Nevada Alumni Association Awards

Each year, the Nevada Alumni Association honors outstanding alumni and friends who have demonstrated remarkable professional achievement and dedication to their community and the University. If you know someone who bleeds silver and blue, let us know! They just may be who we're looking to recognize in the following categories:

  • Alumna/Alumnus of the Year
  • Alumni Association Service
  • Outstanding Chapter of the Year
  • Outstanding Young Alumni
  • Professional Achievement
  • Silver & Blue Appreciation Award
  • University Service

Submit your Nevada Alumni Association Award nominations online 

Nevada Alumni Association Award Recipients

The following Nevada Alumni Association Award winners and College & Unit Distinguished Alumni will be honored on Thursday, October 14 in the Atlantis Grand Ballroom. For more information, please call the Office of Alumni Relations at (775) 784-6620. Congratulations to all of our 2021 honorees listed below. Go Pack!

Alumnus of the Year

Keith Lee ’65 (Physics)

Alumni Association Service

Kris Layman ’93 (Marketing)
Jan Brady ’63 (Nursing), ’88 MBA

Outstanding Chapter of the Year

College of Business Alumni Association

Outstanding Young Alumni

Ivon Padilla-Rodriguez ’15 (History)
Selena Torres ’16 (English)
Victor A Wowo ’11 (Management), ’17 MBA

Professional Achievement

Nicola Cannizzaro ’06 (Management)
Diaz Dixon ’94 (Social Psychology)
Larry Sage ’06 M.J. (Trial Judges)
Tiffany Young ’00 (Human Development & Family Studies)

Silver & Blue Appreciation

Edna B & Bruno Benna Foundation
Kappes, Cassiday & Associates

University Service

Deena & Jim Behnke
Derek Furukawa
Michael T. & Barbara C. Heffner

College and Unit Distinguished Alumni

College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources

Jeremy Drew ’04 (Civil Engineering), ’04 (Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences)

College of Education

Joe Nannini ’00 (Human Development & Family Studies), ’10 Ed.S (Educational Leadership)

College of Engineering's James G. Scrugham Medal Recipient

Kedar Deshpande ’03 M.S. (Computer Engineering)

College of Liberal Arts

Tierra Jones ‘03 (Criminal Justice)

College of Science’s Samuel Abraham Goudsmit Medal Recipient

Rick Michael Gardner ’68 M.A. (Psychology), ’69 Ph.D. (Psychology)

Mackay School of Earth Science and Engineering’s John William Mackay Medal Recipient

Mark Scott Svoboda ’88 M.S. (Geology)

Orvis School of Nursing

Christina Alsop ’08 (Nursing), ’12 MSN, ’18 DNP

Reynolds School of Journalism

Warren Lerude ’61 (Journalism)

School of Public Health

Rayona Sharpnack ’73 (Physical Education)
Jessey Bargmann-Losche ’02 (Health Ecology), ’05 MPH

School of Social Work

Wendy Charlebois ’97 M.S. (Social Work)

The College of Business

Thomas Kerestesi ’72 (Accounting)

Honors College

Chul Yim ’04 (Computer Science)

University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine

Dr. John Rhodes ’84 (Premed), ’88 M.D.