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Past Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

2011 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

 

WANG PING ’87 (M.A.)
Author and Poet; Associate Professor of English Literature, Macalester College

Poet, writer and educator Wang Ping is a critically acclaimed artist who draws upon her own experience as a Chinese immigrant in America to explore themes of culture, gender, sexuality and identity. She teaches as an associate professor in the English Department at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Born in Shanghai and raised on a small island in the East China Sea, Ms. Wang earned a B.A. in English and American literature in 1984 after acquiring just a few years of primary education. She came to the United States in 1985 to continue her education, earning an M.A. in English literature from Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. Ms. Wang went on to complete a Ph.D. in comparative literature from New York University in 1999.

Although she never intended to write fiction, a “wrong turn” into the creative writing class of Professor Lewis Warsh on the Brooklyn Campus set the course for her future. At his urging she began to write fiction and found her creative voice. After Professor Warsh introduced Ms. Wang to celebrated poet Allen Ginsberg in 1989, she served as a translator for Mr. Ginsberg’s American Chinese Poetry Festival. Around this time, Ms. Wang began to frequent poetry readings and started to write her own poetry.

Ms. Wang’s first published work was a book of short stories, “American Visa,” in 1994. Two years later, she published a novel, “Foreign Devil.” Her other books include two collections of poetry, “The Magic Whip” and “Of Flesh & Spirit”; a book of novellas and short stories, “The Last Communist Virgin”; and the cultural study, “Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China.”

Ms. Wang has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She also has garnered grants from the New York State Council for the Arts, the Minnesota Arts Board and the Bush Foundation. In 2009, she received the Loft Literary Center McKnight Artist Fellowship for Creative Prose.

Her current research focuses on the globalization and modernization of China. In 2007, she debuted her work as a photographer with an exhibit on the impact of the Three Gorges Dam, entitled “Behind the Gate.” In 2008, Ms. Wang’s second photo exhibit, “All Roads to Lhasa,” examined the effects of the new railway in Tibet. Ms. Wang resides in St. Paul, Minn.

HARVEY TANENBAUM '65
Executive Vice President, H.D. Smith

Harvey Tanenbaum ’65 is an executive vice president at H.D. Smith, the nation’s fourth-largest independent pharmaceutical wholesaler. He has worked over 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry, starting as a retail pharmacist and later as a pharmaceutical executive. Throughout his career, Mr. Tannenbaum, who was born and raised in the South Bronx by parents who emigrated from Poland, has spearheaded efforts to provide exceptional customer service and practical solutions for community pharmacists. Today, Mr. Tanenbaum of West Orange, N.J., serves as a member of the College’s Council of Overseers and has funded an endowed scholarship at his alma mater.

Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient Year
Judith Korek Amorosa, M.D. '65    2010
Mark Paul Steingard '61 2010
Daniel Stateman 2010
Lorna E. Davis-Robinson '94 (M.S.) 2009
Daniel Fisher '67 2009
Mohammed Saleh 2008
James A. Detura 2008
Jack C. Stokes '73 2008
Guy Marge '65, '67 (M.B.A.) 2008
Mera Rubell '68 (M.S.Ed.) 2008
Michael Bivona '60 2007
Richard Izquierdo, M.D. '51 2007 
John V. Cocchiara 2007
Ronald Del Gaudio 2007
Lee Joffee 2007
Michael Philip Devine '68 2006
Raymond K. Tung '70 2006
Hal Edward Broxmeyer '69 (M.S., Ph.D.) 2005
Linda Zango-Haley B '71 2005
Byron E. Lewis '53 2004
Diane Goetz Person '61 (B.A., Ph.D.) 2004
Ellyn E. Altman '63, '68, '72, '73 (B.A., M.S. , M.A., Ph.D.) 2003
Albert Vann '74 (M.S.) 2003
Jorge B. Cruz '94 2002
Betty Jean Smith '86 2002