West Virginia University will celebrate Homecoming Weekend Oct. 18-20. (WVU Graphic)
The West Virginia University Alumni Association will celebrate recipients of the 2024 Homecoming and Alumni Service Awards during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 18-20, recognizing the accomplishments of alumni around the world and honoring their service, commitment and loyalty to their alma mater.
“The WVU Alumni Association is proud to honor this remarkable group of Homecoming and Alumni Award winners whose dedication and achievements exemplify the very best of West Virginia University,” said Kevin Berry, vice president of Alumni Relations and CEO of the WVU Alumni Association. “Their leadership and contributions not only elevate our institution but also reflect our Mountaineer Values, embodying the spirit of our alma mater in everything they do.”
WVU faculty members and world-renowned astrophysicists Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin will serve as the grand marshals for the 2024 Homecoming Parade scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, along High Street in downtown Morgantown.
Lorimer is a professor of physics and astronomy in the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and a newly minted Fellow of the Royal Society — the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence. While at WVU, Lorimer has received the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2009 and both College and University awards for excellence in teaching in 2009 and 2010, and for research as a Benedum Scholar in 2019. He served the Eberly College as associate dean for research from 2019 to 2024, has been a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society since 1994 and was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2018 in recognition of his contributions to the world’s understanding of pulsars and for the discovery of fast radio bursts. In 2023, he was the co-recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy along with his colleague, McLaughlin, for their discovery of fast radio bursts.
McLaughlin serves as department chair, as the Eberly Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy and as co-director of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves Physics Frontiers Center. She received the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement in 2009, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2008 and an APS Fellowship in 2021. She has also been named a 2020 and 2022 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science, one of the world’s top research awards. Earlier this year she was selected as a new member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors in the scientific world.
Lorimer and McLaughlin are married and have lived in West Virginia since 2006. This year, they both received Distinguished West Virginian awards from Gov. Jim Justice.
Alumnae Tracy Schoenadel (‘87, ‘89, ‘92) and Laura Boyd (‘89, ‘91) will be honored with the distinctive title of Outstanding Alumni. The couple met at WVU while in graduate school in 1990. They currently reside in Stamford, Connecticut, where they are involved with the Mountaineer Alumni Association, Connecticut Chapter. Both have made significant contributions financially to the Mountaineer Athletic Club, the Country Roads Trust and the WVU Alumni Association. They belong to the Woodburn Circle Society, and their generosity and kindness for Mountaineers everywhere is truly noteworthy. Both women are also trailblazers, exceptional leaders in their professions and incredible brand ambassadors for WVU who have made a lasting impact on others.
Schoenadel is the immediate past chair of the WVU Alumni Association Board of Directors, and previously served the University on the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics Campaign Committee and as a member of what is now the WVU College of Applied Human Sciences Board of Visitors. She is a member of the Sport Management Hall of Fame and the School of Sport Sciences Hall of Fame. She earned three degrees from WVU culminating with a Doctor of Education (ABD) Sport Administration in 1992. In 2023, she was named a Top Women in Media by Cynopsis, a distinction given to her for her work as a trendsetter in data and research. She recently launched a sports-data-focused company called Vision Insights — the industry’s only syndicated data platform dedicated to sports fan insights and sports broadcast exposure data — that is transforming what was previously understood by sports marketers and advertisers and helping to elevate the sports industry at every level through the company’s proprietary platform, Decoder. In 1995, she was the first to suggest incorporating a yellow first-down line in college and NFL football after performing fan research, and in 2005 she led research on the expansion of NFL games internationally which led to the first NFL game played in London in 2007.
Boyd earned two degrees from WVU and, after graduation, began a 33-year-and-counting career in education. She spent 25 of those years at Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, which she described as a unique place that “strives to develop a sense of individuality and accomplishment” in each student. The heart of this personalized approach is the House Plan, she explained, in which entering students are assigned to one of the five Houses – Bella, Cantor, Clark, Folsom or Sheldon. Each House has its own house administrator or principal and assistant dean or vice principal who monitors student progress, supervises house activities and oversees student discipline. With a concentration in learning disabilities and behavior intervention, Boyd implemented special education within the resource room setting of Folsom House. In this role, she was responsible for innovative thought leadership and excelled at providing students with individualized learning techniques and collaborating with other teachers to determine how to best modify lessons. She became assistant dean in 2015 and was voted Outstanding Teacher by her peers. She also served as a Union Representative for Greenwich Public Schools for over 10 years. Boyd is widely recognized and has been celebrated as one of the Top Teachers in a Resource Setting for Special Education in Connecticut.
In honor of her unwavering commitment to WVU and dedication to helping others, Mallory Willink (’09) will be presented with the John F. Nicholas Jr. Award. Willink works in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a family law attorney for Conrad Trosch & Kemmy, serving both North Carolina and South Carolina. She is a native of Morgantown and began training for her future career in law as a member of the WVU Debate Team while at WVU and was also a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She attended law school in Charlotte where she served as the 4th Circuit Governor for the American Bar Association’s Law Student Division, as editor in chief for the school’s newspaper and completed over 140 hours of pro bono service. Willink has a passion for helping people through challenging circumstances and finding resolutions that make the best of difficult situations. She uses those skills daily in her family law practice. She is a graduate of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association’s Bar Leadership Institute, a regular volunteer attorney with the Council for Children’s Rights and a pro bono attorney with Safe Alliance. She is also actively involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Charlotte Chapter, where she was selected as a 2018 STANDOUT and “STANDOUT of the Year” for raising the most funds during the annual fundraiser, and currently serves as a co-chair for the STANDOUT annual event.
Willink is the chapter president of the WVU Alumni Association, Charlotte Chapter. During the 2023 Duke’s Mayo Bowl, the chapter hosted a pre-game event with Mountaineers across the country raising money for students in the Charlotte area attending WVU.
A familiar voice has been tapped to receive the Paul B. “Buck” Martin Values and Traditions Award in acknowledgment of his steadfast commitment and service to WVU. Bill Nevin (‘06), WVU Foundation associate vice president of communications and donor engagement, oversees all areas of internal and external communication and marketing, as well as donor relations for the fundraising arm of the University. He draws upon more than 40 years of experience in broadcasting and announcing to fulfill his duties, and, in addition to his work at the Foundation, Nevin has served as “The Voice” of the “Pride of West Virginia” for the past 20 years, and as the public address announcer for WVU football at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, WVU men’s basketball at the Coliseum and for the West Virginia Black Bears MLB Draft League team. Nevin joined the faculty in the Reed School of Media and Communications where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate level classes. Nevin also announces graduates during WVU Commencement ceremonies each December and May. In 2019, Nevin was honored by the National Association of Sports Public Address Announcers as the Bob Sheppard College P.A. Announcer of the Year and is a true ambassador for WVU who cares deeply about maintaining Mountaineer traditions.
This year, the 2024 David W. Jacobs Lifetime Service Award goes to longtime WVU Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources faculty member Paul Lewis (‘68, ‘73). He joined the Division of the Animal and Veterinary Sciences in the late 1970s and was promoted to professor in 1985 before being named director of the Division in 1988. He served in that role until 1993 and then again from 2001-2010 at which time he accepted a leadership role as assistant director for outreach and community affairs for the Davis College Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station. He was the recipient of the WVU Heebink Award in 2003, named Outstanding Alumnus of the Davis College in 2006 and inducted into the West Virginia Agriculture and Forestry Hall of Fame that same year. He was also voted Most Loyal Mountaineer, Faculty in 2010, and was accepted as a member of the Mountain Service Honorary. Lewis retired earlier this year and his impact on West Virginia agriculture will span generations, leaving an enduring legacy of advocacy and expertise. His lifelong commitment to West Virginia University exemplifies the highest standards of service and dedication and he will always be known as a champion for agriculture, education and community.
Andy Richardson (‘79, '82), will be recognized with the 2024 James R. McCartney Community Service Award for outstanding citizenship and community service. Richardson’s career spans decades of work as an attorney, insurance agent and public servant. He served in the cabinet of Gov. Gaston Caperton as CEO of the former monopolistic West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Fund, preparing the organization with internal checks and balances that led to privatization and its first clean audit. He was selected for membership in his former firm’s Million Dollar Sales Club and was selected as the recipient of the W. G. Caperton Community Service Award. He has served on the city councils of both South Charleston and Charleston and has worked on issues critical to the state including economic development, workforce training and community college development. His other acts of service include volunteering on many boards including as a founding board member of Faith In Action of the Greater Kanawha Valley, on the visiting committees/advisory boards for the WVU College of Law and the Eberly College, on three different dean selection committees for the College of Law, as longtime chair of the Charleston Scholarship Dinner for the Mountaineer Athletic Club, as president of the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta, and as vice chair of the board of the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center.
A testament to his service and leadership, Chris Morlock (‘11) will receive the 2024 Margaret Buchanan Cole Young Alumni Award. Morlock’s thirst for knowledge and relentless Mountaineer spirit propelled him to graduate not just once from WVU, but three times. Beyond the classroom and lecture halls, Morlock devoted his time, talent and unwavering dedication to the “Pride of West Virginia,” the Mountaineer Marching Band, for six years. His passion for the University’s land-grant mission and the Mountain State is clear in all he does. As the assistant director of development and donor engagement for the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics, he strives to shape a brighter future for the University by fostering meaningful conversations with supporters. In his former role with the WVU Foundation, he received an innovation award for launching a hyper-personalized communications platform that successfully assisted in securing six- and seven-figure philanthropic gifts.
As the current president of the WVU Alumni Association, University Chapter, he has assumed a mantle of leadership, spearheading initiatives that bring alumni together, foster lifelong connections, and create opportunities for personal and professional growth. His efforts to improve the University’s landscape have left an unforgettable impact on the WVU community and even earned him a WVU Values Coin. He resides in Morgantown with his newlywed wife, whom he met at a WVU football game.
The WVU Alumni Association awardees will be recognized at the Homecoming Parade Friday, Oct. 18, and during halftime of the WVU vs. Kansas State football game on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Find more information about Homecoming 2024.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Jessica McGee
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