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Home Distinguished Alumni Awards Distinguished Alumni Awards Nomination Information

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARDS NOMINATION INFORMATION

Recognizing Our Alumni Successes

The University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee—which includes members of our Alumni Leadership Council—aims to recognize a broad range of qualified candidates who embody the university’s core values by honoring them with Distinguished Alumni Awards. The committee selects an annual recipient in each of the following categories:

  • The Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recognizes graduates or former students who demonstrate significant accomplishments in their business or professional lives as well as distinguished service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Alumni Service Award recognizes graduates or former students who demonstrate specific and meritorious service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Alumni Hickerson Recognition Award recognizes graduates or former students for outstanding contributions to their alma mater. This award is named in honor of the late Loren Hickerson (40BA), the university’s first full-time alumni director and an ardent UI champion.
  • The Distinguished Recent Graduate Award recognizes graduates or former students, age 40 or younger at their time of nomination, for significant accomplishments in their business or professional lives as well as for distinguished service to their university, community, state, or nation.
  • The Distinguished Friend of the University Award recognizes individuals who are not alumni for specific and meritorious service that enhances and advances the university.
  • The Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes retired or former faculty for significant achievements and for specific meritorious service that enhances and advances the university. Nominees need not be alumni.
  • The Distinguished “Forevermore” Staff Award recognizes retired or former staff for significant achievements and for specific meritorious service that enhances and advances the university. Nominees need not be alumni.

NOMINATION FORMAT

Graduates, former students, faculty, staff, and friends of the University of Iowa may make nominations (the Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee reserves the right to reassign nomination categories, if deemed applicable). Nominators should submit the following:

  • Cover letter that states the nomination category, endorses the candidate’s qualifications, and highlights how the nominee embodies the UI's core values
  • Nominee's vita or professional résumé, including a current address
  • Three or more letters of recommendation from other individuals who support the nomination
  • Any additional information that would further substantiate the nomination

EXCLUSION FROM ELIGIBILITY

Current members of the University of Iowa Center for Advancement’s board of directors and staff, members of the Alumni Leadership Council, and current full‑time university faculty and staff are not eligible to receive these awards. Individuals currently in a position of elected or appointed office or known to be launching a campaign are also not eligible to receive these awards. All nominees must be living at the time of nomination and cannot have received a University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Award in the same category in the past. Nominations by active Awards Committee members will not be reviewed until the member’s term has concluded on the committee. The Awards Committee reserves the right to consider and approve exceptions to the exclusions from eligibility.

AWARDS TIMELINE

Nominations for the 2026 awards will open in May 2025 and close on January 31, 2026. The Distinguished Alumni Awards Committee will meet in April 2026 to review all nominations and make the annual selections. Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented at a special ceremony on the Friday before the University of Iowa's Homecoming (Fall 2026).

Submit an Online Nomination

MAIL NOMINATIONS TO:

The University of Iowa Center for Advancement
Distinguished Alumni Awards
One West Park Road
Iowa City, Iowa 52244

For more information, email Nici Bontrager or call 319-467-3607.

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A Fellowship for Future Discoveries

Alzheimer?s disease is one of the fastest growing threats to Americans? health, but University of Iowa researchers like Guanghao ?Max? Liu?a neuroscience graduate student within the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD)?are determined to discover the mechanism that causes this debilitating neurodegenerative disease. In collaboration with Gloria Lee, MD, a professor of internal medicine at the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Liu is studying the function of tau, a protein, in the healthy brain and how it interacts with other proteins. ?In patients with Alzheimer?s disease, tau forms neurofibrillary tangles, which cause neuronal death and memory loss,? says Liu. ?My goal is to find a therapeutic intervention involving tau, and ultimately, slow down and prevent Alzheimer?s disease progression.? Tau and beta-amyloid peptides?which form plaques and tangles that are considered informative predictors of Alzheimer?s disease?change how the brain works many years before the first sign of memory loss. For the more than five million Americans living with Alzheimer?s disease, recent research on tau provides hope that breakthroughs may be on the horizon. Assisting Liu in his discoveries is the recently established Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship. Liu is the first recipient of the award, which is helping him advance his research, travel to conferences, and meet with other scientists in the field. Photo: Mark Stastny Pictured from left are Ted Abel, director of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Guanghao ?Max? Liu, a neuroscience graduate student; Donald Timm, who created the Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship; and Gloria Lee, professor of internal medicine. ?We are facing an enormous increase in the number of people afflicted by conditions like Alzheimer?s disease,? says Dan Tranel, the head of the UI neuroscience graduate program. ?Investments in research, like the Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship, continue to transform the understanding, prevention, detection, and treatment of Alzheimer?s disease and other neurological disorders.? The Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship was established by Donald Timm (73JD), a Muscatine, Iowa, native who spent more than 30 years working for the U.S. Department of Defense as an expert on international law. He created the fellowship in honor of two individuals?his friend and mentor, Mr. Myung-Duk Kwak, a Korean attorney and statesman, and his aunt, Louise A.M. (Amelia Marie) Brown Ferguson, an educator and missionary?both of whom died due to complications from Parkinson?s disease. Timm also says he was motivated, in large part, by the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust?s gift to establish the Iowa Neuroscience Institute at the University of Iowa, which is developing new treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer?s disease and Parkinson?s disease. ?Parkinson?s disease is truly a horrible disease, since the individuals suffering retain their intellectual capability but find it increasingly difficult to communicate their insights and feelings,? says Timm. ?This seemed to be a perfect opportunity to help fight Parkinson?s and other diseases such as Alzheimer?s.? For Liu, the fellowship is helping him become an even better physician-scientist and writer. ?Because of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute and the Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship, I am ready to tackle any challenge in the future,? says Liu. To learn more about how you can support neuroscience research at the University of Iowa, please check out their website.

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Group looks to support students and alumni and to maintain a supportive voice for their issues at the University of Iowa.

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NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity that works to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

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