Dan Nonte, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 4-13-07
GREENSBORO, NC – The School of Health and Human Performance at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will present its 2006 and 2007 Alumni Awards at a 6 p.m. reception April 14 in Cone Ballroom of Elliott University Center.
Ethel Martus Lawther, for whom the school’s alumni awards are named, was dean of HHP for 43 years. The awards include:
2007 Distinguished Alumni Award
• Dr. Barbara B. Smith earned her EdD 1967. Hers was the first doctorate awarded by the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and HHP. She coached the women’s golf team at Longwood College (now University) to three national championships and was named coach of the year twice by the Ladies Professional Golf Association. She has been inducted into the National Golf Coaches’ Hall of Fame and the Longwood Athletic Hall of Fame, and received the 2003 Ellen Griffin Rolex Teaching Award, the LPGA’s highest teaching award.
2006 Distinguished Alumni Award
• Lorene M. Ramsey earned her MEd in 1963. She coached basketball (amassing an 887-197 record) and softball at Illinois Central College for 33 years, during which time her players received more than $2 million in athletic scholarships to four-year universities. She has been inducted into 11 halls of fame, including the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, and is the namesake for the recently dedicated gymnasium at Illinois Central College.
2007 Ethel Martus Lawther Alumni Awards
• Dr. Elise Davis-McFarland earned a bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology and audiology in 1968. She received her master’s degree from the University of Virginia and her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. She served as program director at the Medical College of South Carolina (1993-2002) and is vice president for student services at Trident Technical College. She is a past president of the National Black Association of Speech, Language and Hearing, and secretary of the National Council on Student Development.
• Angela Greene earned a bachelor’s degree in dance in 1997 and is a graduate student in the Department of Dance. She has developed dance curriculum for Guilford County high schools, showcased her own and her students’ work at conferences, and advised the UNCG Teachers Academy. A teacher at Eastern Guilford High School, she led a drive to collect CDs and dance wear for her students after those things were lost in the Nov. 1 fire that destroyed the school.
• Pat Hielscher earned a bachelor’s in 1966 and a master’s in 1970, both in physical education. She taught and coached at the university, mentoring a group of students who created the Class of 1975/Hielscher Teaching Scholarship for an undergraduate in exercise and sport science. She coached volleyball for 13 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NC State, compiling a .750 winning percentage, and was inducted into the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. She owned and ran P.H. Enterprises, a sportswear company promoting girls and women in sport.
• Julie Mazer Orta earned an MPH in 2001. In her first position, as a public health fellow at the federal Centers for Disease Control, she was instrumental in starting an asthma surveillance program for Puerto Rico. She works with eight state immunization programs as a public health advisor with the CDC.
• Christian A. Wilson earned a BS in recreation, tourism and hospitality management in 1997. After graduating, he was hired by the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, where he had worked part-time as a student. He managed 250-acre Bur-Mil Park from 2000-05. He leads the department’s Parks, Gardens, and Program Division, and received the Outstanding Young Professional of the Year Award from the NC Recreation and Park Association in 2002.
The 2006 Ethel Martus Lawther Alumni Awards
• Dr. Patsy L. Pierce received her BA in speech-language pathology in 1981. She received her PhD in early childhood special education and literacy from UNC Chapel Hill. She has held a variety of positions including associate director for education at the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies, director of the Infant Toddler Program for the Department of Health and Human Services, and director of the Developmental Evaluation Center, NC Division of Early Intervention and Education. She is an educational consultant to the North Carolina Office of School Readiness and has published articles in numerous journals.
• Mary Jean Pyatt studied dance with Virginia Moomaw, earning a degree in physical education in 1949. She spent 20 years as a teacher, performer and choreographer with stints at Cedar Crest College; Wellesley College, where she earned a master’s degree; the University of California at Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the Pasadena Playhouse; and professional dance companies in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In 1958, she published “A Pocket Guide to Dance Activities.” After a flying lesson at the age of 40, she pursued a career in aviation, working as a flight instructor, air traffic controller, Federal Aviation Agency inspector, and a National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator. She retired in 1992.
• Dr. Lorraine M. Khouri earned an MEd in 1961 and an EdD in 1977. As a faculty member at SUNY Cortland, she made professional visits to Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Bahrain. She taught swimming in Bahrain from 1983-86 and was the first woman allowed to teach swimming to men there. In 1986, she brought Bahraini women swimming instructors to Cortland – the first women to come from Bahrain to the U.S. for sport instruction.
• Michele H. Wallen earned an MPH in 1999. She began her career as a classroom teacher and has become the health education consultant for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. She has presented at numerous local and national conferences, and received the Edgar W. Hooks Jr. Young Professional Award from the N.C. Alliance for Athletics, Health Physical Education Recreation & Dance. She is pursuing her PhD in curriculum and instruction at UNCG.
• Kimberly D. Miller received her bachelor’s in 1998 and her master’s in 2001, both in recreation, tourism, and hospitality management with a concentration in therapeutic recreation. Before becoming a research associate in HHP, she coordinated the federally funded Partnership F.I.V.E. (Fostering Inclusive Volunteer Efforts). She has co-authored 12 journal articles and made 25 professional presentations. She was the lead author of a guide that helped publicize inclusive community recreation throughout North Carolina.
