At the 2009 Founder’s Day Dinner Dance held on April 17, 2009, held at the Ritz-Carleton Bowery, CUAA President Carmi Bee AR’67 thanked dinner co-chairs Judy Gerrard AR’83 and Robert Tan AR’81 for their leadership and acknowledged the extraordinary efforts of John Huddy AR’85 in raising more than $98,000 in corporate sponsorship for the event.
In honor of the 150th Anniversary, Carmi Bee dedicated the Alumni Hall of Fame and recognized the members who were present, encouraging everyone to view the first 150 members on a searchable database demonstrated by researcher and writer Elizabeth Hopkins A’08 and database developers Robert Keeler Eng’11 and Sikder Rahman Eng’11.
2009 Founder’s Day Awardees
Alumnus of the Year
John Huddy AR’85 was recognized for his outstanding service, dedication and commitment to the CUAA and to The Cooper Union. John serves on the Alumni Council, the Annual Fund Committee and has been a Phonathon nightly chair. He is a Class Representative for Architecture 1985. He and his wife Elizabeth co-chaired the 2008 Founder’s Day Dinner Dance, for which both that year and this year, John has raised unprecedented corporate support. John is an adjunct professor of civil engineering at The Cooper Union where he teaches construction management. He is a founding member of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Dean’s Circle. John’s generosity to his alma mater has been recognized by his inclusion in the Sarah Amelia Hewitt Society and The Society of 1859. John and Elizabeth are benefactors of The Cooper Union’s new academic building at 41 Cooper Square to which they contributed in memory of John’s great uncle Theodore F. Arnim (CE’14).
John is Vice President at New York’s Bovis Lend Lease LMB, an international construction management firm ranked the 2nd largest general building contractor in the United States. He has been employed in the New York construction industry for thirty years during which time he has built more than $1.5 billion of commercial, residential, industrial, infrastructure, transportation, health care and hospitality projects.
Young Alumnus of the Year
Rocco Sabalones Cetera CE’99 received recognition for his outstanding service and dedication to the CUAA and to The Cooper Union. As a student, Rocco received the 1999 Service to the School Award for his work on the student newspaper, The Pioneer. He is an outstanding role model for young alumni and has initiated events such as a visit to the Noguchi Museum and Earth Day tours that introduced alumni to the college’s new academic building at 41 Cooper Square. He co-organized the Class of 1998-1999 10th year reunion. Rocco is a member of the CUAA Council and is Chair of the CUAA Events Committee. His goal is to encourage alumni to spearhead events and develop broader class reunions.
Rocco is a Project Manager for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, a licensed engineer in the State of New York, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a LEED Accredited Professional. In 2004, The American Society of Civil Engineers named Rocco one of its New Faces of Engineering for his work in the ACE Mentoring Program in Newark.
Augustus Saint Gaudens Award for Art
Abbott Miller A’85 was recognized for his professional achievement as a designer and writer. He established Design/Writing/ Research, a multidisciplinary studio that built upon his background in sculpture, film and graphics. He and his team have evolved a uniquely hybrid design practice that crosses from page to screen to interior environments and objects. In 1999 Abbott became a partner in the international design consultancy Pentagram, where he focuses on publication, exhibition and identity projects for a wide range of clients. His first permanent museum exhibition is the new Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.
Abbott has written extensively about design in collaboration with his wife Ellen Lupton (A’85). He has collaborated with a number of other remarkable artists on exhibitions and books, including Nam June Paik, Hans Haacke, Matthew Barney, Yoko Ono, Diller & Scofidio and William Kentridge. Since 2003, Abbott has edited and art directed the award-winning visual and performing arts publication 2wice, which features his collaborations with leading choreographers and photographers.
Abbott’s work has been acknowledged with numerous awards and is represented in the design collections of SFMoMA, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale.
John Q. Hejduk Award for Architecture
Stan Allen AR’81 was recognized for his professional achievement as Principal of SAA/StanAllenArchitect and as Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University. Stan worked for renowned architects Richard Meier in New York and Rafael Moneo in Madrid. He pursued parallel careers as an educator,writer and architect. Stan taught at Harvard, Columbia and Princeton universities. His architecture firm has created award-winning buildings and urban projects in the United States, South America and Asia. He received the 2002 President’s Citation from The Cooper Union.
Responding to the needs of the modern city in creative ways, Stan has developed an extensive catalogue of innovative design strategies that look at field theory, landscape architecture and ecology as models to revitalize the practices of urban design. In 2007, he received a Progressive Architecture award for the Taichung Gateway Park in China, and in 2008, he received a Faith and Form Award for the Chosen Children Village (CCV) Chapel built for the CCV Foundation that cares for physically and mentally challenged children in Tagatay, Philippines. Stan is the author of two volumes, one of which is his architectural work Points + Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City, and his collected essays in Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation.
Gano Dunn Award for Engineering
Dr. Peter S. Winokur PHY’68 was recognized for his professional achievement over forty years as a scientist and engineer in the field of radiation-effects science, technology and quality assurance. He began his career as a research physicist at the Harry Diamond Laboratories in Washington, DC, later joining Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he led efforts to develop radiation-hardened technology for use in military and space systems. He served as an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Harry Reid from 2001 to 2004 where he crafted legislation to promote renewable energy development. Peter was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board through October of this year.
Peter has been recognized by the IEEE and the American Physical Society as one of the most highly cited researchers in the world in given scientific fields. He received the 2000 IEEE Millennium Medal, an IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Merit Award, the R&D 100 Award and Industry Week’s Top 25 Technologies of the Year, Discover Award. Peter is the author of 140 publications in science literature, including more than thirty invited papers, book chapters and short courses.