Campus Connection

Five UW-L graduates have been named the university’s top alumni for 2013, and six graduating seniors will be recognized for their academic achievement. The alumni and soon-to-be graduates will be honored during an Alumni Awards & Reception, Friday, May 17, at the UW-L Cleary Alumni & Friends Center. A heavy hors d’oeuvres reception begins at 5:30 with awards at 6:30. Reservations are $25 per person and due Friday, May 3, to the Alumni Association at 785.8490 or at www.uwlalumni.org/calendar.php?event_id=918. Alumni being honored, and the awards they are receiving, include: • Internationally respected clinical social worker Shirley Otis-Green and accomplished Milwaukee educator Alfonzo Thurman will receive the Maurice O. Graff Distinguished Alumnus Award. Otis-Green, a 1981 graduate, is a licensed clinical social worker and senior research specialist in the Division of Nursing Research and Education with the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif. Thurman, a 1971 graduate, is dean and Chancellor’s Deputy for Education Partnerships at UW-Milwaukee. The award recognizes alumni who have brought honor and distinction to the university. • Athlete promoter Brian Lammi and information technology specialist Nate Melby, will receive the Rada Distinguished Alumnus Award. Lammi, a 1996 graduate, is founder and president of Lammi Sports Management in Milwaukee. Melby, a 2002 graduate, is an enterprise information security architect at Trane and is fire chief in the Town of Campbell in La Crosse. The honor recognizes alumni from the last 20 years with professional distinction and humanitarian activities. • Darryl Lipscomb, a senior investigator for the Civil Rights Commission in the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will receive the Parker Multicultural Alumni Award. Lipscomb earned a bachelor’s in mass communications in 1977 and a master’s of education in 1982.The honor recognizes multicultural alumni for outstanding contributions to their profession and society. Graduating senior awards and the students being honored include: • The Murphy Awards for Academic Excellence, which recognize the university’s top two graduating scholars, as chosen by the Scholarship and Awards Committee — Tanya Larsen, a December graduate in microbiology, from Viroqua, and Jordan Ludwigson, who will graduate in May with a bachelor’s in biomedical science, from Alma. • The Jake and Janet Hoeschler Award for Excellence, which recognizes an outstanding College of Business Administration graduate — Adam Pugh, who graduates in May with a bachelor’s in economics and finance, from Ripon. • The Strzelczyk Award in Science and Health, which recognizes an outstanding senior in the College of Science and Health — Ben Sturomski, who graduates in May with a bachelor’s in physics and mathematics education, from Marshfield. • The John E. Magerus Award for the Outstanding Graduating Senior from the College of Liberal Studies — Sarah Kroth, who graduates in May with a bachelor’s in theatre performance, from Verona. • The Rosandich Graduate Thesis Award, which recognizes the best graduate thesis — Phanat Lor, who graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s in English, and in December with a Master’s in Education—Professional Development Initial Certification. She currently teaches in Sparta. Read more at http://news.uwlax.edu/distinguished-alumni-top-graduating-students-to-be-honored/.