Penn State Intercom......September 19, 2002

2002 Alumni Fellows
named at University

The University has announced the naming of 27 Alumni Fellows. The Alumni Fellow program was conceived in 1973 by the Alumni Association to honor prominent and outstanding alumni who are leaders in the fields and who have made notable contributions to society and their communities. The Alumni Fellow award, the highest award presented by the association, is administered in cooperation with the academic units. The Board of Trustees has designated the title as permanent and lifelong. Those named are:

* Catherine V. Beath '70 Sci, nominated by the Eberly College of Science. Beath is worldwide vice president of regulatory affairs and quality assurance for Ethicon Inc., and is a member of Ethicon's Global Management Board. A life member of the Alumni Association, she is a member of the Eberly College of Science Dean's Advisory Board and is a member and treasurer of the board of directors of the Eberly College of Science Alumni Society.

* Barbara Bednar '91 H&HD, '94g GrtVly, nominated by Penn State Great Valley. Bednar is the chief operating officer of Physicians Dialysis Inc. She has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies since 1998. She and her husband, Bob, support Great Valley's graduate students through the Robert and Barbara Bednar Naples Bank Note Scholarship Fund.

* Joseph A. Benacci '57 DUS, nominated by Penn State Erie. Benacci is chief executive officer of TWL Corp., Erie. Benacci helped organize the Behrend Alumni Society in the mid-1980s, and he served as a member of its board of directors for many years. He has been a member of the Behrend Council of Fellows since 1996. In 1998, he and his wife Berit, along with their children, established the Joseph A. and Berit I. Benacci Family Scholarship.

* Charles G. Carson III '66g, '70g EMS, nominated by Penn State New Kensington. Carson is vice president of environmental affairs for U.S. Steel Corp. Carson spearheaded the creation of the new Penn State New Kensington Advisory Board Endowed Scholarship. His $10,000 contribution to the technology fund helped ensure that New Kensington has the financial resources it needs to pursue innovative technology programs.

* Tien-Jin Chang '74g Edu, nominated by the College of Education. Chang is president of National Taipei University of Technology and is a recognized world leader in work-force education and development. Chang has been recognized with many awards for his lifetime devotion to the educational field. Chang is a life member of the Alumni Association and president of its Taiwan chapter.

* Dennis Charney '77g Hershey, nominated by the College of Medicine. Charney is chief of the Mood and Anxiety Disorder Research Program and the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. He chairs the National Depressive and Manic Depression Association Scientific Advisory Board, and is president-elect of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

* Charles F. Conroy '71a, '73 Cap, nominated by Penn State Berks-Lehigh Valley. Conroy is founder and former vice president of Conmec Inc. Conroy served two tours of duty in Vietnam while becoming a computer specialist in the Army Signal Corps. He is active with the local Jaycees, serves on the Penn State Lehigh Valley Advisory Board and coaches middle school basketball and soccer.

* Janet B. Cunningham '80 Eng, nominated by the College of Engineering. Cunningham is president of JBC Associates Inc. in King of Prussia. Cunningham continuously offers support to other women in the construction industry. She is an inspirational role model for all engineering and business students, female and male. In 1998 she was honored by the College of Engineering as an Outstanding Engineering Alumna.

* Deborah M. Drattell '79g A&A, nominated by the College of Arts and Architecture (awarded in 2001). Drattell is a composer and former violinist who was the first composer-in-residence with the New York City Opera and Glimmerglass Opera companies. A 1998 recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award, Drattell also taught at Tulane University.

* Charles R. Faust '67, '76g EMS, nominated by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Faust is president of GeoTrans Inc. Faust also is a principal hydrogeologist and investigator on projects conducted at GeoTrans. He has authored or co-authored many articles in technical journals, and The American Society of Civil Engineers recognized one of those articles with the Wesley W. Homer Award in 1985.

* Richard "Dick" Grubb '58, '61g Agr, '71g Edu, nominated by the College of Agricultural Sciences. Grubb is retired senior vice president and dean emeritus of the Penn State Commonwealth Educational System and former state Secretary of Agriculture. Grubb retired from Penn State in 1991 after a long administrative career that culminated in his appointment as senior vice president and dean of the Commonwealth Educational System in 1988.

* John R. "Jack" Hoover '51 Sci nominated by Penn State Altoona. Hoover is retired leader of the Medical Products Division of W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., Newark, Del. He has served on the company's board of directors since 1990. In March 2001, he established the John R. Hoover Scholarship to support undergraduate students enrolled or planning to enroll at Penn State Altoona who are majoring in one of the sciences.

* Joan V. Horbiak '77 H&HD, nominated by the College of Health and Human Development. Horbiak is president and founder of the Health and Nutrition Network, Alexandria, Va. Horbiak recently served as the national food safety spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and served a three-year term as its national media spokesperson and faculty leader for the nationwide Physician Nutrition Education Program.

* Louis A. Martarano '76 Sci, nominated by the Eberly College of Science. he is former director of project finance at Merrill Lynch and Co. in London, where he founded the International Project Finance Group that covered Eastern and Western Europe, the Mid-East and Africa. He is a life member of the Alumni Association, chair of the Eberly College of Science Campaign Committee and a member of various University-related boards, panels and committees.

* George M. Middlemas '68 Lib, nominated by the College of the Liberal Arts. Middlemas is a managing general partner with Apex Venture Partners. He was instrumental in the founding of Security Dynamics Technologies Inc. and America Online. He is a life member of the Alumni Association. He has participated in career exploration programs for students at University Park and is chairman of the University Libraries' Grand Destiny Campaign council.

* Patricia A. Morrissey '71g, '74g Edu, nominated by the College of Education. Morrissey is a leader in the field of disabilities services. Before becoming commissioner of the federal Administration on Developmental Disabilities, she was a senior associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, where she oversaw efforts to help federal agencies make their technology accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities.

* Leo C. Mullen '70, '72g A&A, nominated by the College of Arts and Architecture. McMullen is chairman and chief executive officer of NavigationArts LLC. He has been a frequent guest lecturer in the School of Visual Arts and has consulted with the College of Arts and Architecture about technological needs in classrooms and computer labs.

* Jay S. Pifer '59a Eng, nominated by Penn State DuBois. Pifer is president of Allegheny Power. He is an ordained lay pastor in the United Methodist Church. Pifer received Penn State's Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award and Penn State DuBois' Outstanding Alumnus Award. He has been a guest lecturer for Penn State's Shoemaker Lecture Series and has often been a commencement speaker for the DuBois and Fayette campuses.

* Jacqueline L. Russell '79 Bus, '82g DSL, nominated by Penn State Schuylkill. Russell is a trial judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 21st Judicial District, Pennsylvania. Upon being elected to office in 1997, Russell became and continues to be the only woman serving as common pleas judge in the history of Schuylkill County. Russell won numerous awards while a student. She passed both the Pennsylvania Bar examination and the Florida Bar examination.

* Hasu P. Shah '74g Eng, nominated by Penn State Harrisburg. Shah is the founder, president and CEO of the Hersha Hospitality Trust and Hersha Group of companies. A nationally known philanthropist, he serves on the boards of a variety of national educational, charitable and civic groups. He also is president of Pushti Marg of North America, which serves more than 10,000 Hindu families in North America.

* Jigmi Y. Thinley '76g Lib, nominated by the College of the Liberal Arts (awarded in 2001). Thinley is the only Penn State alumnus to have become his nation's head-of-government. He has been a government official in his native Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. In 1998, when the king decided to relinquish power to an elected council of ministers with a rotational head-of-government system, Thinley became the first prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs.

* Joseph S. Vassalluzzo '69 Bus, nominated by Penn State Abington. Vassalluzzo is vice chairman of Staples Inc. Vassalluzzo is a member of the National Association of Corporate Retail Executives and was named 1999 Corporate Executive of the Year. Vassalluzzo contributed to the renovation of the faculty and staff lounge in the Lares Student Union Building at Penn State Abington and is endowing a merit-based scholarship there.

* John C. Villforth '52, '54g Eng, nominated by The Graduate School. Villforth is a distinguished public health leader, retired rear admiral and immediate past president of the Food and Drug Law Institute. Before his retirement in 1981, he was the assistant surgeon general and chief engineer of the U.S. Public Health Service. He is a member of the Mount Nittany Society, the President's Club and the President's Club Circle of Pride.

* William J. Ward '61 Eng, nominated by the College of Engineering. Ward is a consultant and former research engineer at General Electric Research and Development Center. Ward holds 40 patents and has 29 publications in refereed journals. In 1987 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 1996 received the Outstanding Engineering Alumnus Award from the College of Engineering.

* Gerri Warren-Merrick '73 Com, nominated by the College of Communications. Warren-Merrick is vice president of AOL Time Warner Community Relations and vice president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation. Warren-Merrick has served on or is currently serving on the boards of numerous institutions. She has received awards and honors from numerous organizations. She is a life member of the Alumni Association.

* Patricia A. Woertz '74 Bus, nominated by The Smeal College of Business Administration. Woertz is an executive vice president of ChevronTexaco Corp. Woertz is a life member of the Alumni Association. She serves on the board of directors of the American Petroleum Institute and the California Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, she was ranked eighth on Fortune magazine's "Most Powerful Women in Business" list.

* Kenneth J. Young '72 H&HD, nominated by the College of Health and Human Development. Young is founder and president of Ovations Food Services L.P. In 1993, he became president and general partner of the Norfolk Tides baseball team. In 2001, he became president and general partner of the Calgary Cannons baseball club. He established an internship program at the Altoona Curve Baseball Stadium through the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management.

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