Robert L. Stearns Award: Robert D. Schulzinger

In a CU career that spans more than 30 years, Robert D. Schulzinger is acknowledged by his peers to be one of the very best American diplomatic historians in the world with particular recognition for his leadership in shaping academic conversations about the Vietnam War.

He is the College of Arts and Sciences Professor of Distinction of History and International Affairs and an adjoint professor of political science.   Previously, Bob served as the director of CU’s international affairs program.  Many of his books consisting of his pioneering research on American policy during the Vietnam era are standards in the field and indispensible resources.  His awards include the prestigious Ferrell Book Prize.

For the past 10 years, Bob has served as editor-in-chief for Diplomatic History:The Journal of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and has been involved in many professional associations.  He was the 2000 president of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. He is a member of the Historical Review Panel of the Central Intelligence Agency and served for 10 years on the State Department Advisory Committee of Historical Diplomatic Documentation. 

Bob’s service to the university includes being vice chair and member of the executive committee of the Boulder Faculty Assembly and co-chair of the undergraduate task force for the CU Flagship 2030 effort.  Since 2006 he also has organized and led the two-day Alumni College event that brings alumni and friends to campus to discuss critical issues of the day with the university’s most foremost experts. It is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Alumni Association.  His outreach efforts have been major contributors to the CU Foundation’s fundraising efforts.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Robert L. Stearns Award to Robert D. Schulzinger for his impressive academic achievements and his constant dedication to CU.

Robert L. Stearns Award: Richard D. Noble

A professor in CU’s chemical and biological engineering department, Richard D. Noble has excelled in both the classroom and the research laboratory.

Rich became a CU professor in 1990 and is the Alfred T. and Betty E. Look Professor of Chemical Engineering. Since then he has received 13 teaching awards during his 29-year career. He was chosen by students to receive the Chemical Engineering Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award three times and the Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award four times.

In terms of research, Rich’s work on membrane separations and chemically-facilitated separations has gained national and international acclaim. He has published over 275 peer-reviewed journal papers, edited or contributed to 11 books, has 18 patents and eight patents pending. He was named CU Inventor of the Year in 2008. His work has been recognized with 10 research awards, including the 1995 College of Engineering and Applied Science Outstanding Research Award and the Boulder Faulty Assembly Excellence in Research Award in 2001.

He is the founder and co-director of CU’s Center for Membrane Applied Science and Technology, the country’s leading membrane research center. It supports research on membrane-based separations related to significant societal problems, such as the removal of toxic compounds from air and water.

Beyond his academic accomplishments Richard has been a dedicated volunteer for the nonprofit Voices for Children. He has volunteered as a court-appointed special advocate with the organization for 20 years, working as an advocate and adult friend of abused and neglected children in Boulder County. He has served on the organization’s board since 1996, including a two-year term as president.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Robert L. Stearns Award to Richard D. Noble for his commitment to serving others and work for the advancement of students, society and the CU and scientific communities.

Alumni Recognition Award: Henry Eaton (DistSt’62) and Leslie Bernstein Eaton (Art’63)

From the Buffalo Bicycle Classic to the Conference on World Affairs and Center of the American West, Henry Eaton (DistSt’62) and Leslie Bernstein Eaton (Art’63) have been intimately involved in supporting CU-Boulder on many levels.

Passionate about the arts and humanities, Leslie and Woody were instrumental in completing the funding for the Eaton Humanities building, which opened in 2000 just northwest of Norlin Library. It houses classics, Asian languages and civilizations, religious studies and French and Italian. She also has worked tirelessly as a member of the CU Foundation’s board of directors and board of trustees – she’s in her second term on both boards. 

One of Woody’s passions has been creating quality downtown development, but he always has remained an avid supporter CU, including creating scholarships for students. Woody devotes a significant amount of time to the Center for the American West. His dedication to the center has been unwavering, as he led the fundraising campaign to endow the directorship of that center.

Rather than business attire, there’s at least one time that you’ll see Woody and Leslie in, yes, spandex bicycle shorts. In 2003 Woody was one of three founders of the Buffalo Bicycle Classic, a bicycle touring event held in September that has raised $1,291,689 in scholarship funds for Arts & Sciences students. 

The two are extremely generous donors to the university, but they don’t just donate. They stay involved on campus to nurture the projects they support. In doing so, they serve the best of role models for alumni, including serving on the Alumni Association board.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Alumni Recognition Award to Henry Eaton and Leslie Bernstein Eaton for the important role they have played in campus life and for their generous and selfless contributions to CU.

Robert L. Stearns Award: John P. Cumalat

John Cumalat is the type of person who constantly strives to help those around him succeed. During his 12-year tenure as physics chair, the department’s reputation skyrocketed as its faculty and staff won more than 150 awards, including three Nobel Prizes. John’s kindness and enthusiasm have inspired legions of physicists, and his tireless devotion to his work has helped the university’s physics department gain international recognition.

John earned his doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1977. He worked at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory until he began his teaching career at CU in 1981. Since then, he has become a world leader in the field of high-energy particle physics and has published more than 200 research papers.

John’s research focuses on the properties of quarks. While he worked at the Fermi Lab, he studied the lifetimes of these particles. Today, his research is helping physicists better understand the relationship between matter and anti-matter and what happened in the first micro-seconds after the big bang. His research group designed, built and installed a critical detector component on the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.

One of his goals always has been to help strengthen the university. He has served as a faculty leader and expert on many important campus committees.  Moreover, John is an outstanding professor whose contagious passion for his subject has infected many students, causing him to win the Best Should Teach award.

John is the kind of scientist that makes others around him better, and his positive influence as a mentor can be seen in laboratories nationwide.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Robert L. Stearns Award to John P. Cumalat for his inspiring dedication to advancing the field of physics and the university as a whole.

Alumni Recognition Award : Clarence A. Herbst, Jr.

If anyone saw Clarence A. Herbst Jr. (ChemEngr’50, HonDocSci’95) walking down the street, it would be obvious where he went to school. Clancy has shown lifelong loyalty to the university in many ways, most obviously with his omnipresent CU paraphernalia. His enthusiasm for the university is contagious, and he represents his alma mater in the best way possible wherever he goes.

Clancy has put a lot of time and money into improving the university. He has served on the CU Foundation’s board of directors since 1983, including a two-year term as chair. He also served on the engineering dean’s advisory board and the engineering development committee for many years. In 1989, he developed and funded The Herbst Program of Humanities for Engineers. More recently, he established The Herbst Academic Center in Dal Ward Athletic Center. Clancy won the University Medal in 1991, Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 1992, Ira Rothgerber Volunteer Service Award in 1995 and the Athletic Hall of Honor in 1997.

Clancy’s compassion has touched many lives. He has reached out to younger generations of Buffs by funding tuition for several students and by making considerable donations to the Golden Buffalo Scholarship Fund. He also has worked to bring together alums and help them form lasting relationships. In the 1990s, he donated $100,000 to the Alumni Association to help strengthen the association’s membership program. He started the annual alumni hike from Aspen to Crested Butte, which the Alumni Association has carried on.

Throughout the years, Clancy has shown unwavering support for the school’s athletic teams. He has had a suite at Folsom Field for many years and often invites fans of opposing teams to his suite before each game.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Alumni Recognition Award to Clarence A. Herbst Jr. for his extensive contributions and lifelong devotion to the university.

George Norlin Award: Hank Brown

Hank Brown (Bus’61, Law’69) is one of a few who has built a career that involves both high levels of personal achievement and an undying commitment to serve community, state and nation. From United States senator to CU president, Hank’s accomplishments are national and international in scope but have always related to serving the public.

When Hank went into politics, he was the youngest  Republican in the Colorado State Senate. He served five terms as a Republican U.S. representative and one as a senator.   As U.S. senator, he chaired the Middle East Subcommittee on Foreign Relations, the Constitutional Law Subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee. His tremendous energy and wisdom earned him awards from Hungary, Pakistan and Poland.

The experienced politician quit politics at the peak of his career in 1996 after spending 16 years in Washington, D.C., because he wanted to get back to his constituents.  When he returned to Colorado, he jumped into higher education, first as co-director of the Center for Public Policy at University of Denver and then as president of University of Northern Colorado from 1998-2002.

Hank became CU president in 2005 during turbulent times. He brought the credibility, skills and determination to shepherd the institution through a challenging era. Under his tenure, CU received record increases in donations, capital funding and state support and student enrollment rebounded.

After retiring from the presidency, Hank has taught in the Boulder campus political science department, as well as served on honors thesis committees and attended every departmental meeting. Hank developed a course on health care reform in spring 2009 that brought in speakers like Ralph Nader, Mike Rosen, former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm and Gov. Bill Ritter (Law’81). Alums and the community-at-large were invited to participate.  He also developed a successful Alumni College in D.C., for alumni and donors.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the George Norlin Award to Hank Brown for maintaining the highest standards of personal integrity, humility and commitment to public service and Colorado.

George Norlin Award: Julianne Mattingly Steinhauer

Julianne Mattingly Steinhauer’s (Mus’60) sense of community stretches from the sandstone buildings of the Boulder campus to the bustling streets of Hanoi, Vietnam. A well-respected jazz singer who has sung all over the world, Juli has served on CU’s Conference on World Affairs committee for 21 years and is deeply involved in humanitarian work in Vietnam.

Juli has served as a director of Friendship Bridge, a medical NGO, making 20 trips to Vietnam to volunteer in hospitals and to teach American jazz in Hanoi’s National Conservatory of Music. She has mentored countless foreign students, as well as personally arranged and financed exchange programs for Vietnamese doctors and artists to come to Colorado for professional enrichment. 

In 1994 18-year-old Vu Phuong Nhu (IntAf’98) arrived in Boulder with little knowledge of English. With Juli’s tremendous commitment, she graduated from CU.  During Nhu-Nhu’s sophomore year, her mother and sister lived with the Steinhauers for six months while her sister underwent treatment for a malignant brain tumor that could not be treated in Vietnam.

As co-chair of CU’s Conference on World Affairs, Juli’s indefatigable efforts have helped keep the conference’s 62-year tradition alive. She spearheads the conference’s celebrated jazz concert every year, inviting musicians from around the world to join together for a week of music and conversation.  She unwittingly creates diverse performances and music-based relationships that endure long after the conference ends. She also works closely with Dean Daniel Sher of the College of Music to increase interaction between conference musicians and music students.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the George Norlin Award to Julianne Mattingly Steinhauer for her significant contributions to CU, music, and to the hundreds of international lives she has impacted.

George Norlin Award: Richard Knowlton

Richard “Dick” Knowlton (Geog’54) is a longstanding figure within the food industry as the former president, CEO and chair of Hormel Foods Corporation in Austin, Minn., where he worked for 48 years.   He serves as chair of the Hormel Foundation, which controls 48 percent of the company’s stock.  Dick and his wife Nancy Van Derbur Knowlton (A&S’57) are well known for their genuine commitment to the company’s employees. 

He is the only food industry CEO to receive all the highest awards in the retail, food distribution and meat industry.  The industry’s Knowlton Innovation Award was created in his honor.   His new book, Points of Difference, Transforming Hormel documents the revolution in the food industry and his company’s role in it. 

Dick played football for CU, turning down an opportunity to go professional because he had a stronger offer at Hormel. Yet, he stayed connected with CU, becoming a member of the CU Foundation during the 1980s. Today he serves on the Leeds School of Business board and received, along with his wife, the business school’s Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. Dick was inducted into the Heritage Center’s Hall of Excellence and received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1995 and the Living Legends Award in 2002.

When the university decided to create a state-of-the-art athletic facility, Dick led the fundraising effort for the Dal Ward Athletic Center completed in 1991. The couple’s ongoing philanthropic support of CU includes support for the Leeds School’s Frascona Teaching Award and the renovation and addition to the Koelbel Building completed in 2007.

Believing true leaders should be measured by how well they serve their colleagues and community, Dick has contributed to the broader society. He sits on the Eisenhower Medical Center Board and has made transformational investments in medical research through the Mayo Clinic. He also serves on the board of the Future Fuel Corporation.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the George Norlin Award to Richard Knowlton for his dedication to his field of work and ongoing support of CU.

Alumni Recognition Award: Joanne Easley Arnold

A Boulder resident since she was a teenager, Joanne Easley Arnold (Engl’52, MJour’65, PhDComm’71) began a career of academic and service excellence in the CU journalism school that lasted long after she became professor emerita in 1995.

Joanne’s service to the university is legend. She was associate dean of the journalism from 1982 to1993 as well as interim dean in 1987. Not content to stay within journalism, she served as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1975 to 1981 and as chair of the Silver & Gold Record editorial board from1990 to 1996, among other commitments. Joanne received the Robert L. Stearns Award in 1980 for her distinguished lifetime achievement and efforts toward the betterment of society.

However her momentous decision to publicly identify herself as gay in 1993 in light of the Amendment Two (anti-gay) campaign has had a long-lasting impact on Boulder and the university.  Her courage as a prominent university professor to go public at the age of 63 was remarkable.  And with Joanne’s history of service, she plunged into a range of new activities that transformed the CU culture as it applied to the safety and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) people.

In 1993 Chancellor Jim Corbridge appointed her chair of his newly established Standing Committee on Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues, which she served on until 1999. That committee is credited with making remarkable changes on campus, including the establishment of a GLBT alumni chapter. The group formed in 1994, and Joanne was long involved while also insuring that GLBT members felt comfortable on campus. Passionate about her causes, she has maintained the courage to speak up about social justice inconsistencies that she methodically works to eliminate.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Alumni Recognition Award to Joanne Easley Arnold for her distinguished career and heartfelt dedication and service to CU.

George Norlin Award: Laurence A. Boxer

Laurence A. Boxer (Hist’61) has achieved great things in the field of medicine as a physician, scientist and professor. Motivated by a desire to help others, he has focused on children who have immune system diseases and his research and patient care has extended the lives of many young people.

Since 1982, he has worked as a University of Michigan professor in the department of pediatrics and communicable diseases.  He has served as director of pediatric hematology/oncology, associate chair of faculty affairs and Henry and Mala Dorfman Family Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.  During his career he has mentored over 35 junior faculty and fellows.   

Larry’s research focuses on the immune system disorder of neutropenia — a blood disorder characterized by an abnormally low number of neutrophils, a white blood cell responsible for preventing bacterial infections. While his international-level work has garnered him numerous awards and recognitions, he has remained a patient advocate, campaigning for young adults’ access to appropriate pediatric cancer clinical trials and resources to care for children with benign hematological disorders.

His expertise and compassion as a physician scientist has made him sought after by patients and their families through North and South America. He hosts a biannual nationally attended family meeting for those suffering from neutropenia. He also is one of the founders of the Severe Chronic Neutropenia International Registry, which monitors the treatment of patients with severe chronic neutropenia.  Because of his efforts, those who participate receive drugs at no cost.

Larry also has kept his connection to CU, spending time with CU colleagues co-authoring a history book, Hematology: Landmark Paper of the 20th Century and serving this year as a visiting professor at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the George Norlin Award to Laurence A. Boxer for his outstanding contributions in patient care, research and mentoring of young people.

Robert L. Stearns Award: Ric Porreca

In his 28 years at CU, Ric Porreca (MPolSci ex’83) has moved from a management intern to senior vice chancellor and chief financial officer, serving in many departments from student affairs to administration to academic affairs to finance. In doing so, he has become one of the most innovative and productive leaders in higher education.

One of his greatest legacies is helping to build the campus culture into a highly entrepreneurial organization that rewards hard work and innovation. Faced with two major campus budget reductions  during the last decade, Ric’s planning and financial savvy steered the university in a positive direction.  He has been responsible for supporting and finding funding for all of the new construction on campus over the last 15 years, including the new law, business, ATLAS and visual arts buildings. 

Ric has been active with Boulder Community Hospital, the Chamber of Commerce and the Boulder Economic Council, helping bridge the gap between the campus and business community.  Through the nonprofit Boulder Innovation Center, which he helped form, CU faculty have transformed their emerging technologies into products.

Ric’s leadership skills are especially pronounced in the development and implementation of Flagship 2030, the university’s strategic plan. Throughout the planning process, he challenged the institution to think big and act strategically. His vision focused on CU-Boulder as a model flagship university of the 21^st century.

Through Ric’s range of experience and oversight, there are only a few campus departments that have not felt his guiding hand. With exceptional communication skills, he is able to explain complex budgetary issues in clear language, inspiring confidence at all levels of the institution and beyond.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present Ric Porreca with the Robert L. Stearns Award for his creativity, tireless service and problem-solving that has helped CU-Boulder establish itself as one of the nation’s finest public institutions.

Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award: Nick Sowden

In the few short years since graduation, Nick Sowden (Mgmt’07) has been determined to prove it is possible to change the world through business.  He lives in Kenya where he is business development director for ToughStuff, an international organization that provides inexpensive solar products to low-income families in developing countries. Through his work, Nick demonstrates a passion to make a lasting difference in the lives of people in communities worldwide.

In 2008 Nick joined ToughStuff, which sells durable, inexpensive solar panels that are flexible, waterproof and about the size of a piece of paper. Villagers can use the panels to charge mobile phones, light small rooms and power radios. Local people sell the product, which creates local incomes and helps the company reach rural regions.

Nick has been an integral part of Toughstuff’s growth and success, building relationships that have led to customers such as the Grameen Foundation and Clinton Foundation. His marketing efforts helped the company gain publicity in nationally recognized publications such as The New York Times.  He also created, launched and grew Buy One: Fund One campaign where people can buy a solar panel and LED lamp for $30. Half of the purchase supports a solar sales entrepreneur in a developing country while the remaining benefits the organization.

During his time at CU, Nick reached out to the local community by volunteering at the homeless shelter as well as by coaching basketball for middle and high school students. In his final year, he inspired his players and left a legacy by piloting an experimental learning course with the team that involved community service and a leadership program.

The CU-Boulder Alumni Association is proud to present the Kalpana Chawla Award to Nick Sowden for his unwavering dedication to using his entrepreneurial skills and experience to improve the lives of others.