2013 Hall of Fame
Celebrating the success of graduates from NAU’s Social and Behavioral Sciences
Northern Arizona University and the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences enjoys sharing stories of our graduates who have gone on to make a difference in the world.
Joe Cardone
1969 BS Political Science
Joseph Cardone was one of the principal partners in Sandstorm Films, a Los Angeles-based film and television production company with a first look deal at Screen Gems, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. He has over 35 years of experience in the business of film production and distribution. He has written 23 produced scripts, directed 12 feature films and executive produced many more, which have all been distributed by major studios on a worldwide basis. Two of those films were number-one box office hits, and four others were multi-award winners on the film festival circuit.
Joseph and his wife Carol Kottenbrook, who was also a principal partner in Sandstorm Films, live in Flagstaff. Both hold B.S. degrees from Northern Arizona University, where they were awarded a Distinguished Centennial Alumni Award in 1998 for their dedication to mentoring NAU students pursuing a career in the film industry. In 2009 Joseph was awarded a Community Partner Award for continuing service to the University. In 2012, Cardone and Carol Kottenbrook established an endowment to support an independent film capstone project for NAU’s CMF program seniors. Each year, select students who have successfully pitched film ideas and prepared production reports receive strategic financial support to complete their film projects.
Cardone has also received the NAU Jeff Ferris Alumni Award in 2015
and the Sigma Chi National “Significant Sig” Award in 2021.
Honorable Thomas Chabin
1976 BS American Enterprises
Tom Chabin moved from his native Hutchinson, Kansas to Flagstaff specifically to attend NAU. That was in 1972. He was 21 years old. Since that time he has been committed to Arizona politics as a campaigner, organizer, and office holder.
Soon after his graduation then Hopi Vice-Chairman Stanley Honanie, Jr. offered him a position in Kykotsmovi, Arizona. From that time Mr. Chabin continued to live and work in Hopi and Navajo communities and had the extraordinary opportunity to work with all levels of Navajo and Hopi tribal government. When he was elected to the Tuba City School Board in 1988, he became one of the very few Anglos elected to public office in the history of both the Navajo and Hopi Nations.
He was married to the late Delia Fernandez Chabin, who received the National Bureau of Indian Affairs Teacher of the Year Award in 1998. They have one son, Rodrigo and granddaughter Aaliyah.
Mr. Chabin served on the Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission from 1986 to 1992 and as an elected member of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors from 1993 to 2000. During his tenure as a County Supervisor, Coconino County developed strong land use plans and ordinances which have contributed to the extraordinary quality of life in Coconino County. He played a significant role in passing the nation’s strictest county and city Dark Skies Ordinance.
Mr. Chabin was appointed and then twice elected to the Arizona House of Representative in a district that included Flagstaff and five Native American Tribes. Representative Chabin offered a strong voice against the anti-immigration movement in Arizona and a strong voice against the cuts to education and healthcare during his tenure.
He now lives in Tucson and is in a committed relationship with Pam Jensen.
Mitch Ettinger
1980 BS Criminal Justice
Winner of the NAU Dwight Patterson Alumnus of the Year Award, 2012. Mr. Ettinger is a 1980 graduate of NAU; attended the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America. Having earned his commission in the Air Force while at NAU through ROTC, he began his professional career as a Judge Advocate. His last active duty assignment was as a Chief Prosecutor for the US Air Force in Europe.
In 1990, he joined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, one of the largest law firms in the country, where he is the co-leader of the litigation practice in Washington, D.C. He has handled many high profile national and international cases, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matter, and cases involving allegations of health care fraud, procurement fraud, and violations of federal and state conflict of interest laws. His cases include the representation of former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford and Robert Altman in the BCCI banking scandal and former President Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.
Mary O’Driscoll
1982 BS Journalism
Mary O’Driscoll is Director of the Division of Media Relations, Office of External Affairs at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil and licenses LNG terminals and hydropower plants.
A native of California who grew up in Reno, Nev., Mary has been involved with the news media for nearly her entire professional career. Following her graduation from Northern Arizona University in December 1982, Mary worked at a succession of newspapers (Las Cruces, N.M., Sun-News, Las Vegas, Nev., Sun and Albuquerque, N.M., Journal), covering everything from theater reviews to state and local politics.
Mary caught Potomac Fever in 1987 when she joined the staff of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as a press secretary. Over the next 20 years, she moved in and out of reporting for Washington-based business and policy publications such as Greenwire and The Energy Daily, where she focused on congressional energy debates, regulatory matters and the Department of Energy, and business news involving the electric utility industry. The high point of Mary’s energy reporting career was passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, during which time she was a frequent guest on NPR, PBS and C-SPAN programs. She joined FERC as Director of Media Relations in 2007, though she also has served as Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director of the Office of External Affairs. Mary, her husband, Perry Plumart, and teenage daughters Margaret, Ellen and Meghan, live in Silver Spring, Md.