APPLETON, WIS. — David Mulford has returned to Lawrence University numerous times since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1959. He was back in 1984 to accept an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree at commencement and returned in 2000 for his induction into Lawrence’s athletic Hall of Fame. And he came back twice to deliver convocations (1992, 2007), one of only three speakers who have given more than one address since the present convocation series began in 1978.
His latest visit again will be as an honored guest, this time as a recipient of one of Lawrence’s distinguished alumni awards during the college’s annual Reunion Weekend Celebration June 19-21. More than 900 alumni and guests from 35 states and six countries, including China, Italy and Romania, are expected to participate in the weekend-long festivities.
Mulford
Mulford, the U.S. Ambassador to India from 2004-09, is one of eight Lawrence alumni who will be recognized Saturday, June 20 for career achievements, contributions to the betterment of society or volunteer service to Lawrence. All eight will be recognized during the Reunion Convocation at 10:30 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.
Mulford, Dr. Michael Lepawsky, the former medical director of the hyperbaric unit at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, and Robert Mac West, founder and president of Informal Learning Experiences, Inc. in Washington, D.C., each will receive the Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award.
Named in honor of the second president of Milwaukee-Downer College, the Briggs award recognizes alumni of more than 15 years for outstanding contributions to, and achievements in, a career field.
Mulford was appointed ambassador to India in 2004 by President George W. Bush and served until February of this year. His previous public service includes an appointment as Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs, serving as the senior international economic policy official at the Department of the Treasury.
Before his ambassadorship, Mulford served as chairman-international of London-based Credit Suisse First Boston, where he led the company’s worldwide, large-scale privatization business and other corporate and government advisory assignments.
He also spent nine years (1973-83) as senior investment advisor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, where he managed the investment of Saudi oil revenues and developed a comprehensive investment program for SAMA.
Mulford has been the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University, where he earned a master’s degree in political science and also has been recognized with the Legion d’Honneur from the President of France (1990), the Alexander Hamilton Award, the highest award bestowed by the Secretary of the Treasury for extraordinary service (1992), the Order of May for Merit from the President of Argentina (1993) and The Officer’s Cross of the Medal of Merit from the President of Poland (1995). He currently resides in London.
Lepawsky, a 1959 Lawrence graduate, pioneered the use of hyperbaric therapy to treat victims of diving accidents, burn victims, carbon monoxide poisoning and crush injuries. While at Vancouver General Hospital, he helped develop a state-of-the-art hyperbaric chamber for patients needing hyperbaric oxygen therapy, setting the benchmark for hyperbaric medicine in North America.
For more than 30 years, Lepawsky worked with the diving community to improve safety, creating a guide that established standards and protocol for those training for underwater diving. His efforts were recognized in 2004 with the Third Ocean Pioneer Award from the Underwater Council of British Columbia.
A respected scholar, he has published more than 150 articles in publications ranging from Diver Magazine to the American Journal of Surgery.
Lepawsky, who earned his medical degree from the University of Chicago, was awarded a life membership in 2007 to the College of Family Physicians of Canada and was honored by the Canadian Red Cross in 1988 with its Distinguished Citizen and Humanitarian Award. He retired as a highly respected family practitioner in 2007 and still lives in Vancouver.
West, who graduated from Lawrence in 1963, founded Informal Learning Experiences, Inc. in 1992. The company promotes science learning through traveling exhibitions. It also offers consulting services to organizations and agencies involved in informal and recreational learning, ranging from the National Geographic Society and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation to the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy.
West
West also has spent more than 30 years working for and consulting with museums around the country. He is the former director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and served as curator of geology at the Milwaukee Public Museum. He was recognized with the National Geographic Society’s Arnold Guyot Prize for his paleontologic research in the Canadian Arctic and was honored in 1986 as Pittsburgh’s “Man of the Year in Science.”
During his career he has written widely on paleontology museum science and has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Adelphi University. He serves on the board of the National Center for Science Education and is a charter member of The Museum Group.
Following his degree in geology from Lawrence, West earned a master’s degree in geophysical sciences and a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Chicago. He is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Cole, Nehalem, Ore., will receive the George B. Walter Service to Society Award. Named in honor of Walter, a 1936 graduate, beloved former faculty member and dean of men at Lawrence, who believed strongly that every individual can and should make a positive difference in the world. The award recognizes alumni who best exemplify the ideals of a liberal education through socially useful service in their community, the nation or the world.
Cole
Cole, senior class president and 1963 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Lawrence, has enjoyed a near 40-year career as a professional actor. Using the stage name Megan Cole, she has performed everything from classical roles in repertory theatre to guest appearances on numerous television series, including “Seinfeld,” “ER,” and “Las Vegas.”
A hallmark of her career has been her passion for using her talents and training as an actor to “give back” to her audiences. One of her most noteworthy roles came as the lead character in the first production of the Pulitzer-prize winning play “Wit” in Southern California, for which she earned a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. She later reprized the role for productions in Seattle, Houston and Austin.
Cole’s compelling performances as a dying cancer patient in “Wit” helped educate medical professionals on the importance of compassionate communication with their patients. The role inspired her to develop a course for medical students called “The Craft of Empathy,” which she has taught for nearly 10 years at the University of Texas-Houston. She also has taken the course on the road, giving presentations on the personal aspects of cancer care to medical and health professionals at conferences and conventions around the country.
In addition to a degree in English and music from Lawrence, Cole earned a master’s degree in drama at Tufts University.
Callaghan
Kathleen Callaghan, Madison, is the recipient of this year’s Marshall B. Hulbert Young Alumni Service Award, which recognizes a Lawrence alumnus or alumna of 15 years or less, who has provided significant service to the college. The award honors Hulbert, a 1926 Lawrence graduate known as “Mr. Lawrence,” who served the university in many significant capacities for 54 years.
A 1999 graduate, Callaghan was elected class agent during her senior year, a role she has willingly filled ever since. Following graduation she spent nine years as a member of the Viking Gift Committee and also served five years on the Lawrence University Alumni Association Board of Directors, working with the Development and Program Committees. As a regional event coordinator, she has helped organize the annual Madison-area student “Send-Off Picnic” each fall. For her 5- and 10-year class reunions, she served as on the Steering Committee.
Bonnie Laird, Bloomington, Minn., and Susan Voss Pappas, Highland Park, Ill., are the 2009 recipients of the Gertrude B. Jupp Outstanding Service Award. The award honors Jupp, a 1918 graduate of Milwaukee-Downer College, who was named M-D Alumna of the Year in 1964 for her long volunteer service to the college. It recognizes Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer alumni of more than 15 years who have provided outstanding service to the college.
Laird
Laird, a 1964 graduate whose mother also graduated from Lawrence (’34), has advanced the college through a number of leadership roles on the LUAA Board of Directors. She has served on the LUAA Executive Committee, as chair of the Communications Committee, as the first chair of the “More Light!” Capital Campaign Liaison Group and as co-chair of More Light! Alumni Advisory Committees. She also has served as a leader of the Class of 1964’s 40th Reunion Gift Committee and as a member of the Steering Committee for her 45th reunion in 2009. For the past nine years, she has stayed connected with her classmates as class agent.
Pappas, a 1969 graduate, is the third member of her family to receive the Jupp Award, joining her mother Clarmarie Voss M-D ’35 and her sister Jane Holryoud ’61, who received the award in 1982 and 2001, respectively.
Pappas
She has spent the past 20 years serving as class secretary and also served four years (2002-05) on the LUAA Board of Directors, serving on the Executive Committee and as chair of the Student Relations Committee. As committee chair, Pappas led efforts to foster increased diversity at Lawrence and introduce new ways to facilitate meaningful interactions between students and alumni. She has served as a member of the Cluster Reunion Steering Committee, the 25th Reunion Steering Committee and this year’s 40th Reunion Steering Committee.
Swift
As part of the awards convocation, J. Gilbert Swift, who served as Lawrence’s director of alumni relations from 1976-1995, will be recognized with a special Presidential Award. During his tenure, Swift revolutionized the Lawrence alumni relations program by creating the first June Reunion Weekends, establishing regional alumni programs, re-energizing the LUAA Board of Directors and launching the Senior Class program, initiatives that continue to flourish today. Swift, who is retired, lives in Nisswa, Minn.
