Jim Devine ’68 received the 2004 Edward deLuca Lifetime Achievement Award for Professional Excellence from the International Economic Development Council, recognizing his “leadership, innovation, and exemplary service to the economic development profession.” Devine, the current president of the Lee’s Summit, Mo., economic development council, is the past chairman of the International Economic Development Council, as well as the longest serving, elected board member of the IEDC, beginning in 1986. He holds an M.P.A. from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Administration, and earned the Certified Economic Developer designation in 1979.
David Dixon ’69 received the American Institute of Architects’ Thomas Jefferson Award for demonstrating “a lifetime of commitment and significant achievement in advancing the public sector’s mission to create more livable neighborhoods, vibrant civic spaces, and vital downtown and main streets.” A resident of Boston, Dixon has also been working extensively on urban planning for downtown New Orleans and a number of highly diverse neighborhoods closer to home. At Wesleyan, he majored in the College of Social Studies and then earned his master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
CBS4 reporter Peter D’Oench ’73 was honored by both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County for a journalistic career that spans two decades in the South Florida market, his dedication, and “acts of social conscience and benevolence, exemplary deeds that honor the traditional sense of rebirth and brotherhood.” In fact, D’Oench’s contributions were deemed so significant that he was awarded two certificates–one from the city of Miami and another from Miami-Dade County.
Sonya Behnke ’03 recently collaborated with a classmate at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute to write an opinion piece that was published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in March 2008. An English major at Wesleyan, the piece discusses the alleged “leadership deficit” that is supposed to hit the nonprofit sector particularly hard as Baby Boomers retire.
Jerry Berka ’63, of Bay Shore, N.Y., was honored, as a man of service in his community with an administration building named in his honor. Berka, a member of the board of education for 37 years, has served as chairman of the student aid fund. He comments on his long service: When I returned home after the Navy JAG, I wanted to do something for the community. After you stay around and see a lot of good things happening, you want to keep contributing. A geology major at Wesleyan, he received his law degree from Cornell.
Alan Brewster ’64 was named deputy dean at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). Brewster joined F&ES in 2000 as associate dean for management and resources. In addition to his duties as deputy dean, Brewster leads a program to provide training on sustainable development for municipal officials in China. Since 1997, he has also served on a working group and task force of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development. He holds a master in public administration degree in economics and public policy from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
JOSHUA BOGER ’73, chairman and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, was recently named as one of 40 Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum. Selected for their company’s innovative approach, potential impact, growth and sustainability, proof of concept and leadership, these individuals traveled to Switzerland to participate with other business leaders in the forum. Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology corporation, applies an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to discover, develop and commercialize drugs. In the last three years alone, Vertex has used its proprietary drug discovery capability to advance 12 new drugs into development with the potential to treat debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Boger, a trustee of Wesleyan, received both his master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University.
Robert R. Birge, PhD ’72, The Harold S. Schwenk, Sr., Distinguished Chair in Chemistry at the University of Connecticut, has won the 2009 Connecticut Medal of Science, the state’s highest honor for scientists. “Dr. Birge’s pioneering work in protein engineering and biomolecular electronics has led to seminal discoveries in the fields of vision, quantum computation, and protein-based data processing,” said Frank W. Ridley, chairman of the Board of Governors for Higher Education. Birge was the first scientist to propose using proteins to store data. A protein-based disk drive that his research group developed in 1982 was the first such memory device ever produced. (See Graduate Notes for further information.)
Ethan Bronner ’76, assistant editorial page editor of the New York Times, delivered the annual Philip Hallie lecture in the College of Letters Lounge at Wesleyan on Sept. 17, 2003. His talk was titled “The Ethical Challenges of Journalism (As Viewed from the New York Times),” and he drew from his own experiences to discuss the ethical dilemmas reporters face in attempting to cover countries where the flow of information is tightly controlled, such as Syria, versus those where information is freely available, such as Israel. A COL graduate himself, he is a Wesleyan trustee and the author of Battle for Justice: How the Bork Nomination Shook America (1989).
Benjamin Brown ’05 and David Delcourt ’05 are the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of MakeMeSustainable, a venture dedicated to providing individuals and businesses with the knowledge and tools necessary to track energy consumption and environmental impact, as well as identifying and accomplishing sustainable goals. Previously, Brown was an analyst for energy consulting groups. At Wesleyan, he had received the John Plukas and Horace White Awards for excellence in economics, as well as a Davenport Grant for thesis study on climate change and adaptation in the developing world. Delcourt, who majored in economics and Latin American Studies and completed the Certificate of International Relations, was a member of the Omicron Delta Epsilon International Honor Society in Economics. He was previously affiliated with the Bank of America Securities Global Investment Banking Team and NERA Economic Consulting.
