Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Office location:
45 Adams Road
T 508-626-4012
F 508-626-4036
alumni@framingham.edu
Mailing address:
100 State Street PO Box 9101
Framingham, MA 01701-9101
Each year Framingham State University's Office of Alumni Relations recognizes alumni for their accomplishments and contributions in both their careers and in their communities. Alumni Achievement Award winners are honored as part of Commencement and Reunion Weekend.
Any person or group may nominate an alumnus of the University for this recognition by submitting a nomination form or contacting the Office of Alumni Relations at (508) 626-4012 or alumni@framingham.edu.
The 2011 Alumni Achievement Award Winners Are:
Sharon (McEwan) Brennan '66 - Distinguished Alumni Award
Marilyn (Booth) Manzella '69 - Alumni Service Award
Adrienne (Wyche) McClure '61 - Alumni Educator Award
Denise Spillane '00 - Young Alumni Award
Janet (DeRonde) Wierzbicki '61 - Alumni Educator Award
Sharon (McEwan) Brennan '66 - Distinguished Alumni Award
The Distinguished Alumni Award is given for outstanding generosity or service to the University; outstanding participation in community and civic affairs; and unusual achievement in one’s field of endeavor.
For nearly 30 years Sharon has served as the Director of Field Experiences and School Collaboration at the University of Kentucky, where she earned a Doctor of Education degree in Instruction and Administration in 1987. Sharon became a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Kentucky in 1997 and an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 1998. She currently teachers several graduate courses at the University in the areas of teacher assessment, teacher mentoring and action research. Together with one of her colleagues at the school, Sharon created an assessment technique for assessing new teacher progress. Sharon has won several awards at the University of Kentucky including the Exceptional Service Award, the Dedicated Service Award and the Teacher Who Made a Difference Award.
Marilyn (Booth) Manzella '69 - Alumni Service Award
The Alumni Service Award is given to an alum who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in their careers and profession and whose work has contributed to the advancement of their community and its citizens.
Marilyn has been a dedicated advocate for Framingham State University alumni for many years, serving as the executive director of the Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni (IAFSA) since 2004. In that role Marilyn compiles an annual newsletter for alumni, hosts events and meetings and helps raise money for dozens of student scholarships the group awards each year. Earlier in her career, Marilyn taught home economics at Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough from 1971 to 1979, serving as chair of the department her final year. Marilyn is also an amateur genealogist and has served as an officer or board member on the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists, the Massachusetts Genealogical Council and the Irish Genealogical Research Association. In 1981 she complied A Wilbur Family History (The Ancestors and Descendents of Charles Elias Wilbur) and in 1999 she published Events Around Easton, New York 1877-1947 (The Journal of Mary G. Baker Wilbur).
Adrienne (Wyche) McClure '61 - Alumni Educator Award
The Alumni Educator Award recognizes an individual who has made contributions in the field of education and is active in their community.
Adrienne is a retired educator who spent well over 30 years teaching home economics to girls and boys in Cambridge, Mass. During that time she was given the freedom to develop her own curriculum for her classes and she continually modernized it as time went on. In 2006, Adrienne earned a certificate of achievement from Framingham State for her work in Affirmative Action in her home town of Arlington, Mass., as well as her work with the African American Society Scholarship Committee. Adrienne currently volunteers her time at the Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Cambridge serving as a tutor and advisor to the nighttime principal.
Denise Spillane '00 - Young Alumni Award
The Young Alumni Award is designed to recognize established and future leaders among the University’s Young Alumni, defined as those who have been an alumnus for 15 years or less.
Since graduating from Framingham State in 2000, Denise has quickly risen through the ranks in the field of marketing and communications. In 2007, she took a job as the director of marketing and communications at Aramark Healthcare, following more than five years in the marketing and publications department at Quincy Medical Center. Denise is currently responsible for all of Aramark’s marketing and communication activities related to the company’s 1,000 health care clients in the United States and Canada. Denise earned her Master of Arts in Integrated Communications from Emerson College in 2001 and anticipates completing her Master of Business Administration from Widener University next year. This past winter Denise received accreditation as a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, something only 9,000 people have achieved worldwide.
Janet (DeRonde) Wierzbicki '61 - Alumni Educator Award
The Alumni Educator Award recognizes an individual who has made contributions in the field of education and is active in their community.
Janet is a lifelong educator who taught home economics and several other courses in Somerville, Mass., from 1972 to 2000. In 1978 Janet created COPE, a comprehensive parenting education program for pregnant and parenting teens. The program was a huge success and eventually expanded to offer support groups for girls in violent relationships and workshops for boys to help them cope with parenting. The program also provided free child daycare through Catholic Charities. Janet was named the 1988 Massachusetts Home Economics Teacher of the Year for her work on the COPE Program. By the end of her career in 2000 she was in charge of home economics, technology education, and health education for Somerville Public Schools. Much of her time was spent grant writing to support the different programs she had helped create.
