VOL.10 NO. 4      SPRING 2001

It is often said that if you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it. Those individuals who were chosen to receive the Honorary Alumnus and Distinguished Alumni Awards at the Founders Day event February 21, 2001, are representative of that maxim. Keeping busy, in the spirit of enriching the world, is clearly what they do very well.

Each is an exemplary representative of the University. On behalf of the entire U of U community, the Alumni Association is pleased to honor them.

Honorary Alumnus Award

Although Clark Giles is a graduate of Harvard University and its law school, he embodies the essence of Utah spirit. A regular at U of U football games and gymnastic competitions, he serves as acting advisor to the campaign to restore historic Fort Douglas, and is a member of the College of Fine Arts Advisory Board and the National Advisory Council. As a member of the Ray Quinney & Nebeker Foundation and the S.J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation, and chair of the Emma Eccles Jones Foundation, he has played a key role in the capital improvements of the University.

Distinguished Alumni Awards

Author, lecturer, and leadership guru, Stephen Covey BS’53 became nationally recognized with the publication of his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which sold over 12 million copies in 33 languages and reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Covey is cofounder/vice chairman of Franklin Covey Company (previously Franklin Quest). For over thirty years he has trained leaders in business, industry, education, and government. His vast clientele includes such corporations as IBM, Procter & Gamble, DuPont, Bonneville International, Caldwell Banker, Hewlett-Packard, and US West. He has received wide recognition for his achievements, including four honorary degrees.

The son of a migrant worker, Mickey Ibarra MED’80 is proof that the “American Dream” can be realized (see Continuum, Winter 1998-99). From June 1997 to January 2001, Ibarra served as the U.S. Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Clinton Administration, one of only 20 people to hold the rank of assistant to the President. Prior to his White House appointment, Ibarra had dedicated his career to education, teaching for five years in Utah’s public schools and representing the nation’s educators for 16 years with state and national education associations. He also served as political manager at the National Education Association and has been a longtime political activist.

In 1956, while on a fellowship in the United Kingdom, Thomas Rees BA’46 MD’48, in collaboration with his tutor, Sir Archibald McIndoe, and a colleague, Dr. Michael Wood, formed the Flying Doctors Service of East Africa, a project that would bring, for the first time, reconstructive surgery to the region. The organization evolved into the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). In October 1999, the foundation received the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the largest humanitarian award in the world ($1 million). The author of six medical books, Dr. Rees serves as clinical professor of plastic surgery and senior surgeon at the Institute for Reconstructive Surgery at New York University.

Jane Summerhays BA’67 has carved out a remarkable career in musical theatre in New York. In 1987 she won the prestigious Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony Award as “Best Featured Actress” in a musical for her work in Me and My Girl. She has appeared in other Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including A Chorus Line, Promises Promises, Good News, Broadway Gypsies, and Sugar Babies. Summerhays has also given generously of her time, taking leadership roles in humanitarian projects such as the Broadway Musical Project—Tel Aviv/New York, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the Holy Cross Theatre Workshop, and the Broadway Christmas Boutique.

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Copyright 2001 by The University of Utah Alumni Association