Akron, Ohio, April 23, 2008 ― The University of Akron Alumni Association will honor nine alumni and friends of the university for their community involvement, professional achievement and support of the university at its Alumni Day Annual Meeting and Awards ceremony on Saturday, May 31.
Alumni Honor Award recipients are Glynis Wheeler Redwine ('77), vice president, human resources and general counsel, Alcon Laboratories Inc.; Ohio Sen. Tom Sawyer ('68 '70); Jim Tressel ('77), head football coach, Ohio State University; and Dr. Gary Williams ('68), surgeon, Gary B. Williams M.D. Inc.
Honorary Alumni Award recipients are Kathleen Coleman, philanthropist; Suzanne Morgan, trustee/officer of the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation; Dr. Luis M. Proenza and Theresa Proenza, The University of Akron; and Dr. William Demas, president, Radiation Oncologists of Ohio, and retiring chairman of the university's Board of Trustees.
The event begins with a reception at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and the program. The cost is $60 per person or $500 for a table of eight. Black tie is optional.
Glynis Wheeler Redwine graduated from The University of Akron with a bachelor's degree in accounting. She also has a law degree from Southern Methodist University. She joined Alcon in 1989 as an assistant general tax counsel. In 2003, she became director of human resources compliance programs. She was promoted to vice president for HR compliance programs in 2004.
She is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the American, Dallas and Tarrant County bar associations. She is a director of the Western Region Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters and was a director of the Southwest Benefits Association and First Tee of Dallas.
Ohio Sen. Tom Sawyer (D-28th District), earned bachelor's and master's degrees from The University of Akron. His career as a public servant began with his 1976 election to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he was chair of Ohio's House Education Committee. He was named one of the 10 Best Ohio Legislators by Columbus Monthly magazine.
He was elected mayor of Akron in 1983. Three years later, he was elected to the U.S. Congress, where he served for 16 years. He was involved in the Education Committee and wrote the National Literacy Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Improvement acts.
Jim Tressel, who earned his master's degree at The University of Akron, began his coaching career in 1975 as a graduate assistant at UA, where he remained through the 1978 season. He has an overall record of
208-72-2 in 22 years as a head coach. He just finished his seventh year at Ohio State University, where his record is 73-15.
Tressel's Buckeyes won the NCAA Division I Championship in 2002. His first national title came in 1991, when his Youngstown State University Penguins beat Marshall University 25-17. The win made Tressel and his father, Lee, the only father-son combination in college football to win national championships; Lee won the 1978 Division III crown at Baldwin-Wallace College.
Tressel is actively involved with the American Football Coaches Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the OSU Medical Center, the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital and the William Oxley Thompson Library.
Gary Williams graduated from The University of Akron in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in biology. He graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1972 and has practiced general surgery since 1976. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has been president of its Ohio chapter and of the Medical Society of Greater Akron.
Williams' surgical staff appointments are at Summa Health System's Akron City, St. Thomas and Cuyahoga Falls General hospitals, and Akron General Medical Center. He is also associate professor of surgery at the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy and has been an instructor in surgery at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Long-time University of Akron benefactor Kathy Coleman is a member of the executive committee and chair of the stewardship committee of The University of Akron Foundation. She is the widow of Dr. Lester E. Coleman ('52), former chairman and CEO of The Lubrizol Corp.
She graduated from Hiram College with a bachelor's degree in social science and from Dartmouth College with a master's degree in liberal studies/public relations. She also attended the Dartmouth Institute executive program. She is now involved in community relations and philanthropy.
Suzanne Morgan, trustee/officer of the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, is the founder and president of the Center for Religious Architecture, a non-profit organization that seeks to promote interfaith amity through the understanding of religious architecture.
She has a master's degree in finance from the University of Chicago and a bachelor's degree in art from the University of Wisconsin. She has studied interior design at the Parsons School of Design, architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, liturgical design at the Catholic Theological Union, and at the Education for Ministry program at the School of Theology at the University of the South.
As president of The University of Akron, Luis M. Proenza provides overall leadership to more than 5,000 faculty and staff and oversees an annual budget of $350 million serving nearly 25,000 students in 300 academic programs.
Under his leadership, the university has undertaken major initiatives including the New Landscape for Learning campus enhancement program with 11 new buildings and major additions or renovations of 17 other facilities; the University Park Alliance project to revitalize a 50-block neighborhood and commercial area surrounding the campus; and information technology investments that have established the university as a national leader in IT and one of the most wired for wireless universities in the country. Additionally, the first game in the new on-campus football stadium now under construction is planned for the 2009 season.
Proenza is on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the nation's highest-level policy advisory group for science and technology. He is on the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness and is co-chair of the council's Regional Leadership Institute Steering Committee.
He is on the advisory board of the U.S. Secretary of Energy, and chairs the Science and Mathematics Education Task Force. Proenza has a bachelor's degree from Emory University, a master's degree from Ohio State University and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.
Theresa Proenza is the wife of UA President Luis M. Proenza. She has worked on behalf of many state and local civic, arts, legal, educational and health organizations and has led capital campaigns, organized fund-raisers, helped develop an educational award program to recognize outstanding educators and volunteers, and chaired the fiscal oversight committee for Akron Public Schools.
She recently was chosen as the sole public member of a 19-member group of Ohio judges and attorneys for the Task Force on the Code of Judicial Conduct. She has master's and bachelor's degrees in biology and a minor in Spanish that included study abroad at the University of Valencia, Spain.
William F. Demas is chief of the Division of Radiotherapy at Summa Health System. He received his medical degree from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center and completed additional post-graduate work at Kings County Hospital and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute.
To increase the number of minority medical students, Demas was instrumental in establishing a middle school program in the Akron Public Schools for under-represented students called Healthcare in Progress. This year-round program annually connects 60 students with medical and health-care practitioners to encourage their interest in medicine and health care.
Demas was appointed to the university's Board of Trustees in 2000 and is retiring this summer as chairman of the board.