Alumni Named Award-Winners at R&C 2011

The Reunion & Commencement Alumni Association honors included Baldwin medalists, Distinguished Alumni awards, and professors recognized with the Binswanger Prize.

The Baldwin Medal, which pays tribute to Judge Raymond E. Baldwin ’16, was first awarded during Wesleyan’s Sesquicentennial in 1981. It is the highest honor Wesleyan’s alumni body presents for extraordinary service to Wesleyan or for careers and other activities that have contributed significantly to the public good. This year, Robert E. Patricelli ’61, P’88, P’90 and Margaret Sweetland Patricelli were named Baldwin Medalists.

The Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching was inaugurated in 1993 in recognition of outstanding faculty members, as exemplified by their commitment to the classroom and to student accomplishment, by their rigorous intellectual standards, and by their lucidity and passion.

Wai Kiu Chan, associate professor of mathematics; Scott Higgins, associate professor of film studies; and Scott Plous, professor of psychology, earned these coveted awards for 2011.

Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented in recognition of professional achievement, traditionally to those celebrating a class Reunion. This year’s distinguished alumni are author and businessman Jack Mitchell ’61; photographer Michael S. Yamashita ’71; civil rights attorney Theodore M. Shaw ’76; filmmaker Michael B. Bay ’86; and jazz singer Tierney M. Sutton ’86.

Outstanding Service Awards recognize members of the Wesleyan community for outstanding volunteer service to the university, their community, or the nation. David P. Jones, Sr. ’51, P’83, P’86, and Allan F. Williams ’61, P’89 received the 2011 awards.