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Who Will Be the Next “Alumnus of the Year”? |
Alumni Asked to Help Find Nominees
In 1938, the University of Washington and UW Alumni Association created an award to recognize former UW students who have made profound contributions not only to their fields but to society as a whole. It is the highest honor the UW bestows upon its graduates.
The first winner of the Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus award (casually as Alumnus of the Year) was biology professor Trevor Kincaid, 1899, the “father” of the oystser industry in the Pacific Northwest. Other past recipients include photographer Imogen Cunningham, ’07; legendary newsman Chet Huntley, ’42; and glass artist Dale Chihuly, ’62.
The UW and UW Alumni Association are now seeking nominations for the 2008 Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus award. To send a nomination over the Web, visit <UWalum.com/asld>. Send nomination letters to Charles Blumenfeld, Executive Director, UW Alumni Association, 1415 N.E. 45th St. Seattle, WA 98105. The deadline is Dec. 17, 2007.
Recent Alumni of the Year
 | 2007: Dan Evans, ’48, ’49. A former governor and senator, during his 50 years of public service, Evans has had a profound effect on the region and the nation. | 
| 2006: Linda Buck, ’75. The Nobel Prize-winning scientist unlocked the secrets of our sense of smell. | 
| 2005: Jack Lenor Larsen, ’49. The foremost fabric designer of the 20th century, Larsen’s work has graced the halls of the White House, and the Louvre. | 
| 2004: Bonnie Dunbar, ’71, ’75. The most experienced woman astronaut in the world, Dunbar has spent 50 days in space and covered more than 20 million miles in five shuttle missions. | 
| 2003: William Bolcom, ’58. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Bolcm has mixed pop tunes with classical music to become one of America’s greatest living composers. | 
| 2002: Don Baker, ’60. By fine-tuning ultrasound technology, Baker made it a diagnostic and commercial marvel. | 
| 2001: Joe Sutter, ’43. Sutter invented the concept of the wide-body aircraft, designing the Boeing 747, the most recognized airplane in the world. Recipient of the U.S. Medal of Technology, he also served on the presidential committee that investigated the Challenger explosion. | 
| 2000: Rita Colwell, ’61. A renowned epidemiologist, Colwell is the first woman to serve as director of the National Science Foundation. The first woman to earn a Ph.D. in oceanography from the UW, she has done groundbreaking research on cholera. | 
| 1999: James Ellis, ’48. The quintessential civic leader and a successful attorney, Ellis fathered METRO, which saved Lake Washington and the King County mass transit system. He presides over Mountains-to-Sound Greenway. | 
| 1998: Shirley Malcom, ’67. Malcom is a scientist and educator who dedicated her career to providing science, mathematics and technology education to women and minorities. She heads the outreach program for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. | 
| 1997: Chuck Close, ’62. Close is a world-famous artist who pioneered the photorealist portrait movement despite becoming a quadriplegic in 1988 due to a spinal blood clot. He is considered one of the 50 most influential people in the art world. | 
| 1996: Martin Rodbell, ’54. Rodbell shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his research into how cells communicate through “G” proteins. His work may lead to breakthroughs in understanding diabetes, alcoholism and cholera.
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| 1994: William Foege, ’61. As a medical missionary in Africa in the 1960s, Foege developed a technique for vaccinating populations against smallpox – a disease that vanished from the planet by 1979. He later served as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Carter Center.
| | Photo credits: Evans: Mary Levin; Buck: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Larsen: © 2005 Dorothy Beskind; Dunbar: NASA; Bolcom: © 2006 Katryn Conlin; Baker and Sutter: Kathy Sauber; Colwell: Jon Marmor; Ellis: MAry Levin; Malcom: Tyler Mallory; Rodbell: © 1996 Dan Sears. |
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