UNIVERSITY UNITARIAN CHURCH

Our Staff

Operations Staff

Byron Krystad, Director of Operations

Byron and his family have been members of UUC since 2002. He served on the Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2009, and was Board President during the final year of his term. In February 2010, he joined the staff team at UUC as the Director of Operations, and his responsibilities include finances, facilities, human resources, and technology. A native Seattleite, Byron completed his studies at the University of Washington in 1992 and worked at Microsoft for 12 years. He enjoys reading, photography, gardening, hiking, and camping.


Office Hours: Sunday thru Thursday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.


Janine Larsen, Director of Ministries

Janine oversees church programs and staff who support learning, spiritual deepening, connection & communications, congregational service, and leadership development. Prior to joining UUC staff in 2016, Janine served the Unitarian Universalist Association in the Pacific Northwest for twelve years, as District Executive and on Regional Staff. She worked in nonprofit management and consulting for 25 years before that.


Janine is a UU lay leader whose first UU church was in Woodinville, WA, where she served in a variety of leadership roles including Board President. Janine has practiced Zen Buddhism since 2001, and was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 2019 by James Myoun Ford, Roshi (who is also UU Minister).  Janine and her spouse are both Seattle natives and have a daughter in Portland and a son in Bothell.


Office hours:  Janine keeps regular office hours at the church on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. She is available by appointment for in-person, phone, or video meetings during office hours or other times. Generally, Janine takes Mondays off.


Jessica Monahan, Office Manager

Jessica is responsible for the operation of the church office, including record keeping, vendor and contract management, supplies and inventories. She manages our technology systems such as phones and computers as well as the church calendar and facility management software. Most importantly, Jessica is the welcoming voice and face of the business office. She is your contact for arranging meetings and gatherings at the church.


Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jessica explored her interests in medieval church ethics at San Francisco State University before jetting off to seminary in the great state of Maine. She enjoyed eight fabulous New England winters before returning to the best coast. 


Regular office hours are Sunday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.


Susan St. John, Communications Coordinator

Susan is a Seattle native and has been a member of UUC for over 30 years. With an MS in Computer Science, she worked as a software engineer for 16 years and then decided it was time for a change. Susan returned to school and finished her MLIS (Masters in Library and Information Science) a few months before her first daughter, Lyra was born. Parenting took precedence, so it wasn’t until 7 years later, and after a second child, Katt (previously known as Cadia), was in kindergarten, that she began putting her passion for organizing and communicating information to use for UUC. Since the fall of 2012, Susan has been putting together our newsletter, maintaining our website and Facebook page and creating the Order of Service and worship slides  each week. Before becoming a (part-time) employee, she chaired the UUC Board in 1997, co-chaired the Welcoming Congregation Task Force, sang in the Loft Choir for a while, and facilitated a Deep Ecology curriculum for the UUC Young Adults (back when she was one, eons ago!)

Email

Stacy Carlson, Member Engagement and Support Assistant

Stacy has been a member of the church since 1995, along with her spouse Steve and their daughters Meredith and Mackenzie.  Along the way, Stacy has served in a variety of leadership roles including our Physical Space Implementation Team (PSIT), Connections Team, Membership Committee, Human Resources Committee, Church School teacher, Church School Advisory Team, and the Board of Trustees.


In her role as Member Engagement and Support Assistant, Stacy helps visitors and congregants find their way at UUC and connect meaningfully with our programs, people, and community.  Stacy  works  with our Connections Team volunteers who conduct UUC Info Sessions after every Sunday Service, following up on requests for more information.  Twice a month or more, Stacy is available on Sundays to answer questions and offer support in finding, joining and facilitating Small Groups, registering for classes, reserving meeting rooms, and learning to use UUC Connect to fine tune their profiles and preferences, give online, volunteer and more.


Stacy splits her time with UUC and the joys of retirement, which include traveling as much as possible.


Chris Budd, Accountant

Chris began working at UUC in June of 2012. She was originally contracted to work on the audit and continued on to perform the accountant’s duties once the audit was complete. She became a member of the staff in July 2013. Chris is a native of Virginia where she received her BS in Accounting from Virginia Tech. She has lived mostly in Seattle since 1990.  She currently lives in Wedgwood with her two daughters, Danielle and Michelle.  She enjoys spending time at the gym, soccer, reading, gardening and cooking.


Office hours: Monday through Thursday


Floyd Williams, Weekday Custodian

Floyd started September of 2021 but is not a new face around UUC. He and his wife, Sue, have been members for decades.


He started working here after a long career doing education and training, process management and supervision. During a break in grad school, he worked as a janitor and supervisor. After deciding university teaching was not for him, Floyd switched to banking and then, aerospace. Four years ago, he retired from all that and began substituting as a custodian for Shoreline schools. When this position opened here, he was happy to move to UUC to serve this community.


Floyd works 2–10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Please look for him when you are around the building for meetings or appointments and say hello. Like all staff members, he will be ready to welcome you and make sure you find everything you need for your activities at UUC.

Email

Alberto Sandoval, Weekend Custodian

Alberto has been with University Unitarian Church since 2010. He is originally from El Salvador. Alberto works quite a lot, as he holds down a full-time job in addition to his position at UUC, but when he is not working he enjoys watching soccer and going out to eat. Alberto cares for our facilities on Saturday and Sunday mornings.


Jorge Del Valle, Weekend Custodian

Jorge is our senior custodian, having been with University Unitarian Church for more than ten years. He is originally from Mexico City.  He lives in the Seattle area with his wife and their son, Miguel. When Jorge isn’t working at UUC or his full-time job, he loves to watch soccer and play soccer as well as going to see movies. Jorge cares for UUC facilities on Friday and Saturday afternoons and evenings.


Jax Wokas, Audio-Visual Technician

Hello! My name is Jax Wokas, I use he/him and they/them pronouns (you can choose which) and I’m excited to be the AV Technician at University Unitarian Church. I’m currently a sophomore at UW, but back home in Illinois I participated in my high school’s tech crew. There, I specialized in sound design/sound board operation and scenic art and participated in over 20 shows. My high school also had large-scale events and assemblies where we would use cameras to stream it, so I helped with wiring that as well. Currently, being a student is taking up most of my time, but in my free time I enjoy drawing and listening to music. I was raised in a conservative, Lutheran church in my hometown, so it was exciting to me to see a church like UUC that’s so open and accepting. I was looking for jobs where I could continue using my technical theater skills because I’ve missed it a lot during quarantine and I’m excited to be able to do something I love at an accepting place like UUC.


Family Ministry Staff

Aria Curtis, Director of Family Ministry

Aria found her passion for faith development and family ministry at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship as an Our Whole Lives facilitator and as a preschool teacher for the Bellingham Cooperative School. Aria received her BA in German Studies from Western Washington University and, before coming to UUC, she served as the Director of Children and Family Ministry at the UU Church of Spokane. Aria completed credentialling at the Advanced Level through the Unitarian Universalist Association in Spring of 2020. She enjoys baking, contra and square dancing, and embroidery.


Aria's regular office hours are Monday through Thursday. She is available by appointment for in-person, Zoom, or phone meetings. 


Amanda Mack, Youth Ministry Coordinator

Through her experience as a yoga teacher and long-time UU member, Amanda loves helping people discover tools that help them live meaningful lives.  Working as the Youth Ministry Coordinator at UUC is the latest expression of her passion.  Before arriving in Seattle in 2021, she was an active member at UU fellowships in Bismarck, ND and most recently in Anchorage, AK where she served as a religious exploration teacher, a Coming of Age mentor and as a board leader.  She got her feet wet at UUC by teaching World Religions to 6th and 7th graders and participating in a parent's Small Group Ministry before starting in this position.


Amanda lives in the Greenlake neighborhood with her husband, two kids and two dogs.  She also teaches yoga at 8 Limbs Yoga and the Ballard Health Club.  She enjoys gardening, spending time with friends and family, and exploring the Pacific Northwest by land and sea.


Evyn Hammond, Lead Childcare Provider

Evyn Hammond has served multiple organizations providing instruction and creating and implementing innovative curriculum in Arts Education. Organizations include Seattle Children’s Theatre, Northshore and Seattle School districts and GreenStage.


Specific to UUC, they have been a member since 2005. Evyn taught 6 years of church school and has the honor every year of organizing and performing in the Christmas play. In this job they would like to serve the members of the church where they and their LGBTQ family have been so welcomed and appreciated. Evyn is “semi retired” and can’t wait to start meeting families, both old and new.


Spare time activities include being a movie freak and fascinated by yoga and meditation.


Music Staff

Karen Thomas, Director of Music

Karen is a conductor and composer who has served on the UUC staff since 1994. She is also the Artistic Director of Seattle Pro Musica, with whom she has recorded eleven critically-acclaimed CDs, and received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP-Chorus America Award. Her compositions are performed internationally, by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble, and are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing and by Karen P Thomas Music. Named the 2012 Washington state “Outstanding Choral Director of the Year,” she guest conducts in North America and Europe, and serves on the boards of Chorus America and the American Choral Directors NW Region. For her leadership in multiple areas, including making choral ensembles welcoming spaces for transgender and nonbinary singers, she received a 2018 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award.


Office hours: Thursday afternoons before rehearsals of the Handbell Choir and Loft Choir, and by appointment.


Jacob Finkle, Intergenerational Choir Director

Jacob Finkle is proud to serve at the music director of UUC’s Intergenerational Choir. Finkle teaches K-5 General Music at Silver Firs Elementary in Everett, WA. He received a BA in Music from Vassar College with a correlate sequence in Early British Literature. At Vassar, he served as the conductor of the Camerata Choir, a student-run early music group.


Upon completion of his degree, he moved to Seattle, WA where he recently completed an M. Mus. in Choral Conducting and a Music Education Teaching Certification at the University of Washington. As part of his degree, he served as the Non-Residential Differential Fellow for the Men’s Glee Club. Finkle also currently serves as the Conductor of the Seattle Jewish Chorale and as the Conductor of the Adult Choir at Temple De Hirsch Sinai.


Finkle is an avid SCUBA diver and goes diving whenever his increasingly busy schedule permits.

Email

Dwight Beckmeyer, Pianist

Dwight is one of Seattle’s most versatile musicians, performing in the musical theater, choral, symphonic, jazz, gospel and collaborative recital worlds, including frequent appearances with the Seattle Symphony, and more than 50 musical theatre productions with the 5th Avenue, Paramount and Village Theaters. Dwight has toured to Johannesburg with Lee Oskar and Friends, and Europe, Japan, and South America with The Northwest Girlchoir. Presently, he is the accompanist for Seattle Pro Musica. 


Choir Section Leaders and Soloists
  • Camille Watson: Soprano Section Leader and Soloist
  • Cally Lindenmier: Alto Section Leader and Soloist
  • Ian Loney: Tenor Section Leader and Soloist
  • Rick Scheyer: Bass Section Leader and Soloist
Share by: