Bluffton University will honor three alumni and a retired faculty member at its annual alumni awards banquet on Homecoming weekend. The Commons, in Marbeck Center, will be the site at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30.
Marietta (Landis) Sawatzky '65 is this year's recipient of the Lifetime Service Award, presented to alumni who have dedicated their lives to heartfelt service to people, community or church.
The Professional Achievement Award will go to Lawrence Milan '73 for continued pursuit of intellectual growth and exploration of creative ventures in a chosen field, while Jonathan Moyer '02 will receive the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, given to a graduate from the past 10 years who is distinguished either through service or professional achievement.
The Faculty/Staff Service Award honoree is Betty Sommer, associate professor emeritus of social work, for fostering a spirit of community through personal relationships with others and for mentoring students.
Tickets for the banquet are $15; reservations must be made by Sept. 23. An online registration form, for the banquet and other Homecoming-related events, is available at www.bluffton.edu/blufftonalumni/homecoming/registration.pdf, or call Joyce Schumacher at 419-358-3456.
Sawatzky, whose Bluffton degree is in education, has pursued a teaching ministry as a Mennonite missionary in Taiwan since shortly after her graduation in 1965. Her work has also included 10 years as part-time facilitator of the Mennonite Mission Network Prayer Network.
Milan is senior vice president of human resources at ING U.S. Insurance. An English major at Bluffton and a current university trustee, he began his career in higher education administration before moving to the corporate world in 1985. He was in the employee/human relations field at two other Fortune 500 companies-Pitney Bowes and Aetna-before joining ING when it acquired Aetna Financial Services in 2000. He holds a master's degree from Michigan State University.
A Ph.D. student in the University of Denver's Korbel School of International Studies, Moyer is also among the five-member leadership team at Korbel's Pardee Center for International Futures. International Futures is a quantitative model designed to help policymakers think strategically about economic, social, political and environmental systems. After earning his Bluffton bachelor's degree in business administration, he taught in Vietnam for three years through Mennonite Central Committee.
Sommer was a social worker for 12 years before moving to Bluffton, where she was a part-time assistant professor for five years and a full-time faculty member for 20 years until retiring in 2005. She was also the social work program's field work director from 1986-2005, as well as chair of the social and behavioral sciences department for 10 years and Bluffton's faculty chair for two terms. Like Moyer, she holds a master's degree from the University of Denver.
The Alumni Association Board of Directors chooses the award recipients from nominations submitted by alumni, faculty and friends of the university.
