Alumni Last Name: T-Z
Name: Karen C. Rhodes Taggart
Graduation Year: 1975
Degree: BS Textile Science
Biography: Karen graduated in 1975 with a B.S. degree in Textile Science. She moved to San Diego and worked for three years as a Bridal manager for I.Magnin. She then moved to Santa Monica and worked at Hopsital Billing for 3 years. After this she moved to Fair Oaks, CA where she did volunteer for 5 years and for the past years has rasied 2 children. She is considering going back to get a ECE degree to work in preschools and lower grades. She is also thinking of possibly getting a part-time job at Nordstrom, possibly as a personal shopper.
Name: Connie Taxiera
Graduation Year: 1974
Degree: BS Textile Science
Biography: Connie is a 1974 graduate of Textiles Science at UCD. She currently lives in Davis with her husband of 25 years. They rasied Anne (19) and Mike (22), now both in college. After graduation, Conniw managed stores for a Buyer of womens lingerie, jewelry and domestics for Wingers, a wholesale representative for Ocean Pacific. She has always has a passion for fabric and her sewing machine which brought her to making quilts and teaching in a Davis quilting store. Three years ago she became a member of The Artery - an Artisit Cooperative in Davis where she sells her current Art - fabric bowls and vases. Her art work is represented in three Northern California galleries, and shown in numberous exhibitions.
Name: Krista Turlea (Carville)
Graduation Year: 2000
Degree: BS Textiles and Clothing
Biography: Krista is a 2000 graduate of the TXC department at UC Davis who is currently moving to Australia to pursue a Masters of Applied Commerce in Operations Management at the University of Melbourne. Classes begin in February 2006 for a duration of 2 years. Krista has a husband, Gabriel, also a Davis graduate (BS Genetics, 1998), and their 2-year old son, Marius. She has been working as an Operations Manager for a retail display design firm in Palo Alto, CA for the past 3.5 years. Previous positions at two start-ips and a textile testing lab are also part of her background.
Name: Diana Elizabeth Vail
Graduation Year: 1989
Degree: BS Textiles and Clothing
Biography: Diana is a 1989 graduate of the UC Davis Textiles and Clothing department who currently lives in Sacramento, CA with her husband of two years, Frank, and son Jack (7 months). Immediately following her UCD graduation, she went into the Weinstocks management training program. During the 2 years at Weinstocks she managed the junior, lingerie and women's departments. She then went back to school and got a paralegal certiciate and worked in a law firm. After realizing there wasn't enough creativity in law, she became and administrative assistant and then an event coordinator for the UC Davis Law School. She then moved on to become an event coordinator for the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis. She has been there over 6 years and has earned the Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) designation.
Name: Jane (Hagenzieker) Williams
Graduation Year: 1978
Degree: BS Home Economics
Biography: Jane earned her B.S. in Home Economics in 1978. She currently resides in Alameda, in the Bay Area, with her sons, Glenn (16), and Nicky (14). Upon graduation with UCD, she moved to San Francisco where she worked for Levi Strauss, in a textile testing lab, which she has visited on a Textiles and Clothing fieldtrip. Eventually, she found her niche in Computer Aided Design, specifically related to patternmaking, grading and marking. With the advent of the personal computer, these CAD systems became more affordable, and she left Levis to work for several smaller manufacturers, setting up these systems, and intergrating cimputerization into their production. She moved to New York, where her sons were born, continuing to work for small firms, including a bullet proof best manufacturer. She returned to the Bay Area and Levi Strauss in 1996. For the past two years she has been pursuing a carrer as an elementary school teacher. She is currently enrolled in a multiple subject credential program. She is a substitute teacher, tutor, and freelance technical designer for various companies in the Bay Area, including Gap, Mervyns, and Biscotti Inc.
Name: Sandy (Polak) Wise
Graduation Year: 1981
Degree: BS Textile Science
Biography: Sandy is a 1981 Textile Science graduate of UC Davis Textiles and Clothing department who currently lives north of Los Angeles (Thousand Oaks) with her husband (Larry) of 12 years and 2 boys, Gregory (11) and Adam (7). After a short stint working at various jobs in Davis after graduation, Sandi moved to the Los Angeles area working for The Olga Company in a variety of management positions, including Quality Control and Manufacturing/Operations Planning. While at Olga she earned her Master in Business Administration from UCLA (1989) and left Olga to pursue a career in consulting with Coopers and Lybrand, management consulting division. She worked on manufacturing consulting projects around the country and the world. After getting married she started her own consulting practice. The arrival of Gregory and Adam left Sandi to pursue a new career at home, including a medical billing business that allows her to stay home with the boys and earn a living at the same time. Life is great!