William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement -- Recognizing a lifetime of excellence in the alumnus' chosen field

Marjorie McCullough Motch, HonDoc '03, has devoted more than 60 years to community service, volunteering her expertise and talent on a local and national scale, especially in assisting children and young women to realize their full potential in life. Her enthusiastic commitment has benefited such organizations as the Girl Scouts, the Junior League, the United Way, the local Urban League Guild and the Cincinnati Parks Foundation. In each case, she has ascended to the highest positions of leadership and recognition.

She credits her father for teaching an important lesson, "the meaning of the word 'responsibility,'" she says. "It was your ability to respond to people's needs. He expected me to be involved in the community."

Motch has always reflected UC's best attributes and aspirations, keeping her university close to her heart. While filling many key roles in the past 30 years, she has been a member of the UC Foundation board and co-chaired UC's Campaign for Green Space to redefine campus. (She was known as Marjorie Hiatt then.)

Her Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and honorary doctorate in 2003 acknowledged not only her tangible contributions, but, perhaps more important, her vision, optimism, perseverance and selflessness.

Alumni Distinguished Service Award -- Honoring faithfully rendered, outstanding service to the university

Glenn Sample, Ed '53, was one of the university's most consistent and passionate ambassadors for a half century. Unfortunately, this award was presented posthumously, as Sample died in November.

Sample was a standout, multiple-sport student-athlete, and striving for excellence on and off the field would shape his career. His guiding hand and selfless nature helped shape the lives of countless people who passed through the Cincinnati and UC communities. At UC, his official roles included faculty member, assistant football coach, head wrestling coach, head baseball coach, leader of the intramural program and assistant director of athletics. Yet he may be remembered most warmly for his unofficial roles and the manner in which he represented himself and his university.

Those who knew him say he always did things "the right way" and was a true Bearcat, embodying professionalism, enthusiasm, integrity, warmth and dedication to excellence.

Jeffrey Hurwitz Young Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award -- Recognizing a UC graduate 35 or younger for significant professional achievement and service to UC (The award memorializes former UCAA president Jeff Hurwitz.)

Karl Zimmer, Eng '99, has created a successful career as vice president, North American supply chain, for General Cable Corp., and leads many key company initiatives.

His experience in UC's cooperative education left such a positive impression on him that he has made gallant strides to give back to the program. He has created a donor program for the international engineering co-op program, elevated General Cable's participation as a UC co-op employer, coordinated the company's in-kind gift to UC's Solar House project, and often presented at professional conferences on the integration of international co-op programs in universities' curricula.

Karl also has been a dedicated volunteer leader with such organizations as the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way.

UC Alumni Association Mosaic Award -- Newly established to recognize leadership in cultivating collaboration, fostering inclusiveness, championing the cause of the underrepresented, and promoting greater equity and opportunity for others

Where health care, education and community service come together, Kenneth Davis Jr., A&S '72, and Beverly Malone, Nur '70, A&S '82, have improved countless lives for decades.

A devoted teacher, administrator and surgeon, Davis has trained future doctors during a career spent primarily at UC's Medical Center. Long a favorite instructor among residents and students, he has diligently championed issues of diversity and gender equality within the Department of Surgery.

Davis regularly visits area schools to encourage minority students to consider medical education as a career path where an individual can have a disproportionate impact on the community.

As a practitioner, teacher, administrator, advocate and benefactor in the nursing field, Malone combined hands-on nursing work with teaching in UC's University Hospital during the 1970s and '80s. In her clinical career, she has worked as a surgical staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, director of nursing and assistant administrator of nursing. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist.

She has held top posts at the local, state and national levels in academia and the health care field, including CEO of the National Nursing League, president of the American Nurses Association, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, member of the U.S. delegation to the World Health Assembly and participant in the president's roundtable discussion on the Patients' Bill of Rights.

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