3/26/2004

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

NOTE: See related story on convocation award winners (including photos).

For photo of Timothy P. Wilson CLICK HERE

SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY TO SALUTE SCHOLARS, FACULTY AT ANNUAL

ACADEMIC HONORS CONVOCATION: TIMOTHY P. WILSON OF SEEDS OF PEACE TO SPEAK

          SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Timothy P. Wilson, a Slippery Rock University graduate now vice president and camp director for the nationally recognized Seeds of Peace organization working works to bring peace in the Middle East will speak when the university salutes more than 1,800 students for their outstanding academic efforts at the annual Academic Honors Convocation.

          The April 4 Academic Honors Month event, set for 2 p.m., in Morrow Field House, will also see presentation of the President’s Award’s as follows:

•      Outstanding Teaching, Stephen Hawk, associate professor of music;

•      Outstanding Alumni Award, Sheila I. Drohan, a 1974 SRU graduate and current chief executive officer at Corporate Fitness Works; and

•      Outstanding Service, Thomas McPherson, manager, SGA Bookstore.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Details on the award winners will follow in a separate release.)

          Leigh Puntureri, a graduating senior in dance and theater from Grove City, will be the student speaker, selected for holding the highest grade-point average, a perfect 4.0, on the largest number of credits – 155 -- in her graduating class.

          The public event is expected to draw more than 4,000 students, faculty, staff, parents and family members.

          “This is the university’s annual opportunity to recognize the outstanding academic efforts put forth by students and faculty, and the events provides the opportunity to salute those who have attained dean’s list honors, earned scholarships or otherwise shown their dedication to academics,” explains SRU Interim President Robert Smith. “It is also our opportunity to salute excellence in teaching, excellence in service to the university and the outstanding accomplishments of our graduates.”

          Smith will lead the program that pays tribute to SRU’s academic honoraries, students attaining a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, those named to last spring’s and last fall’s dean’s lists, SRU’s scholar-athletes, outstanding community service participants and those recognized as SRU’s Presidential Scholars from the sophomore, junior and senior classes. SRU students holding scholarships, and those who have provided funding for scholarships at the university will also be recognized.

Wilson earned his bachelor of science degree in education at SRU in 1962 and received the Outstanding Alumni Award in 1962. He now serves as vice president and camp director for Seeds of Peace, an international camps renowned worldwide for it work in fostering understanding, friendship and tolerance in the Middle East by nurturing mutual respect between Arab and Israeli teenagers. The organization, which held its first Seeds of Peace camp in 1993 recently held its annual international gathering, a project that involved “seeds,” as the students are called, from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, India, Pakistan, the Balkans, Cypress and the U.S.

Under his direction, the camp, located in Otisfield, Maine, has expanded to include young people from other regions in conflict, including the Balkans and has been spotlighted on CBS’s “60 Minutes” news magazine, the Christian Science Monitor and the Los Angeles Times, among other national publications. The program is designed to show students one-by-one how they can work together to bring about peace. In 1997, Jordan’s late King Hussein presented him a Medal of Honor. In addition, The Maine Youth Camping Association has honored him with the Halsey Gulick award, and Seeds of Peace has recognized his outstanding efforts with its Distinguished Leadership Award.

As speaker, he brings four decades of experience as coach, educator and government official to his timely and important work in multicultural recruiting, retention and training. He assists private businesses, schools and governments in enhancing the diversity of their workplace and managing conflicts.

           Wilson holds numerous awards and honors and has been involved in community service, including the Abyssinian Church Restoration Committee, the Bridgton Academy board of trustees, the Maine Hospice Council and the Maine Ambassadors of Change. He formerly served in Thailand with the U.S. Peace Corps.

PN, PgN, WPN, PR