April 14, 2005

A Northwestern salute

The University recognizes distinguished alumni who personify excellence and bring honor to their alma mater

Clifford Colnot, Alumni Merit Award recipient, talks with School of Music Dean Toni-Marie Montgomery and President Henry S. Bienen during the reception.

The Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA) last week hosted members of the University community and 20 notable alumni at the 73rd awards celebration at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton Hotel.

Each year, the NAA honors individuals in four categories: the Alumni Medal, Service to Society, Alumni Merit and Alumni Service.

Before the presentation of the Alumni Medal — the mark of highest distinction awarded to alumni — sports writer and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan (J80, GJ81) conferred awards in the other three categories.

The Merit Award recognizes those who have distinguished themselves in their particular professions or fields of endeavor. Recipients were John W. Bachmann (KSM62), senior partner of the investment firm Edward Jones; James Charles Brailean (GmcC93), president, CEOand co-founder of infrastructure software provider PacketVideo; Thomas H. Carey (GJ67), retired executive vice president of Omnicom Group; Shinae Chun (GSESP71), director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor; Clifford L. Colnot (GMu77), director of the DePaul University Symphony Orchestra; Charles S. Czerepak (GD83), attending dentist at Children’s Memorial Hospital and assistant clinical professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine; Bonnie Swanson Daniels (WCAS69), director at international management consulting firm Management Systems International; Merri Jo Gillette (SCS79), regional director of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Midwest Regional Office;  Rikki J. Klieman (C70), Court TV anchor, Today Show legal analysts, trial attorney, actor and author; Alan R. Nelson (FSM58), special adviser to American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine’s executive vice president and CEO; Dawn Clark Netsch (WCAS48, L52), professor emerita at the School of Law; and Joseph H. Wender (EB66), senior director of the Financial Institutions Group of investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.

The Service to Society Award recognizes the voluntary efforts of alumni in various arenas that contribute to the advancement of causes or the improvement of society. The honoree was Timothy C. Louis (C86, GC87), founder and board president of Desert Voices Oral Learning Center.

The Alumni Service Award is given in recognition of loyal service voluntarily rendered to the University. Recipients were: Ralph Charles Friedenberg (WCAS59, FSM63, GFSM69), founder of the NU Club of Albuquerque; Peter W. Friedmann (C79), cofounder of Northwestern University Marching and Band Alumni Organization; Mark A. Ledogar (C89), chair of the NAA board of directors’ nominating committee; Laverne A. McKinnon (C87), former president of Northwestern University Entertainment Alliance; Helen Claire McMahon (WCAS55), board member and former president of the NU Club of Washington, D.C.; and James J. Palos (KSM89), former chair of the Alumni Medal Committee, former featured speaker at A Day with Northwestern and former cochair of the Latino Alumni of Northwestern University.

Catherine Stembridge, executive director of the NAA, presented the Alumni Medal to Howard S. Traisman (WCAS43, FSM46, FSM47, GFSM51). The Alumni Medal is given to recognize an individual who has achieved eminence in his or her community and field of endeavor and who has rendered exceptional service to the University.

Traisman, a renowned pediatrician and pioneer in the treatment of juvenile diabetes, has maintained a private practice for more than 50 years, taught at the Feinberg School and served as attending physician at Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital, Evanston Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospital.