SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Feb. 16, 2023 — Twelve outstanding individuals were honored by Drury University on Feb. 10 at the Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony. The DAA were founded in 1951 to recognize individuals who have achieved professional and personal successes, shown their loyalty to Drury and demonstrated exemplary service to their community. Nominations are taken from the Drury community and the Alumni Council selects the honorees.
“This year we were thrilled to have a robust class of honorees,” said Marie Muhvic, executive vice president for University Advancement. “The quality of a Drury education is in full display among this diverse group. Everyone affiliated with Drury can be proud of the widespread impact alumni continue to have and the quality of people this institution produces.”
The 2022 honorees recognized at this year’s award ceremony are:
Lifetime Achievement Award – Sherry Brock Delo ’68
Founder of a wealth management practice, Sherry Brock Delo received numerous awards for financial planning and served on the advisory councils of several major mutual fund companies. She volunteered and became part of the strategic board leadership for Family Forward, a St. Louis organization devoted to the prevention and treatment of physical and sexual abuse of children. She also served on the board and became president of the St. Louis National Conference for Community and Justice, an organization that fights bigotry, bias and racism and promotes respect and understanding among all people.
Lifetime Achievement Award – Chet Hunter ’22
At just 45 years old, Chet Hunter has over 25 years of combined public safety experience. Hunter is the current assistant director of emergency management for Washington University in St. Louis. He is the former director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management and former director of the Lawrence County Emergency Management Agency. He also remains an active member of the Southwest Missouri Incident Support Team, in addition to serving as president for the Region 7 International Association of Emergency Managers and holding a position on the FEMA Region VII Regional Advisory Council.
During his career, Jim Silkenat held influential positions at a number of organizations including legal counsel at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. and partner at Sullivan & Worcester in New York City. Credits to his name include founder and chair of the Lawyers’ Committee for International Human Rights, now Human Rights First; national chair of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation; president of the American Bar Foundation; director of the World Justice Project; lecturer at numerous prestigious universities such as Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown; and author or editor of 19 books on law, public policy and international affairs.
After graduating from Drury, Paul Stillwell was assigned to the tank landing ship U.S.S. Washoe County with the U.S. Naval Reserve and participated in the Vietnam War. Once home, he entered the University of Missouri’s journalism program and later became the first editor-in-chief of Naval History magazine. He then went on to he became the oral historian for the Naval Institute and then director of the institute’s history division. For his work, he’s received the Navy League’s annual Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement; the Naval Historical Foundation’s Dudley Knox Award for career achievement in naval history; and the Forrest Pogue Award for excellence in oral history collection.
Mack Player began his career as an assistant professor of law at the University of Georgia. During his time in Georgia, Player became a nationally recognized expert in employment discrimination law. He authored numerous articles, published textbooks and co-edited a compilation of federal labor statutes and administrative regulation. Because of his efforts, Player was named the prestigious honor of Regents Professor. Player went on to work at the U.S. Department of Labor, Florida State University, the U.S. Department of Justice and dean of the law school at Santa Clara University.
Career Achievement Award – Audrey Shillington ’82
Audrey Shillington’s love of higher education began at Drury. Before joining the education workforce, she served in the Peace Corps, traveling to Benin, West Africa to serve with rural communities. Later in her career, Shillington worked at San Diego State University, and she spent 15 years researching HIV/AIDS prevention among low-income and underrepresented adolescents and adults. She collaborated with various faculty members to create a research culture within the School of Social Work, eventually developing the Center for Alcohol and Drug Research Services at SDSU. By 2020, Shillington was serving as the inaugural dean of the College of Health and Human Services at San Jose State University.
Community Service Award – Dr. Kayce Morton ’99
Dr. Kayce Morton is currently the pediatric medical director for Jordan Valley Community Health Center and a pediatric hospitalist for CoxHealth. Aside from serving numerous boards and committees – including most recent president of the Greene County Medical Society – she tries to lend a hand in areas she can be of most use. That list currently includes the Drew Lewis Foundation, Community Partnership of the Ozarks and its child abuse and neglect taskforce and the Missouri American Academy of Pediatrics.
Young Alumni Award – Brandy Enver Harris ’08
Brandy Enver Harris, the CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield began her professional career as a high school teacher but quickly joined the Boys & Girls Clubs where she’s been unstoppable since. She started in Lawrence, Kansas, in a number of both front-line and leadership roles before coming home to Springfield where she’s worked from program director through unit director and up to her current role as head of the organization. While Harris has a laundry list of boards she’s served and awards she’s won, it’s her leadership she speaks the most about it. It’s ever-changing, evolving and, in so doing, bettering the Boys & Girls Clubs with each step.
Young Alumni Award – Tiara Hughes ’15
Tiara Hughes is a senior urban designer at the prestigious Skidmore, Owings & Merrill firm, she also founded FIRST 500, an organization that raises awareness and brings Black women in architecture together. As an alumna, so co-founded the Drury HSA JEDI – Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion – Alumni Advisory Council. She serves on the Chicago Landmarks Commission, is involved in the Illinois chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects’ Design Build summer camp and an adjunct professor at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Faculty Appreciation Award – Dr. Allin Sorenson
From department chair to acting dean, interim dean and associate provost, to current dean of two departments, Dr. Allin Sorenson has become a go-to leader for Drury University. Sorenson hasn’t only held a variety of administration and faculty roles, he’s served on numerous university boards and committees, implemented a marching band program, helped secure a $1 million donation for the renovation of Clara Thompson Hall, administered study aboard programs and shepherded the university through the accreditation process – all while tirelessly serving as a faithful advocate for the arts in all he does.
Special Merit Award – Don and Ruth Martin ’56/’54
Alumni visiting the Drury University campus are familiar with the Martin Alumni Center – home to University Advancement staff, heart of campus alumni operations and renovated thanks to Don and Ruth Martin. The couple met at Drury as undergrads before marrying. They both went to work at Don’s father’s business, E.A. Martin and over the years Don oversaw some of the biggest changes, including adding the machinery shop, John Martin Industrial Equipment company, expanding the Caterpillar business’s product lines and opening Ozark Mountain Rentals.
He served on the first Springfield community planning council, which later dissolved and became the UnitedWay. He was president of the CoxHealth board, and president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks board. He also helped established The Martin Family Fund, which makes grants to nonprofits in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas. Ruth served as the administrator for this fund, overseeing grant requests. Ruth was also a member of the Springfield Symphony Guild and a charter member of Highland Springs Country Club.
Editor’s note: After being interviewed for this article, Ruth Martin passed away on Jan. 17.
###
Media Contact: Jasmine Cooper, Director of University Communications and Media Relations – (417) 873-7390 or JCooper020@drury.edu.