Please consider downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer
to experience this site as intended.
Skip to content

Class Notes

HONORS & AWARDSAlumni and Friends Recognized University awards celebrate service and achievement.

University

Charles Force Hutchison and Marjorie Smith Hutchison Medal

mw_honorsRonald Paprocki (Photo: Provided)

Ronald Paprocki ’69, ’86S (MBA), senior vice president for administration and finance, chief financial officer, and treasurer, has served in several leadership positions during a career at the University that spans more than four decades. As senior vice president, he oversees key business and administrative functions, including finance, budget, audit, campus planning and design, facilities, purchasing, auxiliary services, human resources, public safety, and environmental health and safety.

Helping lead the development of College Town, Brooks Crossing, Riverview Apartments, and other projects, he also has been highly regarded for his work as a financial strategist. In recognition of his work to navigate the 2008 financial crisis, he was named the Financial Executive of the Year for large nonprofit organizations in the Rochester area by the Rochester Business Journal and the local chapter of Financial Executives International.

School of Medicine and Dentistry

Dean’s Medal

mw_honorsJohn (Jack) Rowe (Photo: Provided)

The former executive chairman and past chairman and CEO at Aetna, one of the nation’s leading health care and health-related benefits organizations, John (Jack) Rowe ’70M (MD), ’02M (Honorary) is the Julius B. Richmond Professor of Health Policy and Aging at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Considered one of the leading experts on geriatrics and the physiology of aging, Rowe is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Rowe and his wife, Valerie, founded the Rowe Family Foundation, which supports the fields of biology and life sciences, education, health care, and higher education. A major benefactor of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute, Rowe is an active member of the New York City Regional Cabinet.

Distinguished Alumnus Award

mw_honorsW. Archie Bleyer (Photo: Provided)

W. Archie Bleyer ’69M (MD) is a clinical research professor at the Knight Cancer Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, where he also served as chair of pediatrics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. One of the nation’s prominent cancer researchers over the past four decades, he has received more than $75 million in research grants as a principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He is a past president of the Central Oregon Medical Society and the founder of DEFEATcancer, a survivorship program.

Humanitarian Award

mw_honorsElinor (Ellie) Graham (Photo: Provided)

Elinor (Ellie) Graham ’70M (MD) is an associate professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Washington in Seattle. In a career devoted to providing medical care and building community-based support for families living in poverty, she served as director of the Children and Youth Clinic at the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health. Graham also helped establish Seattle’s first high school clinic, the Rainier Beach Teen Health Center. She also helped create programs designed to teach disadvantaged parents how to be more effective advocates for their children’s education and that provide services and information to non-English-speaking ethnic groups and refugee groups in the Seattle area. Since retiring in 2009, she has done volunteer patient care and teaching in Liberia with the Academic Collaborative to Support Medical Education in Liberia coordinated by the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.

John N. Wilder Award

mw_honorsWon Sam Yi (Photo: Provided)

Won Sam Yi ’99M (MD), ’04M (Res) is the CEO of Comprehensive Cancer Services Oncology, a multidisciplinary medical practice that provides comprehensive cancer services to patients in western New York. Under his leadership, the practice has expanded its community-based model to include five locations in Greater Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York. A member of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society, Yi has established an endowed fund to provide scholarships for students at the School of Medicine and Dentistry and supports radiation oncology research at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.

School of Nursing

mw_honorsDEAN’S MEDAL: Robert ’66M (PhD) and Karen Webb Sutherland ’61N received the Dean’s Medal from School of Nursing Dean Kathy Rideout ’95W (EdD) (right) for their longtime engagement as supporters and advisors. (Photo: Provided)

Dean’s Medal

Karen Webb Sutherland ’61N and Robert Sutherland ’66M (PhD) are alumni advisors and longtime supporters of the School of Nursing. Karen is past president of the Association of Auxiliaries to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and a former board member of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. Bob is a consultant at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, where he previously served as senior investment officer and vice president of commercialization. At Rochester, he was a founding faculty member and associate director for experimental therapeutics at the Wilmot Cancer Center. Charter members of the George Eastman Circle and founding members of the Wilson Society, the couple has endowed a student scholarship fund as well as established funds to support entrepreneurship and the development of medical technology.

Distinguished Alumna Award

mw_honorsPatricia Witzel (Photo: Provided)

Patricia Witzel ’75N, ’84S (MBA)is the chief nursing officer at Strong Memorial Hospital, assistant dean for clinical practice at the School of Nursing, and associate vice president of the Medical Center. Part of the University community for four decades, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the School of Nursing and continues to serve as a preceptor for students. A fellow of the National Academy of Practice and a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, she is codirector of quality and patient safety at Strong Hospital. She and her husband, James Witzel ’76S (MBA), are members of the George Eastman Circle, and together they have established an endowed fund at the School of Nursing as well as provided support for the Golisano Children’s Hospital and served as national campaign volunteers.

mw_honorsLEGACY: Jacqueline Spindler ’73W (MA) and her brother, Howard Spindler ’81E (MA), received the School of Nursing’s Legacy Award on behalf of the Spindler Family Foundation, a private foundation established by the late Howard Spindler ’35, ’38M (MD), ’43M (Res). (Photo: Provided)

Legacy Award

The Spindler Family Foundation, a private foundation that supports charitable causes in the fields of environmentalism, family assistance and family planning, education, and social justice, has supported more than 30 School of Nursing students as Spindler Scholars. The late Howard Spindler ’35, ’38M (MD), ’43M (Res), a former clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Rochester, originally established the scholarship to recognize his wife, Barbara Smith Spindler ’42N. The foundation has since expanded its mission to support the Eastman School of Music, Golisano Children’s Hospital, Highland Hospital, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and Visiting Nurse Service.

John N. Wilder Award

mw_honorsLisa Norsen (Photo: Provided)

Lisa Norsen ’77N, ’83N (MS), ’92N (PMC), ’07N (PhD), a professor of clinical nursing, has held clinical and leadership positions at the Medical Center. During nearly 40 years at Rochester, she has served as associate dean of the Center for Nursing Entrepreneurship and director of the Sovie Institute for Advanced Practice, Scholarship, and Innovation. One of the first nurse practitioners in the nation to practice in an acute care setting, she is regarded as an early model of advanced practice in nursing. Norsen has served on the University’s OneRochester Leadership Council, is a former member of the school’s Dean’s Advisory Council, and is a member of the George Eastman Circle.

Eastman School of Music

Distinguished Alumni Award

mw_honorsEric Ewazen (Photo: Provided)

A faculty member at the Juilliard School since 1980, Eric Ewazen ’76E is a composer whose music can be heard on close to 70 commercially released CDs by leading recording artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has been commissioned for major instrumental works by symphony orchestras and internationally recognized chamber music ensembles and other celebrated groups. He has served as vice president of the League of Composers–ISCM and as composer-in-residence with the Orchestra of St. Lukes in New York City.

Simon Business School

Dean’s Medal

mw_honorsEdward Ackley (Photo: Provided)

Edward Ackley ’53, ’64S (MS) is the founder and past president of The Filter Store, an online distribution firm specializing in replacement filters for residential and industrial applications. A former member of the Honorary Trustees Alumni Council of the College, he has served on the Simon Executive Advisory Committee, the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences Visiting Committee, and on several reunion committees for his class. Members of the George Eastman Circle, Ackley and his wife, Agnes Van Branteghem Ackley ’54, established the Edward J. and Agnes V. Ackley Executive Professorship in Entrepreneurship.