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Eight distinguished Cornell alumni have been selected to receive 2003 Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Awards, which recognize their outstanding long-term service to Cornell volunteer activities within the broad spectrum of the university's various alumni organizations.
The 2003 recipients of the award, established in 1994 in the name of President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes, are: Robert W. Bitz '52; Vanne S. Cowie '57 and Robert A. Cowie '55, BME '56, MBA '57; Imogene Powers Johnson '52 and Samuel Curtis Johnson '50; Robert F. McKinless '48; Maxine Katz Morse '45; and William E. Mullestein '32. The award winners will be honored this weekend during Homecoming festivities. The following profiles were excerpted from the recognition program for the Friday, Oct. 24, awards ceremony.
Robert W. Bitz: Bitz served as university trustee from 1985 to 1993 and remains a trustee emeritus. He was a member of the board of trustees' Alumni Affairs and Development Committee, the Buildings and Properties Committee and the Land Grant and Statutory College Committee. From 1988 to 1993 he also acted as vice chair of the board's Community Communications Committee. During the 1990-1995 Cornell Campaign, he co-chaired the Syracuse Campaign Committee and served on the Special Gifts Committee. A past president of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Alumni Association, he received the college's Outstanding Alumni Award in 1988. He was an extension volunteer for over a decade, serving as president of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County and as a member of the New York State Cooperative Extension Advisory Board. He raised $1.5 million as chair of the Alpha Zeta Building Fund Drive, helped organize Cornell's first advisory committee on planned giving and has also served as a member of the Veterinary College's advisory council.
Vanne S. Cowie and Robert A. Cowie: In addition to her dedication as a Plantations' sponsor and volunteer, Vanne Cowie has chaired the Cornell Adult University advisory board and been a member of the University Council and its administrative board. She reactivated the Cornell Club of Toledo, Ohio, and its Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network. She was a member of the Class of '57 Major Gifts Committee, for the 35th and 40th reunions, and the Cornell Alumni Federation and the Federation of Cornell Clubs. After 23 years on the Cornell Board of Trustees, Robert Cowie was named trustee emeritus and presidential councillor in 1996. He spent 18 of those years as vice chair, chair and co-chair of the Alumni Affairs and Development Committee. He also served as chair and then co-chair of the Development Steering Subcommittee and as a member of the Buildings and Properties Committee and the Alumni Affairs Subcommittee. He co-chaired the 1990-1995 Cornell Campaign, which raised over $1.5 billion. He has served on University Council and on the Cornell Society of Engineers and the Cornell Alumni Association boards. He is a member of the Class of 1955 Council and currently serves on advisory councils of the College of Engineering and Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Imogene Powers Johnson and Samuel Curtis Johnson: Samuel C. Johnson has been a university trustee since 1966, a trustee emeritus since 1988, as well as a presidential councillor since 1989. He has served on the board of trustees' Alumni Affairs and Development Committee, Executive Committee, Investment Committee, Membership Committee, Audit Committee and Board Nominating Committee. He also served as a member of University Council, 1963-1966, chaired the Johnson Graduate School of Management's advisory council since 1990 and has served on the administrative board of the Laboratory of Ornithology. He was campaign council co-chair for the 1990-1995 Cornell Campaign and a member of its Major Gifts Committee. Imogene Johnson is serving her third four-year term on University Council since 1984. She has been a member of her class's 35th and 50th Reunion Major Gifts Committee. And her efforts on behalf of the Laboratory of Ornithology have included 11 years of leadership on the lab's administrative board and service on its campaign committee during the 1990-1995 Cornell Campaign. The new building at Sapsucker Woods -- now the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity -- commemorates her dedication and influence.
Robert F. McKinless: Robert McKinless has played an exemplary role in involving undergraduates in the Cornell-in-Washington program with alumni activities of the Cornell Club of Washington, leading them on canoe trips and all-day hikes for the past 17 years. On campus, his support of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and the Alumni Inter Fraternity Council has achieved similar success in bringing students and alumni together. Active in the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network for 35 years, he was the longtime general chair for the Washington, D.C., area. He has held numerous positions of leadership with the 900-member Cornell Club of Washington, including president; he established its life member program in 1985 and has managed its office for 19 years. He has served as a director of the Federation of Cornell Clubs (three times), as an Alumnus in Residence and as a director of the Cornell Alumni Federation. He is also a life member of the University Council. Active with the Class of '48, he has been a regional vice president since 1993 and served as chair for his 45th reunion.
Maxine Katz Morse: Maxine Morse has provided strong leadership on behalf of Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML) for many years. Her commitment and vision have helped ensure that undergraduates, faculty and visitors from around the world continue to benefit from this unique research environment. She chaired the successful 1993 SML Campaign Committee and has served on the SML Development Committee since 1992 and as chair since 1994. She is a life member of the University Council, having served her first term from 1969 to 1973. She has served as the co-president of the Class of 1945 since 1995 and initiated and chaired its Cornell Tradition Fellowship Project in 1990. In addition, she was involved in the class's record-breaking 55th Reunion Campaign and was instrumental in developing the Cornell Association of Class Officers' Surviving Spouse program. She chaired the Cornell Club of New Hampshire's Secondary Schools Committee for 15 years.
William E. Mullestein: Whitey Mullestein is a life member of the University Council, a founding member of the Cornell Club of New York and a member of the Cornell Society of Engineers. An undergraduate athlete and Cornell crew member, he was instrumental in creating the Cornell Rowing Association and its Courtney Sanford Fund. He has served as president of the Class of 1932 since 1992 and as the class's Cornell Fund representative since 1997. He has been a member of the Cornell Plantations 21st Century Committee since 1998 and was chair of the Plantation Sponsors from 1994 to 1996. The Louise P. Mullestein Hillside Garden at Plantations is named for his late wife, and adjacent to that is the Mullestein Family Winter Garden. In 1997 he was presented with the Lifetime Volunteer Achievement Award at the Cornell Fund reunion breakfast celebration.
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