Recent Outstanding Alumni
Deborah Butterfield is the PSFA 2010 Outstanding Alumnus
Deborah Butterfield is one of the world’s leading sculptures and teachers of fine arts, with a solid career and many honors to her credit. Born and raised in San Diego, she attended San Diego State College from 1966-68, and again from 1970-72 before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Davis and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1973. She worked as an instructor at Montana State University, Bozeman between 1979 and 1987. Her work has been exhibited across the U.S. and Europe and is widely collected by private individuals and museums. She has been commissioned to create site-specific sculptures by a number of significant museums and public sites.
Larry Thomas is the PSFA 2009 Outstanding Alumnus
Larry Thomas (’70, journalism) is a communications professional whose career has included positions as a print and broadcast reporter, a political press secretary and advisor to government leaders from San Diego and Sacramento to Washington, D.C., and a senior corporate communications executive. His award-winning work as a journalist and public relations practitioner has been broadly respected for four decades.
Cupcake Brown is the PSFA 2008 Outstanding Alumnus
Cupcake Brown was not born into a life of privilege, intellectual stimulation, or professional dynamics. Her younger years were not a model for achieving success; her youth was interrupted by violence and emotional turbulence. At 11, she regularly engaged in prostitution, drugs, and alcohol. By age 13, she had graduated to gang activities and street crime.
Most people would have been daunted by the hurdles she faced. Yet, despite enormous fear and grave self-doubt, Cupcake climbed the long, difficult, and steep ladder to transformation, sobriety, positive change, self-improvement, and triumph. Cupcake graduated from San Diego State University magna cum laude without a high school diploma or G.E.D., and attended the University of San Francisco School of Law. Author of the best-selling memoir A Piece of Cake, Cupcake speaks all over the country as an author, attorney and advocate, sharing the triumphs of her story and the power of a dream.
Jack Williams: PSFA Outstanding Alumnus 2006
Jack Williams (‘72, Speech Communication) was the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award. Mr. Williams recently retired as President and COO of Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises to pursue his philanthropic and humanitarian efforts. His work has benefited such organizations as the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Andre Agassi Foundation, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation from which he received the CFF’s highest honor, the “Breath of Life” Award.
Armen Keteyian: PSFA Outstanding Alumnus 2005
Seven-time Emmy Award winner Armen Keteyian (’76, Journalism) is widely regarded as one of the finest sports journalists in the country. Currently Mr. Keteyian is a special features reporter for CBS Sports in New York where, for the last seven years, he has covered top NFL games. He also regularly covers the NCAA Basketball Tournament and has anchored the network’s coverage of the Tour de France for the last four years. Since 1997 he has also been a featured correspondent for HBO Sport’s award-winning magazine show “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”
Prior to joining CBS and HBO, Mr. Keteyian worked as a network correspondent for ABC News. He wrote and reported more than 400 stories on a wide variety of sports-related issues for “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” “Nightline,” and other ABC News broadcasts. Mr. Keteyian also worked as a writer-reporter specializing in investigations for Sports Illustrated and has written or co-written nine books. He began his career as a sports and feature writer in San Diego, and is a native of Michigan.
MaryLee Sachs: PSFA Outstanding Alumna 2004
MaryLee Sachs (’81, Journalism), President and CEO of Hill and Knowlton USA, is PSFA’s Outstanding Alumna of the Year for 2003-04. Widely recognized as a leading professional in the field of public relations and marketing, Sachs spent 17 years overseas before returning to the US to become President and CEO of one of the largest public firms in the nation. During her extensive career, she has worked with many blue chip organizations such as Kellogg’s, Kodak, Proctor and Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, and Motorola.
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