

![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()

Website designed by
Liz Chesser '04 and
maintained by Sue Swanson.
Please direct any departmental questions
to Chair Carl Mendelson
Page Last Updated May 30, 2008
Contents Copyright 2001-5 Beloit College

Gerald (Chip) "Jökull" Johnson
'89, 2417 North Geneva Terrace, Chicago, IL 60614. email: gerald.johnson@aig.com
For the record, Nemetz's true geologic nickname is indeed "nematocyst",
but he was (is?) commonly refered to as "the biscuit".
After Beloit I enrolled at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Over the summers I worked for a now defunct mining exploration firm in central Idaho and Utah. I received my M.S. in Geology in 1992, and took a position with an environmental consulting firm in Wisconsin. The company grew rapidly and by 2000 we had grown from about 20 to over 300 employees. As the market began to sour, I was offered my current position with the insurance firm AIG in Chicago. I am currently one of three "engineers" fully assigned to price & evaluate Cleanup Cost Cap strategies for the firm.
In May of 2004 I married Jennifer Davis (now Jennifer Johnson)in Chicago. Jennifer's profession is in musical theatre. Together, we have our full compliment ofthe arts & sciences. If and when the children arrive, -they should be well prepared for that liberal arts education.
Dave "Nematocyst"
Nemetz '89, 825 Harrington Drive , Madison, WI 53718. Phone: (608) 223-1567,
email: dnemetz@madison.liesch.com
A.B. (After Beloit) I made the trek north to the U of MN for the MS degree.
I was fortunate to work as an intern for the USGS three summers and was
involved in a large study of the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer and ended
up a coauthor on a USGS WRI Report. After working for three years in the
Chicago area with an environmental consulting firm, I made to the decision
to move to Madison, WI to be part of a nondenominational church planting,
which was a fantastic experience. I have a similar job here as a senior
hydrogeologist and has come to include brownfield work. 2002 was a year
of great trips that included a first time visit to New Mexico (including
Bandelier and White Sands), backpacking in the Porcupine Mts. of the UP,
canoeing on the Wisconsin River, and camping at Wyalusing along the Mississippi
R bluffs. Give a call if you're ever in town! Lots of great restaurants
and music in Madison!
Dan "Acmite" Askren
'84, Department of Geology, Georgia Southwestern State University, Americus,
GA 31709. Phone: (229) 931-2329, website: http://vulcan.gsw.peachnet.edu/daskren/,
email: daskren@canes.gsw.edu
The web page looks nice. We're re-evaluating our Geology curriculum,
and I was poking around the web to see what changes you had made in recent
years.
John "Hangfire" Hanor
'84, 3206 Rendale Avenue, Richmond, VA 23221. Phone: 804-359-2322, email: jwhanor@mindspring.com
I was lucky and finished up my library research thesis on "A
Possible Meteorite Impact and Its Implications Concerning the Cretaceous/Tertiary
Boundary Extinctions" before it became part of our pop culture (I
read it again not too long ago...I think it still holds up ;-)
After that, I spent two years in Baton Rouge trying to find meaningful employment
Not having much luck back home, I moved up to Boston and joined a number of Beloit
grads who had migrated there and were living off the fruits of the Massachusetts
Miracle. After having spent those two years looking for work, I found a job in
about 30 minutes. Not bad. That initial job got me interview at the Federal Reserve
Bank
of Boston. I've been working for the Fed ever since (19 years!)
I've had a variety of jobs at the Fed (mostly analytical and dealing with internal policies and procedures). I spent a number of years traveling around New England and the mid-Atlantic (after moving to the Fed in Richmond, VA in 1996) giving talks and training seminars pertaining to Fed related payment services (mainly for banks and government agencies). I've had fun meeting and working with a lot of fine folks around the country within the Federal Reserve System, Treasury, Department of Defense, and banking industry.
So, what's my Geo background taught me? Given my experiences, I've noticed that you can go far in this world if you learn how to write, learn how to study an issue before jumping to a conclusion about how to resolve it, and learn how to articulate that conclusion clearly once you make it. Pretty basic stuff, but it's all at the core of a Beloit Geology degree. You'd be surprised how folks in the business world are missing those types of skills. The business world needs more Geologists!
In the meantime, for fun, I've started my own small business here at my house. I'm providing repair services for old guitar/bass tube amplifiers (Bongo Amps...long story about how I got the name). So, if you're nearby to Richmond and have an old Fender Deluxe, Vox AC30, or Ampeg Reverb Rocket that needs some TLC, let me know. We'll get it working again.
Suzanne (Suki) "Smectite"
Smaglik '84, 464 Lander Mountain Road, Lander, WY 82520. Phone: (307) 855-2146,
website: http://stars-cwc.cwc.edu/faculty/ssmaglik/ email:
ssmaglik@cwc.edu
Howdy, Leaky Booters! After many worldly adventures
(including 7 years in Hawaii) and several temporary positions, I've finally
settled down
and
am teaching geology and chemistry at Central Wyoming College (CWC) in
Riverton, WY (www.cwc.edu). In addition, I am the Program Advisor/
Coordinator for CWC's Leadership degree programs in Environmental
Science and Outdoor Education. These programs articulate with courses
from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Lander, WY. CWC
is a 2-year school that provides both general/liberal studies courses and
technical courses. Since there's only one university in the state,
many
students start out with smaller classes at CWC (or one of the other 6
state
2-year colleges).
In addition to teaching, my husband (Warren Ulmer) and I are caretakers of the CWC Field Station in the foot hills of the Wind River mountains. Our very spoiled dogs and sassy cat have 127 acres of land to roam on, when they're not greeting (and begging from) students taking courses at the Field Station.
We recently (finally!) bought a house on a few acres up at the edge of the National Forest. We'll spend the next few years remodelling and adding off-the-grid energy to it, so that we can finally call it our permanent home.
Our plans for moving from the Field Station into our mountain home have been put on hold for the next 16 months as Warren is being deployed with the National Guard, to serve in Iraq. The world just got a little smaller for us and we are very anxious for an end to this conflict.
If you ever find yourself travelling in the Wind River area, please feel free to look us up. We love having company.
John Mavrogenes '83, Research
School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra A.C.T.
Australia. Phone:
612 6125 3678, email: john.mavrogenes@anu.edu.au
Sarah Beutner (Mavrogenes) and I live in Canberra,
Australia. For the past
ten years I've been doing research (mainly experimantal) and teaching at
ANU. I was recently telling my nephew about my college experience and
told him that if hadn't stumbled into geology I probably would have
dropped out. But thanks to Chief and Stens I'm still in geology 20 years
later. Any Leaky Booters that find themselves in Australia should give us
a yell, we'd be glad to see you.
Amy "Ostracod" Ollendorf '83,
111 Pratt Street, Minneapolis, MN 55419. Phone: (612) 824-2845, email: ALORed61@mn.rr.com website:
http://www.aloeviro.com
Congratulations on a great-looking website, Leaky
Booters and Mendelsonites! Just wanted to update the listing for
me. I left HDR in late summer 2003 in search of a better corporate
fit. Landed at a small business for 1.5 years then just launched
my
own woman-owned small business in Feb. 2005. The independence is
unbeatable and the project load of environmental consulting gigs is
just about as much as one person can handle. Glad to see that some
of my cohorts are doing well across the country & I encourage other
alums to write in!
Michelle (Harper) Tripp '83, 6268 Magnolia Lane North, Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369. email: jmtripp_us@yahoo.com, phone: (763) 550-0837
I am currently the Global Talent Leader for Global Business Services, the consulting unit of IBM. My focus is workforce optimization, resource planning and HR transformation initiatives. I have been with IBM in a variety of HR, staffing, and resource planning roles for almost nine years. Right now I am traveling to NY often but expect to be in India and China in Jan/Feb timeframe. I love Big Blue and the high tech industry having spent the previous ten years at Computer Sciences Corporation, again focused on their consulting organization in a variety of staffing, recruiting and resource planning roles. Things have come full circle for Ted (Beloit '82) and I as our oldest child (daughter Kyla)visited Beloit this summer and is currently working on her college applications with Beloit at the top of her colleges short-list. I visited the campus with her in June, ran into Carl Mendelson and took a very nostalgic stroll around the campus (which looked great in spite of the yards of tape around the construction zone.) We're hoping to come by again this fall or early next year as she completes her search. Would love to hear from others - drop me an email.
Bill "Trail Blazer" Roman
'81, RD 2 Box 254, Newport, PA 17074. Phone: (717)582-2676, email: wroman@gfnet.com
Lately, I've been working on dam foundation grouting
projects. I spent eight months of the past year in French Lick in southern
Indiana where I assisted a Canadian company (Advanced Construction Techniques)
on the Patoka Lake Seepage remediation project. Here's the address of a
USACE newsletter with some of the details and a picture of me (the unidentified
contractor). http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/aug01/story22.htm
. I am back in Pennsylvania now and happy to be home with my family. Happy
Holidays and Happy Trails, Bill Roman, 1981