award – Houghton STAR

By Abigail Bates

Six alumni awards and one Faculty Emeritus title were presented at the 2023 Legacy Chapel on Friday, Oct. 6.

The Legacy Chapel, formerly known as Founder’s Day, has the earliest record of an alumnus of the year named in 1965. However, old STAR articles suggest that Houghton has been making awards prior to that time.

The Director of Donor Communications and Editor of the Houghton Magazine, Amanda Zambrano writes, “While the name and some of the periphery traditions have changed [over] the years, the heart to celebrate the work of faithful scholar-servants has been constant for a very long time.”

Nominations for an alumni award can be made by anyone through the Office of Alumni Engagement, the Office of Advancement or the President’s Office. Zambrano writes that these nominees are reviewed before the Alumni Board makes the final decision.

The Alumni of the Year is one of the highest awards Houghton presents, and the recipient of this award is Dr. Carl Lynch, III (‘72). He is a highly respected anesthesiologist and professor emeritus of anesthesiology at University of Virginia Health System. For approximately 20 years, Dr. Lynch has been a volunteer with a medical missions organization called Mision de Esperanza, and he is the creator and primary funder of the endowment for the Shannon Summer Research Institute at Houghton University.

2013 Graduates Rachel (Meier) and Justin Peck received the Young Alumni of the Year award. The couple are the founders of 431 Ministries, which reaches out to marginalized women in Central Tennessee. They have impacted the lives of hundreds of at-risk women and their children, Zambrano emphasizes, by providing safety, educational opportunities and the Gospel.

An Alumni Christian Service nominee is someone who has made a significant impact for the Christian faith through self-sacrifice and service. Dr. Jeffrey Thompson (‘01) is an emergency room doctor in Buffalo, New York, who has also served traveling around the world, primarily to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to instruct local emergency room doctors. He’s also a member of the President’s Advisory Board at Houghton University.

The recipient of the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award is Timothy Fuller (‘79) who has demonstrated exceptional achievement in his profession. He was a long-time Houghton employee who worked in the Office of Admission for over twenty-five years, before he went on to serve as a consultant in Christian higher education until his passing this last summer.

“His contributions both to Houghton and to the field of Christian higher education are truly remarkable; thousands of students found their way to Houghton because of Mr. Fuller,” Zambrano writes.

Timothy Deckert (‘95) is the recipient of the Alumni Appreciation Award. For a decade, he has served on Houghton’s Alumni Advisory Board, where he performed roles ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the board. Deckert also served on the search committee for a new president at the time of President Emerita Shirley Mullen’s retirement in 2021.

The Fearless Award, introduced in 2022 by President Lewis, is awarded to 2015 graduates, Stephanie (Ford) and David Bruno, who, Zambrano writes, have spent the past two years living out their firm believe in the sanctity of life by refusing the pressure to abort their third child when he was found to have trisomy-13 (Downs Syndrome).

President Lewis also bestowed the title of Faculty Emeritus on Professor Terry Paige, who retired last spring. This title can go to any long-serving faculty member who has retired.

“It’s a privilege to be able to share these stories with Houghton students and fellow alumni,” Zambrano—who created the citations read aloud during the Legacy Chapel—writes, “and to be able to cast a vision for what God can do in and through each and every one of us.” ★

Seven townhouses are competing throughout the month of February in the Kill-A-Watt Challenge, an initiative to raise awareness of energy consumption and reduce energy use on campus.
The competition is based on each participating townhouse’s residents’ reduction of energy use, which will be calculated by comparing weekly meter readings to a baseline measurement taken before the competition began. The winning townhouse will receive a pizza party after the Challenge concludes.

Brian Webb, the Sustainability Coordinator at Houghton College, has partnered with Student Life to spearhead this effort. The key goal of the Kill-A-Watt Challenge, said Webb, is “to help students become aware of their energy usage,” especially because they do not pay electricity bills directly.
Gabe Jacobsen, Director of Student Life, said, “It is not just about reducing costs, though that is a benefit. Rather, it is about helping students become people who care about how they use resources.”

JL Miller, Resident Director of the Townhouses, said he supported the Kill-A-Watt Challenge because of his “professional goal of seeing the Townhouses as a place of preparation for students’ launch from Houghton.”

Elizabeth Bailey, Assistant Resident Director of the Townhouses, said, “I think it’s a neat idea and a great opportunity for upperclassmen to learn how to save on energy costs as many of us will be paying our own water, gas, and electric bills soon.”

Senior Dianna Cornell is among the students participating in the Challenge.
She said, “I think it’s a good idea. Energy consumption is something we don’t really think about, so the competition makes us conscious of it.” Already, she said, she is more aware of ways that she can reduce her energy usage, such as unplugging her hair straightener and turning off lights that are not being used.

After one week of the competition, more than three quarters of all townhouses saw an energy reduction, reported Webb. The leader, with a 33% reduction, is Perkins 48.
The competition is limited to the townhouses for logistical reasons: while each townhouse is on a separate energy meter, the entire upper campus (every building from Rothenbuhler Hall to Shenawana Hall, with the exception of Steese Cottage and the MacMillan House) is on one energy meter. Webb is exploring options to install separate meters for each residence hall and hopes to have them in place for next year so that the Kill-A-Watt Challenge can include the dormitories as well.

Whether or not their energy consumption is measured separately, individuals across campus can reduce their energy impact in simple ways: Turn off electrical appliances, especially lights and televisions when they are not in use. Turn off power strips when they are not needed. Turn off computers at night (the myth that this harms computers is old-fashioned and untrue). Use microwave ovens rather than electric ovens, since they use less electricity. Energy-saving practices such as these and others can help to reduce the amount of electricity that is wasted.
Webb said, “With energy, a lot of it comes down to habit, and it doesn’t take very long to develop energy-saving habits.”

By raising awareness of sustainability issues and reducing energy waste, the Kill-A-Watt Challenge marks a step towards sustainability at Houghton College. Jacobsen said, “Houghton is still in the infancy stage, in the residences at least, in addressing sustainability issues.” Both Jacobsen and Webb hope to see the Kill-A-Watt Challenge continued and expanded next year.

Although only students in participating townhouses are part of the Challenge, everyone on campus, from students to faculty and staff, can contribute. Simply knowing about the Kill-A-Watt Challenge raises awareness on campus and represents an opportunity to participate in Houghton’s movement toward greater sustainability. Jacobsen said, “From a theological standpoint, learning to be wise stewards of what we have fits in the general ethos of Houghton College.”