Roadrunners

ROAD RUNNERS

1979

MICHAEL WILSON (B.S. Professional Pilot, ’79) recently retired after 31 years as a flight-crew instructor teaching B-757/767 and international flight procedures with US Airways/American Airlines. He was based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1982

STEVE BURCHARD (BME Music Education, ’82) is a retired educator who spent 31 years teaching orchestra and choir in the Adams 12 Five Star School District at Northglenn Middle School and Horizon High School. He continues to stay active, conducting church choirs in metro Denver.

1995

JOSHUA ADKINS, Ph.D. (B.S. Biology and B.S. Chemistry, ’95), is celebrating 20 years at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a promotion to the rank of Laboratory Fellow. Adkins worked full time while double-majoring in Chemistry and Biology at MSU Denver, where he said he received a great education from fantastic professors. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Colorado State University. Adkins wants current and future Roadrunner alumni to know that the National Laboratories have internships in various fields — not just the sciences — and that his group often has openings at all career levels.

2002

Since graduating nearly two

decades ago, KELLI RANDALL (B.S. Behavioral Science, ’02) has worked in many fields, including as a teacher and in the real estate industry, as well as for lawyers, doctors and engineers. Randall is currently the senior account executive for Outdoor Promotions, where she sells outdoor advertising space. MSU Denver is one of her clients.

2015

CAITLIN PLAMP (B.A. Individualized Degree Program, ’15) is the marketing and admissions coordinator for the Department of Social Work at MSU Denver, where she was once a student employee. This fall, she will mark her fifth anniversary as a full-time staff member. Since graduating from MSU Denver, Plamp has earned an M.S. in Higher Education Administration from Southern New Hampshire University and co-presented a webinar for NAGAP, a professional organization for graduateenrollment-management professionals. She got married in 2019 and welcomed a beautiful baby girl last February.

2018

KATHERINE VALENTIN PASCUAL (Master of Social Work, ’18) has loved her experience as a social worker with the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network for the past year and a half. She works with clients in immigration proceedings at the local detention center and with unaccompanied minors under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement at a local shelter. Pascual earned her MSW to support and advocate for immigrant communities and now wants to pursue becoming a licensed clinical social worker.

habits and tons of opportunities to study the wrong things.” Needing a change, Faulhaber moved to the Mile High City and registered for classes at MSU Denver. He worked and went to school, in addition to serving as a reservist. He was on track to get his Business Management degree in spring 2003 when his reserve unit was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He ultimately graduated in 2004. During the past 15 years, Faulhaber has fostered a growth-driven mindset in himself and helped others do the same. Last year, he extended his reach to his Roadrunner family by hosting an Alumni Digital Conversation. He then joined the College of Business mentor program and the Alumni Advisor Network.

One of Faulhaber’s favorite volunteer activities is helping Introduction to Business students complete an assignment requiring them to speak with an alumnus working in the field. To date, he has conducted over 200 interviews.

Mindset for success

By Lynne Winter

When Mike Faulhaber mentors Metropolitan State University of Denver students, he emphasizes the importance of embracing a growth mindset — of aligning actions with goals. It’s an attitude he wishes he’d had during college.

“Early on, I had a fixed mindset,” said Faulhaber, a sales director at Mutual of Omaha and the University’s 2021 Alumni Volunteer of the Year. “When it came to college, AWARD-WINNING ROADRUNNER IS DEDICATED TO HELPING I was just trying to earn my degree and check that box.” OTHERS ALIGN THEIR ACTIONS

At 17, Faulhaber saw his plans to enlist in the WITH THEIR INTENTIONS. Marines and get married fall through. Instead, he joined the Marine Reserves to help pay for college at the University of Northern Colorado. But boot camp paused his education after one semester. A year later, he resumed classes at UNC. He joined a fraternity and the wrestling team, an experience he described as being a “throwing dummy for the varsity guys.”

“I’d already switched majors twice,” he said. “I had horrible study