USD CELEBRATES STELLAR ACHIEVEMENTS AT ALUMNI HONORS
Every year the University of San Diego welcomes to campus the best and brightest, most notable alumni for Alumni Honors, USD’s premier alumni celebration. This extraordinary affair is held on campus to highlight the exceptional achievements of alumni who are recognized for their volunteer service, their contributions to humanitarian causes, their athletic excellence and their outstanding career achievement.
This year’s event, scheduled for April 26, 2014 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, will honor 10 alumni, including the first recipient from the new Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering. The evening will include video tributes and a reception under the stars.
“Every year we are proud to honor these recipients who reflect USD’s core values through their service and their endeavors in life,” says Director of Alumni Relations Charles Bass. “In communities near and far, they are sharing with the world what it means to be Toreros.”
The recipient of the Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill Award is Kevin W. Dooley ’93 (BA), executive director of CCS. The Mother Rosalie Clifton Hill Award, established in 1991 to commemorate the legacy of USD’s co-founder Mother Hill, honors recipients for outstanding service to USD. Dooley has been deeply engaged with the university for more than two decades, serving on numerous committees and boards, including the Alumni Association Board of Directors and the homecoming committee. In 2009, he founded the USD Wine Classic and continues to be involved with the event, which to date has raised more than $200,000 for the USD Alumni Endowed Scholarship Fund.
James W. Brennan ’96 (BBA), the CEO of Enlightened Hospitality Group, will receive the Bishop Charles Francis Buddy Award. Established in 1976 to commemorate the legacy of USD’s co-founder Bishop Buddy, this award honors recipients for their contributions to humanitarian causes. Brennan has received national recognition as a restaurateur, nightclub owner and philanthropist. He was the driving force behind Rockaway Reach, a disaster relief fund created in the aftermath of the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Sandy on the communities of Breezy Point, Belle Harbor, and the Rockaways, in Brennan’s hometown of Rockaway, NY.
Andrew Rae ’76 (BBA), who played men’s tennis for USD from 1972 to 1975, will be inducted into the Chet and Marguerite Pagni Family Athletic Hall of Fame, created in 1994 to honor USD’s top athletes. Rae was a two-time NCAA Division II All-American and National Singles Champion (1974 and 1975), the NCAA Division II National Doubles Champion (1974), and the NCAA Division II National Doubles Runner-up in 1975. He led USD to back-to-back NCAA Division II National Team Championships in 1974 and 1975.
The Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award was established in 1995 to commemorate the legacy of USD President Emeritus Author E. Hughes and is given to one recipient from each school to recognize outstanding achievements in their careers.
The College of Arts and Sciences recipient is Peter Kiley ’85 (BA), vice president of affiliate relations for C-SPAN. Kiley manages the network’s relationships with cable television operators, satellite companies and other multi-channel video providers. He assures the broadest distribution of C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3 to 100 million
U.S. households.
Robert Bruning ’86 (BBA), a managing partner at Ernst & Young, will be honored by the School of Business Administration. As the coordinating partner for many multinational companies, Bruning has gained experience in the global coordination of services in Asia, Europe and China, and has participated in more than 100 public transactions related to equity or debt financings and acquisitions. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Museum of Art and is a board member of the University of San Diego School of Business and the YMCA of San Diego County.
The Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science will recognize Susan Stone PhD, RN, NEA-BC ’94 (MSN), ’07 (PhD), senior vice president and CEO at Sharp Coronado Hospital, a full service community hospital specializing in total joint replacements and advanced liver care. Active in the Association for California Nurse Leaders, she is currently a Southern California Regional Representative to the state Board of Directors and serves as a regional Nursing California Action Coalition Champion.
Traveling from Nepal, where she is the founder and executive chair of Women for Peace and Democracy, Shobha Pradhan Shrestha ’08 (MA) will be honored by the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. With more than a decade of experience in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, she is working with 416 marginalized women in the rural parts of Nepal focusing on building their capacity and facilitating their role in the process of socioeconomic and political change.
Jeffrey T. Thomas ’82 (JD), a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, will be the recipient honored by the School of Law. Thomas, who was the 2007-08 president of USD’s School of Law Alumni Board of Directors, was named in 2010 to the Daily Journal’s 75 Leading IP Litigators. He was selected by the Southern California legal community for the 2009-2013 editions of The Best Lawyers in America; was recently named one of the Top 50 Lawyers in Orange County by Los Angeles Magazine; and in September 2013 was named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.
The School of Leadership and Education Sciences recipient is Stuart Grauer ’89 (EdD), founder of The Grauer School, president of The Grauer Foundation for Education and founder of The Small Schools Coalition. In 1991, he founded The Grauer School in order to establish humanitarian secondary education in Southern California. He’s considered one of the nation’s top authorities on small schools and expeditionary education and consults and speaks widely on these areas.
Maurico López-Hodoyán ’93 (BS/BA), ’95 (IMBA) is the very first recipient representing USD’s newest school, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, which was inaugurated in September 2013. López-Hodoyán is the vice president of strategy and analysis at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. He is responsible for researching, analyzing and forecasting global cellular
device and chipset demand by geography, technology, price tier, operating system, OEM and distribution channel for Qualcomm’s Chipset Division. — Krystn Shrieve
To learn more about Alumni Honors, which takes place on April 26, 2014, go to www.sandiego.edu/alumnihonors.
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