News Release
September 2006
Bethlehem, Pa., September 25, 2006— The Moravian College Alumni
Association will honor five distinguished alumni at the 7th Annual Alumni Awards Ceremony
on Friday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Peter Hall, located at the Priscilla Payne Hurd
Campus.
Brian Corvino ’02,
Yardley, Pa., will be recognized for his leadership and dedicated service to Moravian
College by the 2006 Emerging Leader Award, presented to an alumnus or alumna of the college
who has graduated within the last ten years. In his position as director for the strategy
consulting practice of PharmaStrat, Inc., he works with many of the world’s leading
biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, Corvino also promotes opportunities
for Moravian students offered by the company’s scholarship and internship programs.
He serves as president of the Young Alumni and the Moravian chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon
Alumni Boards, and has recently been appointed to the Alumni Association’s Board
of Directors. He helped to create career and leadership initiatives such as the Sophomore
Success program, and plans to help strategize innovative programming for the Alumni
Association. Corvino graduated magna cum laude with a double major in political science
and honors in economics.
Ryan Mehl ’96,
Lancaster, Pa., will be presented with the Young Alumni Achievement Award to honor an
alumna or alumnus who has achieved exceptional success in his or her profession and who
has graduated within the past two to ten years. Mehl is assistant professor of chemistry
at Franklin & Marshall College. The National Science Foundation has awarded him with
a prestigious five year Career Award to continue the cutting-edge research he conducted
as a post-doctoral fellow at The Scripps Institute regarding the use of unnatural amino
acids. The grant will provide funding for 15 undergraduate students and state-of-the
art equipment. Their findings can “ultimately be used to better understand the
interaction between medicine and proteins in the human body, which could greatly improve
the efficacy of medicines.” Mehl graduated from Moravian summa cum laude with honors
in chemistry and earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2001.
Robert Gratz ’75,
Bethlehem, Pa., will receive the Benigna Education Award for his outstanding contributions
to the field of education. Gratz is superintendent of Hackettstown Public Schools, and
has served as a teacher, coach, principal, and superintendent in three other New Jersey
school districts during his career. He has served as a mentor and role model for countless
Moravian students who aspire to pursue education degrees. He coached the championship
team of the New Jersey Mock Trial competition, and was a presenter at the local, state,
and national levels. In addition, he has served state and local task forces, and holds
membership in numerous professional organizations. Gratz was the winner of Moravian’s
Gillespie Award, and is a member of three halls of fame.
Dr. Henry May,
Jr. ’60, Yadkinville, NC; will be given the Haupert Humanitarian Award that honors
an alumna or alumnus who has rendered outstanding service in the cause of human welfare.
May is the founder and guiding spirit of Sunnyside Ministries services for the poor,
a ministry continuing today as the social outreach arm of the Moravian Church, Southern
Province. As chaplain of the Winston-Salem Police Department, he formed the Prison Ministry
and was honored by NC Governor James B. Martin for this work. As chair of the Forsyth
Stokes Mental Health Board, the Forsyth DSS recognized him for his work in welfare reform.
He received the Distinguished Service Award from Forsyth County Council of Older Adults
and was recognized as National Chaplain of the Year for his service in the US Air Force
Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol as a chaplain and mission pilot. He has also served on numerous
community and denominational boards and the Board of Trustees of Moravian College. May
received his B.A. from Moravian College, his M.Div. from Moravian Theological Seminary,
a Th.M. from Duke University School of Divinity, and D.Min. from Southeastern Theological
Seminary.
Dr. Bruce Coull ’64, Columbia, S.C.; will be honored by the prestigious
Comenius Award given in recognition of outstanding achievement in an alumna’s or
alumnus’ field of work. Coull graduated from Moravian College with a B.S. degree
in Biology and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Lehigh University, where his dissertation
research was conducted at Lehigh’s marine biology field station in Bermuda. He
worked also as a postdoctoral fellow at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in North
Carolina and as assistant professor in the Marine Sciences Department at Clark University,
Massachusetts. In 1981 he was senior Fulbright fellow at Victoria University, Wellington
New Zealand; and visiting professor in marine sciences at the University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia in 1994. He has authored 130 scientific papers on marine ecology
and sustainability in higher education and edited 4 books.
Coull joined the faculty of the University of South Carolina in 1973,
and served as Chairman of Marine Sciences from 1982-1994. He was invited to become
Dean of the School of the Environment, leading to one of the school’s major initiatives
in the development of research links to monitor the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster
in the Ukraine. As of 1998 the school has sent 32 scientists to assess the damage and
to develop research projects. Five studies are ongoing, but one of the most important
monitors the children who were exposed to the plume of the reactor. Coull raised the
seed money for the Chernobyl projects and negotiated complicated agreements with the
University of Kiev, the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Affairs and the Radioecological
Center and agencies.
During his career he was honored as Carolina University Distinguished
Professor; and currently serves as president of an academic/professional organization
called the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors, an association of institutional
representatives who come together to improve the quality, stature and effectiveness
of academic environmental programs at U.S. universities and colleges focused on the
frugal use of natural resources. His outstanding environmental project, the South Carolina
Sustainable Universities Institute, is a network of universities and smaller colleges
around the state that promotes meaningful change from initial proposals to completed
structures on college campuses. One example of ongoing-commitment to ecological awareness
is the “green dorm” student
housing built on the USC campus.
Coull continues in his mission as teacher and activist and hopes
that students will be “aware of the size of their ecological footprint.” In
his emeritus status he directs a USC research project sponsored by the Chicago and
New York based Center for Humans and Nature to orchestrate sensible use of resources
in the South Carolina coastal region. Local decisions makers are the target of this
project.
For more complete information on all of the awards recipients, please visit http://www.moravian.edu/alumni/awardsArchive/awards2006.htm.
