 Success
After Graduation
Carolyn Shoemaker (B.A., history, '49;
M.A., credential, '50) is the world's most successful living
"comet hunter." She has achieved worldwide recognition in
her field as a planetary astronomer with the discovery of
800 asteroids and 32 comets. Shoemaker is a research scientist
at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
W. Gary Sitton (B.S., marketing, '66; M.S.,
computer science, '68) is the retired CEO of SunGard Bi-Tech
Software, a multimillion-dollar financial and administrative
software company he co-founded in Chico in 1981. Sitton, who
earned a Ph.D. in computer science, was a professor of computer
science at CSU, Chico for 16 years.
Rusty Areias (B.S., agriculture, '74) has
served as director of California Department of Parks and Recreation
since 1999. From 1983 to 1994, he was a California assemblyman.
During the 1970s, Areias managed the 6,000-acre Areias Dairy
in California's Central Valley.
Antoinette Procopio (B.S., mathematics,
'78) is a spacecraft manager at Boeing Satellite Systems,
leading teams working on satellite programs. Procopio began
her 24-year career in aerospace as one the first female engineers
to perform integration and testing of communication satellites.
Mike Thompson (B.A., public administration
and economics, '82; M.A., public administration, '86) has
been a congressman for California's First District since 1998.
He served as a California senator for eight years.
Dianne Badoud McKay (B.S., marketing, '82)
is CEO of Strategic Television, a satellite transmission company,
in Thousand Oaks, California. Clients include ABC, Dick Clark
Productions, Discovery Network, HBO, and MTV.
Matt Olmstead (B.A., English and B.A.,
journalism, '88) is a writer and executive producer for the
TV show NYPD Blue. After graduation, Olmstead moved
to Hollywood and, four years later, sold his first film script.
Rebecca Hanks (B.A., journalism and B.A.,
political science, '99) is press secretary for the U.S. Senate
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, chaired by
Senator John McCain. Hanks worked on McCain's presidential
campaign in 1999, became McCain's deputy press secretary,
and then press secretary in January 2002, before holding her
current position.
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