John J. (Jack) Murray, M.D.’63, is the 2013 recipient of the A. Bradley Soule Award, established in 1983, which honors an alumnus/a whose loyalty and dedication to the College of Medicine most emulate those qualities found in its first recipient, A. Bradley Soule, M.D.'28. Dr. Murray has a long history of dedication and service to the University Of Vermont College Of Medicine. Returning to Burlington, VT in June 1968, having served two years in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Murray worked as a pediatrician in private practice and as a clinical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine from 1968 to 2007. During his clinical teaching years he was privileged to help educate residents and medical students. He developed the Pediatric Senior Sports Medicine elective in 1983, serving as its director until 2005. As a member of the UVM Admissions Committee from 2007 through July 2012, Dr. Murray has helped to select an impressive group of candidates for admission to the College who best display its values. His dedication to excellence in medical practice is reflected in his service on that committee, and in the wisdom acquired from his many years of working as a pediatrician. He has been a class agent for the Class of 1963 since graduation, ensuring that the members of his class remain engaged with the College and one another. Dr. Murray also earned the Medical Alumni Association’s Service to Medicine and Community Award in 1995.

Alumni honored with this year's Distinguished Academic Achievement Award, established in 1985, which recognizes outstanding scientific or academic achievement, include:

Richard H. Feins, M.D.’73, Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Dr. Feins is a thoracic surgeon. He trained in general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Rochester, where he served on the faculty until 2005. He then moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as Professor of Surgery and head of General Thoracic Surgery. Throughout his career Dr. Feins has demonstrated creative leadership and innovation in thoracic surgery education. He has served on the American Board of Thoracic surgery as a director for eight years and then as Chair from 2007-2009. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Joint Council for Surgical Education, the Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education, and the General Thoracic Surgery Club. e is the co-director of the national Cardiothoracic Surgery Resident Boot Camp and the Executive Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery “Senior Tour,” a nationwide organization of retired cardiothoracic surgeons who volunteer in the training of cardiothoracic surgery residents. Dr. Feins is recognized nationally as a “go-to-guy” on matters pertaining to the education of future thoracic surgeons and for simulation based training. In addition to having compiled an extensive bibliography of publications and prestigious awards, Dr. Feins, with his wife, Ceil, somehow managed to find time to devote their energies to a competitive collegiate rowing program they co-founded on the Erie Canal, which has become on the premier such programs in the U.S.

Edward P. Havranek, MD ’ 83, Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine; Cardiologist, Denver Health Medical Center; Director of Health Services Research, Denver Health

Dr. Edward P. Havranek is a Denver, Colo., cardiologist with a long-standing interest in measuring and improving the quality of care for cardiovascular disease, particularly heart failure. His current funded research focuses on causes and solutions to the problems of health disparities based on race and ethnicity. Dr. Havranek currently serves as chair of the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research Annual Scientific Forum Program Committee and is a member of the Database Steering Committee for the American Heart Association and the Technical Advisory Committee for Colorado’s Regional Health Information Organization. He was a clinical coordinator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-sponsored National Heart Care Projects from 1999 to 2005, chair of the Care Standards Committee of the Heart Failure Society of America from 2002 to 2006, and a member of the governor’s Health Information Technology Advisory Committee for Colorado in 2008 and 2009. Dr. Havranek serves on the editorial boards for several major cardiology journals.

Douglas W. Losordo, MD ’83, Interventional Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

Dr. Losordo is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and interventional cardiology and is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions. His major research interests encompass angiogenesis/vasculogenesis, progenitor/adult stem cells, tissue repair/regeneration, and vascular biology. Working with the late Jeff Isner at St. Elizabeth’s Medical in Boston, Mass, he developed a program in therapeutic angiogenesis and cell-based tissue repair and executed the full “translational medicine” paradigm: identifying novel therapeutics in the laboratory, developing these strategies in small and large animal models and designing and executing first in human clinical trials. Dr. Losordo previously served as director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute and as the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research at Northwestern University’s School of Medicine and director of the Program in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The College's Service to Medicine and Community Award, established in 1984, is presented to graduates who have maintained a high standard of medical service and who have achieved an outstanding record of community service or assumed other significant responsibilities in addition to their medical practice. The 2013 recipients of this award are:

Joyce M. Dobbertin, MD ’98, Family Physician, Corner Medical Office, Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital

Dr. Joyce M. Dobbertin has been a dedicated and active member of her local community in St. Johnsbury, Vt. As a physician, she has been tireless in her involvement with patient care as well as the coming of age of medicine as regards electronic health records, community outreach and epitomizing what a “community doc” should be. She is the physician champion for the Vermont Blueprint at NVRH, Corner Medical helping with the design and implementation of the Blueprint in the Northeast Kingdom.   Dr. Dobbertin was named Physician of the Year in 2012 by the Vermont Medical Society and Medical Director of the Year in 2008 by the Vermont Health Care Association. For the last several years, Dr. Dobbertin has served as Volunteer Medical Doctor for two weeks a year at the Hillside Medical Clinic in Punta Gordo, Belize and performed similar volunteer work in Kingston and throughout Jamaica.   In addition, she served on the Board of Trustees of the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury from 2007 to 2010.

Omar Khan, MD ’03,Medical Director, Preventive Medicine & Community Health & Director, Global Health Residency Track, Christiana Care Health System; Chair, Global Health Working Group, Delaware Health Sciences Alliance; Section Editor, Global Health, BMC Public Health

Dr. Omar Khan has made extensive contributions in the realm of global & community health, including experience working with USAID and serving as faculty at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the University of Vermont, where he helped start the Global Health electives in the Department of Family Medicine. In addition to his appointments at Christiana Care and Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, both in Delaware, he holds faculty appointments as clinical associate professor with Drexel University’s College of Health Sciences and as clinical assistant professor with the Departments of Family Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, and the University of Vermont. A reviewer or editorial board member for a number of prestigious medical journals, including JAMA and The Lancet, he has authored or co-authored five books in the area of global/community health. His most recent book, Megacities & Global Health, co-authored with Greg Pappas, was published in 2011. Dr. Khan has authored over 55 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and in January 2012 was appointed as a Reviewer for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). In 2009 he was named a “Top Doc” by Philadelphia magazine.

The Early Achievement Award, established in 2000, recognizes early-career physicians for outstanding academic achievements or contributions through community or medical service. The 2013 award recipient is:

Halleh Akbarnia, MD ’98, Attending Emergency Physician, St. Francis Hospital of Evanston, Ill.

Dr. Halleh Akbarnia joined the medical staff of Saint Francis Hospital (SFH) in 2007, and is an active member of the SFH Critical Care, Sepsis, and Graduate Medical Education Committees.  She served as the Chair of the Performance Distinction Committee, representing SFH at the System level, and a member of the Medical Executive Committee 2010-2011.  She was awarded the “Non Medicine Specialist of the Year” for the 2010-2011 year by graduating 2011 Internal Medicine Residents and the 2009-2010 “Teacher of The Year” by the Resurrection Emergency Medicine Residents.  Prior to joining St. Francis Hospital, she was assistant Medical Director at her residency program, VCUHS/MCV in Richmond, Virginia and was named “Teacher of the Year” in 2005 by the residents there.  Dr. Akbarnia is class agent for The Class of 1998.  She is an “outstanding leader within her class” and “has continued to unite our class” years later, writes one of her nominators.

For awards information, go to the 2013 Medical Alumni Association Awards website.

Images of the recipients are available for download here.

Endowment preserves Pringle Herbarium

by Audrey Clark 

On the second floor of Torrey Hall rows of tall wooden and metal cabinets packed with pressed plants fill a high-ceilinged room with gracefully arched windows . This is UVM’s Pringle Herbarium, home to 300,000 plant specimens collected by botanists dating back to Fanny Allen, widow of Revolutionary War leader Ethan Allen. The herbarium was started in 1902 with a generous endowment from the founder of Shelburne Farms, William Seward Webb.

Richard Bundy, president of the UVM Foundation, sees that first endowment as an important legacy for the university. “William Webb’s gift is a great example of how donors can have an impact that far exceeds their natural life,” he says.

In the late 1800s, an explosion of scientific activity in the eastern United States centered around the discovery of new species on the western frontier. Cyrus Pringle, a native of Charlotte, Vermont, joined the vanguard of botanical explorers out west, braving rugged terrain, malaria, and stage coach robbers to press, dry, and ship specimens to scientists in the east. By the end of his life, he had collected more than 500,000 specimens, 12 percent of which were entirely new to science.

Although the U.S. National Herbarium and Middlebury College clamored for Pringle and his remarkable collection of plants, in 1902, Pringle’s collection was moved by horse and buggy from his farmhouse in Charlotte to Williams Science Hall on the UVM campus. Webb’s $10,000 endowment paid Pringle’s salary of $750 a year and funded his collecting trips in Mexico.

Pringle died in 1911, but the Webb endowment lives on, currently providing $4,500 a year, a small but important part of the herbarium’s annual budget of $90,000. “There’s a deep history here that has yielded a fund that’s really sustained the herbarium for a century,” says David Barrington, professor and chair of the Plant Biology Department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the director of the herbarium since 1974.

The Webb endowment has also positioned the Pringle Herbarium to be successful in securing additional funding. A recently established endowment supports the herbarium’s role as a hotspot of fern research, and four grants currently fund the creation of an online herbarium to foster cutting-edge research on climate change.

Bundy sees the Webb endowment as part of a university-wide tradition. “At a university that’s 220-plus years old, the history of private philanthropy here is long and rich. The Pringle endowment is one special example of the long, long history of philanthropic support that helps to make higher education, scholarship, and research available in Vermont.”

The Palliative Care Collaborative is made up of representatives of the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the UVM College of Medicine, Fletcher Allen Health Care, and the Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle counties, as well as individual community members. It was created in 2007 thanks to a $325,000 gift from an anonymous donor. The group has overseen distribution of funds to support medical student events such as Palliative Care Week and a physician fellowship program at UVM/Fletcher Allen, enhancements in UVM’s nursing programs in end-of-life care, and support for VNA’s community outreach through its Madison-Deane Initiative.

The Advanced Practice Nursing Fellowship is a critical education and clinical care component made possible by the Millers, who recognize the needs of end-of-life and palliative care patients. The availability of palliative care for all Vermonters is a priority service goal for the Palliative Care Collaborative and for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, which prepares advanced practice nurses.

 “We are excited about the opportunity to support this unique and rare collaboration,” said Holly Miller. “Our gift for this nursing fellowship is given in the spirit of a tribute to these four institutions that have come together to identify the greatest needs around palliative and end-of-life care for our community. We truly believe that this will make a meaningful difference in patient care.”

Holly Miller has been an advocate for the thoughtful and supportive care of individuals nearing their end of life for nearly 30 years. She was a founding director of the Vermont Respite House and has served on many community boards and committees. With a primary focus on palliative and end-of-life care, Miller is a hospice volunteer, a member of the Noyana Hospice choir, and longtime member of the Madison-Deane-Initiative, all programs within the VNA's umbrella of end-of-life care services.

 “Bob and Holly Miller truly understand the critical need for palliative care services as this leadership gift certainly demonstrates,” said Patricia Prelock, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “Their support will help us ensure a specialized and much-needed focus in palliative care for nurse practitioners for years to come.”

“The UVM Alumni Association is pleased to be able to make this contribution to such a deserving and worthy cause,” said Ted Madden, UVM class of 1992, president of the UVM Alumni Association.

The Alumni Association announced the donation during their annual leadership meeting at the UVM Alumni Association Ski & Ride Weekend on Saturday, Feb. 2, at 5 p.m. at the Stoweflake Mountain Resort in Stowe.

David Coates, the chair of the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, said that the donation from the UVM Alumni Association is just one of many steps the University of Vermont has taken to help Vermonters recover from the state’s worst disaster since 1927.

“From the minute Irene struck, the University of Vermont has been providing assistance to survivors. UVM students turned out in huge numbers to help our Vermont neighbors,” he said. “Now, this gift from the UVM Alumni Association will provide financial support to the Vermont Irene survivors who are still struggling to recover from the disaster.”

The Vermont Disaster Relief Fund provides financial assistance to the thousands of Vermonters whose lives were torn apart by the floods of 2011. The fund is designed to fill the gap that exists after survivors receive assistance from the federal government, private insurance and other grant programs.

The fund is financed solely by private donations and, as of January 31, the fund had raised $7.2 million.

Coates said that there are still hundreds of Irene survivors who are trying to rebuild their lives. “This is a long-term recovery,” he said. “Irene may seem long ago for many of us, but there are still Vermonters who live with the effects of Irene each and every day.”

Donations to the fund have come in all sizes and from a wide variety sources, including school bake sales, survivors of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, fundraising concerts, the Keegan Bradley Charity Golf Classic, and the sale of VTSTRONG license plates.

The UVM Alumni Association made this gift from funds generated by its business activities, including ticket sales to events and revenues from promotion of membership services such as affinity credit card and travel programs.

More information on the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund: Betsy Ide, (802) 860-0014 or betsy@vermontdisasterrecovery.com.

The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, and an acquaintance were both treated successfully in recent years by Ittleman, who is chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Fletcher Allen and a professor of surgery at the College of Medicine. Those positive experiences motivated the gift.  The donor was also inspired by a $1 million challenge grant in June, 2012 from Tom and Mary Evslin of Stowe to support advanced cardiology research at Fletcher Allen and the College.

“I am humbled, proud, and pleased,” says Ittleman. “I do want to make clear, however, that this gift is not about me. It is a reflection on the institution as a whole and all the people who work here every day. Without the floor nurses, the administrative staff, the ICU and operating room teams, the technicians who run the heart-lung machine – everyone really – we could not have experienced the successes we have had over the years. It truly is a team effort.”

“This gift is a testament to the excellent care Dr. Ittleman and our cardiothoracic surgical team provide to every one of our patients,” said John R. Brumsted, M.D., president and CEO of Fletcher Allen. “I hope news of this very generous donation will make all the residents of our region aware of the first rate care we provide. My congratulations to Dr. Ittleman for this well-deserved recognition.”

“The Ittleman Professor will provide superb clinical expertise, excellent training for our medical students and residents, and continued innovation with new procedures,” said Marion Couch, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., professor and interim chair of the Department of Surgery.

In addition to leading the cardiothoracic surgery program, Ittleman has served in numerous leadership positions during his 30-year career at UVM/Fletcher Allen, including executive vice chair of surgery and associate vice president for operations for the UVM Medical Group.

Ittleman earned his medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and began his career at Case Western Reserve University and other hospitals in Cleveland before coming to the UVM College of Medicine and what was then the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in 1980.

Learn more about Ittleman and his philosophy of care.

(Note: Carla Beecher of the UVM Foundation contributed to this release.)

Heading up the stairs at the Brooklyn headquarters, he met another man, about his age, coming down. He gave Heyward a friendly hello and a hearty handshake. Heyward walked away with that nagging, “I should know who that is, but I can’t quite place him,” sense. But there were flood plans to activate — sweeping streets, clearing catch basins of debris, moving equipment to low-lying areas. Heyward put the mystery of who that guy was in the back of his mind.

That guy, Trevor Jackson ’83, also got down to business a few work-stations away from Heyward. A National Guardsman since his days as a UVM undergraduate, Jackson is commander of the 53rd Army Liaison Team, a Manhattan-based unit of the Guard. A third UVM alum, Nancy Barthold ’83, was focused on her own Sandy issues, representing the city’s Parks Department in the emergency management operation.

Heyward, long active in leadership roles with the UVM Alumni Association, knew Barthold from university events in the city. Though he hadn’t realized it yet, he also shared an alumni bond with the man who had greeted him on the stairs. A day later, when things quieted a bit on Sunday evening, it dawned on him. “I put together that he was in uniform… Jackson… then I said to myself, ‘No way!’” I went over and asked him his first name. Trevor.”

They’d known each other as UVM undergrads, but hadn’t crossed paths since. “I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you,” Heyward said.

Jackson joked, “I thought maybe I owed you money or something.” Weeks later, Heyward laughs at the memory, an unlikely college reunion in the relative calm before a colossal storm.

Trees, streets, troops 

Heyward and Barthold are both NYC natives and current residents; Jackson was born in Jamaica, but came to New York as a child and now lives north of the city. They all care deeply about the place and its people and have served through times of crisis before, most notably the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Barthold is assistant commissioner for recreation and programming with the New York City Parks Department. She currently oversees 35 public recreation centers and programs, but most of her career has been focused on maintenance operations and forestry. That experience led to her role with the city’s Emergency Management Operation.

Pulling shifts from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. became the norm from the days leading up to Sandy until Thanksgiving for Barthold, much the same for Jackson and Heyward. Working from the office in Brooklyn and in the field, Barthold coordinated the myriad teams dealing with downed trees. The task was greatly aided, she notes, by a recently developed GIS/tablet-based system that seamlessly coordinated complaint calls and tree inspections on the streets. 

Trevor Jackson is a claims manager for the state insurance fund in New York, but as Sandy approached he left his desk job at the office in White Plains, called into active duty with the National Guard. His initial mission was to act as a liaison officer, but for the first three days of the storm, Jackson stepped into the role of ground commander for several units involved with search and rescue efforts. Work in the field took him to the Guard’s staging area at Fort Bennett Field, Brighton Beach, the Rockaways, and Staten Island.

“It was painful to see all the destruction,” Jackson says. “These are our fellow citizens, and looking out and seeing the water at eye-level, just very daunting to see all the sand barriers being washed away.”

Even on the sunniest of days, Leon Heyward’s job sounds rather intimidating when you consider that New York City has 13,000 miles of sidewalks and overseeing their maintenance is just one aspect of his work. Post-storm, he set to work helping to lead and coordinate efforts to inspect and identify blocked roads and flooded tunnels and begin restoring traffic flow in one of the world’s busiest cities.

On top of the storm recovery effort, Heyward and his staff were immediately on the ground from Tuesday to Friday assessing sidewalk damage and what would need to be done before the weekend’s New York City Marathon. Ultimately, Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his call to run the race as planned and cancelled this year’s event.

After the flood

All three of the UVM alumni are grateful to have escaped damage to their own property. Jackson, who lives in Rockland County north of the city, lost power at home for a few days. Heyward, who lives in the Bronx, lost power for a week and had some downed trees in his yard, one across a fence that he’ll have to get fixed when things slow down. And Barthold, who lives in a Queens neighborhood that sustained significant damage to large, old trees, was fortunate not to lose any in her own yard.

All are united by their impressions of the storm’s impact and the fact that they, like so many, had not seen such fury coming. “It was unbelievable,” Heyward says. “There’s the old saying that TV and the newspapers can’t do justice to what you see out there. That was so true. The houses in different stages of devastation — chunks taken out of them, pushed off their foundations, or swept away. And with no power, once it got dark it was very ominous being out there.”

A triathlete and open-water swimmer, Barthold has long told friends that the best views of Manhattan are to be had while swimming in the Hudson River. She’ll always love the water and the city’s waterfront, but has an even deeper respect now for its power. “I’m definitely humbled,” she says. “The water by Staten Island is now so calm and bay-like. It’s hard to believe it came in and took people’s lives.”

Barthold, Jackson, and Heyward, all express gratitude to have had roles that put them in positions to help immediately and tangibly during the storm and in its wake. It’s an emotion they mutually connect to their experience after 9/11.

Though they’re keenly aware of the loss of life and property and the challenges ahead — put in stark numbers by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent request for $42 billion in federal support for relief and preparation for the next storm — all of the alumni trio were heartened by the cooperation of diverse agencies and individuals that was critical to the emergency efforts. And they are impressed by the strength of New Yorkers, something that Barthold suggests can be as difficult for the media to convey as the devastation of a neighborhood.

Jackson agrees. “No one’s spirit was dampened,” he says. “That’s what was so awesome about the resiliency of everyone out there — even in the Rockaways — everyone was peaceful, grateful for the support, with an attitude of, ‘OK, it happened. We’ll pick ourselves up and move on.’”

UVM Start is a crowd-donating platform that connects student startups with alumni -- gaining the connections, mentoring, and capital necessary to get their companies off the ground. Students are invited to submit projects that are social, consumer-focused, or science-and technology-based to a student team that selects between six to 10 projects each semester. The winning entries are then posted on uvmstart.org, where UVM’s approximately 100,000 alumni can browse the projects and donate advice and money to a specific project or to the UVM Start general fund.

“UVM Start is just the kind of technology-savvy program we need in higher education,” said Tom Sullivan, president of the University of Vermont. “It promotes student innovation and entrepreneurship and connects young people with mentors and potential sponsors in the community and in our alumni network. It also provides a convenient and efficient platform for alumni to engage with students in a rewarding way by helping them implement their creative ideas in the real world.”

Other student projects chosen in the first round include a vertical covered bike rack that provides security and protection across campus; a door-mounted, space-saving ski rack; a one-of-a-kind device that converts recycled plastics into filament used in 3D printing; and a revolutionary Nordic skiing glove design based on the specifications of world-class athletes.

“UVM Start is an innovative way for young entrepreneurs to get the resources and the mentorship they need to actually start a business,” said Gov. Peter Shumlin. “This project is a great example of a creative partnership that will not only give students valuable real-world experience vital to any education, but will also allow students to witness the magic of their ideas becoming reality. I commend UVM for helping to launch the next wave of job creators in Vermont.”

Funding key to success for start-ups

Students who initially submitted applications in September for the first round have 45 days to fundraise before funds are distributed via the UVM Foundation in December. Students can enter for a second round of funding in the spring, but must have proof of concept in hand. Once funds are distributed again, students have the summer to build and scale their companies. 

“It’s been an experience that I would have never dreamed of taking part in as a first-year engineering student,” said senior Cyril Brunner, who is part of team Eleview along with fellow team member Julian Tryba. “I have been more passionate about this project than anything so far at UVM and it has really allowed me to expand my horizons in terms of career paths and networks. I would have never thought that there would be the potential of creating a startup in my senior year of college; I always thought that was reserved for the likes of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.”

Students, who rally support around their proposals through the use of Facebook, Twitter, email and other social media, can consult with an advisory committee composed of faculty, staff, professors and local professionals. They also receive technical, financial and planning support from program sponsors Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET), Vermont Technology Council and the UVM Foundation.

“UVM Start gives student entrepreneurs the capital and mentoring required to make a substantive difference in the trajectory of their businesses,” said Andrew Stickney, vice president of VCET. “This hands-on, micro-donating platform will engage alumni — allowing UVM grads to truly change the course of a company and even a UVM student's career. This is why we feel that UVM Start is truly empowering the next generation of UVM entrepreneurs.”

Tucker Severson, an MBA student who is a member of the student team that selects proposals, said alumni support is critical to the success of all of the projects. “Alumni support could make all the difference,” he said. “Substantive capital and mentoring is often the difference between languishing and success. The university has many entrepreneurial students and supportive alumni, so by connecting the two, UVM Start plans to help turbo-charge entrepreneurship on campus.”

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

2012 University of Vermont Alumni Association Outstanding Young Alumni Award
to Kesha Ram ’08, Burlington, Vt.

Kesha Ram graduated from UVM magna cum laude in 2008 with degrees in natural resource planning and political science. She later completed a public law program at American University in Washington, D.C. During her tenure at UVM, she was the first person of color and the seventh woman to fulfill a term as the Student Government Association president. In that role, she represented nearly 10,000 young people while overseeing a budget of $1.5 million and 150 student organizations. She also taught preschool, serving as the head start advocate at Burlington Children’s Space and led the policy team for Burlington’s Climate Action Plan. The sense of community and connection to the natural world she found in Burlington, she has said, drew her to make it her permanent home.

Kesha was elected state representative on Nov. 4, 2008, and was sworn in on Jan. 7, 2009. She served for three years as the clerk of the General, Housing, and Military Affairs Committee and was subsequently appointed to the Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over revenue generation for the state. She also serves on the Joint Legislative Technology Committee.

Kesha is a passionate leader advocating for green job creation, affordability of early childhood and higher education, reducing environmental toxins, tribal rights and recognition, accessible health care and affordable housing.

Outside of the legislature, Kesha is the legal director for Women Helping Battered Women, assisting victims of domestic violence in the courtroom and throughout family and criminal legal proceedings. She serves on the boards of the Center for Whole Communities, the Sudan Development Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of the University of Vermont.

Kesha’s leadership and service have earned her notable recognition and distinction. She has been named a Lola Aiken Scholar, Morris K. Udall Scholar, Ronald E. McNair Scholar, and Harry S. Truman Scholar. She is a member of the University of Vermont Tower Society and Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society and was named an Oxfam “Sister on the Planet” Climate Change Ambassador.

Alumni Achievement Award

2012 University of Vermont Alumni Association Achievement Award
to C. Norman Coleman, Class of 1966, Chevy Chase, Md.

Dr. C. Norman Coleman graduated from the University of Vermont in 1966 with a bachelor of arts in mathematics and from Yale University School of Medicine in 1970. He trained in internal medicine at the University of California - San Francisco, in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute and in radiation oncology at Stanford University. He is board certified in all three fields.

Coleman was a tenured faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine before joining Harvard Medical School in 1985 as Fuller-American Cancer Society Professor and Chairman, Joint Center for Radiation Therapy. In 1999, he created and became director of a new Radiation Oncology Sciences Program at the National Cancer Institute formed to coordinate all radiation oncology activities. He served as chief of the Radiation Oncology Branch (ROB) from 1999 to 2004 and is now an adjunct member of ROB.

Coleman serves the NCI as associate director of the Radiation Research Program in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis and special adviser to the director of the NCI. Since 2004 he has been senior medical adviser and chief of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Team in the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations, Office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Health and Human Services.

He has written extensively in the fields of radiation modifiers and, more recently, on preparedness and planning for radiological or nuclear emergencies. He is the 2011 recipient of the Samuel J. Heyman Award, one of the most prestigious awards dedicated to honoring America's civil servants, for developing a blueprint for the U.S. to deal with the health consequences of a radiological or nuclear incident and helping the Japanese respond to radiation from earthquake- and tsunami-damaged nuclear power plants.

Distinguished Service Award

2012 University of Vermont Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
to Paula Oppenheim Cope ’75, Shelburne, Vt.

Paula Cope is president of Cope & Associates, Inc., a management consulting and training firm based in Burlington, Vt., since 1991. Paula is a consultant, facilitator, and trainer specializing in management and organizational development; strategic planning, and project management.

Over the past 20 years, she has presented professional papers nationally, is a published author in health care, and has chaired several statewide conferences on the economics of child care, total quality management and volunteerism. She has been the project director for the Governor's Commission on the Public's Health Care Values and Priorities, a board member for Leadership Champlain and is a founding member of the American Society of Training and Development - Vermont Chapter.

In 2003, Paula was one of six recipients worldwide to be named an Exemplar of Excellence by Hillel International Center. In 2004, she and her family received the YMCA’s Character in Action Award. In 2005, she was named Small Business Woman of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Paula has served on many of her class reunion committees as well as a career network member and admissions volunteer. She was the recipient of UVM’s Outstanding Young Alumna award in 1980.

2012 University of Vermont Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award
to David Godkin ’77, West Roxbury, Ma.

David Godkin has fulfilled numerous volunteer roles at UVM since his graduation, defining the very model of alumni volunteerism the university seeks to inspire in word, in action and in advocacy. His volunteer engagement with UVM spans more than three decades, including effective and valued leadership in such key alumni points of continuity as the Career Connection; Ira Allen Committee, member and chair; UVM Fund Executive Committee, member and chair; Boston Regional Board member; Reunion Committee, member and chair; Boston Regional Campaign Committee; and Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Those who nominated Godkin for this honor spoke without exception of his selfless dedication to alma mater in whatever capacity he has been called upon to serve, despite maintaining a successful and demanding legal career. Godkin is the father of Katherine Godkin, UVM Class of 2009.

George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award

2012 George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award to Dr. Luis Vivanco,
Burlington, Vt.

Luis Vivanco came to UVM in 1997 as a New England Board of Higher Education Dissertation Write-up Fellow, having earned his bachelor of arts in religion from Dartmouth College in 1991 and his master of arts in cultural anthropology from Princeton University in 1995. His doctorate in cultural anthropology was also awarded from Princeton, in 1999. He was appointed assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at UVM in 1999 and was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in 2005. He has been director of the Global and Regional Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2007 and founding director of its global studies major since 2009.

Professor Vivanco’s scholarship focuses primarily on the cultural and political aspects of "saving nature" in Costa Rica and Mexico, research exploring how the meanings of nature and social change are debated, negotiated, imposed, and resisted in the context of environmental and indigenous social movements, ecotourism and sustainable development.

He is a widely published author of books and articles in scholarly journals and a sought-after speaker at academic conferences and symposia nationally and internationally.

Complementing his academic work, he has been involved in indigenous tourism activism as a board member of Indigenous Tourism Rights International and during 2006-07 was a visiting public policy fellow at the Snelling Center for Government.

He has received a number of prestigious awards to support his ethnographic research, including Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation and the New England Board of Higher Education.

Luis teaches a variety of courses for the Anthropology Department, and in 2006, he co-led UVM's first semester study abroad program in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Leadership in Philanthropy Award

2012 Leadership in Philanthropy Award to Eugene ’50 and Joan Kalkin,
Bernardsville, N.J.

Eugene and Joan Kalkin are among the University of Vermont’s most dedicated and committed volunteer leaders and philanthropic supporters, dating back to Eugene’s student years as a member of the Class of 1950.

Eugene is the founding chairman of the Board of Directors of the University of Vermont Foundation, and Joan is an inaugural member of the Foundation Leadership Council. Together, they have served the University of Vermont in numerous volunteer capacities over many years. Each has been a member of the UVM Board of Trustees and served at various times as advisory board members for the School of Business Administration, the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Fleming Museum.

Together as well, they were awarded honorary doctorates at the UVM Commencement Ceremony in 1998 and were emeritus co-chairs of the national steering committee for the university’s second comprehensive fundraising campaign from 2001 to 2007, raising more than $278 million in support of university priorities.

Founder of the national retail chain store Linens ‘n Things, and later Kalkin & Company, in the 1990s Eugene chaired the fundraising committee spearheading a drive to construct a new home for UVM’s School of Business Administration. The couple were major donors to that project, and Kalkin Hall was named in recognition of their involvement in that effort. In the 2000s, they established the Kalkin Family Exhibitions Fund to support the Fleming Museum. Both gifts were the largest ever made to that area of the University of Vermont at that time.

About the Alumni Awards

The Alumni Distinguished Service Award has been awarded since 1958 to volunteer alumni leaders whose service to the University of Vermont and the Alumni Association has enhanced the reputation and furthered the mission of the university.

The Alumni Achievement Award has been awarded to alumni since 1985 for outstanding achievement that has been recognized at the local, state and/or national level.

The Young Alumni Award has been awarded since 1979 to alumni who graduated within the past ten years for volunteer service to the University of Vermont and to the Alumni Association and for commitment to furthering the mission of the University.

The George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award was established by the UVM Alumni Association in 1974 to honor excellence in teaching. It is given annually to a faculty member nominated by alumni, students, faculty, and staff for significant contributions to the broadening of students' academic experience and the enrichment of campus life. The award is named in honor of the late Dean Emeritus George V. Kidder '22, who served the University of Vermont for more than seventy years.

About the UVM Foundation Leadership in Philanthropy Award

For the first time in 2012, the University of Vermont Foundation added to the great tradition of alumni association recognitions with a new award — the Leadership in Philanthropy Award — which is presented to a deserving individual or couple for a passionate commitment to furthering the efforts of philanthropy at UVM through their leadership, vision, volunteerism and personal philanthropy. Recipients of this award must be lifetime members of UVM’s Ira Allen Society with demonstrated impact in promoting and expanding philanthropy that supports the University of Vermont.

Robert “Rob” Brennan, UVM class of 1983 and his wife, Carolyn Brennan, UVM class of 1982, have pledged $1 million over the next five years to build on the success of the university’s Honors College and add to their prior giving for the same purpose.

"Our sincere thanks to Rob and Carolyn and their family for this wonderful commitment to our students,” said Abu Rizvi, dean of the Honors College. “We're very excited by what this gift will do to bring excellent students to UVM and to support and challenge them while they're here. Visionary philanthropy such as this is central to our main mission of attracting the best students and helping them do their best work."

Half of the funds will be added to the family’s existing Brennan Family Scholarship Fund, established with an initial $100,000 gift in 2006 as part of UVM’s second comprehensive campaign. Since inception, the fund has awarded a total of $77,500 to five Honors College students.

The Brennan Family Scholarship Fund provides annual scholarship support, based on merit, for one or more of the most talented students admitted to the Honors College each year.

The other half of the current gift will establish the Brennan Summer Research Fellowship, providing grants of up to $5,000 annually for Honors College students to pursue undergraduate research during the summer months under the tutelage of UVM faculty members across the various research disciplines. The gift effectively increases by 50 percent the amount of funding available to the Honors College to support such summer research projects on a permanent basis.

“Carolyn and I are happy to be able to celebrate and support academic excellence at UVM,” Rob Brennan said. “We wanted our giving to have an impact university wide, and the Honors College enrolls outstanding students across the university’s majors and disciplines.”

Brennan is senior managing director of Guggenheim Partners and heads the Commercial Real Estate Finance Group for the firm, based in New York City. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Vermont Foundation and the UVM Board of Trustees. Robert and Carolyn Brennan reside in Chappaqua, N.Y., and have three children.

The Carl Reidel Scholarship Fund was established to provide support for off-campus internships, research projects, general support for supplies and travel, or other expenses for undergraduate students in the Honors College who demonstrate the interdisciplinary, experiential and collaborative attributes exemplified by Reidel as determined by the dean of the Honors College.

“The Environmental Studies Program was envisaged by Carl as a university-wide, interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary Honors Program,” said Jean Richardson, UVM professor emerita of environmental studies and Reidel’s wife of 22 years, who is helping spearhead fundraising efforts with the UVM Foundation. “Indeed, Carl proposed establishing an Honors College many years ago and was delighted when the idea gathered impetus in 2003, resulting in the present Honors College. Carl loved teaching and interacting with students during his 35 years as a professor, encouraging them to ‘ask the right questions’ and be creative in seeking solutions to complex environmental problems. He wanted to set up this scholarship fund to support students with a passion to make the world a better place.”

Reidel, who died on Nov. 3, 2011, of pancreatic cancer, started the nation’s first university-wide interdisciplinary Environmental Program at UVM in 1972 and led it to national prominence until his retirement in 2000 as university professor emeritus of environmental policy. He began his career as a district forest ranger in Nevada, Utah and California for the U.S. Forest Service before receiving two Bullard Forestry Fellowships to Harvard and a master of public administration degree from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Minnesota in natural resources policy and administration in 1969, Reidel served on the faculties of Minnesota, Williams, Harvard, Yale and UVM. 

During his tenure, Reidel also served as president of the American Forestry Association; vice president of the National Wildlife Federation; director of the National Parks Association; sat on the Governor’s Council of Environmental Advisors; and served a term in the Vermont House of Representatives. He was awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Master Award along with U.S. Senator Robert Stafford on the 20th anniversary of Earth Day.

In keeping with Reidel’s desire to involve every academic discipline, the scholarship fund will be open to all students in the Honors College regardless of major, provided they include an experiential component in their thesis or internship as they work towards an undergraduate degree.

“Carl Reidel was an academic innovator of national importance, and it is fitting that his legacy will be remembered with a fund to help students incorporate environmental themes into their work no matter their primary field of study,” said Abu Rizvi, dean of the Honors College. “Since students in the Honors College are simultaneously pursuing degrees in one of the seven undergraduate colleges and schools at UVM, this scholarship will have institution-wide impact. The ideas that Carl thought were important – the environment, interdisciplinary problem solving, experiential learning – are now hallmarks of UVM.  We are excited for our students and are happy to help celebrate Carl’s many accomplishments as an educator.”

Reidel’s contributions to the university will be recognized Oct. 5-6 as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Environmental Studies Program.

Contributions to the Carl Reidel Scholarship Fund may be sent to the UVM Foundation, University of Vermont, Grasse Mount Building, 411 Main Street, Burlington, VT, 05401.

St. Louis, who starred for the Catamounts from 1993-97 and led UVM to its first Frozen Four appearance in 1996, is entering his 14th season in the NHL, where he has established himself as one of the top players in the league during the last 12 seasons as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  

“Thank you so much for this award, it means a lot to me,” said St. Louis. “My four years here were unbelievable. I’d like to thank some of the people who really paved the way for me like Coach (Mike) Gilligan, (Joe) Gervais and (Roger) Grillo when I was here. They really helped to understand what it meant to play hockey, but also how to try and be the best human being you can be. Obviously guys who paved the way that you see in the NHL when you are in college …guys like John LeClair and Aaron Miller I want to thank. When I was in college and saw those guys play in the NHL I was like ‘this is so possible.’ That’s one thing I feel like I can do now is help the guys coming out of Vermont. Guys who come here today know they can make it in the NHL when they come to Vermont.”

The UVM Alumni Association has been awarding the Alumni Achievement Award since 1985 for outstanding achievement that has been recognized at the local, state and/or national level. A total of 36 foursomes participated in the sold-out Catamount Golf Classic, sponsored by the Windjammer in South Burlington, raising $28,115 for the Victory Club scholarship fund in an effort to support the student-athlete experience at Vermont.

“It’s wonderful to have Martin St. Louis back on campus,” said UVM President Thomas Sullivan on his first day on the job. “He’s an embodiment of the great sports programs here at UVM. We’re very happy to honor him today. He represents so much that has been great in athletics at this university, and importantly, what I want to say is how much we appreciate the support that all of you here give to our athletic program. So we’re here to salute and thank Marty first and foremost, but we’re also here to thank all of you for your great support for a terrific university.”

During his career at Vermont, St. Louis was a three-time first team All-American and a three-time finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as national men's hockey player of the year.  He concluded his UVM career as the school's all-time leader in points and was the 1997 recipient of the J. Edward Donnelly Award as UVM's top male senior athlete.

After graduating from Vermont with a degree as a double-major in community development and applied economics and consumer and advertising, St. Louis was not drafted, but eventually received an opportunity with the Calgary Flames and was picked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2000.  St. Louis, who has missed just seven regular season games in the last nine seasons, will enter his 14th NHL season having played in over 900 games and recording over 800 points, over 300 goals and over 500 assists. After being a finalist for the Lady Byng Trophy in 2007-08 and 2008-09, he was awarded the honor in 2009–10, a season during which he recorded 12 penalty minutes the entire season.

UVM Foundation president and chief executive officer Richard Bundy says the best news is in what the foundation tracks as “total production,” which includes not just new cash receipts but also indicators of future giving, like new pledges and new bequest provisions. While cash receipts, at $21.7 million, were down from last year’s high water mark of $29 million, the total production figure of more than $45 million soared above the $20.4 million reported in FY2011, an increase of 121 percent.

“Growth in new commitments like we saw this year will translate into very healthy growth in receipts in the years ahead,” Bundy said. “We are incredibly grateful to the more than 20,000 donors this year whose vote of confidence in UVM will have a lasting impact on our academic programs and the overall student experience.”

UVM’s strong fundraising comes at a time when philanthropic giving has been stagnant nationally. According to Giving USA, the annual yearbook of American philanthropy, charitable giving in America barely grew in 2011 for the second year in a row, rising just 0.9 percent. Giving to educational institutions edged up by only that same 0.9 percent.

Donors to UVM in FY2012 committed $8.5 million for student scholarships in all of the university’s schools and colleges, including a $1 million gift in support of scholarships from UVM Foundation board member Don McCree, UVM class of 1983, and his wife, Gabrielle. Donors also committed $1 million to fund student internships and fellowships administered through the Honors College. Another $6.9 million was contributed to support faculty endowments, including five new chairs and professorships in fields as diverse as electrical engineering, political science and pathology. The $13.5 million UVM Alumni House renovation project received $1.3 million in new commitments, including a half-million-dollar pledge from alumni William Davis ’71 and his father, Robert Davis ’41, to name the ballroom of the historic Summit Street building.

“This is an amazingly successful year and a remarkable beginning for the University of Vermont Foundation,” said interim President A. John Bramley. “We are tremendously grateful to all of our donors for their generous support of the University of Vermont. These very generous gifts are an expression of both the success we have achieved and the confidence people have in the university’s future.”

Just two years out from graduation, alumna Sasha Fisher '10 has wasted no time putting her self-designed major to use. If "human security" sounds abstract and philosophical (just the sort of lofty, idealistic concept that bright, optimistic undergraduates might enjoy probing during their four years in college), Fisher has found a way to bring her choice of study back down to Earth.

Spark MicroGrants, the non-profit she's co-founded, has already helped humans in eastern Africa achieve security of one kind or another, by funding projects to improve access to education, clean water, healthcare, food and more.

Before college, Fisher "was very interested in global development and all these efforts to eradicate poverty, but," she says, "I, like a lot of people in my generation, didn't feel like they were going well."

When she arrived at UVM from New York City, her plan was to investigate aid work with a multidisciplinary approach. "I ended up realizing that in economics, the goal is to have poverty reduction -- that's not actually my goal. In political science, it's about the state -- that's not actually my goal either," she says. "What I want to do is to enable all the humans on Earth, even if they're in an illegitimate state or a corrupt state, to meet all their basic needs. And that doesn't necessarily mean money -- that means that they have food, that they have health care, that they have a house, that they have access to clean water. And so while that sounds very obvious, it's a whole other paradigm and a whole new way of thinking about aid and about what our goals are in the world."

Enter the "human security" major (one half of her double-major; Fisher also studied studio art), a term introduced to her by Ted McMahon, research associate professor of community development and applied economics. "It's a way of addressing those needs and addressing them in a non-state-based way and accepting there's a rising legitimacy in non-state actors such as NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and communities," she explains.

"Sasha's engagement and focus on real-world problems is always what struck me about her," says Peter VonDoepp, associate professor of political science, who this spring invited Fisher back to campus to speak to his students. "When she was a student, she took my African policies class, and what continued to strike me was not just her level of intellectual engagement and real enthusiasm for the material but also her applied understanding of the material and capability for thinking about real-world problems. Sasha's not stuck in the abstract, it's all about this world for her."

After finishing her senior thesis on the topic and graduating, Fisher, inspired and educated by her work as an undergrad with the New Sudan Education Initiative, another non-profit created by UVM alumni, co-founded Spark MicroGrants with Georgetown and Columbia University graduate Teddy Svoronos, who conceived of the organization as a Fulbright Scholar in Tanzania, and computer scientist Neal Lesh, who specializes in using information technology to address poverty. With an initial $10,000 investment, Fisher moved to Rwanda two months after graduating and began putting the model into action.

What is the model? It's simple, she says: let community members drive development in their villages. Rather than NGOs and other outside groups dictating what a community needs, Spark MicroGrants offers a sum of money (typically $5,000 or less) and works with the community to identify their needs and draft a proposal that ensures sustainability of the chosen project. (Watch the audio slideshow above to learn how a group of women in Uganda turned $1,600 into a school for their vilage's children.)

Don't confuse microgranting with microlending. While the latter has received a good amount of attention from the media, not all of it has been favorable. That concept, which enables individuals to loan money to help impoverished people fund a small business, has drawn criticism for failing to reach the poorest of the developing world, leading more people into the debt cycle and lacking sustainability. Spark's model of microgranting, on the other hand, erases debt from the equation, and focuses on improving quality of life for a community, rather than earning money for a single entrepreneur.

So far, Spark has funded more than 24 projects in Rwanda and Uganda, and has expanded from a full-time staff of just Fisher, then Fisher and fellow UVM alumnus Eamon Penney '09, to now employing seven full-timers and a team of part-time staff from universities in both countries. In August, Fisher says, the full-time ranks will increase to 12.

"It is so exciting to think about Spark in the long run, because one of the things we're doing is we're building a model for microgranting, and this model could be used everywhere in the world," Fisher says. "Hopefully we'll have proven that this model is the model we should be using for development."

To learn more about Spark MicroGrants and to donate, visit its website: sparkmicrogrants.org.

Carragher is one of 20 Pickering Graduate Fellows who will receive financial support towards a two-year, full-time master’s degree program in a foreign affairs field. She plans to attend graduate school at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, where she will pursue a master of arts in international relations with a focus on international development. Ultimately, she aspires to become an economic officer in the U.S. Foreign Service.

Carragher’s Pickering Fellowship follows a distinguished undergraduate academic career at UVM as well as an impressive professional record. She graduated magna cum laude from the John Dewey Honors Program (which preceded the Honors College) as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  A political science major, Carragher received the department’s Warren R. and Mildred Austin Prize for International Peace and Security study in 2006.  She was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women as well as Pi Sigma Alpha (the national political science honor’s society).

After graduating she moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for a law firm before joining Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign in 2007 as a youth vote director. She worked in several swing states during the election (including Iowa, Colorado and Ohio) before returning to Washington and joining U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy’s staff. Carragher spent a year working for the Vermont senior senator before rejoining the Obama team in the White House. Most recently, she worked in the office of the President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. government’s development finance institution, which provides loans and political risk insurance to U.S. companies investing in emerging markets.

"Allison was a wonderful student, both talented and dedicated,” says associate professor of political science Pat Neal, one of Carragher’s mentors. “She is an excellent representative of our department and university, and she will surely make a great contribution to the public good through her service."

The fellowship will cover up to $40,000 per year of Carragher’s costs for two years of graduate study, which she will begin this summer. In addition to the financial support, Carragher will have the opportunity to participate in one domestic and one overseas internship with the U.S. Department of State. In exchange for the fellowship, Carragher (and all Pickering fellows) will commit to three years of service as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State.

Carleton R. Haines, M.D.’43, is the 2012 recipient of the A. Bradley Soule Award, established in 1983, which honors an alumnus/a whose loyalty and dedication to the College of Medicine most emulate those qualities found in its first recipient, A. Bradley Soule, M.D.'28. Haines, a retired surgeon at Fletcher Allen Health Care and associate professor emeritus of surgery at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, lives in Williston, Vt. During his career, he served as director of the Tumor Registry for the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont and as director of Cancer Control for the State of Vermont Department of Health. In honor of his roles as a clinical investigator, teacher, and superb clinician, Haines received the Service to Medicine & Community Award in 1994. He has served on medical reunion committees in the past and is currently involved as a class agent. As part of a large legacy family, Haines counts his son Peter, M.D.’79, his brother Gerald, M.D.’44 (who received the Soule award in 1990), and his nephew (Gerald’s son) Stephen, M.D.’75 (who received the Academic Achievement award in 2010) among his fellow alumni. In 2005, the Haines family celebrated the many connections between the college and their family by naming the Haines Family Room in the Medical Education Center. Haines continues his involvement with the college to this day as an engaged member of the Medical Alumni Association’s Executive Council since 2004.

Alumni honored with this year's Distinguished Academic Achievement Award, established in 1985, which recognizes outstanding scientific or academic achievement, include:

Susan E. Coffin, M.D.’87, associate drofessor of pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Hospital; epidemiologist and medical director, Department of Infection Prevention and Control, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Coffin is actively engaged in the clinical care of children with infections, teaching of medical students and residents, and hospital administration. She has made important research contributions to the understanding of the epidemiology of nosocomial pediatric infections, and has worked on infectious diseases prevention projects in healthcare and community settings in Botswana and Ghana. Coffin’s interests include: pediatrics, infectious diseases, public health, vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, infection control and healthcare-acquired infections, and quality improvement.

Mylan C. Cohen, M.D.’87, M.P.H., medical director, Non-invasive Cardiology, Cardiology Division, Maine Medical Center.

Cohen trained in internal medicine at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston, where he completed clinical and research fellowship training in cardiology, and was chief of the Nuclear Cardiology Section at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is a clinical professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. He specializes in clinical cardiology and cardiovascular imaging, including echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. Cohen is a past president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and has special interests in diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, valvular heart disease, and preoperative cardiac risk assessment.

Mary J. Hamel, M.D.’92, medical epidemiologist, Malaria Branch, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hamel is a medical epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and senior malaria advisor for the President’s Malaria Initiative. She has extensive field experience and expertise in malaria epidemiology and is a principal investigator for a phase 3 clinical trial of a new malaria vaccine that shows promise of reducing the incidence of malaria in children in sub-Saharan Africa by some 50 percent. The study was cited as one of Time magazine’s Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs of 2011. She has worked in western Kenya and other African countries on malaria control and child survival projects since 1995, and served as the Malaria Branch Chief at KEMRI/CDC Research and Public Health Collaboration, posted in western Kenya from 2004–2010.

Mary E. Maloney, M.D.’77, chief, Division of Dermatology, professor of medicine, and director of Dermatologic Surgery, University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Maloney is currently the chief of the division of dermatology at UMass Memorial Healthcare. She is the author of The Dermatologic Surgical Suite: Design and Materials and has edited two textbooks, Cutaneous Oncology and Surgical Dermatopathology. She is a past president of the Association of Academic Dermatologic Surgery and past secretary of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery. In 1999, she chaired both the Council on Education and the Scientific Assembly Council for the American Academy of Dermatology, with responsibility for the education and management of the largest dermatological scientific session in the world. Maloney has also served on the board of directors of the American Academy of Dermatology.

The College's Service to Medicine and Community Award, established in 1984, is presented to graduates who have maintained a high standard of medical service and who have achieved an outstanding record of community service or assumed other significant responsibilities in addition to their medical practice. The 2012 recipients of this award are:

Lisbet M. Hanson, M.D.’82, gynecologist and obstetrician, Virginia Beach, Va.

Hanson is a senior partner at Virginia Beach Obstetrics and Gynecology in Virginia Beach, Va. She has been serving the Virginia Beach community for 24 years and has helped establish a unique practice model for professional women delivering women’s care. With her husband, John G. Kenerson, M.D. ’77, Hanson has devoted generous volunteer service to Colleagues in Care (CIC), a global health network of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel and partners providing quality health care services throughout Haiti. Dr. Hanson’s work within the CIC has focused on initiating OB GYN ultrasound training for obstetricians and nurse midwives. In 2009, Hanson, and her husband were jointly honored as co-recipients of the Medical Society of Virginia Salute to International Service Award.

John G. Kenerson, M.D.’77, cardiologist, Cardiovascular Associates, Virginia Beach, Va.

Kenerson is a cardiologist and founding partner of Cardiovascular Associates in Virginia Beach, Va. He has dedicated his career to developing tertiary level cardiology programs serving the Virginia Beach community. With his wife, Lisbet M. Hanson, M.D. ’82, they created Colleagues in Care (CIC), a global health network of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel and partners providing quality health care services throughout Haiti. In 2009, Kenerson and Hanson were jointly honored by the Medical Society of Virginia with the Salute to International Service Award. In addition, Kenerson received the Kreuger Lectureship Virginia Beach Physician of the Year Award in recognition of medical and community service in 2009.

Arthur S. Kunin, M.D. ’52, professor emeritus of medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Kunin is a pioneering nephrologist, a superb role model, and one of the first full-time faculty members in the Department of Medicine at UVM. He is held in high esteem at the college for his demonstrated devotion over 35-plus years (1957 -1992) in various roles as a professor, researcher, and faculty member. Kunin is a World War II veteran who received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered just before the Battle of the Bulge and the Bronze Star medal for heroic achievement as a volunteer litter-bearer on the front lines. In 1990 he helped organize a sister-state relationship between Vermont and the Russian Republic of Karelia; and traveled to Russia for two years, helping UVM faculty who volunteered to teach at Petrozavodsk University. He has deep family roots in Vermont as well as a decades-long record of involvement in public life and community service. Even in retirement, he continues to broaden his knowledge by contributing his efforts to UVM’s holocaust studies, music and history departments.

The Early Achievement Award, established in 2000, recognizes early-career physicians for outstanding academic achievements or contributions through community or medical service. The 2012 award recipient is:

Kristin M. Page-Chartrand, M.D.’02, medical instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine.

Page-Chartrand is a board certified pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Duke University Medical Center. She has additional specialized training in the field of pediatric bone marrow transplant and devotes her clinical time to treating children with life-threatening diseases such as resistant malignancies, inherited metabolic diseases and immunodeficiencies. Her clinical research focuses on assessing potency of umbilical cord blood units used for hematopoetic stem cell transplantation with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes after this potentially life-saving procedure.

For awards information, go to the 2012 Medical Alumni Association Awards website.

Download images of the 2012 Medical Alumni Association Award winners here.

“When the President of the United States asks you to work for him, you answer the call,” says Pagano, who was named President Obama’s deputy director of legislative affairs in March. “It was very hard to leave Leahy’s office because he’s a wonderful man and a loyal friend. I’ve been blessed to have worked for two men of integrity."

With only a few months under his belt at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Pagano says he’s still learning the ropes, but has been “amazed at how much information the White House has to deal with on a given day.” His experience with Leahy, the second most senior member in the senate, has been helpful in working with all branches of government.

“My work focuses on the senate, and I’ve been able to blend my previous experience with my current duties,” says Pagano, who was a strong supporter of Obama’s 2008 campaign. “It’s a true privilege and an honor to come to the White House every day and work for President Obama.”

Pagano’s path to the White House, or even poliitics in general, wasn't clear cut when he was at UVM. He wasn't a political science major or active in political groups on campus. He majored in English and played four years of basketball. It was on a recruiting trip to campus when he “fell in love with the place and the view of Camel's Hump from Harris-Millis,” he says. “I had a great four years at UVM. It really opened up new worlds for me that I otherwise wouldn’t have discovered.”

Pagano, who played power forward for the Catamounts, has yet to utilize his basketball skills against Obama, who is known for enjoying an occasional lunchtime game among staffers. “I’m hoping to get to play with him sometime. That would be a lot of fun.”

After graduation, Pagano moved to New York and worked as a paralegal while earning his law degree from Fordham University at night. After an unfulfilling stint at a law firm in D.C., Pagano found his calling as a field director for the Clinton-Gore campaign at the same time Leahy was running for the U.S. Senate. One year later, Pagano joined Leahy's office as an attorney, quickly moving up the ranks until taking over as chief of staff in 2005.

In addition to managing Leahy’s Washington and Vermont offices, Pagano oversaw his boss’ work on the senate Judiciary, Agriculture and Appropriations committees and advised on the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the first major reform of the patent system in 60 years. He also played a key role in the hearings and confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. More recently, Pagano helped Leahy secure disaster relief and renovation funds after Tropical Storm Irene ravaged Vermont.

“Ed is as exemplary and honest and modest a public servant as any I have known,” Leahy said at the time of the announcement. “Now he is taking on another big job, with huge challenges, and it is a testament to Ed's stature and skill set that the president has picked the best person for a tough and vital job.”

Despite the long hours involved with his new job, Pagano, who is married to Democratic consultant and MSNBC Hardball commentator Jenny Backus, says he still manages to find time for his most important job -- being a father to his five-year-old son John Jack Wallace Pagano. “The new job has been 12 hours per day, but I still get to see my son every morning and read him a story at night.”

The professorship will be named the L. Richard Fisher Professorship in Electrical Engineering after the donor, a retired Silicon Valley sales executive who grew up in Hardwick, Vt., and earned UVM degrees in electrical engineering in 1947 and in business in 1949. Fisher has chosen to start funding for the professorship immediately through his annual giving so that its benefits can begin to be felt during his lifetime.

"We are honored by Richard Fisher’s vision and allocation of $1.5 million for the establishment of a professorship in electrical engineering," says Interim Dean Bernard "Chip" Cole. "This new professorship position will help to enrich students’ educational experience as well as provide new opportunities for faculty collaborative research initiatives.” The first Fisher Professor is expected to be named this spring, Cole said.

Fisher’s commitment builds on an already substantial estate provision for a scholarship fund he created at UVM in 1995. That fund supports Vermont students who want to study engineering at UVM, with preference for students from the Northeast Kingdom.

Fisher established his scholarship fund with an initial gift of $500,000 that he has since grown through annual giving to a current balance of more than $1.7 million. A portion of his annual giving will now also be allocated to build the new professorship in electrical engineering.

Fisher says he’s establishing the professorship and supporting scholarships to help UVM attract and retain high-caliber faculty and students in electrical engineering. “We have to be a leader in technology to maintain our way of life, I believe,” he said.

For further information about giving to UVM, contact the University of Vermont Foundation, 411 Grasse Mount, Burlington VT 05401; 802-656-2010, www.uvmfoundation.org, email foundation@uvm.edu.

“The School of Business Administration is committed to providing our students with the knowledge, tools and skills needed to launch successful job searches,” said Dean Sanjay Sharma, of the School of Business Administration. “We are extremely grateful to John for his generous donation.”

The School of Business Administration has a full-time career and professional development advisor who is dedicated to helping our students achieve their career goals. This money will be used to help students develop professional career-seeking skills, create a polished resume and cover letter, hone their interview skills and network with business leaders for internships and full-time employment.

John G. Hall is the President & COO at Rachael Ray/Watch Entertainment, Inc. He graduated from the School of Business in 1985 with a bachelor of science in business administration and a concentration in finance and graduated from Columbia Business School in 1991 with a master of business administration.  John is also a member of the School of Business Administration Board of Advisors. He lives in New York City.

Her boss took one look at the magazine and fired Comey. “He said, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’” she remembers. “I found out later that he really liked to help young designers get started.”

Still, getting axed had an unforeseen benefit for her career — an unemployment check. That gave Comey enough money to get by and enough time to dig deeper into design and launch her own fashion line. Ten years later Comey’s small label not only still exists, a miracle in the fashion business, but thrives. She’s become known for non-trendy designs in eye-catching prints that make for a hip librarian look. Her clothes are sported by the likes of Kirsten Dunst and Maggie Gyllenhaal and carried by more than one hundred stores, including Barney’s New York.

Most fashion designers of Comey’s rank have wanted to be such practically since they were in onesies. For Comey, though, it was a slow evolution, one that started in Burlington, where she studied sculpture at UVM and scoured the city’s second-hand shops for bits of worn inspiration.

Comey grew up in suburban Hartford, Connecticut, but her clan often headed north to Ludlow, Vermont, for vacation. The family spent so much time there that when Comey cast about for colleges, UVM seemed a natural pick. “It felt like my state university,” she says.

At UVM, she majored in Asian studies but her real love was art. She studied printmaking with now retired Professor Bill Davison and sculpture with his wife, Professor Kathleen Schneider ’79. Both teachers, Comey says, were formative influences — from teaching her the mechanics of how to make things to shaping her nascent artistic sensibility.

Comey, however, did not make much of an impression on either professor at first, if only because she was so quiet, “not one of the cool kids,” as Schneider says. Then Comey turned in her first assignment in Schneider’s sculpture class using found objects, a mirror framed by feather pillows.

“It just surprised me so much, this radical use of soft pillows,” Schneider says. “From that point on it was clear that she was a more visionary student than others.”

After graduating, Comey spent a few years in and around Burlington. She waited tables in a granny skirt and then landed a job at Jager Di Paola Kemp Design, first as a receptionist and then as the first director of the advertising/marketing firm’s Exquisite Corpse Gallery.

Comey continued to make sculpture during those years, but increasingly thought beyond the studio. She designed a line of novelty underwear. She created costumes and stage props for then-boyfriend Eugene Hutz of the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello.

“With sculpture you are alone in a studio,” she says. “I wanted to be more involved with industry.”

On a spring afternoon in her New York studio, Comey pulls her chair up to a folding table, her desk in a sea of open cardboard boxes and tangled piles of her signature wooden-heeled shoes. As reggae music bounces along, her staff quietly peer at computers or sort fabric samples in the same, light-filled space. A wail from the back of the room breaks the quiet concentration.

“I better go back and get that baby,” Comey says.

Though it might not appear so in the studio’s relative calm, the past year has been busier than usual for the fashion designer. Bruno (that baby) was born in fall 2010, Comey’s and her boyfriend Sean Carmody’s first. “I thought I did twenty things at once before,” Comey says of being a working mom. “Now it’s double time.”

Then in December she moved her crew from their longtime, cave-like Tribeca digs to a space three-times bigger (and with amenities like a bathroom) on an especially busy stretch of South Broadway in NoHo. Little more than a month after the move came New York’s fall fashion week. No wonder Comey and her staff have yet to even decide where their desks, when they get them, will go.

Comey has a petite beauty, somewhat like the French actress Audrey Tautou, contrasted by a broad smile and a hearty laugh. Her face is wrought of strong lines, pointed chin and dark eyebrows. Her manner is down-to-earth for a business and city that is anything but. “My friends in New York say they think of me as a Vermont person though I’ve been here fifteen years,” she says.

When Comey landed here in 1997, she worked as a production assistant, chauffering models to shoots and fetching props. She and Hutz rented an apartment on the Lower East Side for $400 a month. “We had to pay in cash, that kind of place,” she says. Comey kept making sculpture as well as props and costumes for Hutz’s band. She had yet to set her sights on fashion. “It took a few years for me to get interested, to not see it as being frivolous,” she says.

Her costumes for Hutz drew requests for other one-of-a-kind garments, which eventually led to the job at Theory. After Theory, with her unemployment checks in hand, Comey stuck with menswear for her first few collections. Then, after learning women were buying her men’s shirts in extra-small sizes, Comey added women’s wear and her down-to-earth shoes. Still, it took Comey, who juggled credit cards to finance her company, six years to turn a profit. “I never realized it would take that long,” she admits.

Early on Comey got tagged a hipster favorite, with live music at her shows and her vaguely vintage frocks with a contemporary twist that anyone could wear, and it has stuck. Throughout her collections, there’s an ease in her clothes, in the boxy yet loose shapes, that would flatter the average woman.

 “My design comes from a very pragmatic view rather than from a red carpet glamour place,” she says.

Balancing the business side and her creative work doesn’t seem to faze Comey. She loves working with manufacturers, pushing them to make unusual fabrics, such as printing a cable knit sweater pattern on a delicate chiffon or hand painting on a cotton. The designer finds inspiration in the world around her, at bookstores or flea markets, but fabrics are her creative building blocks. Only once she’s decided on them, which are all custom made, does she start designing the garments. Just as when she made sculpture, materials remain all important to her.

Around her hang samples of each of her collections from the past ten years. There isn’t a sculpture in sight. Comey kept none of them, just some prints from her student days, and hasn’t made one since she launched her label. She doesn’t miss it. Making sculptures isn’t that different from making garments, she says, and those she has racks and racks of, and racks more to make.

This story originally appeared in the fall issue of Vermont Quarterly magazine. To read the entire issue online: uvm.edu/vq.

When Catlin O’Neill ’99 takes a visitor around the U.S. Capitol it feels more like she’s giving a tour of her own house than the United States House of Representatives. She seems comfortable strolling through its halls saying hello to janitors, security guards, administrative assistants, members of Congress, legislative aides and even the parliamentarian as though they’re family.

O’Neill is clearly at home in her new role as chief of staff for House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s congressional office -- even though it was a career in the music industry and documentary filmmaking -- not politics -- that she dreamed of when graduating from UVM. O'Neill experienced some success in these professions in Boston and New York, but her hometown, D.C., kept calling her back.

Maybe it's the bloodline. Although she was too young to remember much about growing up as the granddaughter of Speaker of the House Thomas Phillip “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., or "Pop-Pop" as she calls him, it seems unlikely that her lineage hasn’t played a role in her unusually high political IQ and the fact that she is a leader in the House her grandfather used to run.

“Catlin O’Neill is very much her grandfather’s granddaughter,” says Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.). “She is politically savvy, personally charming and immensely energetic. Some in Washington think Nancy Pelosi runs the Democratic Caucus. Insiders know it’s Catlin. She is a trusted adviser and the go-to staffer for members of Congress across the political spectrum.”

‘Public service in her DNA’

When O’Neill moved into a new office in the Capitol in 2003 with Pelosi, who says O’Neill has "public service in her DNA," she had no recollection of ever being there. That changed one day when she opened the door to a musty old closet and was overcome by memories, triggered by the smells inside, of playing within it as a girl.

“It’s funny, but I grew up in D.C. and I came to the Capitol a bunch, but I was young and didn’t really make the connection that he was so famous because to me he was just my grandfather,” says O’Neill, standing under a massive portrait of "Tip" located in the lobby just outside the House Chamber. “I think people had these illusions that I was going to state dinners and stuff like that, but in retirement they were just grandparents who lived in an apartment where we went for Christmas dinner like any normal family.”

It wasn’t until her grandfather, who served for 34 years as a representative from Massachusetts, including a decade-long run as speaker from 1975 until his retirement in 1987, passed away in 1994 that O’Neill fully understood the magnitude of the role he played in American politics. Just 16 years old at the time, O’Neill was being blown away by the throngs of people that lined the streets to honor her grandfather at a wake in Boston during a blizzard.

“The moment it hit me that he was a really significant figure was at a sundry shop at a hotel near the Massachusetts Statehouse,” recalls O’Neill. “A woman who was standing in line in front of me was buying a paper and said to the woman behind the counter, 'We have lost such a hero and servant to us all.’ Tears were running down her face, and then the other woman starts crying, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘This is amazing. I can’t believe this!’ I didn’t realize the effect that government could have on people, never mind one representative.”

Living life in two-year cycles

Following graduation from UVM, where she majored in sociology and minored in art, O’Neill worked as an intern at a station in Boston doing radio promotions and was later hired fulltime to work in the dance music department. She eventually moved back home to D.C. and started working for her aunt at a fundraising and event production firm that catered to members of Congress.

“That’s when I first met Nancy Pelosi, when she was still rank-and-file and was looking for someone to do fundraising,” O’Neill recalls. “She was just amazing, really magnetic. Here was this diminutive little thing, but she had so much energy. She was talking to big, burly labor guys, and she had them all eating out of the palm of her hands. She’s tough, she’s serious, she’s got so much integrity, she’s so politically savvy, and she is scary smart.”

Despite her fascination with her future employer, it wasn’t enough to change O’Neill’s mind about going back into the music industry. She moved to New York City and landed a job as a licensing manager at Kinetic Records, where she worked on contracts and was charged with finding out who owned specific songs, how to license them and negotiating ways to put them on compilation albums.

And then Sept. 11 happened.

She heard about the first plane crash on the way to work from a cab driver. "I went to my office in the Meatpacking District and watched it from the roof with four co-workers. We saw the building fall from my office. We piled in my car and drove away through Times Square. It was surreal. I cried every day for three months afterwards.”

O’Neill headed back home to D.C. again and was working at a dead-end job opening a local gym when she got a call from Pelosi’s chief of staff. She wanted O’Neill to help put on a series of events to promote Pelosi becoming the first woman to ascend to a leadership position in the House as Democratic whip. Working closer with Pelosi this time, she gained even more respect for her future boss, but left for New Mexico after her three-month contract ended.

It was in New Mexico, while working on Bill Richardson’s first gubernatorial campaign answering phones, doing field and advance work, and eventually serving as political director, that she got her first taste of working on a campaign. “It took over my life, but it was probably the greatest learning experience of my life, because for the first time I understood how hard I could really work,” says O’Neill. “I had never pushed myself that hard before. You feel like you’ve hit the point of diminishing returns, but you still have to work seven days a week for the next eight months. You wonder where you’re going to find that reserve, but ultimately you do.”

Despite still having “big dreams of going back to school to study film and moving overseas to learn Spanish,” O’Neill was eventually tempted back to D.C. yet again when Pelosi become House Democratic leader and wanted her to travel with her.

“I loved New Mexico, but this was a no-brainer. I thought I would spend a couple years with (Pelosi), and here I am almost ten years later, and I haven’t left yet,” she says with a laugh. “It’s addictive...You get caught in these two-year cycles, and you put things on hold, and then all of a sudden you wake up and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I never wanted to live in the town I grew up in and work in politics.’ This was not part of my plan. But I’ve been so blessed with opportunities presenting themselves over the years, and I love what I do.”

"Business plan competitions provide important opportunities for students to integrate their learning across a variety of functional areas,” said Aronoff. “Winning or losing the contest doesn’t matter as much as the experience the students gain from developing their own ideas into concrete plans, presenting them in a public forum and working in teams. Judges, usually with very relevant backgrounds, give immediate feedback to students, which provides a unique learning opportunity to help with both academic and professional development. And through case competitions, the university gains valuable insights that can help it tune their MBA program."

Thanks to the Aronoffs' donation, the school will host a Business Pitch Competition during homecoming weekend (Oct. 4-6). The goal of the competition is to create and present an overall business plan that is comprehensive, realistic and has potential value. Five finalists will present their ideas to prominent alumni and members of the business community to compete for cash prizes toward their entrepreneurial innovation.

“Case and business pitch competitions provide our students with the opportunity to build confidence, develop leadership skills and sharpen analytical and presentation skills,” said Dean Sanjay Sharma, of the School of Business Administration. “We are extremely grateful to David and Jessica for their donation and look forward to hosting the competition this fall.”

The UVM Entrepreneurship Club is working to finalize the competition details. The hope is that this competition will act as an incubator for undergraduate students looking to pursue innovative ideas and business ventures. Registration for the competition will begin in March.

David Aronoff is a general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. He graduated cum laude from the University of Vermont in 1986 with a bachelor of science in computer science. David was also a member of the first class of Vermont Scholars, now called Green and Gold Scholars. He has a master of science in computer engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He and his wife Jessica have two children.

The University of Vermont began a new chapter in its fundraising history Jan. 1, with the formal start of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College Foundation, Inc.

The foundation was incorporated in March 2011 and has since been engaged in organizing its administrative and governance structure. The purpose of the UVM Foundation is to secure and manage private support for UVM. It will devote itself to raising financial support for the academic and related priorities of the university, including gifts that will build a supplemental endowment.

“This alliance has broad implications for the financial health of the university, and its impact will be felt throughout the institution,” said UVM Interim President John Bramley. “With the establishment of the University of Vermont Foundation, UVM has signaled its intent to become more engaged in the broader scope of American philanthropy.”

As the primary and preferred recipient for charitable gifts that benefit the university, the UVM Foundation is an independent organization governed by its own board of directors and is assisted in its work by a volunteer Foundation Leadership Council comprising major donors. Foundation responsibilities include identifying and nurturing relationships with potential donors and other friends of UVM; soliciting cash, securities, real and intellectual property and other private resources; and acknowledging and stewarding gifts in accordance with donor intent.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the way the UVM Foundation has come together in the last year,” said UVM Foundation President and CEO Richard Bundy, who came to Vermont from the Iowa State University Foundation. “With an outstanding board of directors and Foundation Leadership Council in place, capable and experienced fundraising staff, and a strong and expanding base of engaged donors, we’re eager to take the university to a new level of philanthropic support.”

With the official launch, the 75 staff who were formerly members of the university’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) became employees of the UVM Foundation, and DAR has been eliminated from the UVM administrative organization. The UVM Alumni Association will continue to operate its various programs and initiatives as an integral part of the overall UVM Foundation.

UVM had its fourth consecutive year of growth in private giving in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, and set a new record for fundraising receipts with more than $29 million raised in support of UVM people, programs and facilities.

After taking some time off to raise four children, McGuirk O’Connor returned to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the publishing, internet, broadcasting and merchandising conglomerate, as home director of integrated sales. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” she says. “It’s a creative machine that’s always been on the cutting edge. Martha is very inspiring to work for and continues to be as involved as ever. She still runs an amazing company.”

When McGuirk O’Connor returned to MSLO in 2010 she was pleasantly surprised at the number of new and creative employees including two young alums of the University of Vermont. Emily Rodney, a 2009 graduate of Community Development and Applied Economics with a focus in public communications, was hired as a sales development assistant and now works as production associate in Creative Services. Prior to that, she worked as a freelancer for Behind the Burner as a production assistant and edited and hosted a Web video series for the food media brand.

“It’s always been a dream to work at MSLO,” says Rodney. “Martha’s brand is pretty fascinating, and it covers a lot of areas which I’m very interested in -- like marketing, production and television. I’ve learned a lot in a variety of areas since I started here.”

Megan Piro, a 2008 graduate of the School of Business Administration, also works at MSLO as a digital ad sales associate after working for ad agency Wieden+Kennedy as a media planner responsible for planning advertising and promoting all primetime shows on ABC. “My job is a bit different because now I sell media on marthastewart.com to advertisers like ABC by prospecting accounts, building relationships, and telling a compelling story of why our consumers are valuable to our advertisers, and therefore, why we deserve to be on a media plan. After the sale is complete, we optimize the media to ensure that it is performing well and reaching the desired target audience. I’ve learned a lot since coming here.”

Alumni networking key to landing jobs

Two other UVM alums worked at MSLO before McGuirk O’Connor returned and prior to the arrival of Piro and Rodney. Betsy Bartosiak ’08, a marketing major in the School of Business Administration, was a wedding advertising sales assistant at MSLO before taking a job at Warner Brothers Digital Media as a digital ad sales account executive at TMZ.com. She now works as an account executive at Selectable Media. Vanessa Blaber ’08, a CDAE grad with a focus in entrepreneurship, also worked at MSLO as an integrated marketing assistant before leaving for a position as a customer relationship marketing specialist at Virgin Atlantic Airways.

The odds of five alums all working at MSLO within a few years of each other seem slim, but as business and social networking sites liked LinkedIn, Facebook and UVM alumni networking sites like UVM Connection have evolved, so has the likelihood of alumni helping each other land jobs.

“I was looking for something more permanent and also in the media world, so I went through UVM's alumni website and did some research,” says Rodney. “I noticed Vanessa Blaber on the site and that she worked at Martha Stewart. I am a big advocate of networking through UVM alumni, because you really never know who knows who, and it's a great way to expand your network both in your profession and outside. I got in touch with her via LinkedIn and she told me she was going to Virgin Atlantic. I set up an interview with her boss that coming Tuesday, and on Friday I got the offer to become a full-time employee at MSLO in their marketing department.”

Piro, who says she leveraged relationships she’d made at Wieden+Kennedy to prepare for her interviews with MSLO, is friends with Bartosiak whom she used as a resource and to make additional contacts -- and learn more about the company.

“Rocki Lee DeWitt (former dean of the School of Business Administration) probably helped me the most while I was at UVM and really encouraged me to reach out to alumni, set up informational interviews, read industry news and attend relevant panels and discussions that the school held,” she says. “I also was close with Professor Sinkula, Professor Amy Tomas, and Professor Bonifield at the time who all helped in my career path, either introducing me to alumni, aiding me in landing internships, or allowing me to do independent studies my senior year, which enabled me to get additional real-world experience while I was still in school.”

McGuirk O’Connor landed her first job at the ad agency Young & Rubicam after interviewing at a series of agencies during the spring of her senior year. She later worked for Norman Lear at a company called Channels and at Town & Country magazine before "seeing the future" and moving over to Martha Stewart Living.

“There’s a lot of good young talent here and quite a few people who have been here since the beginning,” says McGuirk O’Connor, who recently attended her 25th reunion at UVM. “I’m so pleased UVM is turning out these wonderful graduates who are so professional and together. Emily and Megan have already made an impact here and will do very well. They really are superstars.”

But when Zarghami came on board of the fledgling operation -- in a bottom-of-the-rung data entry position -- she couldn't have anticipated that some two decades later, the company would top Disney and other competitors in the now well established entertainment niche -- or that she'd be the president at the helm.

Zarghami came to UVM in 1980 to study education. Although she ultimately decided teaching wasn't a good fit for her and switched to a major in English, she says she was drawn to Nickelodeon in large part because of the audience it was serving. Nickelodeon, whose early shows included Pinwheel and You Can't Do That on Television, was meeting a need for kids that other networks were not.

"I'm in this for the audience, not necessarily to be in the entertainment business," Zarghami says. "It's because it's for kids that makes it so much fun."

Zarghami's was a steady rise through the ranks of the company. "For a long time, I was the thing that wouldn't leave," she says. "I just kept working hard and stuck around, and they gave me bits and pieces of more responsibility."  Her work on scheduling, marketing, then overseeing the network all inform her role today as president of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids & Family Group, which also includes oversight of the merchandise, international, digital and recreation arms of the company.

"The great thing is it was a slow build," Zarghami says. "So I learned everything one piece at a time, and I think that's a rare opportunity these days because everything moves so quickly."

All those years of experience have taken Zarghami -- and Nickelodeon -- to a pivotal moment in the company's history. The first generation of kids to grow up on Nick programming are now becoming parents themselves. While mom and dad watched Today's Special and Double Dare (a gameshow Zarghami says she and colleagues practiced in the hallways before creating the pilot), their kids are engrossed in Dora the Explorer and Yo Gabba Gabba.

"That is a really unique moment in time for any brand," Zarghami says. It was a moment that called for reinvention. They knew, she says, "if we don't capture this generation of kids and their parents together, we will miss a whole generation, and we'll find ourselves in a bad place a few years from now."

Leading a reinvention

The evolution of brand's identity was the focus of Zarghami's Nov. 4 talk at UVM. As the inaugural speaker of the School of Business Administration's Dean's Leadership Speaker Series, Zarghami told those assembled -- comprising mostly students in a packed Davis Center ballroom -- about Nickelodeon's recent effort to rebrand the company's many endeavors in hopes of shoring up their identity and speaking to this new audience.

The process, begun shortly after Zarghami took the reins as president in 2006, took stock of all the irons in Nickelodeon's fire. She says of that moment in time, "We had bought Addicting Games, and nobody knew we owned it. We had a channel for preschoolers called Noggin, and nobody knew we owned it. We had launched a channel for teens called The N, and nobody knew we owned it."

Consolidating these entities under a single umbrella of the Nickelodeon brand was the end result of two and a half years of work. Noggin became Nick, Jr., The N became Teen Nick, and dozens of logos for its other divisions were reworked to reflect this newfound unity within the company. Nickelodeon's logo -- the famous paint splatter -- also got a fresh look utilizing a streamlined, but playful font that still capitalizes on their signature orange. "We took the Nickelodeon logo and reinvented it so it could actually be the mother brand for everything we do around the globe."

Five years after Zarghami initiated this reinvention, Nickelodeon is still on top, enjoying its 17th year as the leading network for kids.

As business dean Sanjay Sharma introduced Zarghami at the event, he hinted at another factor that has made Nick so successful. "SpongeBob SquarePants is often associated with a slightly younger demographic," he said, "but I have to admit that the writing is so smart that if I see SpongeBob on the television screen, I'm hooked. I'm compelled to watch. It cuts across age barriers and demographic barriers."

As the students' laughter quieted, Zarghami took the podium and mused, "If he watches SpongeBob, we're doing something right."