During his career of more than 40 years as an educator and theologian, Dr. Theodore R. Speigner, 33MA, achieved a position of widely recognized leadership as an educator and civic leader in North Carolina. Dr. Speigner is currently professor and Chairman of the Department of Geography at North Carolina Central University, Durham, N.C., having devoted the past 25 years of his career to this institution. He served as president of several education associations in the state. He has been an ordained minister since 1941 and was installed as Co-Pastor of the Church of the Abiding Savior, Lutheran, in Durham, in 1974.
Since 1963, the University of Iowa has annually recognized accomplished alumni and friends with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Awards are presented in seven categories: Achievement, Service, Hickerson Recognition, Faculty, Staff, Recent Graduate, and Friend of the University.