11 Alumni Honored

Eleven graduates received College Honored Alumni Awards during Homecoming 2007.

Education

Olene Smith Walker (BS ’53) of Bloomington, Utah, served for eight years in the Utah House of Representatives. In 1993 she became the first female elected as lieutenant governor in Utah and 10 years later became the first female governor. She also established the Salt Lake Education Foundation.

Engineering and Technology

For 28 years Douglas M. Clifford (BS ’68) of Pleasant View, Utah, worked for Hewlett-Packard, and he served for more than six years on the executive board of the Boise Area Chamber of Commerce, two years as chairman. In 1998 Clifford joined the BYU engineering faculty.

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Judge Lynn W. Davis (BS ’71) of Provo has been a trial court judge for more than 20 years. He has periodically sat on the Utah Supreme Court and the Utah Court of Appeals by invitation. He received the Utah State Bar Judge of the Year Award. Davis has served as an adjunct professor in the J. Reuben Clark Law School, and his legal writings have been published nationwide.

Fine Arts and Communications

Scott R. Eckern (MFA ’83) of Citrus Heights, Calif., has produced more than 150 musicals. Since 2002 he has been the artistic director and COO of California Musical Theatre. Eckern sits on the executive committee of the board of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and is an adjunct professor at Sacramento State University and American River College.

Health and Human Performance

BYU head football coach for 29 years, R. LaVell Edwards (EdD ’78) of Provo recorded 257 victories and became the sixth all-time winningest coach in college football. He retired at the end of the 2000 season, and Cougar Stadium was renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor.

Humanities

Judge Thomas B. Griffith (BA ’78) of Washington, D.C., was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in June 2005. Previously he had been chief legal officer of the U.S. Senate and assistant to the president and general counsel at BYU.

Law

Judge N. Randy Smith (BS ’74) of Pocatello, Idaho, was a district judge for Idaho’s Sixth Judicial District for seven years before becoming the court’s administrative judge. He has presided over more than 6,000 civil and criminal cases and has mediated more than 700 state and federal cases. Smith was recently confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Life Sciences

Kenneth E. Johnson (BS ’69) of Mesa, Ariz., is a board-certified nephrologist and founding partner of Renal Care Group, which changed the way dialysis patients received care in the United States. He has directed the critical-care units in two hospitals. Kenneth and his wife, Becky H. Johnson (’69), established a foundation that provides financial assistance for BYU students and many other charitable causes.

Management

Gary L. Crittenden (BS ’76) of New Canaan, Conn., was honored as one of the best CFOs in America by Institutional Investor magazine after years of success as a CFO in companies, including Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and American Express. He is currently the CFO of Citigroup and serves as a director on the boards of UPS and Staples.

Nursing

Elaine S. Marshall of Provo was a BYU faculty member for 21 years, including eight years as dean of the College of Nursing. She was a nurse at LDS Hospital and Primary Children’s Medical Center. Currently, she holds the Bulloch Hospital Endowed Chair at Georgia Southern University and this year received a Distinguished Service Award from the Utah Organization of Nurse Leaders.

Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Stephen B. Church (BS ’69) of Sandy, Utah, has worked for the past 15 years as general manager of exploration and production for Sinclair Oil Corp. He received the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service and is the Utah board chairman of the Utah Geological Survey. He has been president of the Utah Geological Association and of the BYU Geoscience Alumni Association.