MILWAUKEE (November 10, 2014) -The Mount Mary University Alumnae Association awarded its 2014 Madonna Medal and Tower Awards to Safia Awan, Dr. Carol Cinclair, Suzanne Carlton, Mary Bock and Nadine (Dena) McDowell at the University's 2014 Alumnae Reunion Awards Dinner held Friday, October 10 at the Women's Club in Milwaukee. The Madonna Medal Award is bestowed annually to alumnae who excel in professional achievement, service to the community or service to the University. The Tower Award for Excellence recognizes alumnae who have graduated within the past 15 years and exemplify the University's core values.

"These awards represent the very best in a Mount Mary alumna," stated Mount Mary University President, Dr. Eileen Schwalbach. "We applaud these exceptional women whose contributions exemplify passion and purpose, creativity and compassion."

The Madonna Award for Community Service:
Safia Awan, Wauwatosa, WI, graduated from Mount Mary University in 1985 with a degree in computer science. For the past 16 years she has volunteered in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir with SOS Children's Villages International, the world's largest orphan care agency. She has initiated, planned and implemented projects for orphaned and underprivileged children and disadvantaged women to improve their health, education and security. She specializes in disaster management.
As director for the SOS Afghan Relief Program she oversaw the establishment of pediatric health care and other services to serve refugees who fled to Pakistan during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Following the devastating 2005 South Asia Earthquake, Safia directed the SOS Emergency Relief Program, coordinating relief efforts with governments and other agencies to provide protection, care and shelter to over 500 orphaned children. With SOS Children's Villages she has directed the construction of several children's villages and schools in Pakistan and Kashmir that provide shelter for more than 2000 children and education/vocational training for over 5000 children. She has been honored by the governments of Austria, Pakistan, Kashmir and Azad Jammu for her outstanding humanitarian work.

Two women received the Madonna Award for Professional Excellence:
Dr. Carol Cinclair, Plano, TX, graduated from Mount Mary University in 1964 with degrees in education and sociology and has been an educator ever since. For many years she taught elementary, middle and secondary students in public schools in Milwaukee, Indiana and Texas and also earned her M.S. in reading. In 1978 she joined Brookhaven College (one of seven Dallas County Community Colleges) as one of the institution's original charter faculty members and has served the college continuously since. She earned her Ed.D in adult/continuing education in 1985.

At Brookhaven, Professor Cinclair specializes in developmental reading and writing, teaching students advanced college level reading skills. She also coordinates the ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) program, helping students from all over the world learn to speak and understand English. In addition, she develops curriculum, creates study guides, and hires and mentors adjunct instructors. She is recognized as an innovative instructional leader throughout the DCCC district, has served on several Texas state-wide committees on reading/writing instructional issues and has traveled to Taiwan to teach Taiwanese educators about English teaching methodologies.

Suzanne Hele Carlton, Pinehurst, NC, graduated from Mount Mary University in 1964 with degrees in business administration and Spanish. She worked for the U. S. Army from 1966 to 2003, with breaks of service due to moves and children, retiring as a GS-15 civilian employee with 25 years of Army service. She worked in Panama at the U.S. Southern Command, in Belgium at the NATO/Supreme Headquarters U.S. Allied Powers in Europe and several other army posts. She also worked 13 years in various roles at the Pentagon, including Special Assistant to the Army Chief of Staff.

Suzanne's specialty was introducing programs to improve the Army's efficiency and effectiveness through the use of strategic management and planning. She completed her master's in public administration at George Mason University and in 1995-96 she attended the U.S. Army War College, one of only a few civilian students. She focused on leadership, ethics, strategic management, security and decision-making and applied these in her work at the Pentagon. Her work implementing better business practices within the Army and the Department of Defense continues to yield rewards today. She received two Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.

The Madonna Award for Service to the University/Association
Mary Schwister Bock, Hartland, WI, graduated from Mount Mary University in 1964 with a degree in art. She later earned an MFA from UW-Madison and taught art, including courses at Mount Mary. Upon her Mount Mary graduation, Mary joined the Alumnae Association and began volunteering with the chapter's largest annual fundraiser, the Starving Artists' Show. Through the years she chaired various show committees and served in other capacities, helping ensure a successful show that has yielded over $1 million for the University.
Mary also became a class representative for the Mount Mary National alumnae Board and served on the Association's Madonna Medal, scholarship and reunion committees. In 1992 she applied her art expertise by co-chairing the Starving Artists' Show Review Board, a position she has held ever since. The Review Board selects the artists to be included in the show, and evaluates their work at the actual show. Recently, Mary was asked to use her artist's knowledge as part of a team tasked with inventorying the University's art collection, selecting, preparing and installing items for display, and recommending which items to keep and which to sell.

The Tower Award of Excellence
Dena McDowell, New Berlin, WI, graduated from Mount Mary in 2004 with a master's degree in dietetics with emphases on nutrition and counseling. She is a registered dietitian and has worked for the past 14 years as a clinical dietitian at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has worked as an inpatient dietitian for the oncology and bone marrow transplant areas and in the sports medicine center. For the past seven years her focus has been patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy and today she is an integral part of the MCW/Froedtert pancreas cancer team.

Dena also teaches in the hospital's community education program and has guest lectured at Marquette University and UW-Milwaukee. She is a consultant for TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) and writes articles and web-based tutorials about healthy eating. She has written articles for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Savvy section, M Magazine, Women and Cancer magazine, Nutrition in Clinical Practice Journal, various MCW bulletins and for online sites. She was named the 2004 Recognized Young Dietitian of the year by the Wisconsin Dietetic Association and is the WDA's representative for the Wisconsin Cancer Control Committee.