Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award

2020. Bill Center, MPA ’78, U.S. Navy – The retired rear admiral believes it is possible to eliminate extreme global poverty and says he has no plans to fully retire until that goal is reached. “When you look at the problems in the world, they all come down to extreme global poverty. If you want to make the world a better place, global poverty must be solved. It can be done. We are making great progress. And we have to keep going.”

2019. The Hon. Ronald E. Cox, J.D. ’73, U.S. Army – After rising to the rank of captain in the U.S. Army, Cox made his way to the UW School of Law, where he graduated in 1973. He went on to become a litigator and judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals. He retired from the court in 2018, after 23 years of service.

2018. Priscilla “Patty” Taylor, ’93, ’96, U.S. Army – Taylor served as a member of the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. She’s helped wounded service members as a volunteer case manager for Operation Mend and gifted them with handmade “quilts of valor.” Whatever the role, she has lived by the motto, “be humble, be kind, serve the veterans.”

2017. Raymond Emory, ’52, U.S. Navy – A veteran of Pearl Harbor, Emory served from 1940 to 1946, seeing action throughout the Pacific theatre. When he retired to Hawaii in 1985, he found a new calling. After learning that many of the sailors killed at Pearl Harbor were buried as unknown, Emory began a 20-year mission to find their identities and return their remains to their families.

2016. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, M.P.A., ’80, U.S. Army – During his 40-year military career, Chiarelli commanded at every level, from platoon to corps. Among his posts, he served as commander of the Multi-National Corps – Iraq, Senior Military Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. Throughout his military service and beyond, he has been a tireless advocate for the men and women who serve their country, particularly those who return home with profound but invisible wounds of war.

2015. Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, M.A. ’76, Ph.D. ’91, U.S. Army – Cammermeyer is lauded for leading the way for gays in the military. But her story is filled with examples of courage from nursing injured soldiers in war and pursuing a military career when women did not have many opportunities to sharing even the most painful moments of her personal story.

2014. Richard H. Layton, M.D. ’54, ’58; U.S. Navy – In 1946, Layton was a Second Class Petty Officer headed to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on a top-secret mission: to chart the effects of atomic bomb blasts on naval ships at sea. (Layton was 12 miles from two nuclear blasts.) Dr. Layton was a pioneer physician in the WWAMI and Physician Assistant programs, both dedicated to providing better access to medical care. For twenty years at Providence Hospital in Seattle, Dr. Layton directed a family practice residency that focused on serving inner-city populations.

2013. Charles W. H. Matthaei, ’43, U.S. Navy – Matthaei is a Tacoma business leader, a philanthropist and an advocate for community health programs. He worked for the family business, Roman Meal. In 2008, he was inducted into the Baking Hall of Fame. Matthaei has been honored by MultiCare Health Foundation and Center for Healthy Living, Boy Scouts of America, Tacoma Rotary and UW Department of Chemical Engineering. He spent much of WWII on the battleship USS Missouri and witnessed the formal surrender of Japan.

2012. Herb Bridge, ’47, U.S. Navy – A champion for low-income housing in Seattle, a co-chairman of the 2000 United Way campaign and an active advocate for the 1990 Seattle Goodwill Games, Bridge had a distinguished career in the Navy and is co-owner of Ben Bridge Jewelers.

The DAVA Selection Committee is composed of alumni, student, faculty and staff representatives from the University of Washington as well as members of the broader community. The committee meets in early April to review all nominations.

Specific criteria include:

Definition of an alumnus

An alumnus is defined as a former student who received a bachelor’s degree; a former student who received a graduate degree after not less than two years of resident study; or a former student who, in the opinion of the selection committee, is qualified for the honor.

Definition of a veteran

According to federal law a veteran is any person who served honorably on active duty in the Armed Forces or Uniformed Services of the United States.

Definition of “service”

Service is defined as having a significant impact on the veteran or broader community through volunteer (unpaid) service or through a career.

Stature of service

• What has the nominee accomplished in service to their respective communities?
• Has this service been otherwise acknowledged by colleagues and leaders? If so, how?
• What public recognition has been received at the local, regional, national or international level?
• How has the nominee demonstrated a continuity of interest in some form toward the UW, veteran or broader community?

Must be present to accept award

Award recipients should be available to participate in UW Veterans Day events in November of the year they are selected. Award recipients should also be available to receive the recognition at the Awards of Excellence ceremony the following June.