Stephen McFeely (M.A. English, ’96) was co-writer, with Christopher Markus (M.A., English, ’96), of the just-released movie "Avengers: Endgame.” The two met at UC Davis in the creative writing program. They've written scripts for the "Captain America" films, the "Chronicles of Narnia" movie franchise, and won an Emmy for their screenplay of HBO movie, "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers."
The debut novel by Maria Kuznetsova (M.A., English, '11) was published in March 2019 by Spiegel & Grau/Random House. OKSANA, BEHAVE! is a coming-of-age story about a young woman whose family has emigrated from Ukraine to Florida. Kuznetsova, a native of Ukraine, also received an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her writing has been published in The Threepenny Review, The Normal School,The Bennington Review, The Iowa Review and Indiana Review.
Debra A. “Debby” Stegura (B.A., mass communications and political science, ’79), immediate past president of the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association, will soon be representing all UC graduates as an alumni regent.
Rene Olivas (B.A., anthropology, '97) is a special agent with the fraud detection office in the U.S. Office of Inspector General, Department of Justice. Last year, Olivas won the Inspector General’s Award for Fraud Prevention and completed an investigation of a former Department of Justice trial attorney accused of stealing and attempting to sell sensitive, sealed court documents. In November he received a Law Enforcement Award from the U.S.
Matt Mason (M.A., English, ’94) has been named state poet of Nebraska. Mason’s duties during his five-year term will include giving public presentations and readings, leading workshops and discussions, and providing outreach at schools, libraries and literary festivals across the state.
When Marianna Daniel returned to college after more than a half-century, she faced language, health and mobility challenges. But the immigrant Californian surmounted them all to finish her second bachelor’s degree — this one in history from UC Davis — at age 84.
Heidi Sanborn (B.A., political science - public service, ’92) was sworn in Jan. 17 as a member of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s board of directors.
Austin Sendek (B.S. physics, ‘12) was named to Forbes annual 30 Under 30 list of individuals making an impact in the field of energy. Sendek founded his own company, AIONICS, which develops machine learning platforms for accelerating new battery designs.
