Alumni Award recipients show innovation, commitment to service
Newman University President Noreen M. Carrocci, Ph.D. often says an advantage of a liberal arts education is that it prepares students for jobs that don’t yet exist. That concept was borne out in several ways during the 2009 Alumni Awards ceremony, part of the Cardinal Newman Banquet on Feb. 21.
Stacey Beck Marmolejo ’82, recipient of the Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumna Award, served on the Vantage staff when its tools included light tables and x-acto knives, yet has achieved professional success in a ‘virtual’ world. Self-taught in all aspects of digital media, Marmolejo stemmed declining magazine sales by her employer the Affinity Group by driving content to the Web and creating synergies between the two communications vehicles. Currently vice president of Digital Media for Affinity, she is sought after as a speaker and mentor by others in the industry seeking to learn from her innovations.
Clinical Psychiatrist Morris Hund, M.D. ’80 and Nurse Educator and Clinical Coordinator Betty (Weninger) ’79 Hund, R.N., “give 100 percent in their careers, caring for persons who are in a sense broken,” said Larry Hund, M.D. in his introduction of this year’s Beata Netemeyer Service Award recipients. He added that they give, “another 100 percent through service to the people in their community.” Over their 27-year marriage, the Hunds have filled many volunteer and leadership roles in their Fargo, N.D., community and won the title of Knights of Columbus Family of the Year for their parish and for the State of North Dakota. The Hunds, who have raised two daughters, also helped assimilate six Sudanese refugees to Western culture, and now view them as their adopted sons.
The Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y., that named Drew Bogner, Ph.D. ’79 its president in 2000 bears little resemblance to the school that in 2008 completed a $19 million capital campaign and earned U.S. News and World Report’s recognition as a top-tier institution. Bogner, recipient of the Spirit of Acuto Transformational Leadership award, is credited with creative initiatives that resulted in increasing enrollment by 48 percent, increasing participation in student activities by 500 percent, and increasing Molloy’s endowment from $2 million to $23 million. Bogner previously served at Newman in several roles, where he established seven undergraduate and five graduate programs, all of which continue successfully today.
St. Maria De Mattias Award recipient Catherine Petersen Brady ’44 was honored for more than 60 years of loyalty and service to the Newman community and to Catholic life. Pat Brady, president of Brady Nursery, Inc., described his mother as a kind, gentle woman who ran the retail side of the store and kept the books by hand, while still providing home-cooked meals for her seven children and staying involved in church and school activities. Over the years the Bradys supported the ASC and Newman by helping with vegetable gardens, donating a multitude of trees and, in more recent years, providingfinancial and in-kind support for landscaping of campus walkways and the new Pedestrian Mall. Brady, who continues as secretary-treasurer of the company founded by her late husband in 1951, said the ASC’s strict discipline served a vital role in her formation as a Catholic woman.
Tags: Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Affinity Group, Alumni Awards, Beata Netemeyer Service Award, Betty (Weninger) Hund R.N., Brady Nursery Inc., Cardinal Newman Banquet and Awards Ceremony, Catherine Petersen Brady, Catholic, Clinical Coordinator, Digital Media, Drew Bogner, Fargo, Internet, Knights of Columbus, Knights of Columbus Family of the Year, Larry Hund, Leon A. McNeill Distinguished Alumni Award, Molloy College, Morris Hund, New York, Noreen M. Carrocci, North Dakota, Nurse Educator, Pat Brady, Pedestrian Mall, Rockville Centre, Spirit of Acuto Transformational Leadership Award, St. Maria De Mattias Award, Stacey Beck Marmolejo, Sudan, U.S. News and World Report, Vantage