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Last modified: Thursday, April 29, 2010

Six to receive IU's highest alumni award

Honorees to be recognized at Cream and Crimson Weekend June 18-20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Six Indiana University alumni have been named as recipients of the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Service Award.

The award is the university's highest honor reserved solely for IU alumni and provides recognition for outstanding career achievements and significant contributions benefiting the recipient's community, state and nation or IU.

This year's recipients will be Gayl Doster of Indianapolis; Richard G. Hatcher, Gary, Ind.; Young-Jin Kim, Seoul, South Korea; Alma Nesbitt Powell, South Bend, Ind.; Richard C. Searles, Indianapolis; and Michael D. Shumate, West Hollywood, Calif. With the addition of these recipients, IU will have honored 305 alumni since the award's inception in 1953.

The honorees will receive the award in Bloomington during IU's annual Cream and Crimson Alumni Weekend, June 18-20. The award recognition dinner will take place on June 19 at 6 p.m. at Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union. Tickets to the dinner cost $30.

Following are individual bios of each award recipient:

Gayl Doster, BS'60, Indianapolis

Doster retired as president and chief executive officer of Indianapolis-based software developer Sigma Micro Corp. in 2002. Previously, he had a long career in the pharmacy-services industry. Doster's roles included president of the Brooks Pharmacy chain, based in Rhode Island. He has been a longtime supporter of the arts. For IU, Doster serves on the Art Museum's national advisory board, and he and his wife, Beverly, have endowed the museum's conservator position.

Richard G. Hatcher, BS'56, Gary, Ind.

Richard G. Hatcher

Richard G. Hatcher

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An attorney in Gary, Hatcher also is an adjunct professor of minority studies at IU Northwest. When he was elected mayor of Gary in 1967, he shared the honor of becoming the first African-American mayor of a major American city. Hatcher served as mayor for 20 years. He is co-founder and former national chairman of TransAfrica, an organization dedicated to global justice that helped in the successful effort to eliminate apartheid from South Africa.

Young-Jin Kim, MBA'84, Seoul, South Korea

Young-Jin Kim

Young-Jin Kim

Kim is CEO and chairman of Handok Pharmaceuticals in Seoul. The Korean Management Association awarded him its CEO of the Year award in 2004. As president of the Korea Chapter of the IU Alumni Association, Kim was integral in organizing IU's International Alumni Conference and Reunion in Seoul in 2009. He has been a member of the IU Foundation's International Committee since its inception. The IU Kelley School of Business inducted Kim into its Academy of Alumni Fellows in March.

Alma Nesbitt Powell, BS'70, MS'72, South Bend, Ind.

Alma Nesbitt Powell

Alma Nesbitt Powell

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Powell retired in 2002 as director of curriculum and instruction for the Elkhart (Ind.) Community Schools. Previously, she was the first African-American woman appointed a principal within the South Bend Community School Corp. For IU, Powell was national chairwoman of the IU Alumni Association's Board of Managers and president of the IU School of Education's advisory board. For more than 20 years, she was an adjunct faculty member at IU South Bend summer sessions.

Richard C. Searles, BA'70, Indianapolis

Richard C. Searles

Richard C. Searles

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Searles is first vice president of investments and senior financial adviser at Merrill Lynch in Indianapolis. For IU, he has served as national chairman of the IU Alumni Association's Board of Managers as well as president of the national board of directors of the IU Varsity Club. Searles is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board for the IU Jacobs School of Music, of the IU Foundation board of directors, and of the IU Center on Philanthropy's board of visitors.

Michael D. Shumate, BS'67, West Hollywood, Calif.

Michael D. Shumate

Michael D. Shumate

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Shumate is a retired partner of the law firm Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue. He is a member of the IU Kelley School of Business dean's council and has been a longtime member of the GLBT Alumni Association's board and the Kinsey Institute's board of governors. A member of the IU Foundation board of directors, he led the successful class of 1967 campaign to endow the Robert Shaffer Chair in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Cream and Crimson Alumni Weekend is sponsored by the IU Alumni Association. For more information, go to https://alumni.indiana.edu/events/creamandcrimson.

The IU Alumni Association is dedicated to serving the university and its diverse alumni, students, and friends. As one of the nation's largest alumni organizations, serving nearly 530,000 graduates worldwide, the IUAA provides many programs and services to its members, non-member alumni and the university.

For more information on the IU Alumni Association, visit www.alumni.indiana.edu or call 1-800-824-3044.