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Five Illinois State University alumni will receive awards for outstanding accomplishments at the annual Alumni Association Awards Recognition Dinner on Thursday, Feb. 16. The recipients, who will also be acknowledged during the Founders Day Convocation, are recognized for accomplishments in five categories: Outstanding Young Alumni Award, Alumni Achievement Award, E. Burton Mercier Alumni Service Award, Senator John W. Maitland Jr. Commitment to Education Award and Distinguished Alumni Award.

Register for the Alumni Recognition dinner on the Alumni website.

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Distinguished Alumni Award – R. David Edmunds M.A. ’66, L.L.D. ’02
Professor of History, University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, Texas

Edmunds was a Bloomington High School teacher when he began his master’s degree in social sciences education at Illinois State. His thesis, A History of the Kickapoo Indians in Illinois, 1750-1834, was just the start of his Native American research. After completing a doctorate at the University of Oklahoma, Edmunds went on to become one of the nation’s most prolific writers of Native American history.

A descendent of Shawnee ancestors, Edmunds has written more than 100 essays, articles or short publications. He has authored or edited 10 books, including The Shawnee Prophet, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is a consultant on Native American history to governments and Hollywood filmmakers. Edmunds has worked on more than a dozen films or documentaries for PBS, the History Channel and commercial television. He has also been an editorial consultant to many of the nation’s leading publishers and university presses and held advisory positions for numerous museums and federal agencies, including the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service.

Edmunds serves as a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians and has received numerous accolades, including an honorary degree from Illinois State, and an Award of Merit from the American Indian Historians Association. He has served on the faculty at the University of Wyoming, Texas Christian University, The University of California at Berkeley, UCLA and Indiana University. His current research focus is on the history of Native American identity, Native Americans on the Great Plains and Native American biography.

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Outstanding Young Alumni Award – Amar Kamath
MBA ’97
Vice President of Marketing, BioReference Laboratories
Sparta, N. J.

College of Business graduate Kamath is on the executive team of BioReference Laboratories, which is the third largest, publicly held clinical laboratory in the United States. Beyond leading the marketing, Kamath is involved in business development, intellectual property management and licensing, and new market strategies.

Kamath’s experience has been in clinical, molecular and cancer diagnostics. His goal is to provide cost-effective and clinically relevant diagnostic services to help physicians become more effective in diagnosing and treating their patients. He specifically focuses on reducing sexually transmitted infections, personalizing cancer therapies and diagnosing genetic disorders early.

Kamath was the 2010 recipient of the College of Business Early Career Achievement Award. He travels from New Jersey back to Illinois State University twice a year to share his expertise as a member of the College of Business Advisory Council. He is making efforts to establish a COB Alumni Network in the New York City area.

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Alumni Achievement Award – Constance Mueller
M.S. ’84
Food Service Director, District 87
Bloomington

Mueller holds a master’s in family and consumer sciences, where she taught eight years and served as preceptor for the Dietetics Internship Program. She retired after 16 years as BloomingtonDistrict 87’s school nutrition director.

A member of the School Nutrition Association (SNA), she served as the Midwest regional director. She is chair of the SNA Governing Council, the SNA media spokesperson, and Illinois SNA past president. She chairs the American Dietetic Association (ADA) School Nutrition Services Dietetic Practice Group.

Mueller served on the National Advisory Council of the National Food Service Management Institute, and is a member of the National Dairy Council speakers bureau. She is the SNA author for the Joint Position Paper of the American Dietetic Association, the SNA, and the Society for Nutrition Education on Comprehensive Nutrition Services.
She received the 1998 SNA FAME Award for SilverRising Star; the 2004 Award of Excellence for Outstanding Management, Leadership, and Innovation from the American Dietetic Association; and the 2005 Award of Excellence in Management Practice from American Dietetic Association Foundation.

She was Illinois State’s 2010 Outstanding Alumni for the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, as well as 2010 Illinois SchoolNutrition Director of the Year.

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E. Burton Mercier Alumni Service Award
Marian Kneer ’49, M.S. ’57
Professor Emerita, University of Illinois-Chicago
Plainfield

Kneer has dedicated her life to education and athletics, working as a proponent for physical education in schools for more than 60 years. She worked for the inclusion of females in sports at the national level, actively pioneering the inclusion of women’s high school sports before the passage of Title IX.

An athlete herself, Kneer was a premiere catcher for the Peoria Caterpillar Dieselettes in the 1940s.  She was heralded as the “world’s greatest softball catcher.” She went on to author many books and articles in the world of athletics.

Kneer has been honored repeatedly and is a member of the ISU Athletics Percy Hall of Fame, ISU’s College of Education Hall of Fame, the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame, and the Illinois Coaches Association for Girls and Women Hall of Fame. She is a generous donor to ISU, with the Marian Kneer Softball Stadium dedicated during the 2009 season.

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Senator John W. Maitland Jr., Commitment to Education Award – David T. Wiant
Assistant Vice President Emeritus, ISU Administrative Services
Director Emeritus, ISU Personnel
Normal

Wiant dedicated 36 years to higher education, with 28 years at Illinois State. He established and developed the University’s personnel program. He advanced to assistant vice president of Administrative Services, yet maintained oversight of the personnel office. Despite retiring in 1986, his success in personnel work resulted in organizations with delicate personnel problems seeking his counsel.

He remains active in the McLean County area and supports the University. In 2006, his children established the Dave and Jo Wiant Endowed Scholarship within Mennonite College of Nursing in celebration of his 80th birthday. He has helped spearhead fundraising for Athletics scholarships as a past president of the Redbird Education Scholarship Fund.

Wiant has served as vice president for the Redbird Court Club and has held season tickets for Redbird athletic events. For his dedicated service, he was awarded the Stretch Miller Award from Athletics and the E. Burton Mercier Outstanding Service Award.