1990s

Maria Elena Beltran J.D. ’90, Worden, was honored by the Montana State University-Billings Alumni Association with a 2017 Outstanding Alumni Award-Recognition for Exceptional Achievement. Beltran, who grew up as the daughter of migrant workers who settled in Montana’s Yellowstone Valley, taught herself English in grade school and later overcame extraordinary challenges to enroll at what was then called Eastern Montana College. After earning her law degree from UM, she worked as a poverty law attorney, helping to improve the lives of migrant and seasonal farm workers. At 83, she still works as an attorney in private practice and represents clients for the Office of the State Public Defender and also takes on family law cases, many pro bono. She has been hailed as “the Mother Teresa of the legal profession in Montana” for her efforts.

Paul Makela M.S. ’90, Boise, Idaho, the wildlife management program lead at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s Idaho State Office, was recognized in March with two back-to-back awards. At the annual meeting of the Idaho Chapter of The Wildlife Society, he received the Charles E. Harris Professional Wildlifer Award, which recognizes professionals in wildlife management for outstanding contributions to Idaho’s wildlife resources and their promotion of public understanding of significant wildlife management accomplishments in Idaho. At the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, he was presented with the BLM’s national Linda Seibert Career Achievement Award in Conservation, which recognizes significant contributions in the field of fish, wildlife and/or botanic resources over the course of one’s career. During his career, Makela has worked extensively in sage grouse and sagebrush steppe conservation, including habitat restoration, conservation planning, state and national level BLM policy, training and sage grouse habitat assessment protocol development.

Laura Lantz ’93, Meridian, Idaho, is the executive director of the Idaho Society of Certified Public Accountants. She joined the agency in June after eight years with the Idaho Association of Highway Districts, including the past four years as associate director.

Tim Orr ’93, Anchorage, Alaska, is a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Volcano Observatory. Before heading north, Orr spent more than a decade as a researcher at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, where he was instrumental in developing its modern webcam network and time-lapse camera systems to track volcanic activity. He also employed an innovative technique to merge aerial imagery captured during overflights, enabling scientists to produce maps of active lava flows without having to walk many miles over rough and hazardous terrain.

Caroline Patterson M.F.A. ’93, Missoula, published “Ballet at the Moose Lodge,” a collection of short stories, last spring. The 16 stories explore what it is to grow up female in the American West. As her narratives reveal the lives of travelers, homemakers, radio show announcers, mothers,teachers, dancers, shop clerks and the subterranean world of girls, they take the reader from a ferry dock in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, to a two-room school in the Bitterroot Valley; from brash, backpacking college students to young new mothers on the edge; from the 1920s to the 1990s.

Joe Bergsieker ’96, Batavia, Ill., is regional vice president-sales of BBB Industries, a premier manufacturer and distributor of vehicle aftermarket replacement parts, including starters, alternators, brake calipers and power steering products. Before joining BBB Industries, Bergsieker served more than 20 years in sales and marketing roles with Bosch.

Gypsy Hoover Ray ’96, Polson, has served as the executive director of the Lake County Community Development Corporation since 2015, and she was recently named president of the Rotary Club of Polson. She and her husband, JB, enjoy their life at the lake and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in July. Their son, John, is pursuing a professional rugby career, and their daughter, Morgan, plays softball at Ohio State University.

Heidi Wright M.B.A. ’98, Salem, Ore., is the chief operating officer of EO Media Group, which owns nearly a dozen newspapers in Oregon. As COO, Wright directs the business operations of EO Media Group and supervises publishers and corporate staff.

Kacey KC ’99, Carson City, Nev., is the first female to serve as the Nevada Division of Forestry’s Acting State Forester. She was appointed to the role in April after serving as a deputy administrator for the agency. Before joining NDF in 2002, KC served in the Peace Corps as a community forester in Nepal. There, she worked with local groups and helped develop plans to manage land in areas where forests were degraded by landslides.

Ingunn Stromnes ’99 received a 2017 Pancreatic Cancer Action Network –American Association for Cancer Research Career Development Award, designed to attract and support early-career scientists as they conduct pancreatic cancer research. As a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center at the University of Washington, Stromnes previously developed a novel and promising immunotherapy by genetically engineering T-cells to infiltrate and attack pancreatic cancer without the toxic side effects of chemotherapy. Now a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, she and her lab will use the $200,000 grant to continue to push the boundaries of cellular engineering to create safe and effective immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer.