2005 Alumni Stars honored

By Leila Ugincius

Virginia Commonwealth University honored 14 of its most accomplished alumni during the recent Founders Day Alumni Stars awards dinner.

The biennial event honors VCU alumni who have enjoyed notable professional success or who have made significant humanitarian, university or community service contributions. Honorees were selected from each of the university’s 14 schools. Kent Ipsen, a retired VCU School of the Arts professor, designed and crafted the awards.

The School of Social Work honored Ira C. Colby for community service. A 1975 graduate with a master’s of social work degree.

“It made a tremendous difference in my career,” he said. While at VCU, Colby was one of the first students to participate in a program that taught social-work students how to teach.

“It was really a very advanced program that provided an opportunity to experience faculty life, from course instruction and academic advising to committee work,” Colby said. “Today we’re seeing more and more Ph.D. programs using this method with doctoral students. VCU was really ahead of its time.”

Today, Colby is dean and professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Houston.

Brad Crosby, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2001, was the School of Engineering honoree for university service. Crosby, a technical supervisor with Infineon Technologies’ Richmond plant, has retained strong ties with VCU, serving as president of the VCU School of Engineering Alumni Board.

“I want to work to enhance the reputation of the VCU School of Engineering,” Crosby said. “I want the best for the school, but there are also selfish reasons. I want my degree to increase in value even more.”

Nancy C. Everett, General Motors Corp.’s chief investment officer, was honored by the School of Business for professional achievement. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1978, Everett became a programmer analyst at the Virginia Retirement System, where she worked for 25 years — eventually becoming chief investment officer of the retirement system before moving on to GM.

The School of the Arts conferred its award for professional achievement to Judith W. Godwin, an abstract expressionist painter who received her bachelor of arts degree in 1952. After graduating, Godwin moved to New York where she was the youngest artist accepted to the prestigious Art Students League. Since then, Godwin has exhibited throughout the United States and Japan, and her work can be seen at such major museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.

Anita Josey-Herring’s work as a family court judge in Washington, D.C., garnered her the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs’ award for community service.

“I feel that I have been truly blessed to be in a position that enables me to make an impact on society and contribute to the justice system,” said the 1982 graduate.

The School of Education honored Xerox Corp. Account Manager Stephanie Lawson Holt, a 1974 graduate, for community service. Holt said she learned the importance of community involvement while a student at VCU.

“I was involved in student rallies at Monroe Park for women’s rights, and got to hear Gloria Steinem speak, and others speaking for the end of the Vietnam War,” she recalled. “These kinds of events helped convince me that you have to be involved and give back to the community.”

The former School of Basic Health Sciences — which has since become part of the VCU School of Medicine — gave its humanitarian achievement award to Colleen Jackson-Cook, who received a doctorate in human genetics in 1985. A professor of human genetics at VCU and director of the Cytogenetics Diagnostic Laboratory, Jackson-Cook researches the frequency and types of chromosomal changes occurring in people as they age. Some of Jackson-Cook’s earlier research led to the establishment of the International Mosaic Down Syndrome Society.

Hugh D. Keogh, president of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, received a nod from the School of Mass Communications for community service. As an economic development professional, Keogh attended night classes for seven semesters to earn his master’s degree in mass communications in 1981.

“My VCU experience provided a critical intellectual foundation for my career in marketing and public affairs in Virginia,” Keogh said. “It also exposed me to cultural diversity and the multifaceted role of a great urban university.”

Thomas M. Krummel, M.D., chair of Stanford University’s Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the Lucille Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, received the professional achievement award from the VCU School of Medicine. The renowned pediatric surgeon is also internationally recognized as a leader in robotics and virtual reality.

The School of Nursing recognized 1988 graduate Margaret Gallagher Lewis for professional achievement. Lewis is president of HCA’s Central Atlantic Division, where she is responsible for 18 hospitals, seven ambulatory surgery centers and nine out-patient facilities. An advocate for the health care industry and its workers, Lewis also serves as an assistant professor in VCU’s Department of Health Administration of the School of Allied Health Professions.

Bruce D. McWhinney, a 1970 graduate from the School of Pharmacy, was honored for his professional achievement. Having worked in a pharmacy in one capacity or another since he was 14 — his first job was as a delivery boy — McWhinney believes that pharmacists have a responsibility to continually discover ways to improve patient care through safer and more effective use of drugs.

“This approach has provided me with a lot of enjoyment — through the inherent satisfaction of being a valuable member of a health care team and serving patients — yet still satisfying the competitive spirit I have to excel personally and professionally,” said McWhinney, who today is president of Allied Pharmacy Service Inc.

Rebecca T. Perdue was honored by the School of Allied Health Professions for university services. Since receiving a bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory science in 1962, Perdue worked in numerous hospitals before accepting her current position as group manager with the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratories, were she is primarily responsible for managing quality assurance, safety and training. She also has remained connected with the MCV Alumni Association of VCU.

“To me, being active in the alumni association is simply a way of supporting the school that gave me so much,” Perdue says. “It also gives me the opportunity to work with other alumni professionals and to have an impact on current students by sponsoring various programs and events throughout the academic year.”

Leah T. Robinson was the first Ph.D. graduate from the university’s psychology program in 1974. That was just one of many “firsts” for the now-retired psychologist. Upon graduating, she joined Psychiatric Associates of Tidewater — the region’s first private practice — and was the first woman psychologist with a full-time private practice in Eastern Virginia.

The College of Humanities and Sciences awarded Robinson for her professional achievement.

School of Dentistry alumnus Roger E. Wood was honored for community service. The president and practitioner at Wood, Dunlevy and Lombardozzi dental practice received his degree in 1975 and has worked for years donating pediatric dental care through the Virginia Dental Association Donated Dental Services.

His community commitment can be traced to his days as a dental student at VCU. In his second year, his wife gave birth to their second child, but complications led to soaring medical bills.

“I had no way to pay for all the extra care needed,” he said. “Then the dental students in my class donated blood until they paid off the hospital bill. I will always be thankful for my ‘blood brothers and sister.’ It has always been a special memory for me.”