Seven Alumni To Receive Top Honors

Seven University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumni from across the U.S. will return to their alma mater to receive UW Oshkosh Alumni Association awards during Homecoming 2011.

The awards reception and dinner will be held Friday, Oct. 21, in Reeve Memorial Union.

Four UW Oshkosh alumni will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award — the highest alumni award from the association — for being active in their professional fields and widely recognized for their career and civic accomplishments.

Distinguished Alumni Award recipients include: David Gillingham ’69 and MST ‘77, Mount Pleasant, Mich.; Sandra (Whiting) Smeeding ’70, Salt Lake City, Utah; Patrick Stiegman ’88, Canton, Conn.; and Thomas Taraska ’75, Brookfield.

The Outstanding Young Alumni Award, honoring alumni who have graduated within the last 15 years, is given to graduates based on professional and civic accomplishments and future promise.

Recipients of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award include: Michael Fredrick ’97, Oconomowoc; Lori Kraus ’02, Cumming, Ga.; and Ginger Lee-Held MS ’00, Oshkosh.

The accomplishments of the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients include:

• Graduating with a degree in music education, Gillingham went on to earn a master’s degree in teaching from UW Oshkosh and a doctorate in music theory/composition from Michigan State University. In 1990, his Heroes, Lost and Fallen piece won the prestigious International Barlow Competition. He is a music professor at Central Michigan University.

• After graduating  with a nursing degree, Smeeding earned a master’s degree in nursing and cellular physiology from the University of Utah. She continued her education by obtaining a family nurse practitioner certification and a doctorate in health promotion and education from the University of Utah. Smeeding is the founder and associate director of the Integrated Health Clinic and Program within the federal Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

• Stiegman graduated with a journalism major and radio-TV-film and political science minor. As the vice president/executive editor and producer for ESPN.com, he is responsible for content planning and management of an award-winning team of more than 200 editors, writers and producers. Previously, he spent nine years as vice president/director of Internet operations for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Journal Communications.

• Taraska graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from UW Oshkosh and a master’s degree from UW–Whitewater. He is one of the longest-tenured coaches in Wisconsin high school football, coaching football and teaching physical education at Arrowhead High School for the past 29 years. In 2008, he was inducted into the UW Oshkosh Athletic Hall of Fame

The accomplishments of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award recipients include:

• Fredrick graduated with a journalism degree and was part of the University’s first National Student Advertising Competition team to advance to the national-level contest. He is now the creative director at Bader Rutter and Associates in Milwaukee, working with top Fortune 500 clients, such as GE Healthcare, Pfizer Animal Health and Dow AgroSciences. His creative work has been recognized nationally.

• After graduating with a degree in journalism and radio-TV-film, Kraus worked for various radio stations until she joined the CNN/ Turner Broadcasting team. She is the senior promotion placement coordinator for on-air promotion. She has won the DuPont–Columbia University Award for coverage of the tsunami disaster in South Asia, and two Peabody Awards.

• Lee-Held earned a degree in familyand consumer education from UW-Stevens Point and a master’s degree in educational leadership from UW Oshkosh. She teaches at Perry Tipler Middle School in Oshkosh and is an adviser for the Governor’s Advisory Council for the Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Children. In 2010, Lee-Held was named the National Blind Educator of the Year by the National Federation of the Blind.

To attend the awards reception and dinner, contact the Alumni Relations Office at (920) 424-3449 or send an email to alumni@uwosh.edu.

Tags: Alumni Relations Office Reeve Memorial Union UW Oshkosh Alumni Association