The Lycoming College Alumni Association Executive Board presented four awards during the college's Homecoming activities Oct. 20. Award recipients were selected by the board from nominations received from alumni and other members of the college community.
Charles D. Springman, a 1959 Lycoming graduate, received the Angela R. Kyte Outstanding Alumnus Award, given to an alumnus/a who has demonstrated a lifetime of service to humanity and whose life exemplifies those qualities encouraged and fostered at Lycoming.
Dr. John E. Marthinsen, a 1970 Lycoming graduate, received the Outstanding Achievement Award, given in recognition of an alumnus/a who has achieved a significant accomplishment that reflects positively on the college.
Gary R. Spies, a 1970 Lycoming graduate, was recognized with the Dale V. Bower Service Award, given to an individual for outstanding service rendered to Lycoming.
Lauren L. Lawson-Zilai, a 1999 Lycoming graduate, received the inaugural Taunia Oechslin Young Alumnus Award, given to an alumnus/a who has made significant contributions to their profession, demonstrating leadership and exemplifying outstanding service and volunteerism to the College or the community during the first 15 years since graduating.
Springman, a graduate of Williamsport Area High School, earned a master's in retailing from the University of Pittsburgh in 1960. He also served four years in the Air Force, attaining the rank of staff sergeant. He was the senior vice president of operations for Lord and Taylor Department Stores, and upon his retirement, he and his wife, Shirley, returned to the Williamsport area where Springman took on full-time volunteer work for numerous nonprofit organizations, government agencies and the United Methodist Church. His service has impacted countless organizations including the American Rescue Workers, Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Salvation Army, Blooming Grove Historical Society and Little League International. Springman has shared his experience with The Vision 2000 Committee in Cleveland, Ohio, the National Retail Merchants Association and the Lycoming County Planning Commission and Board of View. A trustee emeritus of the college, he remains active on several committees. This summer, he was elected a 33rd degree based on his major contributions to society.
Marthinsen is a professor of economics and international business and the distinguished chair in Swiss economics at Babson College in Massachusetts, where he has served 1974. He has been elected a professor of the year by the student body and received the Thomas Kennedy Award for Teaching Excellence in 2009. Marthinsen has extensive consulting experience with both domestic and international companies, banks and the U.S. government. Among his consultants have been the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Transportation, Roche Holding Ltd. and HandelsBank NatWest, Switzerland. He has been a member of the United Nations Association's Economic Policy Council and has lectured at the universities of Bern and Basel in Switzerland and the University of Nurnberg in Germany. He was a member of the board of directors of Givaudan S.A., a Swiss-based flavors and fragrances company. In addition, Marthinsen has authored and co-authored several books; among his most recent are "Managing in a Global Economy: Demystifying International Macroeconomics" and "Risk Takers: Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives." He and his wife, 1970 Lycoming graduate Laraine (Danielsen), have two sons.
Spies served two terms as a board member and treasurer of Lycoming's AAEB. He assumed the responsibilities for the annual homecoming golf tournament which, under his leadership, was re-named the Thomas Croyle Memorial Golf Tournament, in memory of his Theta Chi brother who died in 2007. Spies has served as a statistician for athletic events, as a commencement usher and greeter, and was a valuable member of the committee charged with choosing a new athletics logo for the college. He has organized multiple events and reunions for his Theta Chi fraternity and is a steadfast supporter of alumni social events. He encourages other alumni to become more involved with the college, and he continually recruits AAEB members, volunteers for committees and participants for alumni events. He and his wife, Karen, reside in Williamsport and have a daughter, Jenni, and a son, Brian, who graduated from Lycoming in 2002.
Lawson-Zilai is the director of public relations and national spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries International. Her nonprofit experience includes serving as the public relations representative for the Children's Defense Fund, Doorways for Women and Families and Greater D.C. Cares. She began her career in New York City, where she led publicity campaigns for authors at book publishers including AOL-Time Warner, Eagle Publishing, Penguin Putnam and Simon and Schuster. She is the past president of Washington Women in Public Relations, an organization in the Washington, D.C., area dedicated to advancing women in the public relations field. She was Lycoming's 2012 New Student Convocation speaker. She and her husband reside in Potomac, Md.
