
Alumni Award of Merit
The Alumni Award of Merit is an honor the college bestows on alumni who achieve outstanding success and are game changers in their career fields.
2024 recipient | Kenneth McMartin '73
Kenneth McMartin received a B.A. in chemistry from Coe College in 1973. During a January term, he participated in a health science internship by conducting toxicological research at the University of Iowa. This led to him entering graduate school and receiving a Ph.D. in pharmacology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1977. His Ph.D. research demonstrated that formic acid was the metabolite responsible for toxic effects produced by methanol (wood alcohol) and that a new chemical 4-methylpyrazole was effective in treating methanol poisoning in animals by blocking the metabolism. While a graduate student he presented this research at an international alcohol conference, which inspired an invitation to conduct postdoctoral research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
After returning to the United States, he received an assistant professor position in 1980 from the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. For over 40 years,eventually as a professor, he conducted research to discover the mechanisms by which poisonous substances produced toxic effects, in order to design new antidotal therapies to improve the treatment of such poisonings. His research claim to fame is the invention and development of 4-methylpyrazole (drug name, fomepizole) as the antidote for methanol and ethylene glycol (antifreeze) poisonings. His laboratory at LSUHSC-S conducted the initial Phase 1 clinical studies showing its safety, kinetics and metabolism in healthy human subjects and collaborated on the Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials demonstrating its effectiveness in treating humans that were poisoned with methanol or ethylene glycol. This product was approved by the FDA and began to be used in the U.S. in 1998 for these poisonings. By 2003, it became the standard of care treatment in North America. Subsequently it has become the preferred treatment in most of Europe and Asia. During his academic career, he served as primary mentor for 10 Ph.D. students, six M.S. students and six postdoctoral fellows.
Because of these research efforts, he has been internationally recognized by receiving awards from key toxicological societies including the Kenneth Morgareidge Award in Toxicology from the International Life Sciences Institute, the Society of Toxicology Translational Impact Award and Career Achievement Awards from the American Academy of Clinical Toxicology and from the Clinical and Translational Toxicology Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology. He was also honored by selection as Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health.
Please note: while nominations are accepted year-round, only those submitted by January 31 will be considered for awarding at that year's Homecoming celebration.
Past recipients
2023 | Clinton Stevenson '73
2022 | Scott Riemenschneider '90
2021 | Paula Ginder Lentz '89
2019 | Bill Schmarzo '79
2018 | Bob Young '65
2017 | Jack Evans '70 and Janet Box-Steffensmeier '88
2016 | Bruce Spivey '56 and Herbert Brunkhorst '66
2015 | Gary Schlarbaum '65
2014 | Jung Lowe '54 and Richard Anderson '59
2013 | Richard Mackey '58 and Donald Roby '58
2012 | Don Erusha '52, Bruce W. Jafek '62 and Albert Kircher '51
2011 | Jane F. Early '61
2010 | David Jones '60
2009 | Johanna Josephson Abernathy '69 and Frank Westphal '44
2008 | Larry I. Bone '57, Ray R. Kavanaugh '68 and Mike R. Mead '67
2007 | David Herbert Cox '57, Shirley Hughes '67 and Howard Lenhoff '50
2006 | Russ Knapp '30 and Colette Freeman '56
2005 | Frank W. Bonvino '63 and Fran Reuse Hansen '65
2004 | Dean E. Hutter '44 and George T. Henry '49
2003 | Robert Turpin '63
2002 | Kenneth P. Roberts '42 and Peter S. Bryant '62
2001 | Robert J. Johnson '61
2000 | Eliza J. Ovrom '75 and Arthur D. Taylor '40
1999 | Elinor Kanaske Day '49
1998 | Douglas R. Gracey '58
1997 | Lester B. McAllister '42 and Dale D. Morgan '47
1996 | Robert O. Frederick '36, Jerome J. Leksa '46 and Nancy Hamblin Evans '71
1995 | Douglas W. Eastwood '40
1994 | Donald W. Brinckman '53
1993 | Carol Houghton Hollingsworth '21 and John P. Bickel '43
1992 | K. Raymond Clark '30
1991 | Theodore J. Miller '66
1990 | Milton F. Kiesau '29, William P. Whipple '35 and Samuel R. Jackson '40
1989 | H. Don Martin '40, Charles D. Metcalf '55 and Mary Jeanne Krob '74
1988 | Chester J. Petranek '38, George W. McNelly '50, Del F. Rusher '63 and Clark E. McLeod '68
1987 | Walter L. Ritter '62 and June Loughridge Lockemann '62
1986 | Howard W. Johnston '35, Vernon L. Stintzi '36, Jane Davis Roberts '41 and
M. Jerome Sabacky '61
1985 | Earl L. Meyers '30, Charles L. Selzer '35 and Wayne F. Baden '40
1984 | Warren K. Martin '34, Walter C. Schwank '34, Rodger E. Weismann '34 and
Mary Hamblin Ovrom '49
1983 | Vivian Eaton Buchan '33, Daniel B. Knock '33, Leona Mooney Ward '33 and Robert B. Evans '38
1982 | Hale C. Reid '22 and Gary A. Sojka '62
1981 | Ruth M. Webster '31, DeWayne W. Moore '36 and H. E. "Em" Wright '51
1980 | John L. Anderson '30, Arnold L. Brokaw '37 and Wade R. Franklin '25
1979 | William G. Murray '24, Harley L. Moore '40, Robert F. Ray '44, Allan C. Peremsky '54 and
Donald H. Niggemeyer '44
1978 | Gladys Ward '23, Herschel L. Bricker '28, Paul C. McWilliams '28 and Alice M. Sundberg '32
1977 | Clyde O. Bedell '19, Donald P. Chehock '29, Fred J. Petrick '29 and John W. Miller '26
1976 | William G. Hoyman '28, Lois Johnson Swaney '29, Beulah Detwiler Gundling '38 and
Donald R. Ebinger '47
1975 | James Canfield '22, Edna C. Dieman '25, John D. Krumboltz '50 and Vernon P. Smith '50
1974 | D. Kirkland West '24, Arthur D. Swarzentruber '35, Zora Pauk DuVall '47 and John D. Neff '49
1973 | Raymond L. Powell '23, Ann E. Miller '28, Forest M. Hinkhouse '48 and Louis E. Nelson '48
1972 | Fran Allison Levington '28, Thomas J. Brice '42 and Marv D. Levy '50
1971 | Edward P. Barrows '30, Harold R. Letner '33, Charles E. Troughear '27 and Robert R. Preston '20
1970 | J. Judson Taylor '30, Charles E. Loomis '44, Ruth Steele McMillan '16 and
Thomas B. McMillan '17
1969 | Ralph H. Clements '19, Inga B. Tapper '26, Barton Pope '22 and Isabel Biddick Winkrantz '25
1968 | A. B. Crites '16, George R. Baker '51, A. Lloyd Spooner '16 and W. Willis Bradley '17
1967 | B. De Wayne Silliman '17, George E Simpson '26, Clair V. Felker '40 and Grace Stewart Low '09
1966 | Eliza Hickok Kesler '31, M. G. Woodward '39, Frank E. Bauder '41 and Rose Marie Jun '49
1965 | Graham E. Harris '22, Ruth A. Outland '17, Donald R. MacKay '35 and John H. Blomquist '37
1964 | Bernadine C. Hanby '24, William H. Olmsted '09, Ella Johnson Miller '24 and
Richard F. Blomquist '34
1963 | Sarah Marquis '18, E. B. Shaw '20, Elizabeth M. Bender '25 and Irving M. Ariel '32
1962 | William V. Burger '22, Victor R. Hurka '37, Esther Youel Armstrong '25 and
Lawrence Kremers '20
1961 | Robert M. Wray '31, Dora Jane Hamblin '41 and Sarah Fong Sung '21
1960 | Burnard T. Pull '35, L. A. Woodward '30 and Robert S. Gates '31
1959 | C. J. Lynch '26, Forest Rittgers '25, Keith H. Storks '30, Ellen Swomley Kuhns '41 and
Ethel R. Outland '09
1958 | Grace Sailor Hamblin '14, Dr. C. Loyal Swanson '33, Harris A. Lamb '27, Thomas B. Powell '31 and Alma A. Turechek '25
1957 | Llewellyn Dunlap '05, Howard Helscher '27, Grant Perrin '22 and Gertrude Dieken '32
1956 | John C. Steinberg '16, Dr. & Mrs. Fred Murray 1895, Jay R. Townsend, Sr. '07,
Ben F. Wolverton '18, Elizabeth Patton Moss '25 and Ruby Hickman '30
1955 | Robert C. Armstrong '18, Alfred W. Meyer '24 and S. Donald Stookey '36
1954 | Donald P. McCrea '21, Henry P. Martin '18 and Ben Peterson '18
1953 | George E. Booth '05, Everette T. Evans '27 and Marvin Cone '14
1952 | Paul H. Engle '31, Edward S. Murray '30 and Owen Elliott '07
Award eligibility
- Professional success exemplifies the superior educational quality and ideals of Coe College.
- Nominees must have graduated from Coe College a minimum of 15 years ago.
- Award may be presented posthumously but living award recipients must be present to accept the award.
- Current members of Coe's Board of Trustees, Board of Visitors/President's Advisory Council, or Alumni Council cannot receive this award while serving their term.
Judging criteria
The Coe Alumni Council evaluates nominees based on the following weighted criteria:
60%–Distinction in their professional field
Recognition including, but not limited to, scholarship, awards, and leadership recognition by one's peers in, trade associations, business, education, sports, and medicine.
20%–Loyalty to Coe
Dedication to the college measured in volunteer service or financial stewardship including, but not limited to, admission assistance, student engagement, alumni events, Board of Trustees, Board of Visitors/President's Advisory Council, Alumni Council or Coe Fund.
20%–Community Engagement
Service to the nominee’s community, including, but not limited to, board, committee, task force, and volunteer service.