Alumni Association rewards service, support with Homecoming awards

The ASU Alumni Association will present its awards for Alumni Service and Alumni Appreciation during the halftime program of the ASU-California Homecoming game on Oct. 31. Jim Kane ’88 B.A.E. and Carol Peck ’71 B.A.E., ’75 M.Ed., ’79 Ed.D.  will receive the Alumni Service Award, and Migs Woodside and Donald V. Budinger will receive the Alumni Appreciation Award.

Maria Hesse ’77 B.S., ’84 M.B.A., immediate past chair of the association’s board of directors, also will be honored during the award ceremony for her service to the Alumni Association.

Alumni Service Award: Jim Kane ’88 B.A.E.

Kane began his lifetime connection with ASU playing on the offensive line for ASU’s football team between 1966 and 1968. He was selected as an All-WAC (Western Athletic Conference) pick in 1968. After military service and an active early career, Kane returned to finish his degree in 1988. He is being honored for his service to ASU as an alumni volunteer, which includes participation on the ASU West Campus Advisory Council, the ASU Business School’s Council, the Sun Angels Foundation, and the ASU Foundation’s Board of Trustees. His other community involvement includes positions on the board of the College of Southern Nevada and the board of the Arizona State Chamber of Commerce.

Kane has worked for more than 35 years in the energy industry, working for Arizona Public Service as a district manager, sales supervisor and assistant engineer. He joined Southwest Gas in 1984 and has worked as a customer relations manager, a division vice president and the executive vice president of operations before becoming the organization’s president in 2004.

Alumni Service Award: Carol Peck ’71 B.A.E., ’75 M.Ed., ’79 Ed.D.

A three-time graduate of ASU, Peck is being honored for her contributions to education and teacher training in the state of Arizona. While superintendent for the Alhambra School District in Phoenix for 16 years, she was honored as Arizona Superintendent of the Year and National Superintendent.

Peck has been a tireless advocate for the development of the College of Teacher Education and Leadership at the university, and received an ASU Visionary award from the university’s West campus in 2007. She also has been inducted into the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education’s Alumni Hall of Fame and received the college’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

Peck is CEO/President of the Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona.  Peck collaborated with ASU in the development of the Rodel Community Scholars program, an initiative that recruits 30 undergraduate students at ASU’s West campus and pairs them with a local high school, where they will work with education experts to develop a comprehensive plan that will address community issues affecting education.

Alumni Appreciation Award – Migs Woodside

Woodside is being honored for her efforts as a senior advisor for the Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC), an ASU center that conducts transdisciplinary minority health and health disparities research, training and community outreach. She is a leader in the field of public health, with special expertise in the family dynamics of substance abuse. She has been instrumental in facilitating SIRC’s community outreach and engagement efforts, including a recent restructuring of the center’s Community Advisory Board. In addition to her work with SIRC, Woodside also serves as a board member for the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at ASU and the board of ASU’s College of Public Programs.

Woodside was the founder and president (1982-95) of the Children of Alcoholics Foundation, and currently chairs the Harvard School of Public Health’s advisory council for its Center for Health and Society.

Alumni Appreciation Award – Donald V. Budinger

Donald V. Budinger is a founder and the former president of Rodel, Inc., a start-up company that grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of surface finishing chemicals used to make computer chips, rigid memory disks and specialty optics.

When Rodel was sold in 1999, a significant portion of the proceeds was used to create the Rodel Foundations, nonprofit organizations in Arizona and Delaware dedicated to the improving the public education systems in both states so that they will be widely recognized as two of the best in the nation. Budinger then became Chairman and Founding Director of the Rodel Foundations. In his work with the organizations, he has provided leadership for the development of two programs in partnership with Arizona State University: the Rodel Community Scholars program, which pairs deserving undergraduate students with local schools who benefit from their skills, and the Rodel Teacher Initiative, which identifies promising student teachers and pairs them with Rodel Exemplary Teachers in order to train highly effective teachers to serve in high-poverty schools.

Budinger also supports ASU’s future as a member of the university’s President’s Circle. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona.

Past Chair’s Award – Maria Hesse ’77 B.S., ’84 M.B.A.

During her term as chair in 2008-09, Hesse supported the emergence of the Alumni Association as a model alumni organization. Under her guidance, the Alumni Association successfully transitioned to a new Alumni Board structure and launched the ASU National Alumni Council, which extended the association’s capacity to meet the needs of ASU graduates across the country.

Hesse also was involved in the planning and execution of the 2009 Founders’ Day Dinner and Awards ceremony. This year’s event broke previous attendance records and provided a signature venue for introducing the Challenges Project at ASU to the university community. She also supported the development of new career-related initiatives at the association, including the Maroon and Gold Professionals and Women In Business networking groups.

After her term as board chair ended on July 1, Hesse became vice provost for transfer partnerships at ASU. Prior to her joining the university as an employee, she was president and CEO of Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

“Our award winners are exemplars of the kind of fervent ASU supporters crucial to involving all graduates of ASU in the life of the university today,” ASU Alumni Association President Christine Wilkinson said. “We thank this year’s honorees for their hard work on ASU’s behalf.”

For more information on all Homecoming-related activities sponsored by the Alumni Association, visit http://www.asu.edu/alumni/homecoming/index.shtml.