Alumni To Give Distinguished Youth Award
For the past 33 years, the Sam Houston State University Alumni
Association has recognized graduates who have stood out among
the others through personal and professional achievements
and who have made significant contributions to society through
its Distinguished Alumni Award.
This year, for the first time, the association will recognize
the accomplishments achieved by one graduate who is early
in his or her career and has stood out in the same fashion
through the creation of a Distinguished Young Alumni Award.
The DYA was created to specifically single out an alum aged
35 or younger under the same criteria as the Distinguished
Alumni Award, according to assistant director of alumni relations
Emily deMilliano.
"We have so many successful graduates at all ages and
stages of their careers,” deMilliano said. “This
award will help enhance our already quality Distinguished
Alumni program."
Association board president George Miles said the idea isn’t
innovative in the respect that many other universities have
similar programs but that the board felt it would be a positive
way to reach out to more recent graduates.
“We’re in the process of laying the foundation
of doing a better job in reaching out to not only our students
on campus but to our young graduates and bringing them into
the fold and making them feel like a part of the group,”
Miles said.
“We’re excited about some of the movement that
we’ve made towards recognizing successes of our young
graduates and encouraging their participation in the Alumni
Association,” he said.
Unlike the DA, the DYA will be limited to one recipient per
year, and that person will be honored at the annual Distinguished
Alumni Award banquet held on the Friday night during homecoming
weekend.
“The banquet is a very, very nice function,” Miles
said.
Miles said that while anyone can be selected as for the Distinguished
Alumni Award regardless of age, the person selected for the
DYA will not be eligible for the DA during the same year;
however, it is possible for the DYA recipient to receive the
DA later on in his or her career.
The association is currently accepting nominations for both
the Distinguished Alumni Award and the Distinguished Young
Alumni Award.
Nomination forms have been sent out to Alumni Association
members, but anyone can nominate, deMilliano said.
Nominees should be SHSU alumni who have achieved a “remarkable
degree of prominence, through professional achievements or
service to the community or SHSU” and must be able to
attend the gala, which will be held on Oct. 13, 2006, according
to the nomination form.
Forms for the DA can be found under the link so named at http://alumni.shsu.edu/
and for the DYA at http://alumni.shsu.edu/documents/YoungAlumniForm.pdf.
Nominations, which should include supporting documentation,
a biographical sketch and a resume not more than two pages
single-spaced are due by 5 p.m. on March 24 to the SHSU Alumni
Association, Box 2022, Huntsville, Texas 77341-2022.
For more information, call 936.294.1941.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer
Gauntt
Feb. 23, 2006
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
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