Each year at homecoming, we recognize outstanding alumni in six categories: Medal of Honor/Distinguished Alumnus Award, Alumni Loyalty Award, Alumni Achievement Award, Young Alumni Loyalty Award, Young Alumni Achievement Award and the Humanitarian Award.
Congratulations to these 2014 honorees who were recognized at the annual Legends and Legacies Alumni Award Banquet on Thursday, October 9.
Alumni Loyalty Award: Wayne (’56) and Phyllis (’60) (Martin) Lang
Wayne and Phyllis Lang graduated from NWU and went on to earn Ph.D.s in physics and English, respectively. Wayne was the chair of the Physics Department at MacMurrary College and later founded and chaired the Computer Science Department at the University of North Carolina Asheville. In the mid-1980’s, he also worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Galileo Jupiter spacecraft. Phyllis was an associate professor of English at MacMurrary College and later became assistant professor of mass communication and director of the Honors Program at UNC Asheville. She edited and published The Arts Journal, and most recently has written articles about Western North Carolina history. Wayne and Phyllis have raised funds for NWU scholarships honoring Walter French and Harold Hall. They give annually to a student scholarship. The Langs have also supported the track resurfacing project, campus gardens and reunion class gifts. In addition, Phyllis was a founding member of the NWU President's Board of Advisors.
Young Alumni Achievement Award: Michael Feilmeier (’01)
After graduating from NWU in 2001, Dr. Michael Feilmeier went on to earn his medical degree as a Regent’s Scholar at University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he graduated with highest distinction. Following medical school, Dr. Feilmeier continued his medical education with an Internal Medicine Internship at the University of California San Diego and an Ophthalmology residency at the world-renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. Feilmeier then finished his formal medical education as the first fellow in the country in advanced global blindness prevention and corneal surgery at the John Moran Eye Center, University of Utah. In 2010, Dr. Feilmeier accepted a position at Midwest Eye Care, where he currently practices as a board certified corneal, cataract, and refractive surgeon. Following his dream to cure blindness throughout the developing world, Dr. Feilmeier and his wife Jessica founded the division of global blindness prevention and community outreach at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2011. In the past three years Feilmeier and his team at UNMC have restored sight to over 1,000 blind patients in Haiti and Africa. Additionally he assisted in training surgeons throughout Nepal, India, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Ghana. Locally Dr. Feilmeier and his team provide much needed eye care to the Native American Indian population of Nebraska.
Alumni Achievement Award: Jack Huck (’69)
Jack Huck (’69), president of Southeast Community College, began his career in higher education after earning a Bachelor of Arts in education from NWU in 1969. As interim chancellor, chancellor and then president, Huck oversaw two successful accreditations, played a key role in the Learn to Dream Scholarship program with Union Bank & Trust and Nelnet, and forged a successful partnership with Lincoln Public Schools and The Career Academy. Huck’s awards include the Nebraska Community College Association’s Chief Executive Officer’s Award, an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from NWU, and the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneurial Presidents Award. He is a 90th Anniversary Notable Alumnus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Teachers College. SCC named the Jack J. Huck Continuing Education Center in his honor. Most recently, he was named the 2014 Western Region CEO of the Year by the Association of Community College Trustees. In retirement, he plans to direct the SCC Educational Foundation.
Alumni Achievement Award: Randy Schmailzl (’76)
After earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration at NWU in 1976, Randy Schmailzl dedicated the next seven years to teaching and coaching in several Nebraska high schools. It was in that period that he came to appreciate what his Nebraska Wesleyan experience meant. “Five years after leaving Wesleyan ... I realized because of my friends and others at NWU, I had a network that would be part of my entire life,” he said. He took that network to Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa, in 1983. There, he served as athletic director, head football coach and dean of enrollment management and retention as well as dean of students. In 1989, he moved to Metropolitan Community College in Omaha. He has served there as director of enrollment management, dean of student services, provost, executive vice president, interim president and, beginning in 2009, president. His volunteerism focuses on education and mentoring in the Omaha area. Schmailzl has served on the boards of the Urban League of Nebraska, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce and the Nebraska Information Technology Commission Education Council.
Alumni Humanitarian Award: Sharon (Goff) Northrup (’64)
Sharon (Goff) Ehlers Northrup earned her Bachelor of Arts in physical education with a minor in biology from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1964. That background in health, exercise and science would serve her well throughout her life, especially following a car accident that left her late husband paralyzed. The lack of exercise-based therapy programs in their area led Northrup to found Pushing Boundaries, the Pacific Northwest’s only exercise-based therapy center. The nonprofit focuses on strengthening and supporting people living with paralysis and their families. Northrup maintains an active role in the organization she founded, serving today as treasurer on its board of directors. She is also a member of Bellevue LifeSpring, a nonprofit serving children and families.
Medal of Honor: John Gerrard (’76)
Judge John Gerrard is a native of Schuyler, Neb., and a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University. He earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arizona and his law degree from McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific. In 1995, Governor Ben Nelson appointed Gerrard to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Then at age 41, he was the youngest person ever appointed as a justice of that court. In May 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Gerrard to be U.S. district judge for the District of Nebraska. That nomination was confirmed by the Senate in 2012. Prior to becoming a state Supreme Court justice, Gerrard was in private law practice in Norfolk, Neb. Gerrard’s recent professional recognitions include the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts National Award, the Legal Pioneer Award from the Nebraska State Bar Foundation, and the Nebraska Judicial System’s Distinguished Judge for Improvement of the Judicial System Award. While a student at Nebraska Wesleyan, Gerrard was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He received the NWU Alumni Achievement Award in 1999, joined the Nebraska Wesleyan Board of Governors in fall 2012, and most recently received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2013.