2009 Alumni Association Awards
The Alumni Association will honor three outstanding alumni with its 2009 awards during Reunion Weekend festivities on Saturday, May 30. The awards will be presented by
Barbara Bishop Mann ’66 , the Alumni Association’s Vice President for Alumni Awards.
The Frances Liebenow Armstrong ’36 Service Award will be presented to Barbara Burton Micou ’69. Mrs. Micou has provided a broad range of service to Mary Washington and the Alumni Association. She was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 1990 and served through 1994. She has been a member of the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors since 2001, serving as Vice President for Reunion Weekend, President-Elect, President, and now Immediate Past President. She also served on the University’s Centennial Celebration Steering Committee and on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee last year. She has participated in numerous Richmond-area alumni events, and for the past year has been co-chair of the Class of 1969’s 40th reunion gift committee. She recently served on the selection committee for the Alvey Scholarship, which is a full merit scholarship for out-of-state students.
Catherine O’Connor Woteki '69, Global Director of Scientific Affairs with Mars, Incorporated, is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Ms. Woteki is a nutritional epidemiologist whose research interests include nutrition and food safety policy, and health survey design and analysis. She is currently Global Director of Scientific Affairs with Mars, Incorporated, a multinational food, confectionary, pet care, beverage, and health food company, where she manages the company’s scientific and regulatory positions on matters of health, nutrition, and food safety. From 2002 to 2005, she served as Dean of Agriculture and Professor of Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. She was the first woman to be named Dean of the ISU School of Agriculture, which is ranked among the world’s top five research institutions in food and agricultural sciences. Previously she served as the first Under Secretary for Food Safety in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she oversaw the Food Safety and Inspection Service and coordinated the development of the U.S. government’s policy on food safety. She also served as Deputy Associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; in this capacity she co-authored the Clinton Administration’s science policy statement, “Science in the Public Interest.” She is a registered dietitian and is active in several scientific organizations including the American Dietetic Association and the American Society for Nutrition. She is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Natalie Joy Johnson '00 will receive the Young Alumnus Merit Award, which recognizes an alumnus within 15 years of the date of graduation for outstanding achievement in any of the following areas: profession or career, civic activities, humanitarian causes, and endeavors in creative arts and sciences. Natalie Joy Johnson earned a degree in theater at Mary Washington in 2000, and has been pursuing a career in performing ever since. Following graduation, she was invited to perform with the Fredericksburg Theatre Company’s national tour of Godspell. Since then, she has appeared with several regional and national tours as well as in off-Broadway shows. Her big break came during a performance in bare: a pop opera, a small workshop musical that garnered a positive review from the New York Times, which considered Johnson’s solo to be the highlight of the entire show. In 2006, Johnson was cast in a major role in the Broadway production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. After 18 months with that production, she is now on national tour with the show in the role of Paulette Buonofante, the beautician and confidante of the show’s lead character.