Lawrence Honors Eight Alumni for Distinction, Service at Reunion Weekend Celebration

APPLETON, WIS. -- One of the world's leading experts on plant pathology and a medieval historian specializing in women will be among eight Lawrence University alumni who will be recognized for distinguished careers as well as community service during the college's annual Reunion Weekend celebration.

Nearly 900 alumni and guests from as far away as Milan, Italy and Taipei, Taiwan are expected to attend reunion activities, which begin Friday and run through Sunday morning. Four alumni will be presented distinguished achievement awards and four will receive service awards at the annual reunion convocation Saturday, June 23 at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

James Sinclair, Savoy, Ill., and Jane Schulenburg, Madison, will receive Lawrence's Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding contributions and accomplishments in a chosen field.

Sinclair, hailed by the Brazilian government as "their father of plant pathology," is one of the world's leading plant pathologists. A 1951 Lawrence graduate, he joined the department of plant pathology at Louisiana State University after earning his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1968 he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois where he taught for 28 years. He achieved the rank of full professor at both institutions.

Sinclair founded the National Soybean Research Laboratory at Illinois and served as its director from 1984 until his retirement in 1996. As its director, he established an international reputation as a researcher, conducting pioneering work in such areas as latent infections, host-parasite relationships and disease control.

He has written 16 books, 57 chapters of other books and more than 182 peer- reviewed articles. His research has been recognized with awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the American Soybean Association and the National Academy of Sciences in India, among others.

Schulenburg, a 1965 Lawrence graduate and medieval historian, is a recognized scholar in the study of women's history. As professor of history in the department of liberal studies and the arts at the UW-Madison, Schulenburg teaches courses in medieval history, art and religion, as well as women's history. Since joining the UW faculty in 1972, she has led more than 20 seminar/pilgrimages to historic sites throughout Europe.

She is the author of the 1998 book, "Forgetful of Their Sex: Female Sanctity and Society, Ca. 500-1100," which examined the status of women in early medieval society and its religious institutions and was based on her study of more than 2,000 female and male saints. Schulenburg also studies medieval embroidery and has self-taught herself the stitches, techniques and themes of that period. Her medieval embroideries have been the subject of numerous art exhibits.

Stephen Edwards, Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Amy Thiel, Oconto Falls, both 1985 graduates of Lawrence's conservatory of music, will each receive the Nathan M. Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award, which is named in honor of the college's 10th president.

A composer and pianist, Edwards has written songs and scores for more than 40 films, including the recent Mel Gibson hit, "What Women Want," as well as television series, documentaries and commercials. A one-time pianist with the All-American College Orchestra at Epcot Center, Edwards moved to California in 1986 and got his first break playing keyboards on the theme song for the TV hit series, "LA Law."

Edwards was recently commissioned by Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan to compose an original orchestral Mass. Edwards' work, which incorporated traditional Greek and Latin texts, premiered in February in Naples, Fla., at the annual meeting of Legatus, an international organization of Catholic CEOs. The Mass featured 54 singers from the University of Miami Chorale and 47 members of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra.

Thiel has been the choral director at Oconto Falls High School since 1987, leading a boys' choir, two girl choirs and a chamber singer's ensemble. In addition to her classroom teaching, Thiel directs a biannual summer concert tour that has taken the student chorus to performances at Disney World, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Montreal and Toronto. She has also served as choir director for the Wisconsin Ambassadors of Music International Concert Tour, leading that choir in three trips throughout Europe.

Thiel has been recognized with the Outstanding Young Women of America Award and the Oconto Falls Special Services Teacher of the Year Award and was a recipient of the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Teacher Fellowship in 1997.

Christopher Laing-Martinez and Cecilia Goetz will receive the George B. Walter Service to Society Award. Established in 1997 in honor of the late George Walter, a Lawrence education professor from 1946-75, the award recognizes contributions to socially useful ends in the community. Goetz' award will be presented posthumously.

Laing-Martinez is a lay missionary in the Dominican Republic, working under the auspices of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Milwaukee. He operates a network of small in-home pharmacies and coordinates 13 youth groups.

Since graduating from Lawrence in 1987, Laing-Martinez has been involved as an educator and human activist throughout Central America. He's worked as a reporter/political columnist and English teacher in Costa Rica, was part of a "Health Brigrade" that provided immunization, first aid and sanitation education in Managua, Nicaragua, worked in the barrios of Managua with Project SOYNICA and participated in the 2,800-mile Quincentennial Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life. Last year, Laing-Martinez was named a member of the U.S. delegation at the World Mission Conference in Rome.

Goetz, a 1985 Lawrence graduate, was a program officer with Minnesota International Health Volunteers who was found murdered in her hotel room in July, 1998 in Kampala, Uganda.

A specialist in nutritional issues affecting mothers and young children, Goetz traveled regularly to Africa, where she conducted health-related studies in rural villages and trained local volunteers. A year before her death she was recognized for her commitment to social justice by the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights and was honored as the Twin Cities International Citizen of the Year following her death.

Jane Holroyd, Racine, and Stephen Albrecht, Indianapolis, Ind., will receive the Getrude B. Jupp Outstanding Service Award and the Marshall B. Hulbert Young Alumni Service Award, respectively, for exemplary dedication, leadership, commitment and volunteerism to Lawrence.

Holroyd, a 1961 graduate and former Latin and English teacher in the Racine school district, spent four years as a member of the Lawrence alumni association board of directors, served as class secretary, was a member of her class' 40th reunion gift and steering committees and has volunteered as an admissions office coordinator.

Albrecht, who graduated in 1986, served on the alumni association board of directors from 1995-99, including as vice president his last year. He has volunteered as a phonathon caller, served as a class agent for 10 years and an admissions coordinator for eight and was the chair of his class' 10th reunion gift committee and the 15th reunion planning committee. He is currently the director of economic affairs for the Indiana Health Care Association.