UA News

UA alumna Pamela Turbeville is named the UA Alumni Association's spring 2009 Alumni Achievement Award winner. UA Hispanic Alumni club names Cristina Santamaria, W. Patrick Bryan, Nancy Hernandez and honors student Zayoni Torres its outstanding graduates.

The University of Arizona Alumni Association announced its outstanding alumni honoree and the UA Hispanic Alumni club, a multicultural organization that is part of the association, announced and honored its award winners.

The association has named Pamela Turbeville its spring 2009 Alumni Achievement Award winner. The award is given to an alumnus or alumna who has demonstrated outstanding service to the UA and attained prominence nationally in his or her field.

Turbeville will be honored with the highest recognition given to an alumnus – the Alumni Achievement Award. Christopher J. Vlahos, president and executive director of the UA Alumni Association, will present the award to Turbeville during the UA Spring Commencement Ceremony on May 15.

Turbeville graduated from the UA with a double major in family and consumer sciences and education in 1972.

Despite the odds she has become a leader in her field, achieving the highest position possible in the male-dominated trucking and engineering field. She did this at a time when very few women ascended the corporate hierarchy.

After four years of successful teaching experience and two more years as a curriculum developer and supervisor, Turbeville began work at Jeffrey Mine as an engineer in the Asbestos Fibre Division in safety and industrial engineering.

She then became senior vice president of human resources, environment health and safety and government relations with W. R. Grace and Company. At W.R. Grace, the principles and policies Turbeville put into place passed the tough litmus tests approved by the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, Congress, the Secretary of Labor, and the President of the United States for promoting the advancement of women and minorities. 

In 2004, Turbeville was named senior vice president and chief executive officer of Navistar Financial Corporation, the financial subsidiary of Navistar Corporation. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president of human resources and administration for Navistar's operating company, International Truck and Engine Corporation when she joined the organization in 1998.

She recently retired after 10 years of distinguished service to Navistar.

Turbeville supports the John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the UA via the Pamela J. Turbeville Endowment in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. She also designated funds for the Pamela J. Turbeville Student Service Center in the new McClelland Park Building.

Also, Turbeville is a trustee of Columbia College and a member of the Chicago Network, a group which is committed to the advancement of women. Turbeville also has served on the Catherine T. MacArthur School of Continuing Education Advisory Board and the Society for Human Resources Management.

She was nominated for the UA Alumni Association award by the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences and UA College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Also, the UA Hispanic Alumni club named four UA graduate students as its 2009 outstanding senior and graduate students during an award luncheon on Friday.

The club – comprised of accomplished Hispanic graduates and former students of the UA who live throughout the world – presented the students with a $1,000 check recognizing their studies and contributions to the community. 

More than 1,700 scholarships worth more than $4 million have been awarded by UAHA since it was founded in 1982.

The club promotes academic excellence among Hispanic students at the university, provides financial and mentoring support to qualified and deserving students, and develops links with alumni and supporters in the professional and business community. The UAHA also offers associate memberships to non-Hispanic UA graduates, former students and others who support the goals of the organization.

This year's honorees are doctoral student Cristina Santamaría who graduates with a Ph.D from the College of Education and its department of special education, rehabilitation and school psychology; master student W. Patrick Bryan who will graduate from the College of Education's Center for the Study of Higher Education with a focus on organization and administration and undergraduate students; Nancy Hernandez, who graduates with an accounting and business economics major; and honors student Zayoni Torres, who will earn an elementary education major.

Outstanding UAHA Graduate Student Ph.D. Candidate:

After being presented with her award, Santamaría said: "I'd like to recognize Dr. Todd Fletcher for his help and the UA's commitment to its students and its alumni and the work they do for the students."

Santamaría's degree is in learning disabilities with an emphasis in bilingual/multicultural education and her area of interest is Hispanic families of special needs children. Her research is focused on Hispanic families' perspectives of parent participation and the ways in which they understand their roles in U.S. schools.

Santamaría has accepted an assistant professor position in the Department of Special Education at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. She is a new mom and will be working with future special education teachers and hopes that her experience and background will contribute to new teachers' understanding of culturally and linguistically diverse families' strengths and talents.

Outstanding UAHA Graduate Student Master's Candidate:

Bryan completed his bachelor's degrees in studio art and in Spanish and Portuguese from the UA in 2006. At that time, he was a founding brother of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity Inc., an Arizona Blue Chip Graduate and a student employee for the New Start Summer Program.

Bryan thanked his family for support and preparation and thanked Socorro Carrizosa, UA's Chicano Hispano Student Affairs director, "for sealing my decision to come to the UA."

While an undergraduate student at the UA Bryan worked for Carrizosa and helped her to redesign the Chicano Hispano Student Affairs logo.

Currently, he works at the UA Office of Early Academic Outreach coordinating the College Academy for Parents, a program designed to prepare elementary parents in the Sunnyside Unified School District as they guide their children toward a college education. Bryan is currently applying to doctoral programs in the fall.

Outstanding UAHA Undergraduate Students

Hernandez is part of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) where she has developed and participated in many projects aimed to create economic opportunity for the community.

Her work has involved teaching financial literacy to college students, helping small business entrepreneurs to improve their businesses and assisting refugees in getting a job in the U.S.

During the UA Commencement Ceremony, Hernandez will receive the Robert Logan Nugent Medal for active and enthusiastic participation and service in community and University endeavors.

In September, Hernandez will begin working with Ernst & Young  and intends to pursue a master's degree in accounting. She also intend to become a certified public accountant while entering the forensic accounting area. Her long-term goal is to obtain a doctorate degree in accounting to develop research in international accounting and economics.

Torres, a first generation college student, plans to pursue a doctorate degree in curriculum studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago beginning this fall.

She realized her research interests after gaining research experience as a Ronald E. McNair Achievement Program Scholar at the UA and as a Summer Research Opportunities Program Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She hopes to research the way relevant, real-world contexts help support Latino student's learning.