2016 Special Award Recipients
Select an award for more information about the 2016 recipient:
The Gregg Cup
Awarded to Peter A. White ’66 P’01
When he applied for admission to Kenyon, from Cleveland’s University School, this year’s recipient of the Gregg Cup identified law, nature, and the theater among his strongest interests. His noteworthy career at the College and his full and rewarding life in the years since have only deepened those interests while leading to a variety of new ones.
As a student at Kenyon, he majored in English, joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity and later served as its president, won membership in the Dramatic Club for his roles both on and off stage, and graduated cum laude with high honors in his major. He went on to earn a J.D. at Duke University, after which he returned home to serve as a clerk to the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Following stints with two Cleveland law firms, he joined the famed Washington, D.C., office of Fulbright and Jaworski, where he quickly rose to partner status.
In 1986, he embarked on a new phase of his career when he founded International Skye Associates, addressing his longtime interest in philanthropy. He served as president of the firm and helped its clients, who were among the country’s richest families and individuals, come to understand what was important to them and plan their philanthropy, their volunteerism, and other aspects of their lives accordingly. Later, he joined Citibank to offer similar services through its private-banking office.
His efforts on behalf of his alma mater have been no less thoughtful. He has served on the boards of the Kenyon Review and the Philander Chase Conservancy, leading the latter for several years and serving as its representative on the College’s board. Today, we are honored to recognize his steadfast commitment with Kenyon’s highest alumni accolade.
Peter White, proud alumnus of the Class of 1966, devoted father, philosopher of philanthropy, dedicated volunteer for the College and other nonprofit causes and institutions, we are deeply in your debt. For all you have done for your alma mater, Kenyon’s alumni take great pleasure in presenting you with the Gregg Cup for 2016.
The Alumni Council Humanitarian Service Award
Awarded to James Henry Householder Fleming '91 (on right)
The alumnus being honored today for his humanitarian service arrived at Kenyon in 1988 as a sophomore transfer student from New Mexico State University. Although he had attended high school in the Southwest, he was a native of Michigan whose parents had recently moved to Ohio. He majored in physics at Kenyon, joined the Democratic Connection and the Sailing Team, and earned letters in cross country and track.
After graduation, he joined the Peace Corps and made his way to Cameroon, West Africa, where he served as a high-school teacher for two years. As it had for so many Peace Corps volunteers before and since, the experience caused him to rethink his goals. On his return to the United States, he settled in Washington, DC, and soon went to work with the International Organization for Migration. While he had contemplated becoming a physician and making a career in emergency medicine, the die was now cast for international aid and development as his life’s work.
Four years with the IOM were followed by a position with the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he has remained for the past eighteen years. There, he has specialized in the field of international disaster response, currently as director of the Operations Division in the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. He has shared his work with numerous students from the College considering careers in humanitarian work, winning Kenyon’s Extern Sponsor Award in 2012.
Never content to sit behind a desk, he sees his job as a hands-on undertaking. He is the first person contacted when a catastrophe occurs and often the first to respond. He regularly travels to disaster sites, war zones, other dangerous areas to deliver relief. Whether providing aid in Iraq and Syria, or leading anti-Ebola virus efforts in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, he embraces the challenge.
James Henry Householder Fleming, proud alumnus of the Class of 1991, it is our great privilege to honor you with the Alumni Council Humanitarian Service Award for 2016.
Awarded to Maura Suzanne Minsky '86 (center)
The alumna being honored today for her humanitarian service arrived at Kenyon in 1982 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the College, she majored in drama; directed, produced, or stage-managed a dozen dance and drama shows; became a member of the Kenyon College Dramatic Club in her junior year; and spent part of that year at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. She used her summers to undertake theatrical internships.
Well prepared for careers in almost any aspect of theater, she was a production assistant on The Ellyn Burstyn Show before moving on to film development with Lorimar and Twentieth-Century Fox in New York City and then relocating to Los Angeles. There she worked with Hanna-Barbera Productions prior to forming her own company to introduce new plays. Returning to New York City several years later, she joined the East Coast office of the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education and also began producing documentaries for ABC News Productions.
In 1999, she left ABC News and became the co-founder and co-executive director of Scenarios USA, an educational non-profit organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Scenarios uses writing and film to foster advocacy, leadership, and self-expression among students across the country. Many of the films the participants have created focus on marginalized communities, from which many of them come, and deal with topics ranging from gender issues to healthy lifestyles, from gang violence to social justice. Educators incorporate the films — which have now been seen by more than twenty million people — into curricula used in schools nationwide, particularly in urban districts. As a fellow alumna notes, “She uses film to give young people a voice in a productive and meaningful way. It’s such a cool way to use a liberal-arts education!”
Maura Suzanne Minsky, you are a proud alumna of the Class of 1986, a dedicated wife and mother, and a committed social activist. It is our great privilege to honor you with the Alumni Council Humanitarian Service Award for 2016.
The Greenslade Award
Awarded to Patrick K. Gilligan
Since he arrived at Kenyon in 1999, this year’s recipient of the Greenslade Award has been a key figure in maintaining the emotional welfare of the College’s students and, in many cases, its employees and even its alumni. His has been among the strongest shoulders on which the Kenyon community leans in time of need.
He came to Gambier as director of counseling services from Mount Vernon’s Moundbuilders Guidance Center, where he had served as associate director. A graduate of Muskingum College, with a master’s degree in social work from the University of Louisville, he quickly demonstrated his talents as an administrator, in a period when demands for his office’s services were rapidly increasing, while also becoming a trusted confidante to people across campus.
During his tenure at the College, he and his staff have helped students and employees deal not only with everyday problems but also with some of the most profoundly disturbing events in our institutional and national histories. He has comforted us in times of loss, as when students and colleagues have been taken from our midst, and in times of tragedy, as when the country mourned the catastrophes of September 11, 2001. And he has helped hundreds if not thousands of those hobbled by anxiety, depression, concerns about family or other relationship issues, even a propensity for procrastination lead less troubled lives.
With exceptional intelligence and skill, and a notably kind heart, he has counseled and advised us both individually and as a community. His ministrations have made us more compassionate toward others and more resilient in the face of the difficulties we all encounter.
Patrick Gilligan, you have been an essential part of this college for more than sixteen years, and you will be long remembered on this hilltop and in the homes and workplaces of our far-flung alumni. Your Kenyon friends, whose numbers are beyond counting, take great pleasure in presenting you with the Thomas and Mary Greenslade Award for 2016.