News Release
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April 4, 2006
(Part 2 of 2)
Boise State Alumni Association Names Benson, Engle, Shawver and Shuler 2006 Distinguished Alumni
The Boise State University Alumni Association will honor the four 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award winners at its annual Distinguished Alumni and Top Ten Scholars banquet later this month. The event will be held at 6 p.m. April 18 in the Student Union. Boise State’s 2005 Top Ten Scholars also will be honored. (See separate press release.)
The banquet is open to the public. Tickets are available for $25 per person by calling Renee White at (208) 426-1831.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards are given annually to recognize excellence among former students of the university. This year the BSU Alumni Association has named Karl Benson, commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference; Joanna Engle, executive director of the Saint Alphonsus Nephrology Center Dialysis Program; Col. William Shawver, chief of staff, Idaho Air National Guard; and Marilyn Shuler, retired director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission.
Karl Benson (BS, physical education, ’75)
Karl Benson, who played baseball at Boise State in the mid-1970s, has been the commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference, the intercollegiate athletics league to which BSU belongs, since 1994. Benson, who resides in the Denver area, guided the WAC through some unsettled times during the late 1990s and a few years later when the defection of some member institutions threatened the conference’s stability. Benson, a native of Spokane, Wash., spearheaded conference expansion in 2001 with the addition of Boise State, Louisiana Tech and Nevada, and again in 2005 with the addition of New Mexico State, Utah State and Idaho. Since then, the WAC has been on solid footing thanks in large part to Benson’s leadership. Before he took his current position, Benson served as commissioner of the Mid-American Conference for four years and as a compliance representative and assistant director of championships for the NCAA for four years.
Joanna Engle (AS, nursing, ’71)
After earning an associate’s degree of nursing from Boise State College in 1971, Boise resident Joanna Engle was hired as a nurse by Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center the same year. In 1973 she moved to dialysis nursing, and in 1975 she was put in charge of staff orientation and training for the dialysis unit. In 1979 she moved into dialysis management at Saint Al’s, the unit that provides dialysis services to patients within the hospital’s service area. While in that position, Engle facilitated the establishment of outpatient dialysis facilities in Nampa and Ontario, Ore. In 1995 she was promoted to her current position as executive director of Saint Al’s Nephrology Center Dialysis Program. During her tenure, the program has grown from 120 to 540 patients from Ontario to Pocatello and the number of employees has expanded from 44 in 1995 to 160 in 2006. Engle has helped establish dialysis facilities in Ontario, Nampa, Meridian, Boise, Twin Falls, Burley and Pocatello.
Col. William Shawver (AS, marketing and mid-management ’89; BAS ’91)
As chief of staff of the Idaho National Guard, Col. William Shawver has provided leadership and oversight during the deployments of Idaho Army and Air National Guard units in support of the global war on terrorism. Under his leadership, the Idaho National Guard deployed the 190th Fighter Squadron in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and 2,000 Idaho Army National Guard troops from the 116th Calvary Brigade to Iraq for a one-year combat tour in the largest deployment ever of the Idaho National Guard. Col. Shawver, a Boise resident, is currently supporting the deployment of the 1-183 Attack Helicopter Battalion to Afghanistan for a one-year combat tour. Last year he oversaw the Idaho National Guard’s involvement in President Bush’s visit to Idaho. Col. Shawver’s leadership was also essential in the deployment of Idaho Guard troops in support of humanitarian relief efforts last year for victims of Hurricane Katrina. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1975-79 and has been with the Idaho National Guard since 1979.
Marilyn Shuler (MPA ’77)
Garden City resident Marilyn Shuler, who served as director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission for 20 years, is a renowned Idaho human rights activist. Shuler, who retired in 1998, has devoted her time and talent to a number of worthy causes, including the building of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, the establishment of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment and the Idaho Black History Museum. She serves on the advisory board of Boise State’s Renaissance Institute and was a frequent guest lecturer on the subject of workplace discrimination in business law classes at BSU. Shuler was a member of the Boise School Board, serving as president, the Boise Redevelopment Agency, and the Public Employees Retirement Board. A resident of Idaho for 45 years, Shuler also volunteers with the Court Appointed Special Advocate program, which advocates for abused and neglected children through the court system. In 2005 Shuler was one of six women who received Traditional Home magazine’s Classic Woman awards, an annual honor that features women active in their communities.
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Contact: Renee White, Alumni Association, (208) 426-1698, ReneeWhite@boisestate.edu
Media Contact: Bob Evancho, University Communications, (208) 426-1643, bevanch@boisestate.edu
Boise
State University is the largest institution of higher education in Idaho
with about 18,600 students and 2,200 faculty and staff. More than 190
undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and technical degrees are offered within
eight colleges. A metropolitan university located in the capital city, Boise
State is committed to life-enhancing research, teaching excellence and
public service.
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Last reviewed on Wednesday, January 03, 2007