Continuum

Jeff Clawson MD’74, founder of the Salt Lake City-based International Academies of Emergency Dispatch® (IAED™)—a nonprofit organization that sets emergency dispatching standards for training, dispatch protocols, and quality assurance, and which certifies emergency dispatchers throughout the world—was recognized this year by the Association for Talent Development with its Champion of Talent Award. Established in 1988, IAED includes more than 64,000 members in 46 countries handling some 80 million calls each year.

Lori Frasier BS’77 MD’83, director of the Center for the Protection of Children at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, was honored with the 2018 Helfer Society Award for her contributions to the field of child abuse prevention in pediatrics. Society past president Kent Hymel said, “I would argue that Dr. Frasier has done more than anyone among us to advance an understanding of child abuse pediatrics around the globe.”

Reed Iwami BS’72, after a successful career in business, shifted his interest to humanitarian service to the people of Myanmar, a country with ongoing political unrest. In 2008, he cofounded the nonprofit Love for Myanmar, with the goal to provide a safe environment in which the people can succeed, and to enhance their success by implementing programs to meet their physical, mental, and spiritual needs. Iwami is especially interested in building and financially sustaining shelters for orphaned children.

Klea Blackhurst BFA’85 headlined Jubilate in June at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts for the 25th anniversary gala of 42nd Street Moon, a professional theater company dedicated to preserving American musical theater. Blackhurst has delighted audiences in musicals including Everything the Traffic Will Allow, her tribute to Ethel Merman, which earned her a Special Achievement Award from Time Out New York magazine. Blackhurst received a Distinguished Alumna Award from the U’s Alumni Association in 2012.

Steven Andersen BA’95, vice president of the American Arbitration Association's International Centre for Dispute Resolution® (ICDR®), was honored this year by the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center with its first Outstanding Contribution to Technology Dispute Resolution Award. Andersen directs the ICDR in Canada, Mexico, and the United States and is responsible for its cross-border arbitration and mediation in the region, and for providing executive oversight of large cases.

Marilyn Brown MFA’92 and her husband and creative partner Bill were recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award this year at the SCERA Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. The award acknowledges their achievement in enriching the communities and citizens of Utah. With master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and the U (both in creative writing), Marilyn Brown has published more than 20 books, co-developed more than 96 plays, and received numerous awards for her novels, short stories, and poetry.

Jan-Ruth Mills BA’92, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University, received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Mills will conduct research in Germany at University of Regensburg to investigate the use of slave labor by the Third Reich to construct the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet fighter. Fulbright recipients are chosen based on academic and professional achievement as well as service record and leadership potential.

Edward Morrison HBS’94 BS’94, the Charles Evans Gerber Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and an expert in law and economics and bankruptcy law, was awarded the 2018 Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching and chosen as Professor of the Year by members of the Class of 2018 at their commencement ceremony in May. Morrison was recognized by the U Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Board as an outstanding young alum in 2009.

Johanna Varner PhD’15 received the 2018 Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. An assistant professor of biology at Colorado Mesa University, she is cofounder of Cascades Pika Watch in Oregon, a citizen science program she developed in part with middle school students, wherein volunteers study the response of pikas (small rabbit relatives) to environmental change by conducting field research, analyzing data, and presenting results to local agencies.