ODU Presents Distinguished Alumni Awards

The program also included the presentation of Town-N-Gown Community Service Awards and the Albert B. “Buck” Gornto Jr. Regional Service Award.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards are given to ODU graduates in recognition of outstanding service to the community, state, nation or mankind, or for outstanding accomplishments in the graduate’s profession.

The 2007 recipients are:
• Linda L. Davis ’70 – Davis holds the Gardiner Distinguished Professorship in Nursing and is a senior fellow in the Center for Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University. She currently is principal investigator for Project ASSIST, a five-year NIH-funded trial that provides skills training to family members caring for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease patients at home.
• Elizabeth A. Duke (M.B.A. ’83) – Duke, who began her banking career in 1975 as a teller, today is senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of TowneBank. She was named one of the 15 most powerful women in Washington, D.C., in 2005, and in May was nominated by President Bush to fill a vacant seat on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
• Rear Adm. Michael D. Hardee ’76 – Hardee is the Naval Air Systems Command commander of Fleet Readiness Centers, and assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations. He has held a variety of afloat and shore-based assignments, including sea tours aboard an amphibious ship.
• Rear Adm. Donald P. Loren (M.S.Ed. ’83) – Loren, who retired from the Navy following a 31-year career as a surface warfare officer, is now the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Security Integration. He is responsible for planning and policy development, assessment, partnership integration, congressional activities and education issues related to homeland defense.
• James V. Meath ’71 – An attorney for more than 27 years, Meath is currently vice chairman of the board at Williams Mullen law firm. His expertise is labor and employment law and he has represented businesses throughout the United States and Canada in his specialty.
• Dr. Clydette Powell ’72 – Powell, who is board-certified in pediatrics, child neurology and preventive medicine/public health, serves as the medical officer in the Bureau for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She focuses on global public health strategies for fragile states, strategies to combat tuberculosis and manage the TB interface with HIV/AIDS, and the public health implications of sex trafficking.
• Niel Ransom ’70 (M.S. ’71) – Ransom was, until 2005, the chief technology officer of Alcatel Inc. He managed technology activities encompassing research, corporate and product strategy, research and development investment, mergers and acquisitions strategy, and intellectual property for the worldwide company from his base in Paris. Currently he is president and CEO of Ransomshire Associates Inc., a company supporting venture capital and early-stage companies.

Town-N-Gown presented its Community Service Awards to Helen Bernd ’72 and, posthumously, to Rita M. Costello.

Bernd, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from ODU, was a member of the university’s Educational Foundation board for several years, as well as the first advisory board for the College of Health Sciences, which she chaired for four years. As chair, she raised funds for health sciences programs and classrooms.

Costello, who died Sept. 25, 2007, was retired from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. She attended ODU when it was the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary. Her life was defined by community involvement and volunteerism. She served on the boards of the American Heart Association, American Red Cross and Town-N-Gown. At the time of her death, she was president of the Tidewater District of the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs. The Town-N-Gown award has been named in Costello’s honor.

The Gornto Regional Service Award went to G. Robert Aston Jr., chairman of the board and CEO of TowneBank in Portsmouth since 1998. He is a board member for Portsmouth Partnership, Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, ODU Intercollegiate Foundation, TowneBank Foundation, Hampton Roads Partnership, Tidewater Builders Association and Virginia International Terminals Inc.