Alumni News

Lisa Nugent/UNH Photographic Services AWARDEES: The 2012 Alumni Association award winners are from left, M.A. Lucas '64, Fritz Armstrong III '57, Dot Sheehan '71, Katy Fader Lilly '00, Deborah Overdeput '82, Ted Wheatley '76, Cheryl Dickson '63 and Val England '54.

Vision. Commitment. Passion. At the 2012 Alumni Achievement Awards ceremony, the UNH Alumni Association honored eight devoted alumni for their accomplishments and selfless service.

The Profile of Service Award went to Valerie "Val" Wilcox England '54 and Dorothy "Dot" Taylor Sheehan '71. England has served on Alumni Association and Foundation boards, on the President's Council and on the steering committee for the Class of 1954. Sheehan, UNH's senior associate athletic director for external relations, is the founder of Operation Hat Trick, an organization providing baseball hats to thousands of wounded veterans. The program recently went national.

Four alumni received the Alumni Meritorious Service Award: Frank E. "Ted" Wheatley '76, who is a leader on the steering committee for the UNH Boston alumni chapter Executive Forum; Frederick "Fritz" Armstrong III '57, who has directed reunions, marshaled fund-raising efforts and served on the alumni board and the Southwest Florida alumni chapter; Cheryl Kuebler Dickson '63, who has guided the Bill Knight/Bo Dickson Memorial Golf Tournament in support of athletic scholarships for 20 years; and Deborah Narinkevicuis Overdeput '82, who has served as communications chair for the Boston alumni chapter and as a member of its Executive Forum steering committee.

Katharina "Katy" Fader Lilly '00, recipient of the Young Alumna Award, is the volunteer physician for the women's gymnastics team and a regular panelist for the UNH health professions seminar. The Award of Excellence for Outstanding Achievement went to Margaret-Alice "M.A." Haggart Lucas '64, who helped convince Congress in 1989 to pass the first major legislation to improve childcare and youth services in the Army in the United States and around the world.