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Home Distinguished Alumni Awards Distinguished Alumni Awards Nomination Information

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS NOMINATION INFORMATION

Recognizing Our Alumni Successes

The University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee—which includes members of our Alumni Leadership Council—aims to recognize a broad range of qualified candidates who embody the university’s core values by honoring them with Distinguished Alumni Awards. The committee selects an annual recipient in each of the following categories:

  • The Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recognizes graduates or former students who demonstrate significant accomplishments in their business or professional lives as well as distinguished service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Alumni Service Award recognizes graduates or former students who demonstrate specific and meritorious service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Alumni Hickerson Recognition Award recognizes graduates or former students for outstanding contributions to their alma mater. This award is named in honor of the late Loren Hickerson (40BA), the university’s first full-time alumni director and an ardent UI champion.
  • The Distinguished Recent Graduate Award recognizes graduates or former students, age 40 or younger at their time of nomination, for significant accomplishments in their business or professional lives as well as for distinguished service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Friend of the University Award recognizes individuals who are not alumni for specific and meritorious service that enhances and advances the university.
  • The Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes retired or former faculty for significant achievements and for specific meritorious service that enhances and advances the university. Nominees need not be alumni.
  • The Distinguished “Forevermore” Staff Award recognizes retired or former staff for significant achievements and for specific meritorious service that enhances and advances the university. Nominees need not be alumni.

NOMINATION FORMAT

Graduates, former students, faculty, staff, and friends of the University of Iowa may make nominations (the Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee reserves the right to reassign nomination categories, if deemed applicable). Nominators should submit the following:

  • Cover letter that states the nomination category, endorses the candidate’s qualifications, and highlights how the nominee embodies the UI's core values
  • Nominee's vita or professional résumé, including a current address
  • Three or more letters of recommendation from other individuals who support the nomination
  • Any additional information that would further substantiate the nomination

EXCLUSION FROM ELIGIBILITY

Current members of the University of Iowa Center for Advancement’s board of directors and staff, members of the Alumni Leadership Council, and current full‑time university faculty and staff are not eligible to receive these awards. Individuals currently in a position of elected or appointed office or known to be launching a campaign are also not eligible to receive these awards. All nominees must be living at the time of nomination and cannot have received a University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Award in the same category in the past. Nominations by active Awards Committee members will not be reviewed until the member’s term has concluded on the committee. The Awards Committee reserves the right to consider and approve exceptions to the exclusions from eligibility.

AWARDS TIMELINE

Nominations for the 2026 awards will open in May 2025 and close on January 31, 2026. The Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee will meet in April 2026 to review all nominations and make the annual selections. Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented at a special ceremony on the Friday before the University of Iowa's Homecoming (Fall 2026).

MAIL NOMINATIONS TO:

The University of Iowa Center for Advancement
Distinguished Alumni Awards
One West Park Road
Iowa City, Iowa 52244

For more information, email Nici Bontrager or call 319-467-3607.

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Working Together for Systemic Change

Now is the time to amplify our efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Universities have the opportunity, and the obligation, to work toward racial justice and social equality. The tragic killing of George Floyd has awakened white Americans to what our Black and Brown citizens have known and experienced for centuries. Racial disparities and police violence are at the forefront of our thoughts and require our action, and I intend to ensure that the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, Iowa's organization for alumni and friends, is a positive part of moving toward a more just community. I know that by relying on our vast knowledge and resource base at the university and engaging our global alumni community, we can make positive change. Two years ago, the University of Iowa shared an updated diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan outlining four goals: to create an inclusive and equitable campus environment; recruit, retain, and advance a diverse campus community of faculty, staff, and students; integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into the university's core academic mission; and enhance campus-wide accountability, effectiveness, and collaboration. We have made much progress; however, in the wake of recent events, we must amplify the urgency of our efforts. We want to engage you, our alumni and friends, as we work toward systemic change. How can we help our greater university community learn more about these important issues and effect change? Please share your suggestions on our communications, events, and programming with me. The UI Center for Advancement recently convened a meeting with UI Provost Montserrat Fuentes and UI College of Nursing Dean Julie Zerwic?a co-chair of Iowa's diversity, equity and inclusion Path Forward work group?and the leadership of two of our alumni groups: the Iowa Black Alumni Association and Iowa Black Alumni Network. We listened as Melita Pope Mitchell (97BA), and Orville?(67BS, 72MA)?and?Billie Townsend?(95MA), shared their love and loyalty for the UI, while also acknowledging their disappointment in the continued experience of injustices in the university community. Through their stories, we've learned how we can better understand the challenges our students, staff, and faculty face, and how we might address those challenges. Our discussions inspired me to reach out here, to not only reinforce our support for the Black community, but also initiate a greater discussion. This is a learning moment for me and for many of us, and our faculty are an important source of information on the history, economics, and politics of racial inequity. Our fall issue of Iowa Magazine will feature leading voices from campus sharing their perspectives on the movement for racial justice. We recently launched a virtual event series, "Chat from the Old Cap," and featured director of The Privilege Institute Eddie Moore Jr. (04PhD), who?shared his insights. For those who have asked how they could help financially, your?support?of the?Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?will further our work toward a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive campus environment for all. We also are reevaluating our programs and services to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all those we serve. If you have suggestions or recommendations for alumni programming, I hope to hear from you. Together, we can make a difference for our students, our communities, and the world. For Iowa, Lynette L. Marshall President and CEO The University of Iowa Center for Advancement Please reach out to me at president@foriowa.org

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NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity that works to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

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