Special Nominations & Awards:
Distinguished Alumni Award & Honorary Membership
Distinguished Alumni AwardThe Distinguished Alumni Award is selected from nominees supplied by individual chapters. The selection is made at the National Council meeting in even-numbered years. Chapters should provide a nominating letter and supporting evidence (vita, resume, publications, e.g.) to the Executive Director. The recipient is asked to accept an expenses-paid trip to the national convention for the presentation of the award in the form of a plaque and is asked to speak briefly to the convention delegates.
Dr. Tommy Hewett (photo here), a 1967 inductee of the Oklahoma Gamma chapter at East Central University, will be honored at the 2007 national convention as an Alpha Chi Distinguished Alumnus. Hewett is managing director of AmeriPath Oklahoma, a division of one of the nation's leading providers of anatomic pathology and molecular diagnostics.
Hewett completed his M.D. degree in 1971 from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He joined the staff of Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, eventually becoming chairman of the department of pathology and director of clinical laboratories. He later founded a clinical lab, Baptist Medical Plaza Laboratory, in partnership with the hospital and was its medical director of 14 years.
In December 2000 he sold his two pathology practices, consisting of 19 pathologists in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, to AmeriPath. As managing director, he administers practices in four Oklahoma City hospitals and outpatient facilities in that city and in Tulsa. The company also serves as medical director for Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma, the largest reference lab in the state.
Additionally, Hewett is on the faculty of the OU Health Sciences Center, a member of the board of directors of Integris Baptist Medical Center, and a past member and president of the board of trustees of Oklahoma Baptist University. A lectureship has been named in his honor at OU Health Sciences Center, whose Web site states, "Hewett is a fine teacher, an ideal role model for pathologists in training, and a strong advocate for continuing medical education."
East Central University named him the school's 2005 Distinguished Alumnus. In the nominating letter for the Alpha Chi award, Oklahoma Gamma sponsor Dr. Trisha Yarbrough said, "Dr. Hewett is a gracious and humble person . . . . He exemplifies the 'character' we speak of in Alpha Chi and clearly has made its ideals his own since his undergraduate days."
The Distinguished Alumni Award has been awarded at every national convention since 1987.
1987 -- Dr. John Michael White, professor of chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, alumnus of Harding University (Arkansas Eta)
1991 -- Dr. Robert H. Jones, professor of surgery, Duke University Medical Center, alumnus of Harding University (Arkansas Eta)
1993 -- Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor, CBS Evening News, alumnus of Sam Houston State University (Texas Omicron)
1995 -- Dr. Mary W. Gray, professor of mathematics, American University, alumna of Hastings College (Nebraska Alpha)
1997 -- Dr. Joe Hightower, professor of chemical engineering, Rice University, alumnus of Harding University (Arkansas Eta)
1999 -- Dr. Edwin W. Gaston, Jr., professor emeritus, alumnus of Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas Sigma)
2001 -- Clayton C. Anderson, NASA astronaut and mission specialist, alumnus of Hastings College (Nebraska Alpha)
2003 -- Dr. David B. Clifford, chair of the department of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, alumnus of Southwestern University (Texas Alpha)
2005 -- Ms. Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent, alumna of Wartburg College (Iowa Alpha)
Honorary Membership
The National Council may elect to Honorary Membership persons who have shown special interest or proficiency in scholarship and whose election shall be deemed to be in the interest of the Society. Individual Chapters and National Council members may petition the National Council for Honorary Membership for persons who have distinguished themselves in the field of scholarship, except that not more than one such person may be proposed by the same Chapter or National Council member in any one year. (Constitution, Article X, Section 3)
Nomination forms are mailed to chapters a few months prior to the annual meeting of Alpha Chi's National Council each spring.
About Alpha Chi •News/Events •Chapter Sponsors •For Members •Conventions •Scholarships •Publications •Contact Us • Home