University of Maine Alumni Association Presents Annual Award
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — The University of Maine Alumni Association has recognized seven individuals and a family with a series of awards signifying exemplary, long-term support for the university, its students and its alumni association. Presentations were made on Sunday, May 31 during UMaine’s annual Reunion Weekend.
“UMaine has an extraordinary alumni community, along with countless other supporters and advocates,” says Todd Saucier, the alumni association’s president and executive director. “Without the efforts of these tireless alumni and friends, UMaine would not be the exceptional institution that it is today. It is an honor to recognize a few of UMaine’s most extraordinary alumni and friends each year, and this year’s group is truly exceptional.”
Those honored on May 31 were:
– Prof. James Acheson of Bangor, a UMaine anthropology and School of Marine Sciences professor, is the 2009 UMaine Alumni Association Distinguished Maine Professor recipient. Funded by the Class of 1942, the award recognizes outstanding faculty achievement in teaching, research and public service.
– Andrea Hayes Lott of Eliot and the UMaine Class of 1969, was announced as winner of the Hilda A. Sterling ’55 Class Correspondent Award. This honor is presented annually in recognition of exemplary service as a class correspondent, demonstrated by long-term commitment to quality class communications.
– Al Curran of Gorham, UMaine Class of 1971 and Michael Trainor of Veazie are winners of the 2009 Black Bear Awards for outstanding service to UMaine through multiple endeavors. Curran and Trainor are both members of the University of Maine Board of Visitors, with Trainor completing his term as board chair later this month. Curran is CEO of Woodard and Curran, an engineering, science and environmental service company with offices in Maine and Massachusetts. Trainor is an attorney with the Bangor law firm Eaton and Peabody.
– The Doten family received the 2009 Fogler Legacy Award, presented to one family with a strong tradition of attending the University of Maine, with a minimum three generations of graduates. The Dotens are a four-generation UMaine family dating to the Class of 1923, which included Henry Doten and Cora Russell, who later married. Their two children also graduated from UMaine and one of their granddaughters, Sharon Oliver, a 1977 graduate, currently serves as UMaine’s admissions director. The fourth generation of the Doten family includes Jonathan Pirruccello, a 2009 biology graduate who was a member of the Black Bear football team. Jonathan’s brother Anthony is a current UMaine student.
– Henry “Hank” Woodbrey, who lives in Orono and is a member of the UMaine Class of 1953, received the 2009 Pine Tree Emblem Service Award, presented annually in recognition of leadership and service to the UMaine alumni community. Currently president of the UMaine Senior Alumni, Woodbrey received the Black Bear Award in 1993.
– Franklin Van Antwerpen, a Class of 1964 graduate who lives in Easton, Penn., is the winner of the 2009 Alumni Career Award, the most prestigious recognition given by the UMaine Alumni Association. One of just 150 Circuit Court of Appeal judges in the U.S., Van Antwerpen has had a long and distinguished career in the legal profession, mostly based in Philadelphia.
– Ashok Jhunjhunwala of Calcutta, India, who earned a master’s degree in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1979, earned the Bernard Lown ’42 Alumni Humanitarian Award for distinguished work in service to humanity. It is named for Lown, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Jhunjhunwala earned the first physics and electrical engineering doctorate at UMaine. He is a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras who has worked to bring his fellow Indian citizens affordable telecommunications and improved computer networks.