Col. Arnald D. Gabriel '50, George D. Patte Jr. '67, Stephan J. Stranick '89, and James J. Whalen were recognized by the College's alumni association during Reunion weekend for their valued contributions to Ithaca College.
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Alumni association president Jack Bethune '66, left, stands with award winners Stephan J. Stranick '89, President Whalen, and George D. Patte Jr. '67. Arnald Gabriel '50, who was not able to attend the ceremony because of a previous commitment, was presented with his award in Virginia by College trustee Robert E. Kur '70. |
Gabriel is the recipient of the alumni association's Lifetime Achievement Award to honor his distinguished achievements in music. During his 36-year military career he served as commander/conductor of the internationally known United States Air Force Band, as well as the air force's symphony orchestra. Upon his retirement in 1985 he was awarded an unprecedented third Legion of Merit, the nation's highest peacetime honor, for his service to the air force and to music education. His previous Legion of Merit awards recognized the success of a goodwill tour of Latin America and his efforts to improve international relations through music among nations in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
After retiring from the air force, Gabriel served 10 years on the faculty of George Mason University, where he was chairman of the music department and conductor of the university's symphony orchestra. He is currently conductor and music director of the McLean Orchestra in Virginia. He received an honorary doctorate in music from Ithaca College in 1989. Gabriel, who was not able to attend the ceremony because of a previous commitment, was presented with his award in Virginia by College trustee Robert E. Kur '70.
Patte, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, has been active in Ithaca College alumni activities since setting up his law practice in Ithaca in the 1970s. His hard work and dedication led to his election to the alumni association board of directors in 1981, and he has been appointed to positions of increasing responsibility as the years progressed. He was elected president of the alumni association in 1990.
Patte's three-year term as president was highlighted by a complete rewriting of the alumni association bylaws and constitution, a wholesale reorganization of the board's committee structure, the introduction of a formal alumni club network and a handbook for its administration, and the College's centennial celebration. During these years he took an active role as an alumni representative to the All-College Strategic Planning Committee, which produced a report making recommendations to the board of trustees concerning the future of the College.
The Ithaca College Board of Trustees elected Patte an alumni trustee in 1991, and he served in that capacity until 1996. During that time, he was a member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee and was involved in such projects as the new science building and the reconfiguration of the campus road. He was also a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation and Benefits Committee.
The Outstanding Young Alumni Award went to Stranick, already the winner of six national awards in science.
After graduating with a degree in chemistry in 1989, Stranick earned a doctorate in chemistry at Penn State. He now works as a research chemist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His national awards include the Kenan Analytical Award (1993), the Shell Doctoral Fellowship (1993-94), the American Physical Society Travel Award (1994), the B. F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Award (1994), the American Chemical Society Procter & Gamble Award in Physical Chemistry (1994), and the American Chemical Society Nobel Laureate Signature Award (1996). The significance of the last award is magnified by the presence of several Nobel laureates among the judges, who chose Stranick as the best chemistry graduate student for 1996.
Of particular note is his improvement of an imaging instrument, the scanning tunneling microscope, that won its inventors a Nobel Prize. Stranick's enhancements make it possible to use the instrument on nonconducting films such as polymers, minerals, oxides, and organic biological tissues as well. Similar research can now be done on insulating as well as conducting surfaces, thanks to his ingenuity. His work in this area brought him international recognition and the award of a patent.
Stranick's current research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology focuses on the development of a microscope that will let researchers not only to see the molecules that comprise a sample but also identify their chemical makeup. This instrument will provide a new view of things on the molecular scale and with state-of-the-art imaging technology.
Whalen, Ithaca College's sixth president, was the recipient of the Meritorious Service Award, henceforth to be known as the James J. Whalen Meritorious Service Award. The alumni association named the award in his honor as a tribute to his 22 years of inspired leadership and service to the College.
Since assuming the presidency in 1975, Whalen has presided over the most sustained period of qualitative and quantitative growth in Ithaca College history. Applications for admission have more than doubled, yielding enrollment growth of over 26 percent. The academic profile of Ithaca students has steadily improved, while academic offerings have increased from 47 programs to over 100 majors and 40 minors, including highly regarded programs in such fields as physical therapy, music, broadcasting, theater, biochemistry, and international finance. The number of full-time faculty has grown by 55 percent, and the proportion of faculty holding terminal degrees has more than doubled, to 90 percent.
Under Whalen's leadership, College assets have grown from $70 million in 1976 to more than $300 million today, reflecting ongoing investment resulting in 10 new buildings and the renovation of all others. Endowment and reserves have rocketed from $8 million to $150 million, even as student financial aid has grown by over 2,000 percent. The number of donors to the College has grown threefold, enabling the College to raise nearly $78 million over the last two decades.
Whalen's influence has also been felt beyond Ithaca. A recognized leader in American higher education, he has served as chairman of the boards of trustees of the American Council on Education, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and New York's Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. He was a charter member of the Presidents Commission of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and chair of its Division III Subcommittee, cochair of the NCAA Task Force on Gender Equity, and a member of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
In a 1986 Exxon Foundation study, Whalen was named one of the nation's top 100 higher education chief executive officers, and in 1997 he received the Henry Paley Memorial Award for outstanding service by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Whalen was also honored at the banquet with an alumni association resolution of appreciation, as well as a memory book of appreciation solicited by trustees and alumni. More than 250 alumni of all ages participated in the collection. "We present it to you with deepest gratitude and our fondest wish that you will visit Ithaca often, knowing that, just like us, you will always have a home here, too," said alumni association president Jock Bethune '66.
