About Us
Gary McLean
Project Co-manager, City of Puyallup City Manager
Mark Hoppen
Project Co-manager, City of Puyallup Deputy Development Services Administrator
Mark Hoppen has been the Deputy Development Services Administrator for the City of Puyallup since October, 2006. Prior, he was City Administrator for the City of Gig Harbor from 1992-2006. From 1975-1992 he served with Peninsula, Tahoma, Federal Way and University Place school districts as a secondary teacher, coach and administrator. He is a native of Gig Harbor and graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in English, an M.P.A. in Public Administration, and from Seattle University with an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. He is currently a member of the Washington State Public Works Board and member of the Tacoma Narrows Airport Advisory Board.
Mark Higginson
Project Co-manager, City of Puyallup Civil Engineer
Mark Higginson is the Civil Engineer at the City of Puyallup responsible for stormwater management. He develops and manages stormwater project designs, prepares specifications, supervises field inspectors, and coordinates permit requirements. He is responsible for the review and approval of private and public stormwater facilities within the City. Prior to his service with the City, Higginson worked as a construction manager actively managing subcontracts, project schedules, and contract documentation. He has extensive experience working with project team members including owners, engineers, architects, and contractors. Projects include the Washington State Legislative Building Rehabilitation-Olympia; 30-story Elliot Grand Hyatt-Seattle; SeaTac Parking Garage Expansion-SeaTac; Fort Lewis Whole Barracks Renewal and Battalion Barracks Renewal-Fort Lewis, Boeing 777 Expansion-Everett as well as others. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University.
Jon Newkirk
Project Co-manager, WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Director
Jon Newkirk is Director of the Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center. He previously served as a member of the Executive Staff of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and managed the Department’s $52 million budget, as well as the Department’s personnel, rural development, farmland preservation, and environmental protection activities. He has Masters and PhD degrees in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University with a specialization in transportation economics. Since joining WSU in 1990, he has served as County Chair of the Spokane and Adams Counties WSU Extension offices, and also serves concurrently with his WSU Puyallup responsibilities as Director of the WSU Extension Western Center for Risk Management Education. He has received, directed, and managed more than $13 million in federal grants since joining WSU.
Curtis Hinman
Project Co-manager, WSU faculty with a focus on Low Impact Development
Curtis Hinman is Associate Professor with Washington State University Extension and Adjunct Faculty with WSU Department of Natural Resource Sciences. He directs water resource programs for WSU Extension in Pierce County to protect water quality and aquatic habitat in Puget Sound basin. Hinman is the author of the “Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound” and the “Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington Homeowners”. He is researching, designing and monitoring various low impact development strategies applicable in western Washington, as well as serving on advisory committees that develop regional stormwater management policy and identify funding and research needs. Hinman earned a B.S. degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning (specializing in lake ecology and water resource management) from University of California Davis. He holds a Masters of Science degree with a concentration in stream ecology and watershed management from the Yale University.
Rita L. Hummel
Project Collaborator, WSU faculty, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, specializing in Environmental Horticulture
Rita L. Hummel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at Washington State University-Puyallup. She is part of the project design/implementation team for bioretention areas. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Botany and Horticulture, and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Horticulture from the University of Minnesota. Hummel specializes in research and teaching in Environmental Horticulture with emphasis on the improvement of cultural practices for the production and landscape establishment of nursery and greenhouse plants. Her program also emphasizes research in the areas of new plant development, cold hardiness physiology and strategies for producing structurally sound root systems in woody plants. Before coming to WSU in 1985, she taught courses on landscape management, plant materials and residential landscape horticulture at the University of Florida and the University of Minnesota. Hummel is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Environmental Horticulture, is a member of the Scientist Advisory Panel for the American Nursery and Landscape Association’s Horticulture Research Institute and has numerous publications in the scientific literature. She served as the President of the Landscape Plant Development Center from 1991 to 1997, is currently a member of the UDSA United States Plant Hardiness Zone Map Technical Review Team and has been an Honorary Member of the Washington state Nursery and Landscape Association since 1988. In addition, she participates in extension and public outreach activities related to her research by speaking to grower groups, presenting seminars, and contributing articles to extension and trade publications.
Eric Miltner
Project Collaborator, WSU faculty, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, specializing in turfgrass and environment interactions
Eric Miltner is an Associate Research Agronomist, specializing in turfgrass/environment interactions. He is part of the project design/implementation team for bioretention cell specifications and construction, and will conduct water quality monitoring in the cells and subsequent analysis of bioretention cell construction. He will also help select construction variables (infill mixes and grass species) and coordinate the evaluation of performance. Previous experience includes monitoring bioretention cells and bioswales for effectiveness in filtering fertilizer nutrients, and monitoring runoff of fertilizers and pesticides into salmon-bearing streams in urban environments. He has designed and evaluated seeding mixtures for reduced input golf course maintenance, and conducts research in organic fertilizer use in turf. Miltner has a Ph.D. in Crop Science from Michigan State University, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Agronomy from the University of Georgia.
Andrew I. Bary
Project Collaborator, WSU faculty, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, specializing in soils in agricultural and urban areas
Andrew Bary is a Senior Assistant Scientist, specializing in the measurement of soil and crop response in agricultural and urban settings with emphasis on soil chemical and physical properties and on organic nitrogen mineralization. He has an A.A.S. from Alfred Agricultural and Technical College in Agronomy and Environmental Protection, a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science from the University of Idaho and an M.S. in Agronomy from Washington State University. He has published 17 refereed journal articles, four extension publications, and 30 other publications and received awards from the American Society of Agronomy for Educational Materials and the Washington Organic Recycling Council for Achievement in the Field of Recycling Research. Bary conducts research related to grant funded activities in agricultural utilization of different waste products including biosolids, composts and animal wastes. His additional relevant responsibilities include the development, design, and preparation of grant proposals, management of grant budgets, statistical analyses, and supervision of field and time-slip personnel. He communicates with grantors regarding progress and prepares abstracts, posters, manuscript drafts and reports to granting agencies. Bary also conducts outreach and education to other faculty and the public.
Dory Clausnitzer
Project On-site Operations Manager, WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Facilities Services Manager
Dory Clausnitzer is the Facilities Service Manager at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center and brings over 30 years of experience in construction and the trades to the Project Team. He has also spent over five years as a General Contractor in both residential and light commercial construction. He has worked at the Puyallup Center for 26 years and is familiar with the WSU site and the existing stormwater system. Clausnitzer possesses extensive knowledge of interpreting blueprints, the bidding process, working with engineers, contractors and permitting procedures. He supervises a staff of twelve highly skilled and competent members of the WSU Puyallup Facilities Maintenance Operations Team who have the skills to install, maintain, and sustain major portions of this retrofit using Low Impact Development technologies.
Dick Johnson
Project On-site Water Systems Specialist, WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Construction and Maintenance
Dick Johnson is the WSU Puyallup Construction and Maintenance Project Specialist, specializing in plumbing and flow systems. Johnson has 30 years of experience in the plumbing trades including: public water systems; septic systems, well drilling; metal trades pipefitting; residential and commercial plumbing systems; steam fitting. He is actively involved in setting up and maintaining monitoring and analysis work at the Puyallup Center, including farm water and manure irrigation system design, construction, maintenance, laboratory equipment installation and maintenance with sensitivity to research methods. Johnson has demonstrated ability in the practice of campus sustainability in building maintenance technologies with economical application in heating and plumbing; implementing, installing, maintaining and testing backflow prevention, building "Rain Gardens" for demonstration of a roof rainwater detention system and using porous asphalt in a current project.
Gary Wells
Project University-relations Advisor, WSU University Project Advisor
Gary Wells has been with Washington State University for the last 22 years and is currently a project officer with the University Facilities Operations Department. During that period he managed the preparation of project contract documents (construction plans and specifications) for Facilities Operations public works projects most of which related to water and sewer system improvements. He also managed contracts for the preparation of studies and plans for upgrades to the Pullman campus sewer and water systems. Prior to employment at the University, Gary was a project engineer at a consulting firm for 11 years, where he managed the preparation of studies, plans and contract documents for numerous sewer and treatment system improvements that served small communities. Gary has a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University and a M.S. degree in sanitary engineering from the University of Missouri. He is a registered civil engineer in Washington and Idaho.
TanyaLee Erwin
Project Coordinator, WSU Administrative and Research Associate
Tanyalee Erwin is a recent Masters of Science graduate from Washington State University. She focuses on sustainability in communities and natural resource management. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Washington, a B.A. in Economics/Urban Planning from Northwestern University and an M.B.A in Marketing and Management from Pacific Lutheran University. Prior to joining the Director’s office at the Puyallup Center, she managed alternate delivery, administration, information systems and customer service departments at The News Tribune. Erwin is a published writer and has been active in developing wetlands restoration, sustainability and climate change initiatives and programs for WSU.
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