Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award
Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award
George B. Walter '36 Service to Society Award
Gertrude Breithaupt Jupp M-D'18 Outstanding Service to Lawrence Award
Marshall B. Hulbert C'28 Young Alumni Outstanding Service to Lawrence Award
Kathleen M. Krull '74
Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award
Kathleen Krull is the author of more than 50 books for young readers. Growing up in
Wilmette, Illinois, she played the church organ at 12 and taught piano lessons at 17.
After graduating from Lawrence with a major in English and a minor in music, she was hired
for her first job in children's publishing by another Distinguished Achievement Award
winner, Betty Ren Wright Frederiksen M-D'49, at Western Publishing Company in Racine,
Wisconsin. Over the next 11 years she worked for four companies as a children's book editor
and also wrote mysteries in the Trixie Belden series, a collection of Christmas cards, and
a 24-book concept series. Today, as an independent author, she writes at home in San Diego,
California. Working with a series of top-flight illustrators, including her husband,
Paul Brewer, she has produced an impressive body of work, from biographies of famous
individuals to the "Lives of" series, which introduced young readers to true stories of
musicians, writers, artists, athletes, presidents, and extraordinary women. "I love getting
a chance to explore subjects I'm passionate about, like music, and make them meaningful for
kids," she says. Among many awards and distinctions, her biography of Wilma Rudolph was
named an American Library Association Notable Book, Lives of the Musicians
was a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award Winner, and the audio book version of
Lives of the Presidents received a Publisher's Weekly Award for Best Audio of 1998,
History and Politics.
Heidi R. Stober '00
Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award
Heidi Stober is an operatic soprano who, in the space of a few years, has begun a
performing career of great promise. Originally from Waukesha, she received the Bachelor of
Music degree in vocal performance, cum laude, from the Lawrence Conservatory of
Music in 2000, having studied in the studio of Kenneth Bozeman, professor of music, and the
Master of Music degree in 2003 from the New England Conservatory, where she was the
recipient of the John Moriarty Presidential Scholarship. In 2001, she performed with the
Milwaukee Opera Theatre, and during the summers of 2002 and 2003, sang as apprentice
soprano with Colorado's Central City Opera. In 2003, she won the Boston Lyric Opera's
Stephen Shrestinian Award for Excellence, given to a member of the BLO ensemble who has
demonstrated exceptional artistic growth and shows great promise for continued achievement.
Last year, she won the Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor MacCollum Competition for
Young Singers, for which she received the Scott F. Heumann Memorial Award, and she
currently is a studio artist with that company. In June 2004, she returned to Lawrence as
guest soloist in the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir's performance of
Penderecki's Credo.
James M. Auer '50
George B. Walter '36 Service to Society Award
Jim Auer, an almost mythic figure in Wisconsin art circles, died on December 18, 2004. He
was the widely respected art editor and art critic of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
having started in 1972 at the pre-merger Milwaukee Jornal. Multi-faceted - writer,
photographer, cinematographer, historian, documentarian, and magician were only a few of
his roles - he has been called "a man for all seasons" and a "Renaissance man," both of
which he surely would have denounced as insufferable clichés. Native of Neenah, Jim served
as Sunday editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent from 1960 to 1972.
The citation accompanying his Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award said in part: "A man with broad interests and abilities that encompassed all of the arts, he was skilled in careful observation, astute reporting, and commentary in many fields. A multi-talented individual, he was able to see broad themes and important details on the world scene and especially within his regional community, which he never neglected or slighted." Moving comfortably in all sectors of the art world, he could converse knowledgeably and even passionately about a wide variety of topics and with a wide variety of people.
Richard B. Snyder '65
George B. Walter '36 Service to Society Award
Dick Snyder graduated from Lawrence with a major in mathematics and earned a master's
degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After a successful and
fulfilling career in the technology industry, he retired in 1997 to change the direction of
his life and seek a meaningful full-time volunteer role. In the process, he went from being
executive vice president of the Cognex Corporation, a leading supplier of machine vision
systems to heading a non-profit agency whose goal was to introduce computers into Boston
day-care centers serving low-income, single-family homes. His "clients" were Haitian,
Vietnamese, Chinese, Latino, and African American four-year-olds. As program manager for
"Windows to the World," an offshoot of a United Way project called "Success by Six,"
he began the task of bringing computer literacy to those who might otherwise have been left
on the wrong side of the "digital divide." More recently, he has become a leader in the
"TechBoston" project of the Boston Public Schools, which teaches functional computer skills
to middle-school and high-school students for whom college is not a realistic goal but who,
with new skills in Web design, networking, and data-base management, have the basis for
potentially lucrative careers in high-tech industries. The program is of benefit to the
students and their families and also to local companies in need of trained workers.
Stephanie Howard Vrabec '80
Gertrude Breithaupt Jupp M-D'18 Outstanding Service Award
Stephanie Vrabec made a variety of contributions during her term as vice-president of the
Lawrence University Alumni Association, one of the most notable of which was creation of
the Alumni Legacy Phonathon, which offers assistance to alumni parents whose offspring are
beginning the search for a college. In addition to serving on the LUAA board of directors
for four years and on its executive committee for two years, she was one of the alumni
representatives on the presidential search committee in 2003. A resident of Menasha,
Stephanie has led the Fox Valley alumni group for many years. She has served as a host
parent for a Lawrence international student and in a variety of roles for the admissions
office. This year, she is co-chair of the steering committee for her 25th Reunion. She was
one of the first Lawrence students to work on the summer staff at Björklunden and has
remained a strong supporter of the northern campus.
James Spofford Reeve III '95
Marshall B. Hulbert C'28 Young Alumni Outstanding Service Award
Jamie Reeve, who spoke at the installation ceremony for President Jill Beck in May
representing Lawrence alumni, is a member of a distinguished multi-generational Lawrence
family. A former member of the Lawrence University Alumni Association board of directors,
he was elected vice president of the Class of 1995 and has served on the Viking Gift
committee for young alumni giving. Active in coordinating and hosting regional alumni
events in Milwaukee, Jamie also is a Career Center volunteer, assisting current students
with their career plans. He served on the steering committee for the Class of '95's Fifth
Reunion and as the Gift Chair for its Tenth Reunion this year.