Class Notes Fall 2024 – The University of Utah Magazine

Six University of Utah alumni appeared in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Three alumna represented Canada in a sport that debuted in the 2020 Tokyo Games—3x3 Basketball. Michelle Plouffe BS’14 (who played for Utah Women’s Basketball from 2010-14) and Paige Crozon BS’17 BS’17 (2012-16 roster) made up half the four-member roster. This was Plouffe’s third Olympic Games, having previously played on Canada’s Women’s Basketball team in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Crozon is one of the top-ranked 3x3 players in the world. The Canadians were led by coach Kim Gaucher (née Smith) BS’06, who starred at the U from 2002-06 and was the first female athlete to have her jersey retired in the Jon M. Huntsman Center. She won conference player of the year awards in all her four seasons and was selected No. 13 overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft. Gaucher has previously participated as a player in three Olympic Games for Canada, including the 2012 Games in London, when she led the Canucks in scoring. In the end, Team USA beat Canada for the bronze in this year’s Summer Games. Simone Plourde BS’23, a standout middle-distance runner, represented Canada in the 1500m track event. Plourde ran for the U’s track team, as well as its cross-country team, from 2021-23 and holds five school records. In 2023, she won the Pac-12 title in the 1500m, and she recorded the second-fastest NCAA time in the 5000m event. She placed sixth in her heat of the women’s 1500m repechage round in these Games. Josefine Eriksen BS’24 competed in the 4x400m track relay for Norway. Eriksen set U records in four individual races and was part of three relay-team record runs. She finished the 2024 Games with a 52.30 split, which was fourth fastest among the lead runners. And finally, Team USA’s Alexis Lagan BS’17 came all fired up for her second Olympics, where she competed in the 10m air pistol event. Lagan graduated from the U with a degree in pre-law physics. At the collegiate level, she won a handful of national titles in women’s and mixed team events and earned a spot on several All-American teams. She competed in qualifying rounds at the Summer Games but missed the eight-person cut to move on to the final.

Chad Hogan BS’93 was a recent finalist for the Society of Professional Engineers Federal Engineer of the Year Award for his research on protective coatings of landing gear components. A lead principal engineer at Hill Air Force Base, Hogan estimates that his career efforts redesigning aircraft braking systems and landing gear structures have helped save the Air Force—and the American taxpayer—nearly $3 billion in aggregate lifetime savings and an estimated 70% reduction in operational failures.

Edgar Zúñiga Jr. BA’09 BA’09 is program director for KUUB (formerly KCPW), the new bilingual radio station owned by the University of Utah along with sister stations PBS Utah and KUER. Zúñiga recently finished an 18-month assignment in Europe as the Ukraine Communications Delegate for the American Red Cross. He worked as a journalist for NBCUniversal for 11 years, at both NBC News and Telemundo, before returning to Utah in 2020. Born in New York City to Colombian immigrants, Zúñiga moved to Utah as a child and grew up in a bilingual household. After earning degrees in mass communication and international studies at the U, he returned to New York to work for NBCUniversal. A two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, Zúñiga speaks eight languages, four of them with professional proficiency. He has served on the board of West View Media, a journalism nonprofit that covers the majority-minority neighborhoods of Salt Lake City’s West Side, and on the advisory board of PBS Utah, where he provided a voice for the state’s Latino communities.

Jess E. Jones BA’01 (MD and MBA, Columbia University) is the head of Health & Healthcare Industry for the World Economic Forum, helping facilitate public-private partnerships for equitable, affordable, and high-quality access to care. With 20 years of experience in health care, Jones previously served as a business strategy consultant for Fortune 500 companies and as a director of health care investments for an investment fund, and he has sat on multiple boards of biotech companies.

Lee Isaac Chung MFA’04 directed the summer blockbuster Twisters. He previously wrote and directed the award-winning semiautobiographical film Minari. (Read our feature article online in the Winter 2021 issue.) Chung also directed an episode of the hit TV series The Mandalorian in 2023. He taught film courses at the U’s Asia Campus in Incheon, South Korea, during the 2018- 19 academic year.

Meg Day PhD’15 is the 2024 Poet-in-Residence for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with the Academy of American Poets. In their new role, Day (who uses they/them pronouns) is presenting All Ears, a project highlighting Deaf poetry as visual art. All Ears will include readings by Deaf poets, responses in American Sign Language to works of art in the museum, and activations that capture the echoes, vibrations, and movement of the Guggenheim’s architecture. Day’s project aims to highlight Deaf poets as visual artists by welcoming them into the museum space in new ways; encourage the hearing-majority public to engage with ASL and Deaf sonics through unexpected encounters; and reorient visitors’ understanding of language and fluency as visible just as much as it is aural. Day is the author of Last Psalm at Sea Level, which received the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award. They are a recipient of the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship and an NEA fellowship in poetry, and their recent work can be found in Best American Poetry and The New York Times. Day is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

Karleton Munn MEd’11 (PhD, The Ohio State University) was recognized with the Maya Angelou Award of Innovation at the U Black Cultural Center’s 2024 Black Faculty and Staff Awards. Munn is associate director of advising at the Honors College. The awards spotlight individuals who exhibit excellence in their university positions and provide outstanding service and support to the campus community.

Clifford Sondrup BS’15 DDS’21 runs his own dental practice in Salt Lake, SunDrop Dental Clinic. He also works with elementary schools across the state to bring essential care to disadvantaged children. During his time at the U, he received the Lassonde Entrepreneurial award for student innovation for a device he made to help dentists work more efficiently with face shields during COVID-19.

Iasia Beh BS’19 (along with a doctor of law degree and certificates in dispute resolution and criminal law from Pepperdine University) is now a staff attorney with Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, defending parents in child abuse or negligence cases. As a court-appointed attorney in the largest child welfare system in the country, most of Beh’s clients are disenfranchised by poverty, race, and gender identity. She recently published a paper aimed at addressing issues with the policing system. Her mission is to advocate for the best interests of children and families and to promote justice and dignity for all.

River Murdock BS’21 founded Kawa Designs, a handmade bag brand based in Salt Lake City. Kawa Designs grew out of Murdock’s passion for crafting durable, outdoor-ready gear, which began during his high school years in Moab, Utah. Inspired by his experiences biking, canyoneering, and backpacking in rugged terrain, Murdock learned his craft using industrial sewing machines at a friend’s gear company. While at the U, he honed his sewing skills on the machines at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, where he was able to collaborate with other students to learn more about marketing. Named after the Japanese word for “river,” Kawa Designs’ current lineup includes custom-sized sling bags, panniers, backpacks, and more.

Monet Iheanacho MBA’20 was recognized with the James McCune Smith Award of Veneration at the U Black Cultural Center’s 2024 Black Faculty and Staff Awards, spotlighting individuals who exhibit excellence in their university positions and provide outstanding service and support to the campus community. Iheanacho helps manage critical care data for the National Emergency Medicine Services Information System and is a past cochair of Utah’s Black Affairs Summit.

In the wake of COVID-19 disruptions and facing the new threats of AI, writer and actor strikes, and other industry uncertainties, Rahul Barkley BA’21 BA’21 and Cayden Turnbow BA’23 created Post Credits, a film festival showcasing the work of recent U of U film school graduates. This year’s debut event featured screenings of five eclectic films (one feature and four shorts), a panel discussion with the directors and producers, and a networking session designed to facilitate connections between alumni, current U students, and industry professionals.

Since her first Winter Olympics appearance in 2022, when a crash left her just off the podium, speed skater Kristen Santos-Griswold BS’21 has medaled at every World Cup and set several new U.S. records. She was named to the 2024-25 Short Track National Team, giving her the opportunity to train with the full support of high-performance staff and resources, including access to Olympic- quality ice throughout the summer training season. Santos-Griswold was honored as the Olympic Female Athlete of the Year in the 2024 Utah State of Sport Awards.

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