So Who's in the PLU Chemistry Department These Days, Anyway?
Who are these people?  (The Answer at the end of this article.)

By Craig Fryhle
Professor and Chairperson
October 2000

    The last decade has been one of big changes in staffing for the PLU Chemistry Department. Some of you are no doubt familiar with many of the changes, but just so that everyone is up to date, here's a run down. In 1991 both Chuck Anderson and Fred Tobiason began phased retirement, followed in 1995 by Bill Giddings. In 1998 Burton Nesset retired, and in 1999 Laurence Huestis joined the retired ranks as well. Fortunately for the department, none of the retirees really left us for good, as you will see below. They have each taught courses and helped in other ways when the need has arisen due to sabbaticals or other circumstances. Sheri Tonn, though not able to be very active in day to day affairs of the Chemistry Department anymore, is anything but retired. Instead, her duties have migrated higher and higher in the administration over the years. After serving as Department Chairperson and then Dean of Natural Sciences, she became Dean of Information Resources (in charge of the Library and Computer Center), and within the last year, Sheri has moved up to become Vice President for Finance.

    And who has come to fill the vacancies left by all of these changes? Of the two positions vacated by Chuck Anderson and Bill Giddings, both organic chemists, only one was replaced due to the downsizing of PLU in the early 1990's. That replacement was me, having come in 1986 as ostensibly an early replacement for one of the anticipated organic retirements. Dean Waldow, a physical/polymer chemist, joined us as a new Assistant Professor in 1991 to fill Fred Tobiason's slot. With the retirement of Burton Nesset in 1998 and redirection of Sheri's time to higher administration, two new faces came on board, Stacia Rink and Jeff Schultz. Stacia is a bioorganic chemist with research interests in RNA technology, and Jeff is a biochemist who's research involves studying the effect of radicals on oxidative phosphorylation and the electron transport chain. The retirement of Laurence Huestis a year ago is bringing one more new face to the department - Kristy Mardis.  Kristy arrived this fall as a new physical chemist with interests in computational chemistry regarding drug and receptor design. She and Dean Waldow will share duties in our Physical Chemistry sequence, while Duane Swank shifts mainly from Physical Chemistry to Analytical Chemistry now that Larry has retired. In addition to assistance over the years from our retired faculty, temporary vacancies have been filled by Brenda Tjelta (1996-1998), Paul Frazey (1999-2000), and Jennifer Morford (spring 2000).

What Are the Retiree's Up To These Days?

    Chuck Anderson has enjoyed teaching part-time in the Open Lab during both semesters of 1999-2000, and he is teaching full-time again this fall as a sabbatical replacement for Duane Swank. He and Margie spent part of March 2000 on Oahu with their sons, Mark (PLU ‘82) and Peter (PLU ‘83), who teach architecture at the University of Hawaii but have their company office in Seattle. In June they traveled in Scandinavia with their sons and daughter, Kristen (PLU ‘78), who works for American Express in New England. They enjoyed the remarkable beauty of Norway and the opportunity to get to know many relatives there whom they had not previously met.

    Bill Giddings tried (in 1995) and tried (later in 1995) and tried (in 1998) to retire (yes, three times), but we wouldn't let him go until after the third attempt. His official retirement was in 1995, but he graciously came back to help us with several teaching assignments after that, until finally making a clean break to pursue his own endeavors in 1998. Since then he and Roxy have enjoyed being with their children and grandchildren, working on local community issues, and serving on various boards and committees. Bill continues to play the organ and sing with the St. Mark's Cathedral Complin Choir each Sunday evening in Seattle.

    Since Laurence Huestis's retirement in May 1999 after 38 years at PLU, he and Bonnie have enjoyed taking forays to the southwest and California for geological study, conferences, and visits with family, friends and alumni (including Gene LeMay, '61 and Ed Walters, '62). Larry will teach Mineralogy in January 2001 and accompany the Geosciences field trip next spring. While at home Larry continues work on mineral characterization using PLU's scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive detetector, and sings with the Normana Men's Chorus, PLU Chapel Choir, and choir of Summit United Methodist Church.

    Burton Nesset has been working on several papers based upon the "On Becoming Human" class taught at PLU. He and Jean continue to operate "Catalyst Cruises", with Burton as skipper of the Sacajawea. They enjoy taking passengers to ports of call well north of Seattle and into the waters of British Columbia. Some of their cruise guests link voyages on the Sacajawea with seaplane travel to or from the distant ports where the skipper and first mate can be found.

    Fred Tobiason and wife Dorothy are as hard to pin down on the map as ever. When not visiting children and grandchildren or tending to tree farms, Fred may be found doing research at the USDA lab in Louisiana, working on molecular modeling projects, manuscripts, helping with part-time teaching, and environmental issues at PLU, or doing consulting work with a local biotechnology startup firm. They drive most everywhere they travel so as to maximize their bird watching and photography opportunities

About the newer faculty in the department:

Kristy Mardis, Assistant Professor, earned her B.A. in chemistry and mathematics from Augustana College in 1993 and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1998. Kristy was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Carbohydrate Research, National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST).  While at Augustana she was honored to be their science student representative to the 1993 Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Sweden. Kristy was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 1998 until summer 2000. She joined the faculty at PLU August 2000 as an Assistant Professor. Her research interests are in computational chemistry relating to ligand-receptor interactions.

Stacia Rink, Assistant Professor, earned her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Puget Sound in 1985 and her Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from the University for Washington in 1994. She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MIT from 1994-1995 and at the University of Washington from 1995-1998. She joined the PLU chemistry faculty in 1998. Having completed a recent maternity leave, Stacia has been teaching introductory general chemistry for majors, organic chemistry laboratory, and helping with our seminar program. Her research interests are in RNA technology. Ask her about SELEX sometime.

Jeff Schultz, Assistant Professor, earned his B.A. in chemistry and biology from Valparaiso University in 1991 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from UCLA in 1997. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Alabama, Birmingham before coming to PLU in 1998. Jeff has been teaching majors level biochemistry, organic and biochemistry for nonmajors, and contributing to the Environmental Studies Program and university Freshman Year Program. He serves as the main faculty Advisor to our Chemistry Club. Jeff's research interests relate to biological oxidation and the role of antioxidants in metabolism.

Dean Waldow earned his B.A. with majors in chemistry, math and physics from Augustana College in 1984. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1898 in polymer chemistry, held a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from 1989-1991, and joined PLU in 1991. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998. Dean has been teaching physical chemistry, instrumental analysis, an advance course on polymers, and our seminar course. Dean's research involves studying the phase properties and dynamics of polymer blends.

And in the "Other/Older" Category (Those of us not mentioned so far)

Duane Swank completed 30 years of service to PLU in May 2000 and is still going strong. He was department chairperson for the last half of the 90s (after Sheri Tonn), and just completed a term on the Rank and Tenure Committee, having been chair of that committee in fall 1999. Duane is on sabbatical for the 2000 calendar year, continuing his work in computational chemistry and novel organocopper complexes. When Duane rejoins the teaching ranks next spring he will take over Analytical Chemistry as part of his regular teaching rotation, now that Larry Huestis has retired.

Sheri Tonn became Vice President for Finance at PLU in 1999, having moved up from her position as Dean of Information Resources.  Prior to that Sheri was Chairperson of the Chemistry Department and then Dean of Natural Sciences. Even with her other duties in recent years, Sheri taught Introduction to Research in spring 1999 and assists with the Environmental Studies Program. She continues to be active in grant writing, having recently secured funds with Doug Mandt (a private science education c) to continue their Laboratory Safety Workshops, begun some years ago through an Eisenhower Grant. As Dean of Natural Sciences she was instrumental in securing funding from the Kresge Foundation for equipment and networking in Rieke Science Center, and from the Murdock Charitable Trust for faculty and student summer undergraduate research.

Terry Nicksic continues to artfully manage the multifaceted operations of our stockroom. In recent years Terry has helped us clear out many old or unused reagents, supplies, and minor equipment and enhance service to students in our laboratory courses. The stockroom chemical inventory is computerized and accessible to PLU personnel via the web. Terry and Dean Waldow are working to enhance the capabilities of the web-based inventory even further. To help keep the stockroom running smoothly Terry supervises more than a dozen student workers each year, including those that clean the Open Lab and glassware each day, course "prep" workers, and those that staff the stockroom window during lab operations. In addition, Terry is the Division of Natural Sciences Chemical Hygiene Officer and represents the Division on the University Safety Committee.

Since fall of 1999 it has been my turn to be department chairperson, taking over from Duane at that point. During my sabbatical of 1993-1994 I worked with Heinz Floss at the University of Washington on enzyme mechanisms in the shikimic acid pathway. Since then I've continued molecular modeling work on metabolites and inhibitors of the shikimate pathway, and become increasingly involved in textbook writing. In 1998 I took a leave of absence to join Graham Solomons as coauthor of the 7th edition of Organic Chemistry (John Wiley and Sons, Inc.) Our book was published in the summer of 1999 and is now in use at many universities around the country and elsewhere.

Answer to who is in the photo at the beginning of this article:

Back row - Fred Tobiason, Bob Olsen, Bill Giddings, Chuck Anderson, Larry Huestis;
Front row - Duane Swank, Burton Nesset]

Now, do you know the date??