Alumni Honors Award Recipients

Each year the Board of Alumni honors alumni who have achieved distinction in their chosen field, have shown exceptional leadership qualities and/or have demonstrated outstanding volunteer service in their communities and the college.

Would you like to submit a nomination?

Please take a moment to complete a nomination form. 

Nominations for the next round of awards are due August 1, 2024.  Our award winners will be announced in late fall of 2024 and honored at the Alumni Honors Celebration at Alumni Weekend in June 2025.

 

Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

This award honors an alumnus/a for superior performance in his or her chosen field and/or superior service to his or her chosen community, 15 or more years after graduation.

Distinguished Alumna, Distinguished Alumnus

Art Van Zee BS ’69

2023
Distinguished Alumnus Award

Art graduated from L&C with a BS in history in 1969. He completed medical school and began working at a health center in an Appalachian coal mining town. Art has been a buprenorphine (Suboxone)-prescribing physician, treating patients with opioid use disorder since 2003, and is board-certified in addiction medicine as well as internal medicine. Art has become an outspoken critic of Purdue Pharma’s marketing, testifying before a Senate committee hearing on the OxyContin problem in 2002. His work with local community groups who are seeking public policy changes and expansion of evidence-based treatment was featured in the books Painkiller and Dopesick.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award Recipients

This award honors an alumnus/a for superior performance in his or her chosen field and/or superior service to his or her chosen community within 15 years of graduation.

Young Alumna Award, Young Alumnus Award

Ululani Brigitte Russo Oana BA ’15

2023
Outstanding Young Alumna Award

Ululani is a middle school science educator in Hawaiʻi who epitomizes an unwavering commitment to fostering culturally responsive pedagogy and environmental stewardship. She teaches at Waianae Intermediate School as a member of Teach for America. Ululani was recognized for her ability to intersect science curriculum with ʻike kupuna (ancestral knowledge), and in 2022 she was selected for a We The Peoples Before Education Fellowship organized by the First Peoples Fund, a nonprofit organization that works to support the art and culture of Indigenous communities. During this time she earned her MS in education from Johns Hopkins University and her PhD in education from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Donald G. Balmer Citation Recipients

This award honors an alumnus/a, faculty or staff member, or friend of Lewis & Clark for outstanding voluntary service to the college. Originally called the “Alumni Citation”, this award was renamed in 1991 to recognize Don Balmer’s selfless support of the college and to encourage others to follow his example.

Balmer Citation

Mark A. Duntley

2023

Donald G. Balmer Citation (for service to the college)

Mark served on the staff of Lewis & Clark College for 32 years. He began his time as chaplain and was later promoted to dean of spiritual life. His responsibilities included chaplaincy for the entire L&C community along with undergraduate teaching. Mark served as a pastoral presence in times of both joy and tragedy. He maintained a passion for service on college committees while affirming a climate of inclusion and equity that supported the diverse religious and spiritual identities on campus. During his time at L&C, he married over 235 couples - many of whom were alumni, staff and faculty, and officiated 125 funerals and memorial services, including services for both Don and Betty Balmer. Mark earned his PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in 1988. He served as both a Presbyterian parish pastor and a seminary professor before coming to Lewis & Clark.

L&C Alumni Leadership Award Recipients

This award (previously named the Pioneer Alumni Leadership Award) honors an alumnus/a for demonstrating extraordinary leadership in his or her service to Lewis & Clark alumni.

alumni leadership award, Pioneer Leadership Award

Hillary Dixon BA ’99

2023
L&C Alumni Leadership Award (for service to L&C alumni)

Hillary was an English major at L&C who worked on the student produced literary magazine, the Literature Review. Hillary interned for the British Museum and Bloomsbury Publishing and went on to complete her MA in English from Boston University. Later Hillary would begin her work in social services, focusing on survivors of domestic violence. She initially worked on the crisis hotline for Call to Safety and most recently at the Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services. She feels enormously privileged to have had a Lewis & Clark education and has helped to create an annual English student scholarship. Interested in volunteering her time, Hillary joined the Board of Alumni in the fall of 2012. During her eight-year tenure on the board, she served in many capacities, including president.