Perkins + Will, concentrating on corporate, commercial and civic market and the science and technology market.

CLASS OF 2007

Courtney Brinegar ’07 BED ,a technical designer at [Gensler] (http://www.gensler.com/) , is a licensed architect after passing all seven architect registration examinations on her first try after a weeklong preparatory class. “This proves that becoming a licensed architect doesn’t have to be a prolonged, strenuous task but is an achievable milestone with dedication, focus, and confidence,” she said.

CLASS OF 2008

Daniel Berger ’08 MARCH , a design professional with [BSA LifeStructures] (http://www.bsalifestructures.com/) , has earned certification in LEED Building Design and Construction Rating Systems and Evidence-Based Design Accreditation and Certification from the Center for Health Design. He also attended a lean construction seminar to better understand how to solve design problems. “My education has been a tremendous asset in my professional development,” he said.