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TUAA announces winners of Tufts Alumni Awards
February 04, 2010
The Tufts University Alumni Association (TUAA) is pleased to announce the 2010 recipients of their Tufts Alumni Awards.
The recipients for the Distinguished Achievement Awards:
Vikram Akula, A90, Founder and Chairperson of SKS Microfinance, an organization whose mission is to eradicate poverty by providing financial services to poor households in India. Vikram was named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and SKA was named one of Businessweek’s Top 5 Companies to Watch in 2009.
Ambassador Barbara Bodine, F71, career member of the Foreign Service of the United States Department of State. Barbara spent her career working primarily in Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, as well as Hong Kong and Bangkok. She was awarded the Secretary of State’s Award for Valor for her work in occupied Kuwait during the Gulf War.
Vanessa Kirsch, J87, President and Founder of New Profit, Inc., a national venture philanthropy fund that provides financial and strategic support to a portfolio of social entrepreneurs working in education, youth development, public health, workforce development, and other areas. In addition to being recognized by Forbes, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report for her leadership in the public service sector, Vanessa was named Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the category of Social Entrepreneurship in 2005.
The recipients for the Distinguished Service Awards:
Elizabeth Cochary Gross, Ph.D., N82, NG88, Founding President of the Tufts Friedman School Alumni Association and Founding Director of the Tufts Friedman School’s Office of Admissions and Recruitment. Liz has been a champion of and advocate for the Friedman School since her graduation from the first school of nutrition class in 1982. She remains actively engaged with the school as a faculty member and currently serves an Alumni Giving Co-Chair.
Ann Palmieri, J78, former President of the Tufts University Alumni Association. During her tenure, Ann oversaw such critical projects as the writing of the first strategic plan for TUAA, the implementation of a first-ever professional survey of the alumni body and formed an ad hoc committee to design and launch a new marketing campaign for the association. She has served on numerous TUAA committees over the years, as well as her class reunion committee and was an active volunteer for the Tufts Alumni Admissions program (TAAP).
Thomas F. Winkler, III, D.M.D., A62, D66, D10P, an endodontist in private practice. Tom currently serves on the Board of Overseers for both the School of Dental Medicine and Arts & Sciences. He is a member of the clinical faculty at the School of Dental Medicine and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Endodontics.
The Young Alumni – Distinguished Achievement Award will be presented to Greg Altman, Ph.D., A97, EG02, President and CEO of Serica Technologies, Inc., a growth-stage medical device company focused on the development of silk-based biomaterial platforms that may be used in tissue repair. His company recently received its first regulatory approval for SeriScaffold ™, an off-the-shelf, long-term bioresorbable scaffold used in procedures for breast cancer patients, individual who have experienced extreme weight loss and others.
The Young Alumni – Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Costa Nicolaou, A00, one of the first transitional members elected to the Tufts University Alumni Council. During his time on the Council, Costa has actively participated on numerous committees and played a vital and integral role with the ad hoc Marketing committee in creating a new marketing brand for the Association. He currently serves as one of the youngest members on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council.
Linda Dixon, J63, F99, has been selected to receive the first-ever Lifetime Service Award, a new award category created by the Tufts University Alumni Association. Linda recently retired as the Secretary of the Board of Trustees for Tufts University, a position she held for 17 years. She is a former President of the Tufts University Alumni Association, a past recipient of a Distinguished Service Award and has served on numerous Alumni Council committees, as well as her class reunion committee.
All of the above recipients will be presented with their awards at an on-campus dinner ceremony on Saturday, April 10, 2010.
TUAA is also pleased to announce a new award for Active Citizenship and Public Service. The award will be bestowed posthumously to Benjamin Sklaver, A99, F03. Ben founded ClearWater Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to providing clean water to populations affected by nature or man-made humanitarian emergencies. Their recent water projects have focused on the Uganda-Sudan border. Ben was a captain in the U.S. Army’s 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, when he lost his life on October 2, 2009 while on patrol in Afghanistan. Ben’s parents, Gary and Laura Sklaver, will accept the award on his behalf at the Fletcher Class Day event on May 22, 2010.
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