Four accomplished Grove City College alumni will be awarded Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Awards during this fall’s Homecoming celebration.
The Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Award is the Alumni Association’s highest honor. It recognizes alumni who excel in worthwhile service and achieve success in their fields, which brings honor to the College and advances its vision, mission, and values. The award was established in 1964 and has been awarded to more than 200 deserving alumni since its inception.
The awards class of 2024 continues that tradition, with four worthy winners including a career Air Force officer, a gifted musical artist, a service-oriented entrepreneur, and an academic who helped set standards for computer education.
Brig Gen Brad Butler ’76 was commissioned through Grove City College’s Air Force ROTC program and began his distinguished 31-year military career as a missile combat crew officer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
He retired in 2008 as Director of Logistics and Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. After his military service, he was a senior consultant for a variety of homeland security, engineering, cyber security, and information technology companies supporting NASA and the Department of Defense.
Butler’s other assignments included Deputy Director of Personnel Plans and Integration and Deputy Air Force Chief Information Officer at the Pentagon; Deputy Commander for C4ISR Enterprise Integration and AWACS Program Director, Electronics Systems Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.; Deputy Associate Assistant Secretary of the Air Force; and Commander, NATO AWACS Logistics Wing and U.S. Senior National Representative at Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany.
Butler, who grew up in Grove City, Pa., also graduated from the University of Montana with an MBA and from the National Defense University with a Master of Science in National Security Resource Strategy.
During his student days, Butler participated in varsity cross-country and track and was president of the Adelphikos fraternity. He later served six years on the Alumni Council. Butler and wife Paula reside in Colorado Springs, Colo. They have two children and two grandchildren.
Dr. Karin Hendrickson ’99 is a highly regarded conductor whose musical career has taken her from her hometown of New Wilmington, Pa., to the stages of Europe, leading the Belgian National Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre national d'Ile de France, among others. Her original composition “Carry the Flame” was the theme song for the 2002 Winter Olympics Torch Relay and sung by Aretha Franklin.
She holds degrees from George Mason University, Peabody Conservatory, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has won awards from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and has been made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, the highest award given to graduates. She is also a member of the Grove City College Athletic Hall of Fame for her prowess in both basketball and tennis.
Hendrickson also maintains an international profile as an orchestra and opera pedagogue. Some of her notable appointment include the Concertgebouworkest Young in the Netherlands; the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Royal Conservatoire of Music, Ghent, Belgium; the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; multiple appearances with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain; and three guest artist appearances with the North Carolina School of the Arts.
A musical nomad, Hendrickson divides her time between the U.S. and the U.K. Her father, Dr. Mark Hendrickson, served with the College’s Economics and Entrepreneurship faculty from 2004-19.
Entrepreneur and philanthropist Robert Lewis ’64 is founder, chief executive officer, and owner of Orbital Engineering, Inc. Based in Pittsburgh and with 10 national locations plus one in Cambodia, the firm provides solutions in engineering and design, construction management, and safety for the utility and heavy industrial sectors.
Lewis has led Orbital through substantial growth since its founding in 1969, receiving accolades for its performance, such as “Innovator of the Year,” a “Fast 50 Award” for private companies with exceptional revenue growth, and as a “Best Place to Work.” In addition to leading Orbital, Lewis owns the Valve 48 pipe and fittings company, the Jobtec staffing company, created and sold the international materials company Materials Inc., and has been a private incubator for over 50 companies.
Lewis, a former Alumni Council member, recently built a collaboration between Orbital and Grove City College that includes senior capstone design projects and a unique paid cooperative experience for engineering students involving real client projects.
He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1964-70 and, as a longtime supporter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, raised over $3 million across several decades. He was board chairman of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, bringing in hotel and service station partners, and he also served on the boards for Pennsylvania State University and Drexel University. Lewis resides in Longboat Key, Fla., and Sewickley, Pa.
Dr. Barbara (Azalos ’69) Price is a veteran university professor, now retired, from Georgia Southern University. The Sharon, Pa., native is a known leader in computing accreditation through her guidance of ABET, the worldwide college and university accreditation program, and was a Fulbright lecturer in Econometrics and Managerial Decision Analysis at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.
She was founding director of the Georgia Southern’s School of Information Technology and served as chair of the Department of Management in the School of Business Administration. The University recognized her as a Professor Emerita, Quantitative Analysis, in 2012. Earlier work included faculty positions at Mississippi State University, Lynchburg College, and Winthrop University.
Within ABET, she was lead and support facilitator for Program Evaluator Candidate training and former chair of the Computer Accreditation Commission. She has been recognized as a fellow of both ABET and CSAB, its lead member society for computing education. In addition to her lecturer status, she was part of a Fulbright-Hays team to The Czech Republic and Hungary.
She has more than 50 proceedings and publications and is active in several professional organizations. Throughout her career, she has been active in her community through the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis, and mission work. Price and husband Stan live in Huntsville, Ala. They have a son and two grandchildren.
The Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement Awards will be presented at a special ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11 in Harbison Chapel on campus.