Roadrunners

ROAD RUNNERS

1986

DAN MURRAY (B.A. Communications multimajor, ’86) has been a history teacher for 18 years and currently teaches at Santa Fe Preparatory School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before embarking on a teaching career, Murray worked for 15 years as a theatrical-lighting designer with the Denver Center Theater Co., the Santa Fe Opera, the Portland Opera and La Scala in Milan, Italy. He has traveled extensively in Latin America, Europe, Japan and Vietnam, and lived in Rotan, Honduras, for a year.

2004

MIKE FAULHABER (B.S. Management, ’04) is a financial advisor and sales director with Mutual of Omaha. He recruits, trains and mentors new interns and helps clients reach their financial goals.

2006

BRITTANIE ATTEBERRY ASH (B.S. Human Services, ’06) graduated last May with her Ph.D. in social work from the University of Denver. Following graduation, she accepted a position as an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington. There, Ash researches the intersection of identity and experiences in oppression and teaches courses on social justice, power, privilege and oppression.

CRYSTAL DECOLA (BSN Nursing, ’06) is the senior director of medical and surgical services and house supervisors at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver. As part of the MSU Denver accelerated BSN program’s second cohort, she completed clinical rotations at St. Joseph Hospital and accepted a new grad RN position following graduation. DeCola quickly moved up the leadership chain and now works on the front lines of the Covid-19 battle.

2009

CHRIS OLSON (B.S. Mechanical Engineering Technology, ’09) is a project engineer with Sargent & Lundy who has worked for several engineering consulting companies designing energy facilities and industrial plants. After moving into project management, Olson earned his professionalengineer license, becoming a certified project-management professional. In December, he graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a master’s degree in engineering management and a leadership-and-management certificate.

2010

WILLIAM LESLIE IV (B.A. English, ’10) is the co-founder of Red Ace Organics in Boulder, which he created and launched immediately after graduating from MSU Denver. In 2013, Whole Foods Market began regional distribution of the organic-beverage-and-food manufacturer’s products, followed by national placement. After selling Red Ace in 2019, Leslie and one of his original partners repurchased the company last September. The team is working hard to rebuild the brand to its maximum potential.

2015

DOROTHY ROGOWSKI (BFA Art, ’15) entered graduate school in fall 2015 shortly after earning her degree at MSU Denver and is in the final semester of her Master of Arts in Art Therapy program. She is working on art-based research, coding and thematic analysis for her thesis, which is focused on how lifetime and cumulative trauma affects older women.

IN MEMORY

Degree priority

A beam of light escapes Jamie Hurst’s office, illuminating a patch of an otherwise dark and empty wing of Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Jordan Student Success Building. The workday is complete, but Hurst, assistant vice president of Strategic Engagement, isn’t close to heading home. She cracks open a Dr Pepper and digs in on a to-do list that includes completing homework and filling out her MSU Denver spring 2021 graduation application.

When Hurst joined MSU Denver in 2013 as director of annual giving, she had already earned B.A., M.A. and J.D degrees. However, as she began engaging alumni and fundraising to support student success, she had an epiphany.

“I realized it was necessary for me to be part of the groups I was supporting and leading,” she said. “I couldn’t articulate the needs of our students or set the course for the Alumni Association without knowing what it’s like to be an MSU Denver student and an alumna.”

That meant getting back into the classroom.

In 2017, Hurst declared herself a journalism major, transferred credits from her previous degrees and started taking two classes each semester while working full-time, all while teaching courses on legal liability.

“In all of my courses, I was surrounded by people like me — people with jobs, families and other obligations — who were committed to pursuing higher education a couple of courses at a time,” she said. “Every day, they showed up to class and made earning their degree a priority.”

JAMIE HURST, MSU DENVER ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT, REALIZED THAT TO BEST ENGAGE ALUMNI AND SUPPORT STUDENT SUCCESS, SHE

NEEDED TO BE A ROADRUNNER TOO. By Lynne Winter Hurst describes her work at MSU Denver as more of a calling than a job, she said. The University’s mission and commitment to serving a thoughtful, diligent and determined group of students and alumni provides powerful motivation to be as involved as possible, she said. MSU Denver is also family — Hurst is married to Roadrunners women’s softball coach Annie Van Wetzinga, and they named their dog Rowdy. She has even donned the beloved mascot’s beak. This May, four years after beginning her student journey at MSU Denver, Hurst will join 100,000-plus alumni as a permanent member of the Roadrunner family she loves. “I believe education is the path, whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go,” she said. “At MSU Denver, we can accomplish everything we believe we can or never believed we could.”

AMANDA SCHWENGEL

Faculty & Staff

MSU Denver staff member

MICHELLE DUPUIS died Feb. 15 at age 56. A member of the Roadrunner family for over a decade, Dupuis spent much of her career in academic advising and student retention. She was honored to support students as they worked toward achieving their goals. As a first-generation student who put herself through undergraduate and graduate school, Dupuis genuinely connected with the students she served and empathized with their struggles. Her family, friends and colleagues will greatly miss her “don’t just try, do it” attitude and infectious optimism.

THOMAS MCINERNEY, Ph.D., professor emeritus, History, died Aug. 26 at age 80. After earning a B.A. at Duquesne University and an M.A. at Colombia University, McInerney moved to Denver in 1969 to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Denver. In 1982, Dr. Mac — as his students called him — joined the MSU Denver Department of History. The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball aficionado and passionate presidential history scholar believed that the best way to understand history is to relate to it and, during his tenure, he employed storytelling to engage