| |
|
|
President John DiBiaggio (far right) and TUAA President Elliott
Lerman, E65 (far left), with this year's Distinguished Service honorees
(l-r): Frederick H. Hauck, A62; Edward H. Schluntz, A50, G51; Peter
Ackerman, F76; Marvin Birger, A49; Nancy Jones Cicia, J59; and Ethel
Jafarian Duffett, J37.
Every year the Tufts University Alumni Association honors the contributions
of alumni making a difference at Tufts, in their professions and
in their communities. This year, the honorees, cited at a gala dinner
on April 15 at the Bostonian Hotel in downtown Boston, were: Dr.
Peter Ackerman, F76, for service to Tufts and profession; Marvin
Birger, A49, for service to Tufts and the community; Dr. Nancy Jones
Cicia, J59, for service to Tufts and community; Ethel Jafarian Duffett,
J37, for service to Tufts and community; Frederick H. Hauck, A62,
for service to Tufts and profession; and Edward H. Schluntz, A50,
G51, for service to Tufts and profession. Tufts University applauds
these graduates for their lifelong commitment to Tufts, and, through
their diverse accomplishments, for offering examples of enduring
leadership.
Peter Ackerman, honored for service to Tufts and profession,
attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he was
granted M.A. and M.A.L.D. degrees after earning a B.A. at Colgate
University. He received his Ph.D. from Fletcher in 1976. He is the
Managing Director of Crown Capital, a private investment firm. From
1978 to 1990 he was the Director of International Capital Markets
at Drexel Burnham Lambert, where he structured, financed and invested
in hundreds of recapitalizations, including the largest and most
complex leveraged acquisitions of that period. During the 1990s
Crown has made numerous successful direct investments in fields
as diverse as publishing, propane distribution, ball bearings, textiles,
custom labeling, wax refining, auto-part remanufacturing,variable
life insurance and Internet-based food retailing.Dr. Ackerman is
currently the chairman of the Board of Overseers for the Fletcher
School and serves on the Board of Trustees of Tufts. In addition,
he sits on the boards of CARE, Colgate University, and the Cato
Institute and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and
the Executive Council of the International Institute for Strategic
Studies. He is also the co-author of Strategic Nonviolent Conflict,
published in 1994, and series editor of a related documentary scheduled
to appear on PBS next year titled A Force More Powerful: A Century
of Non-violent Conflict. Dr. Ackerman and his wife, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman,
have two sons, Nathaneal and Elliot.
Marvin Birger, honored for service to Tufts and community,
received a B.S. degree from Tufts in 1949. After graduate work at
MIT and service in the U.S. Army, Mr. Birger went on to establish
a distinguished career in business.He is the founder of Orkney Associates,
Orkney Realty Trust, Orkney Industries, Bee Plastics, Inc., Amoco
Chemical Consumer Products Division, Family Products, Birger Company,
Rindge Associates, Fresh Pond Associates and Wayridge Corporation.Mr.
Birger's Tufts activities include leadership on his class reunion
committee for five decades. In 1995, he founded the Palm Beach Tufts
Alliance, of which he is chairman. Through this Alliance, he has
organized unique, highly successful events that generate an impressive
presence for Tufts. His support of Tufts also includes a planned
gift of an endowed chair to the economics department. Among Mr.
Birger's community activities are being chairman of Adult Education
and Executive Board Member of Temple Emanu-el of Palm Beach, Commissioner
of the Committee for Jewish Education of Palm Beach, and Chairman
of the All Chairpersons of Adult Education for All Temples in Palm
Beach County. He is also a board member of the Jewish Family and
Children's Services, a member of the American Committee of the Weizmann
Institute of Palm Beach County, and a supporter of the Simon Weisenthal
Center and the Jewish Theological Seminary.Mr. Birger and his wife,
Carolyn, have three children: Terri Ellen, David, and Stuart.
Nancy Jones Cicia, honored for service to Tufts and community,
received her B.S. in biology in 1959. Retired from her position
as Associate Scientist in Research and Development at a medical
diagnostic/prognostic company, Nancy Cicia has done extensive volunteer
work in her community. In Wakefield, MA, she was co-founder of the
Task Force on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, former member of the Citizens'
Committee on Educational Planning and of the Social Action Committee
of the Greenwood Union Church, and a volunteer in the Wakefield
Public Schools and at the Beebe Public Library. In addition, she
is a former member of the Northfield Mount Hermon School Alumni
Council, and in 1980 received a Service Citation from the school.
A member of the Wakefield Choral Society and part-time member of
the Middlesex Concert Band, she is also a member of the Great Island
Association of Narragansett, RI.Dr. Cicia has worked on every reunion
committee since graduation, and served as chair for her 35th reunion.
A member of the Tufts Alumni Council since 1989, she served on its
Executive Committee for five years. She also chaired the Interimship
Committee for one year and headed the Student Issues and Activities
Committee for three years, initiating the now annual Jumbo Futures
Fest. Currently chair of the Nominating Committee, she also chairs
the Guidelines Committee and serves on the By-Laws Committee. She
and her husband, Jefferson Cicia, A54, retired Tufts assistant athletic
director, have four children: Laura DiBacco, David, Stephen, A88,
and Mark.
Ethel Jafarian Duffett, honored for service to Tufts and
community, graduated from Jackson College in 1937, after which she
spent thirty years teaching and doing biochemical research in the
Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Mrs. Duffett has been involved in promoting awareness of Armenian
issues at Tufts for more than two decades. Her philanthropy has
funded a lecture series in Armenian studies, and she is responsible
for the plaque at Tufts Goddard Chapel commemorating the genocide
of more than 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. She has also
endowed two scholarship funds at Tufts as well as a class in Armenian
language. In 1998, she established the Darakjian/Jafarian Chair
in Armenian History as a tribute to her family and the 1.5 million
(Christian) Armenians who lost their lives in the 1915 Ottoman Empire
Genocide in Turkey. Mrs. Duffett estimates that she lost forty close
relatives during this time.In 1980, Mrs. Duffett retired from the
Harvard School of Public Health and moved to Orlando, Florida, to
be near her son, Dana P. Bowie, an attorney who graduated from Tufts
in 1967. She was involved with the University Club of Winter Park
and her church in Florida for many years and now does volunteer
work at the local hospital, in addition to her continuing involvement
at Tufts to promote awareness of Armenian issues.
Frederick H. Hauck, honored for service to Tufts and profession,
received a B.S. in physics from Tufts in 1962 and an M.S. from MIT
in nuclear engineering in 1966. In 1971, he graduated from the U.S.
Naval Test Pilot School. Mr. Hauck is President and Chief Executive
Officer of AXA Space in Bethesda, MD, which specializes in underwriting
the risk of launching and operating space systems. Before joining
AXA Space in 1990, he completed a 28-year Navy career as a combat
pilot, test pilot and astronaut. His last military assignment was
Director of Navy Space Systems in the Pentagon. During his 11 years
as a NASA astronaut, he flew on three space shuttle missions, the
last as commander of Discovery, the first space shuttle mission
after the Challenger tragedy. A member of the Tufts Board of Trustees,
Mr. Hauck also serves as chair of the Board of Overseers for Arts
and Sciences. He is a Fellow of both the Society of Experimental
Test Pilots and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Among his many honors are two Defense Distinguished Service Medals,
the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the Distinguished Flying
Cross. In addition, he has received the Tufts University Presidential
Medal, the Tufts Light on the Hill Award, and the Delta Upsilon
Distinguished Alumnus Award, and he is listed in Who's Who in America.
He is married to Susan Cameron Bruce, J65, and he has two children:
Whitney Hauck-Wood and Stephen Christopher Hauck, A87.
Edward H. Schluntz, honored for service to Tufts and profession,
received his B.A. in 1950 and his M.Ed. in 1951. While at Tufts,
he received ten varsity letters in football, basketball, and baseball.
Mr. Schluntz has had a distinguished career in teaching and coaching.
After two years at Worcester Academy, Mr. Schluntz went to Brookline
High School, where he held posts as teacher of English, head coach
of football and basketball, assistant coach of baseball, and, from
1970 to 1990, as Director of Athletics. He also served as head coach
of freshman football at Harvard University from 1990 to 1994. He
has served as president of numerous organizations, including the
Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association, the Suburban
League, the Gridiron Club of Boston, and the Windsor Club of Newton.
He has served as chair of the MIAA Football Tournament Committe
and the Selection Committee of the National Football Foundation,
EMASS Chapter.His honors include Boston Globe Football Coach of
the Year Award, the New England Football Officials Award, the Massachusetts
Athletic Director of the Year Award, and the Massachusetts High
School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. A longtime member
of the Tufts Alumni Council, Mr. Schluntz is president of the Tufts
Jumbo Club. As chair of its Grinnell Society, he helped to raise
money for the Gantcher Family Sports and Convocation Center, and
he has received the Tufts Jumbo Club Award. He and his wife, Gloria,
J52, have two children, Kurt and Erika.
|
