Alumni Association Awards Luncheon

Lecturer Emerita Marge Frantz of the American Studies and Women’s Studies Departments was one of a number of UCSC people honored at an Alumni Association awards luncheon on Saturday, January 31. In the photo, Frantz, who won this year’s Distinguished Teaching Award, smiles as last year’s award recipient, Carol Freeman, delivers a stirring tribute.

John Reid (far right), founder and executive director of A Grassroots Aspen Experience, received the Outstanding Alumni Award. He was introduced at the luncheon by Nick Royal, former coordinator of the Merrill Field Program for Experiential Learning, and Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, a UCSC professor of anthropology. Reid had lived in Kenya under the auspices of the Merrill program while he was a UCSC student.

Alumni Council president Steve Jung presented the Outstanding Staff Award to Angie Christman, a coordinator for student programs and events at Cowell College. In introducing Christman, Professor of American Studies John Dizikes (not pictured) brought the audience to its feet with his description of why the longtime staff member merited the award.

Approximately 230 people attended the luncheon, which took place at Stevenson Dining Hall.

Ten undergraduates received $2,500 scholarships funded by the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund. From left to right they are Stephanie Wills (Oakes, undeclared), Zoe Tobier (Porter, undeclared), Roxanne Brown (Merrill, politics), Wilfredo Cruz (Merrill, history), Ryan Bonea (Cowell, undeclared), and Jeff Francis (College 8, environmental studies).