Class of 72 (Attended U-High 68-69)

E-mail:  ckniazewycz@ucmerced.edu

1378 Tamarack Creek Court
Merced, CA 95340
home: (209) 383-7898
work:  (209) 724-4486

Married B. George Kniazewycz 1980
Children: Caitlin, 1982, Theodore (Ted) 1984, Diana 1991

Graduated from Redwood High School, Larkspur, CA (home of Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia) 1972
A.B. in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1976
Master of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1986
Licensed Architect, State of California

In July 2003 I started a new job as Senior Project Director for Physical Planning at the new University of California, Merced campus.   I manage capital projects for the University from concept through design and construction, and beyond.  I've spent the previous ten years first managing projects at UC Berkeley, then greenlighting capital projects in the UC systemwide Budget Office, becoming steeped in the arcana of UC and state politics, project approval processes, and budgeting--a great experience base to use in building the first new research university of the 21st century here in rural Merced, California.  Earthmovers roam the former pastureland outside my construction trailer window as I write this in September 2003.  In a few weeks, structural steel will begin to rise from the sites of our first three academic buildings; we will welcome our first cohort of 1,000 undergraduates in 2005.

It was a big decision for our family to uproot ourselves from our longtime home, Walnut Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area, to move 100 miles to Merced in the San Joaquin Valley (the "Big Valley" to those who remember the old TV show).  But it's the opportunity of a lifetime to help build UC's first new campus in forty years--probably our last new one before I retire, if not in my lifetime.  It's also a bit like coming home for this Iowa City native to live in a university town not unlike Iowa City.  Dairy farms and cornfields abound here in Merced County and I pass cotton and tomato fields, grazing land filled with Holsteins (and a trio of hogs at one homestead) on my 10-minute daily commute to and from the job site.

My husband George is a nuclear and chemical engineer who has his own business manufacturing high-tech industrial waste filtration equipment.  Our daughter Caitlin is a junior at San Jose State University, majoring in interior design.  Our son Ted enters UC Santa Barbara's School of Engineering this fall, and our daughter Diana attends 7th grade here in Merced.

I would love to hear from former U-High classmates if you feel inclined to write or call.  And if you ever visit Yosemite National Park, you might just be coming through Merced to get there--if so, come see us!

Catherine R. Kniazewycz
Senior Project Director, Physical Planning
University of California, Merced

Phone (209) 724-4486
Address: P.O. Box 2039, Merced, CA 95344
Fax (209) 724-4468