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| Vol. 19, No. 8 | Oct. 21, 1999 |
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| Vol. 19, No. 8 | Oct. 21, 1999 |
Alumni receiving the Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement are (front row, from left)
William Oberlander III, David L. Warnock, Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss, Bakhtier Farouk
and Janice Mitchell Mintz; (back row, from left) President David P. Roselle, Kevin M. O'Neil,
William E. Lowe, Jack E. Rechcigl and Alan C. Schroeder. Not present is Tyrone J. Jones.
Begun in 1992, the award honors alumni of the last 20 years who exhibit great promise in their professional careers or public service activities.
Robert R. Davis, development and alumni relations, welcomed the recipients and their guests; remarks were presented by Debra Hess Norris, art conservation; and President David P. Roselle presented the certificates to the following honorees.
Bakhtier Farouk received his master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from UD in 1979 and 1981, respectively, and his bachelor's degree from Bangledesh University of Engineering. He is an acknowledged authority in the fields of heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics and combustion and is a professor of mechanical engineering at Drexel University.
He has been named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1997, received the Drexel University Research Achievement Award in 1993, the American Society of Metals Henry Marion Howe Medal in 1989 and the Society of Automotive Engineers Ralph Tector Educational Award in 1986.
"My four years at the University of Delaware were an intense period of professional, academic and personal growth," Farouk said. "The dedicated and caring faculty in the mechanical engineering and mathematics departments...provided me with a solid foundation for the teaching and research career that I have pursued since graduation. My professors at Delaware were not only scholars, but also outstanding teachers, whose styles and techniques I often try to emulate in my own teaching."
Tyrone J. Jones received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1990. He helped organize and was appointed the first director of the Wilmington Department of Youth and Families, an advocate for the accountability of services provided to youth and their families through federal, state and community agencies.
He has chaired the Youth and Family Task Force and served as the Youth Advocate for Wilmington, organizing and coordinating eight community safe-haven sites in the city.
He also has been involved in programs and policies at the Ferris School. Active on local and state committees and boards, Jones has worked with the United Way of Delaware-Government Relations Division and the Delaware Council on Crime and Justice and recently was appointed by Gov. Thomas R. Carper to the Delaware Commission on Community Service. For his work in the community with children and families, he has been recognized by the National Coalition on Juvenile Justice, the Delaware NAACP and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families.
"Over the course of my experience at the University," Jones said, "there were many people who took me from being a child to manhood by demonstrating responsibility and the art of giving of themselves without seeing themselves. To my father, my roommates, coaches, professors and the role models, thank you for the lessons, the answers, the challenges and for making it possible for me to experience something that will always be valuable to my children."
William E. Lowe Jr. received a dual bachelor's degree in finance and economics in 1985 while working as a first-class ship pilot and commuting to and from his home in Lewes. He was instrumental in founding the College of Business and Economics Alumni Board.
For 40 years, Lowe has worked as a ship pilot, one of the fewer than 100 pilots authorized and qualified to pilot ships of more than a quarter of a million deadweight tons on the Delaware River and the Delaware-Chesapeake Canal.
He has been involved in the community serving as a charter member and president of the Friends of the Lewes Public Library, on the Sussex County Library Advisory Board, chairing the Delaware Humanities Forum and currently the Delaware Heritage Committee. He is a founding chairman and public representative on the board of the Beebe Hospital Home Health Agency's professional advisory committee.
"I am known for 'getting on my soapbox' whenever the University of Delaware, especially the Parallel Program Georgetown, is mentioned," Lowe said. "The years I spent at UD were some of the most rewarding of my life. My years there opened a whole new world of intellectual pursuits, interests and friendships that have become the center of my nonprofessional life."
Janice Mitchell Mintz was graduated from Delaware in 1981, receiving her juris doctorate from Temple University School of Law in 1984. She currently serves as commissioner of personnel for the state of New Jersey with responsibility for overseeing 440 department employees and 200,000 civil service workers.
She began her career as assistant counsel for then-New Jersey Gov. Thomas Keen, later worked as an environmental litigator, returning to government service in 1994 as senior associate counsel and then deputy chief of staff for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. She was later appointed first assistant attorney general for New Jersey.
"I learned much academically and culturally. Yet, as much as I was absorbing and experiencing," Mintz said, "I still felt the comfort of a small town, nurturing environment. The University helped me thrive by offering the unique combination of a major, world-class university with a small-town feel. Without that critical combination, I doubt I would have entered law school and then the working world with as much confidence as I did."
William Oberlander III is a 1981 graduate of the visual communications program in the art department and, after graduation, worked for several major New York advertising agencies. He was later named creative/director partner of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, one of the top five creative agencies in the country, where he oversees the entire New York creative staff and other departments. His work for Netscape, Target Stores, Hennessy Cognac and Tommy Hilfinger have received recognition in professional publications and competitions.
He has returned to UD to speak to visual communications classes and has hosted more than 250 UD students, meeting with them individually and giving them advice.
"What is most rewarding about my four years at the University of Delaware," Oberlander said, "was the fact that I could major in something as specific as visual communications, as well as be exposed to so many other varied liberal arts studies. I also minored in business administration, so my experience really gave me a rounded background. The relatively small size of the visual communications department also was a great influence on me. We collaborated on everything and there was always a driving force of friendly competition. I believe that is similar to the energy in the creative department of my agency today."
Kevin M. O'Neil was graduated from Delaware in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College.
He currently serves as fellowship director for the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Fellowship for the National Capital Consortium, where his responsibilities include the coordination of training for physicians in those areas, including physicians in the armed services. As Navy specialty leader for critical care and pulmonary medicine, he has had global impact on the delivery of critical care medicine throughout the Navy and armed services.
He is president of the District of Columbia Thoracic Society and a member of the executive committee of the D.C. American Lung Association.
"My four years at Delaware," O'Neil said, "were essential to my subsequent development as a Navy physician and medical educator. First, I learned to sail as a member of the University of Delaware Sailing Association, an important skill for any naval officer. More important, however, was my chemical engineering education, which by stressing collaboration, critical thinking and an analytical approach to problem solving, has been crucial in forming my approach to medicine and medical education."
Jack E. Rechcigl, who received his bachelor's degree in agronomy from UD in 1982 and his master's and doctoral degrees in soil science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is a premier soil scientist who has won national and international recognition for his research. His work has led to understanding the nutrient needs of grasses and legumes, leading to large reductions in fertilizer, which has had an impact on protecting ground and surface waters from nutrient loading.
He is a frequent speaker on these topics nationally and internationally, has served as editor of the Agriculture and Environmental Book Series, has been named research professor at the University of Florida and is Honorary Distinguished Professor at the Czech Agricultural University in Prague. He is a fellow of both the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy.
"I realize that everything that I have achieved and hope to accomplish is the result of my experiences at the University," Rechcigl said. "Two of my professors, Donald Sparks and Merle Teel, introduced me to the mysteries and the magic of research, allowing me as an undergraduate student to carry out experiments which ultimately led to publication in scientific journals. I would be remiss if I did not mention that had it not been for the University of Delaware I would not have met my lovely wife, Nancy, a University of Delaware alumna!"
Alan C. Schroeder received his bachelor's degree in 1982 with majors in entomology and plant pathology and his master's degree in entomology in 1984, later receiving his doctorate from the University of Illinois. He is recognized as a foremost expert on locust control.
He currently serves as the technical adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development's Africa Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Assistance Project, working with African governments, the United Nations and other organization to control locust outbreaks before they become devastating plagues. He travels extensively in Africa and has published articles and is a speaker on locust plagues. He also is a visiting professor at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.
"The entomology/plant pathology double major with a minor in chemistry gave me the strong footing required to proceed with my career in international crop protection," Schroeder said.
"The honors option with my senior thesis put me on a strong research tract and into publishing in peer-reviewed journals as an undergraduate. My master's thesis work with Dr. Doug Tallamy, which was interesting and challenging, brought me into perfect alignment for my Ph.D. work."
Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss, who received her master's degree in conservation of artistic and historic objects from UD in 1982, after graduating from the State University of New York at New Palz, is chief conservator and project manager of the Star-Spangled Banner Preservation Project. She leads the Smithsonian Institution team that is conserving the flag that flew at Fort McHenry and was the inspiration for the national anthem, an $18 million project. She also worked on the preservation of a George Washington tent and develops programs for children to understand the importance of preserving historic objects.
"I remember my time at the University of Delaware/ Winterthur Program," Thomassen-Krauss said, "as a unique balance of bountiful resources and individual mentorship. The professors were generous in sharing their expertise and encouraging my scholarship. A lasting benefit to me in my career has been the confidence in my ability to reason through a problem to a solution. Together with the network of colleagues I can turn to for advice, makes me remember my time with fondness."
Alumnus David L. Warnock, (back row, second from right)
and his wife, alumna Deidre Bosley, (back row, right) are shown
with other family members. They have established the Warnock-Bosley lecture
series and the Warnock-Bosley graduate fellowship at UD.
He has served as a founding board member of the Center for Families, Fathers and Work Force Development (an organization for developing the working and parenting skills of urban men), on the national board of trustees of Trout Unlimited and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
He and his wife Deidre Bosley, AS '79, established a biannual Warnock-Bosley lecture series to bring European scholars to campus, and a Warnock-Bosley graduate fellowship to award support to an outstanding graduate student completing his or her dissertation.
"I learned to question assumptions, analyze information, write, communicate and make hard choices as an undergraduate," Warnock said. "The thing I treasure most, however, is that I went in without confidence in my ability to do all of those things and came out convinced I could. Most of my success since then has come from applying with energy, the confidence that I could analyze what I did not know and turn it into something worthwhile. And that started at the University of Delaware."
Photos by Robert Cohen
