
2023 Duke Alumni Awards Celebrate Stand-out Alumni Volunteers
Duke Alumni Engagement and Development celebrates the outstanding volunteerism and services of Duke alumni and parents in an annual award ceremony
Duke Alumni Engagement and Development honored 57 university changemakers during Homecoming Weekend, Sept. 29-30, on campus.
Held annually, the awards recognize and honor Duke alumni and parents who have gone above and beyond in their commitments to Duke. This year, the awardees represented diverse and meaningful volunteerism throughout the world: Some founded organizations bettering their communities, while others gave their time back to Duke by paying it forward to students and planning events for alumni living in cities throughout the U.S.
“The alumni awards ceremony is an especially exciting time because it truly highlights the depth and breadth of alumni engagement and the incredible contributions our winners make around the world,” said Scott Greenwood, the associate vice president and interim chief engagement officer at AED. “Their commitments to Duke, their communities and civic leadership is on display in every aspect of their volunteer work, and it is truly an inspiration to not only me, but to each and every one of our alumni. They embody the very best of the Forever Duke spirit and we are so pleased to be able to honor their many contributions.”
Some awardees included the following Duke alumni:
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The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Lynette Hale M.Div.’79, a nationally-recognized minister and community leader. Hale was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest alumni award at Duke. With more than 40 years of ministerial experience, Hale has brought her teaching and inspiration to thousands of people. She has established several programs for clergy education, including a mentorship and development program for church leaders and a conference for clergywomen. Hale holds five honorary doctorate degrees in divinity and an honorary doctorate in law, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards and inducted into multiple halls of fame.
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Sandra Valnes Quammen A.M.’06, a senior lecturer in Romance Studies and director of the French Language Program. Valnes Quammen was awarded the Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA), which is student-nominated. Valnes Quammen, in partnership with Spanish professor Liliana Paredes, explores translingual pedagogies and the intersections between languages.
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Sheree Faith Cooper-Levy ’89 is one of six awarded with the Charles A. Dukes Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, which honors alumni with extraordinary, long-time services to Duke. She is the co-chair of the Duke New York Women’s Forum executive committee, leads multiple Duke alumni activities in Long Island, recently finished her 9-year tenure on the Jewish Life at Duke Advisory Board and has volunteered for the Alumni Admissions Advisory Committee for 30 years.
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Howard Conyers M.S.’06, Ph.D’09 is one of three Few-Glasson Alumni Society honorees this year, recognizing alumni from The Graduate School. A NASA aerospace engineer and scientist, in recent years Conyers has travelled the world as an award-winning barbecue pitmaster and storyteller exploring the origins of open-fire cooking and its connections to slavery.
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Barbara Baroff Kavanagh ’61 is one of six honored with the Beyond Duke Service and Leadership Award, which recognizes alumni who have made a difference in their communities and/or the world. She is the founder and CEO of Arizona Myeloma Network, an organization that provides free conferences around living with myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells.
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Michelle Park Chiu J.D.’06, LL.M.’06 is one of 20 individual awardees for the Forever Duke Award, which are given to alumni who have made recent contributions to better Duke through their volunteerism. Chiu created a career workshop at Duke Law that has assisted more than one hundred Law students. She serves on the Law Alumni Association Board and the law school’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
The full roster of awardees are as follows:
Distinguished Alumni Award
Cynthia Lynette Hale M.Div.'79
Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award
Sandra Valnes Quammen A.M.'06
Charles A. Dukes Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service
Linda Alexander '80
Sheree F. Cooper-Levy '89
Robert P. Drucker M.D.'79
Joseph Porter Durham, Jr. '83, J.D.'85
Gerard T. Sansosti (Duke parent P'15, P'19, P'20, P'21, P'24)
Paula S. Sansosti (Duke parent P'15, P'19, P'20, P'21, P'24)
Beyond Duke Service and Leadership Award
Barbara Baroff Kavanagh '61
Shane Courtney Battier '01
Jean Faulkner Beasley '58
Rebecca Brooks Bell '02
Shavar Dakel Jeffries '96
William M. Johnstone, Jr. '79
Forever Duke Award
Individual Awardees:
Priya Mona Achaibar B.S.E.’15
Danielle Alexis Brown ’04
Michelle Park Chiu J.D.’06, LL.M.’06
Chidi Ervin Erike M.B.A.’12
Holly Morris Espy B.S.E.’93
Karen Gottlieb ’89
Boris Lau ’12
Ian Li B.S.E. ’11
John George Marth ’59
Kathleen Allen Olin ’93
Alexander William Osmond IV ’09
Amy Austin Petersen B.S.M.E.’84
Steve Craig Rosner B.S.E.E.’83
Tasala Rufai ’05, D.P.T.’12
Stephen E. Schwartz ’70
Michael T. Sola D.P.T.’18
Steve R. Steinhilber ’76
Robert Tai B.S.E.’03
Dawn Taylor ’89
Renee L. Thorne ’99
Group Awardees:
Group 1: Duke Medicine Class of 1997, 25th Reunion Class
Jamy Darone Ard M.D.’97
Kelly J. Butnor M.D.’97
Todd C. Brady Ph.D.’98, M.D.’99
Ranee Chatterjee Montgomery M.D.’97
Dwight Julius McFadden III M.D.’97
Shannon Denise Norris ’93 M.D.’97
Group 2: Duke Camp for the Class of 1990
Nicole Field Brzeski ’90
Dan Feldstein ’90
Group 3: Duke NY Advanced Job Networking Group Leadership
Robert Harris Bier ’90
Gerard E. Raho M.B.A.’86
Joseph Gary Stevens ’89
Group 4: Duke DC DEI Action Plan
Bryant Christopher Harris ’05
Serena Agaba Rwejuna J.D.’13
Anne Berry Schell ’06
Kyle White ’07
Group 5: Engineering Alumni Council
Tracy Anne Nickelsburg B.S.E.’88
William Benjamin Senner B.S.E.’06, M.Eng.M.’06
Group 6: Duke Parents’ Facebook Page
Dana P. Dudley (Duke parent P’17)
Penny J. Fleming (Duke parent P’09, P’12)
Beth Sheryl Gabay (Duke parent P'16, P'19, P’19)
Few-Glasson Society Alumni Society
Howard Conyers M.S.’06, Ph.D ‘09
Bogdan Epureanu Ph.D‘99
Kristian Lum M.S.’08, Ph.D ‘10