Distinguished Alumnus/a- Alumni & Parent Programs
This award honors an alumnus/a for rendering superior performance in his or her chosen field and superior service to his or her chosen community.
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.
Benedikt Hoskuldsson ’83
2022
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Watch the Alumni Honors Celebration 2023!
Benedikt was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. He has had a robust international career in climate and development issues. Benedikt is currently the special envoy on climate and permanent representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency through his work with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland.
Anna Marjavi ’98
2021
Distinguished Alumna Award
Watch the Alumni Honors Celebration 2022!
Anna has spent her career striving to end intimate partner violence (IPV), human trafficking, and exploitation. Working across public health and health delivery systems for over 20 years, Anna has developed national campaigns, academic conferences, and multi-state initiatives. Anna is currently a director at Futures Without Violence, leading their Health Partners on IPV + Exploitation initiative, with a focus on community health centers.
Judy Cockerton BA ’73 - 2020 Distinguished Alumna Award
Distinguished Alumna Award
After her experience as a foster parent, Judy was moved to create the Treehouse Foundation. For 18 years, she has served as Treehouse’s executive director and has stayed true to the founding beliefs that every child deserves a permanent, loving family and families need a supportive community to succeed. The foundation leads two major initiatives: first, the award-winning Treehouse Community, a vibrant intergenerational neighborhood designed to support families adopting children from foster care and older adults who act as honorary grandparents, and second, the Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America Movement, which works to inspire widespread investment in foster care innovation.
David Sack ’65
2019
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Meet David in this video!
David Sack joined John Hopkins University as a fellow in 1974 and has remained on the faculty ever since. He teaches courses on tropical diseases and works with groups to promote vaccine and rehydration solutions— including oral rehydration solution, the rotavirus vaccine, and the cholera vaccine—for severe diarrhea diseases.
Ruthe Farmer ’92
2018
Distinguished Alumna Award
Meet Ruthe in this video!
Ruthe is an activist and advocate for diversity in technology. She is currently the chief evangelist at CSforAll. Previously, she was senior policy advisor for tech inclusion at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and led strategy and K–12 programs at the National Center for Women and Information Technology. She has an MBA in social entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford.
Brian Lindstrom ’84
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Meet Brian in this video!
Brian’s award-winning films reduce stigma and reveal the humanity of people living on the
margins. His recent film, Mothering Inside, helped inspire the Oregon Legislature to fund the Family Preservation Project and to make Oregon the first state in the U.S. to pass a bill of rights for children of incarcerated parents. Last year, he was awarded the Media Arts Fellowship by Portland’s Regional Arts & Culture Council.
Niels Marquardt ’75
2016
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Meet Niels in this video!
Niels Marquardt has been the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia since 2013. This position builds on a U.S. State Department career spanning administrations from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama and service as ambassador to four African nations and as consul general in Sydney.
Bob Fitch ’61
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Meet Bob Fitch in this video!
Bob Fitch has been documenting peace and justice work for close to a half century. From his first volunteer assignment for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in Alabama in 1965, through documenting Luis Alejo’s 2010-11 campaign for a seat in the California State Assembly, Fitch’s photographs are about the people who make up the movements for change.
Thomas Neff ’65
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Between 1991 and 2013, Thomas Neff proposed, created, and shepherded the Megatons to Megawatts Program, a $17 billion deal under which Russia destroyed more than 20,000 nuclear weapons, recycling the bomb-grade uranium into fuel for U.S. nuclear power plants. The deal eliminated a third of the global nuclear arsenal and prevented proliferation from a dangerously bankrupt Soviet weapons program.
Alumni is located in Alumni Gatehouse on the Undergraduate Campus.
MSC: 77
email alumni@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-7950
fax 503-768-7920
Assistant Vice President for Engagement
Stephen LeBoutillier ’00