The Clarion University Alumni Association will honor five alumni and one faculty member at its Distinguished Awards Banquet on Oct. 5.
The event will take place in the Gemmell Multipurpose Room at the campus.
The association established the awards in 1966 to recognize exceptional alumni and friends of Clarion University in the categories of Distinguished Alumni, Distinguished Venango Alumni, Distinguished Faculty and Distinguished Service.
The honorees are Mark S. Andrekovich (’84), Charles F. Klingensmith (’61) and Ronald J. Sylvester (’85), Distinguished Alumni; Thomas N. Cole (’86, ’88), Distinguished Venango Alumni; Dr. Susan C. Prezzano, Distinguished Faculty; and Terri “Tiki” Kahle (’87), Distinguished Service.
Andrekovich, chief of human capital and president of employer services for MIXIMUS Inc. in Reston, Va., was a four-year letterman on two championship football teams (1980 and 1983), president of Sigma Tau fraternity and an active participant in student government. He has held various leadership positions with companies such as Owens-Illinois, General Electric, Nordson Corp. and Cytec-Solvay and is recognized as one of the nation’s top human-resource professionals. He has served on the university’s College of Business Administration and Information Sciences Advisory Council for the past three decades. He and his wife, Mari (Pietila, ’87) live in northern Virinia.
A retired faculty member of Penn State – New Kensington, Klingensmith was an alumni office student assistant, Press Club president, editor of The Clarion Call, staff member of the Sequelle (yearbook), vice president of his senior class and a member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity. He taught for 30 years at Miami-Dade Community College where he was associate dean of extended education services and of academic support services. In 1996, Klingensmith moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where he directed bilingual education and developed bilingual curriculum for Sarasas Pithaya School. At Clarion, he has been involved with the Class of 1961 endowment. He lives in Verona, Pa.
