Class Notes

Bob R. Covey ’69
Cypress, was elected first vice president of the Texas Association of School Boards.

Karen Hames ’72
Lewisville, has been elected 2021-2022 president by the Association of Texas Professional Educators. Hames is currently an eighth grade English language arts and reading teacher at Griffin Middle School with the Lewisville ISD.

Gil Dominguez ’74, ’00
San Antonio, has published his third book, This Used to Be San Antonio (Reedy Press). The book consists of some 200 vignettes and photos of historic structures and sites that made San Antonio what it is today. He previously wrote They Answered the Call: Latinos in the Vietnam War and It Happened in San Antonio.

Mary T. Barton ’78
Chesterfield, Missouri, retired as St. Louis County, Missouri, police chief after 43 years as a commissioned police officer.

Dr. Marsha Wills-Karp ’80, ’82
Baltimore, Maryland, has been appointed a Bloomberg Centennial Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the Anna M. Baetjer Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and the chair of the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Whiting School of Engineering.

Manuel Garza Jr. ’84
Baytown, retired after a 37-year career teaching music. He was the director for the Horace Mann Junior School band in Goose Creek CISD.

Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp ’88
Yokota Air Base, Japan, assumed command of the U.S. Forces Japan and 5th Air Force following his nomination to lieutenant general by President Joe Biden. He was previously commander of the Air Force District of Washington, D.C., and director of operations at the U.S. Transportation Command.

Dr. Deena Bishop ’90
Anchorage, Alaska, is retiring as superintendent of schools in Anchorage at the end of the school year after serving the district for five years. She moved to Alaska  at age 20 after graduating from Texas State.

Darin Kasper ’90
Midlothian, is the new deputy superintendent of Midlothian ISD. He was previously the principal at San Antonio’s Frances R. Scobee Middle School for 10 years.

Debbie Gillespie ’91
Frisco, is the new president-elect of the Texas Association of School Boards. She has served on the Frisco ISD board since 2011.Cheryl Keene ’92San Marcos, has been named director of accounting by McCoy’s Building Supply.

James Valenzuela ’93
Durham, North Carolina, has joined Tergus Pharma as chief operations officer. He was previously a vice president with Jubilant Pharmaceutical.

Tim Lowke ’94
Round Rock, has been named director of fine arts–visual arts for Round Rock ISD. Lowke has served as the assistant director of visual performing arts since 2015 and was named Texas Educator of the Year in 2018 by the National Art Education Association.

Benjy Green ’96
Prosper, has been named Texas market president of AmeriHealth Caritas, a leader in healthcare solutions. 

Col. Danford Bryant II ’98
Frederick, Maryland, has been named commander of the Fort Detrick U.S. Army Garrison. A graduate of Texas State's ROTC program, Bryant attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Wendy Rodriguez ’99
Austin, has been appointed deputy commissioner of the Texas Department of Banking. She was previously the agency’s chief operating officer. Rodriguez is a member of the Finance & Economics Advisory board at the McCoy College of Business Administration.

Rodney Clark ’00
Grand Forks, North Dakota, is the associate vice president for public safety and chief of police at the University of North Dakota. He previously served as chief of police at Wichita State University.

Heather H. Jobe ’00
Dallas, has been named to the 2022 Best Lawyers in America list. She is a senior counselor with Bell Nunnally, Attorneys & Counselors and earned her juris doctor degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law.

Dr. Travis Mutscher ’00, ’ 07, ’ 18
Round Rock, is the area superintendent of the Stony Point Learning Community.

Scott Metzger ’01
Maui, Hawaii, has joined Maui Brewing Company as its chief operating officer. He was the founder and CEO of San Antonio-based Freetail Brewing Company.

Heath Walz ’01
Round Rock, was named principal of Ridgeview Middle School. He was previously associate principal of Cedar Ridge High School.

Dr. Erin Clair ’02
Russellville, Arkansas, is the 2021 recipient of the Jerry G. Gaff Faculty Award in the emerging campus leader category at Arkansas Tech University. She is an associate professor of English and the director of college operations for the College of Arts and Humanities.

Courtney Wheeler ’02
Lebanon, Tennessee, has been named vice president for advancement at Cumberland University.

Rita Garcia ’06 
Houston, joined ABC13/KTRK-TV Houston as the morning news anchor. She was previously a host of “Good Day LA” on FOX-11 in Los Angeles.

Erika A. Aguilar ’07
Los Angeles, California, has been named executive producer for “Morning Edition” and “Up First” on NPR.

Calynn Perkins ’10
Conroe, was named assistant principal at Bear Branch Intermediate in Magnolia ISD.

Dr. Gaylon Davenport ’11
Houston, is the principal of Roosevelt Elementary School in Houston ISD. He was previously dean of instruction at Foerster Elementary.

Alanna Sarabia ’11
San Antonio, has joined KENS-5 television. She previously worked for WFAA in Dallas.

Lauren Surley ’12
San Marcos, was named the director of communications and intergovernmental relations for the city of San Marcos.

Anyssa Bohanan ’13
Fort Myers, Florida, is anchoring the weekend news for Waterman Broadcasting, ABC7. She previously worked in TV news in Bend, Oregon.

Gabe Cazares ’15
Houston, was appointed by President Joe Biden to head the U.S. AbilityOne Commission. Cazares is director of the Office for People with Disabilities for the city of Houston.

Daniel Anderson ’16
San Angelo, has been appointed director of University Theatre at Angelo State University where he has been a faculty member since 2018.

Michael Comer ’16
Victoria, is the offensive coordinator for Warriors football at Victoria West High School.

Lyra Foster ’17
Atlanta, has joined Hawkins Parnell & Young, a national litigation firm. She provides pro bono legal services focusing on criminal justice, LGBTQ issues, and human rights.

Rocky Hopson ’17
Wichita Falls, is teaching directing, play analysis, and theatre appreciation at Midwestern State University.

Annalise Caudle ’18
Oxford, Mississippi, is the instructional assistant professor of lighting design at the University of Mississippi.

Carlos Swonke ’18
Austin, has joined HNTB Corporation as a national practice consultant. Swonke is the former director of environmental affairs for the Texas Department of Transportation.

Anna Uzele ’18
New York, is co-starring in the hit Broadway musical Six— about King Henry VIII’s wives.

Jacob Burns ’19
New York, is touring the western United States in a production of Hamilton.

Chris Clark ’19
Plano, has returned to his role in the national touring company of Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville.

Vince Fitzpatrick ’19
Bastrop, is head coach for girls’ varsity soccer at Cedar Creek High School. He was previously assistant coach of the tennis and freshman football teams.

Alexandra Hildebrandt ’19
Austin, has been named vice president of information services for Campus Advantage (CA), an industry leader in student housing property management. She joined CA in 2007.