NEW PALTZ — The Alumni Board of Directors at the State University of New York at New Paltz recently held its 10th Annual Alumni Awards Ceremony on the campus and made special presentations in four categories: Alumnus of the Year, Distinguished Teacher, Friend of the College, and Distinguished Alumni Service. In addition, nine students were recognized for academic excellence as recipients of 1998 Alumni Association Scholarships.
The 1998 Alumnus of the Year award for significant professional achievement was presented to Glenn Hoagland, Class of 1982 and executive director of the Mohonk Preserve, New York State’s largest non-profit nature preserve. After receiving his bachelor of arts degree in geography from SUNY New Paltz, Hoagland went on to earn his master of arts degree in rural planning from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Prior to his appointment at the Mohonk Preserve, Hoagland served as director of the Citizen Action Program for the Open Space Institute in Ossining, executive director of the Dutchess Land Conservancy in Stanfordville, and land preservation director of Scenic Hudson in Poughkeepsie.
Henry Urbanski, director of the Language Immersion Institute at SUNY New Paltz, was the recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Teacher award, for singular accomplishments for leading students to knowledge and understanding. Urbanski has served as a professor of Russian Studies since 1965. From 1979 to 1990, he was the chair of the foreign languages department. In 1981, Urbanski founded the now famous Language Immersion Program which is based on the SUNY New Paltz campus. To date, more than 32,000 individuals have participated in this language training program, in either a two-week or a weekend course offered in 20 foreign languages at SUNY New Paltz, Mohonk Mountain House, New York City, Westchester or cities outside the U.S. Urbanski is the recipient of numerous awards, among them the 1998 Hudson Valley Chambers of Commerce International Trade Award in the category or International Service Provider; in October, 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tashkent State Economic University; and in 1986, he was awarded the distinguished teacher award by the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers. Urbanski holds degrees from St. Fisher College, Rochester; Fordham University; and New York University, where he earned his doctorate in Slavic languages and literatures.
Paul Brown, treasurer of the New Paltz Foundation, was named 1998 Friend of the College, given to an individual fr promoting community support of the goals of the College and Alumni Association. Brown received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Brown is a former professor and chair of the psychology department at SUNY New Paltz and currently serves as an adjunct professor in the department. Brown is president and founder of Instructional Design Associates, Inc., of New Paltz, a behaviorally-oriented consulting firm providing services in human factors and performance improvement to both a North American and international clientele, since 1971. Among the companies served by Instructional Design Associates have been Procter & Gamble, IBM, American Express, Bell Atlantic, LEGO Systems and Philips.
This year’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award went to Gail Park Logan, Class of 1958. The award is given to an alumnus for meritorious service to the College and Alumni Association. Logan joined the New Paltz Alumni Association (NPAA) Board of Directors in 1985 and was appointed as its representative to the College Foundation in 1992. In 1994 she was elected vice president of the NPAA, and earlier this year she was appointed to represent that group on the College Council. Logan is a founding member and vice president of the Mid-Hudson Chapter of the Alumni Association as well as a founding member of Friends of Sojourner Truth Library. As an alumni representative to the College Foundation, Logan has also served on three search committees.
Alumni Association scholarships were awarded to Jean Akers, a senior from Oklahoma City, OK, majoring in history; Man Hue Duong, a senior from Highland, majoring in ceramics and art education; Angelica Hesse, a graduate student from New Paltz, majoring in graphic design; and Francis Mohl, a senior from Hopewell Junction, majoring in English and secondary education.
Additional scholarship awards were presented to Katherine Bowen, a junior from Cambridge majoring in music therapy, recipient of the Ruth Cleveland Endowment; Christopher Herron, a junior from Hopewell Junction, majoring in anthropology, recipient of the Mid-Hudson Alumni Scholarship; Jason Perno, a graduate student from Liberty, majoring in music therapy, recipient of the Family Scholarship; and Jessica Pierce, a senior from Newark, NY, majoring in journalism, recipient of the Helen Weber Kuhnke Memorial Award.
Also, the Evelyn Crawford Gluckman Award was presented to Mary Schucker, a senior from South Nyack, majoring in secondary education and English; and the Mid-Hudson Alumni Scholarship was awarded to Jeremy Tunkel, a senior from New Paltz, majoring in business administration.
Edward L. Shuster, Class of 1968, chaired the scholarship committee and Steve Borman, Class of 1972, chaired the awards committee for the NPAA.
