By Luis Montes
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

The UH-Clear Lake Alumni Association recently inducted three new members to the Distinguished Alumni of the Year wall of fame.

The new inductees include Frank Perez, a 1982 UH-Clear Lake graduate who earned a master's degree in computer information systems and is currently employed as a program manager at Madison Research Corporation.

Marjorie Jacobson, a 1984 UH-Clear Lake graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in humanities and fine arts and is currently employed as a part-time office nurse for Dr. M.E. Skellenger.

Jennie Ward Robinson who earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from UH-Clear Lake in 1992 and is currently employed as the director of medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, Ill.

The induction ceremony took place Aug. 17.

"It was a wonderful event and the turn out was great," said Resa Ott, director of alumni and community relations at UH-Clear Lake.

The Alumni Association established the distinguished alumni award to honor UH-Clear Lake graduates who have made contributions to society and whose accomplishments and careers have brought credit to the institution. The UH-Clear Lake Alumni Association has presented the award since 1984.

   Pictured left to right: President William Staples, Jennie Ward Robison, J. Pamela Culpepper,
   Marjorie Jacobson, Frank Perez raise their glass at the induction ceremony.

"I was elated when I found out that I had been selected to join the previous distinguished alumni. Many are my personal friends," said Perez. "The university is built through the help of its friends and alumni and I am glad to have been able to contribute."

In the past there has been controversy that the Distinguished Alumni of the Year wall of fame has not been representative of the actual diversity of faculty, staff and students at UH-Clear Lake. It was even re-dubbed "The Wall of Shame" by some. This year"s inductees are the product of a more diverse alumni board. The nomination process has been more publicized in hopes of increasing the number of alumni nominations made.

"The university serves an increasingly diverse community and student body. It is good that after 28 years we have gotten about the business of publicly honoring the thousands of our alumni who are not white," said Craig Oettinger, associate professor of sociology at UH-Clear Lake. " The new additions to the alumni wall make it clear that the university and our new alumni association celebrate the full range of talents, accomplishments and values of our students and alumni."

"I am pleased that the alumni board has worked very hard through the selection process to acknowledge a broader spectrum of alumni," said Linda Bullock, director of multicultural and international student services at UH-Clear Lake.

Faculty, staff, administrators and students can place nominations online by visiting www.cl.uh.edu/alumni/
uhcldistinguishedalumniaward. The deadline to make a nomination for the 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award is June 30.

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