ALUMNI, FACULTY MEMBERS TO RECEIVE SOUTHEAST MERIT AWARDS

The Alumni Association of Southeast Missouri State University has selected six alumni and a Southeast professor to receive the school's annual Alumni and Faculty Merit awards.

Alumni to be honored are Eugene Munger of Flagstaff, Ariz.; Dr. Sue Barry of Auburn, Ala.; Michael Braun of Alexandria, Va.; Dr. Edward Janosik of Cape May, N.J.; Donald LaFerla of Carthage; and Dr. Arnold Bell of Sikeston. Music professor Dr. Gary Miller will receive the Faculty Merit Award.

The seven will be honored during Homecoming festivities at the annual Merit Award dinner at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Show Me Center.

Alumni merit awards are given by academic colleges to honor distinguished alumni. The awards have been given since 1958 to graduates or former students of Southeast who have brought distinction to themselves and the university. Tickets for the dinner are available by calling the alumni office at (573) 651-2259.

Munger

Munger is president and owner of Munger and Associates in Flagstaff, a public affairs consulting service. He is being honored by the Donald L. Harrison College of Business.

A native of Cape Girardeau, Munger graduated from Southeast in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in accounting.

He served in the Navy and North Atlantic Treatu Organization. He was released from active duty in 1960 and continued Naval Reserve service, attaining final rank of commander.

During his years at Southeast, he was active in the Benton Society, Phi Alpha Theta and the Cardinal Key Varsity Club, and was a three-year letterman in basketball.

Munger had previously worked for Shell Oil in Houston, Texas. In 1980, he was transferred from Shell's head office to the West Coast where he assumed the position of public affairs manager for Shell's refining and marketing operations.

In December 1991, he retired from Shell after 36 years of service and established a public affairs consulting service in the Los Angeles area. In 1995, he moved his consulting service to Anacortes, Wash., and relocated to Flagstaff last year.

Barry

Barry is assistant professor of foreign language education in the department of curriculum and instruction at Auburn University. She will receive her award from the College of Education.

Barry, originally from Ferguson, graduated from Southeast with a bachelor's degree in education with an emphasis in mathematics and French. During her years on campus, she was active in Kappa Tau Gamma sorority and the aquatic club, and was a member of the honorary societies of Kappa Delta Pi and Wakapa.

Prior to her present position at Auburn, Barry was foreign languages department chairwoman at McCluer North High School in St. Louis. From 1986 to 1988, she taught undergraduate-level Spanish courses at Purdue University at Lafayette, Ind., and joined the Auburn faculty in 1993.

Braun

Braun, formerly of Cape Girardeau, is a supervisory special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and is special assistant to the agency's administrator in Washington. He will receive his award from the College of Health and Human Services.

From 1971 to 1973, Braun served in the U.S. Marine Corps, including service in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged at the rank of corporal and graduated from Southeast in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. On campus, he was active in the Veterans Corps and Student Council.

Braun is a career professional law enforcement executive officer with more than 23 years service at the local, state and federal levels of the U.S. criminal justice system. Prior to his DEA position, he served as an officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department from 1975 to 1978, and as a special agent with the Illinois State Police from 1978 to 1985.

Braun joined the DEA in 1985 and has worked in a number of domestic offices. He has three years service in various assignments throughout South and Central America.

Janosik

Janosik, formerly of Girard, Ohio, is a retired professor of political science at State University College, Genesco, N.Y. He will receive his award from the College of Liberal Arts.

Janosik graduated from Southeast in 1939 with a bachelor's degree in social studies education. On campus, he was active in Mark Twain, the Forum, and band and orchestra.

He served in the military from 1940 to 1946, separated with the rank of major and had received the Purple Heart.

Janosik has spent time as a visiting professor at a number of institutions, including Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Philadelphia College of Textile and Science and St. Joseph's University, both in Philadelphia.

He has authored numerous books and articles dealing with issues in political science and has been a member of the President s Council at Southeast Missouri State.

Janosik is a member and ordained elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Wildwood, N.J., and this year was elected to the church's governing body of the Presbyterian Church.

LaFerla

LaFerla is vice president of management information and office services at Leggett and Platt Inc. He will receive his award from the College of Science and Technology.

Leggett and Platt is a leading manufacturer serving several major markets with commercial fixtures, die-cast aluminum components and components related to bedding and other furnishings.

A St. Louis native, LaFerla graduated from Southeast in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in biology and geology. On campus, he was an active member and officer of Tau Kappa Epsilon-Delta Zeta Chapter and participated in intramural sports and the inter-fraternity league.

Prior to his work at LaFerla, he worked for Emerson Electric Manufacturing Co. in St. Louis. In 1962, he accepted a job offer from McDonnell Douglas as a material requirements planner and where he later became a senior systems analyst.

In 1969, he returned to Emerson, as senior systems analyst. In 1973, he accepted an offer at Leggett and Platt to head the company's data processing department. In 1990, he was promoted to vice president of management information and office services and made an officer of the corporation.

He has served as the vice president of the Carthage Area Sheltered Workshop Board of Directors, vice president of Main Street Carthage Board of Directors and president of the Carthage Chamber of Commerce.

Bell

Bell, school superintendent for Sikeston Public School System, will be the first to receive the award from the new Polytechnic Institute.

A native of Gideon, Bell graduated from Southeast in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in industrial arts education. He earned a master's degree in education in 1983 and a specialist in education administration degree in 1985, both from Southeast. In 1992, Bell completed his doctoral studies in educational administration at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Bell had been school superintendent at Caruthersville and Oran. He was the principal at Campbell High School for three years and had taught and coached at Charleston.

Bell was one of 60 school superintendents nationally to take part in the Danforth American Superintendent Forum, which meets twice a year to discuss student problems.

Bell is a member of the Missouri Association of School Administrators, American Association of School Administrators, Missouri State Teachers Association and Sikeston Community Teachers Association. He has served on several Missouri School Improvement Review Teams and is a charter member of the Missouri Leadership Academy.

Miller

Miller is a professor of music (organ, harpsichord and music theory) and the coordinator of graduate studies in the music department at Southeast. He is this year's recipient of the Faculty Merit Award.

A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Miller began his early musical studies on the piano when he was 5. By junior high, his studies included both the cello and oboe. He received a degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1967 and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1968 and 1980. At both institutions, he majored in pipe organ performance with a minor in harpsichord.

From 1969 to 1973, he was a musician with the U.S. Navy, stationed with the Atlantic Fleet bands. In 1976, he earned the performer's diploma in organ from the Staatliche Houchschule fur Musik in Cologne, Germany.

Miller joined Southeast's faculty in 1980 to teach mostly music theory.

As the coordinator of graduate studies in music, he has been a thesis committee chairman or member for more than 15 graduate theses in music. Organ students from his applied studio have accepted graduate teaching assistantships at leading universities, and several hold full-time positions in the field of church music.

As an active performer, Miller has performed as an organ or harpsichord soloist throughout the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. He is harpsichordist with the Southeast Baroque Trio, a group devoted to the performance of early music on historical instruments. He frequently is sought after as a consultant for the acquisition of new pipe organs. He is a member of the Southern Illinois Chapter of the American Guild of Organists where he is a member of the executive board.

He is the organist and director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau, a position he has held since 1983.