Distinguished Alumni Awards Recipients
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the UMass Amherst Alumni Association on alumni, faculty and friends. Recipients of this prestigious award have translated their UMass Amherst experience into distinguished achievement in the public, business or professional realms and bring honor to UMass Amherst and to their field of endeavor. View a slideshow of the event held at the State House on April 13, 2011.
Noel Anderson '74, '77 MS, '80 PhD-
Vice President, Worldwide Analytical and Technical
Insights at PepsiCo
2011 Distinguished Alumni Service AwardDr. Anderson has delivered significant innovations in the market place and has created collaborations between industry, government, and international groups, as well as promoting continuums between academic and professional sectors.
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Jeffrey Blaustein '73, '75 MS, '77 PhD- Division Head of Behavioral Neuroscience,
UMass Amherst Psychology Department
2011 Distinguished Alumni AwardDr. Blaustein is the division head of behavioral neuroscience and the founding Director of the Center for Neuroendocrine Studies at UMass Amherst. His research examines how steroid hormones act in the brain to influence behaviors and mental illness, including depression and anxiety.
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D. Anthony Butterfield- Professor Emeritus, UMass Amherst
Isenberg School of Management
2011 Distinguished Honorary Alumni AwardProfessor Butterfield served as the Management Department chair, PhD program director, and interim Dean during his 38 year tenure with the UMass Amherst Isenberg School of Management. His research expertise is leadership, with a focus on gender and the personal qualities desired in high-level leaders.
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Charles Desmond '92 EdD- Chair, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
2011 Distinguished Alumni AwardDr. Desmond is the chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education where he oversees the needs and requirements of delivering higher education programs, as well oversight of spending plans and a statewide tuition program.
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S. Lawrence Kocot '82, '86 MPA - Deputy Director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution
2011 Distinguished Alumni AwardLarry Kocot is deputy director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform and a visiting fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. He is examining the challenges of access, quality, and financing that face the U.S. health care system.
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William MacKnight- William D. Barrett Professor Emeritus of Polymer Science and Engineering, UMass Amherst
2011 Distinguished Faculty AwardDr. MacKnight is professor emeritus of Polymer Science and Engineering at UMass Amherst and was instrumental in creating the department and securing funding for the Silvio O. Conte National Center for Polymer Research.
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Peter Trovato '05 - Founder, Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund
2011 Distinguished Young Alumni AwardPeter Trovato '05 is the founder of the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, a non-profit organization that offers educational assistance grants to the children of fallen soldiers from Massachusetts. Since the fund's inception in 2005, Trovato has raised well over three million dollars toward this cause.
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