Six to receive Distinguished Service award

The Alumni Association of Southeast Missouri State University will honor six individuals with Distinguished Service awards during homecoming festivities Oct. 30, including state Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau.

Other recipients will be Marvin Strunk of Glencoe, Ill.; Jane McNeely Bruns of Rockville, Md.; Tony Barringer of Cape Coral, Fla.; Hee-chiat Chew of Hong Kong; and Mariko Yoshiya of Japan.

The Distinguished Service awards, which are being given for the third time, are presented to individuals who attended Southeast and have made lasting contributions to Southeast and their communities, said Jane Stacy, director of alumni services and development.

"Each of these people have brought distinction to the university and remain active in the life of the university," she said.

The awards will be given at the alumni breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 30 in the Student Recreation Center South.

Strunk retired from a 31-year career in the banking and financial service industries in 1988. Prior to his retirement, he served as president and chief executive officer of Madison Bank and Trust Company in Chicago. Currently, he spends time lecturing on banking and small business management in Russia and Vietnam, as well as locations across the United States.

In addition to his speaking engagements, Strunk is involved in many civic, professional and charitable organizations and has served as a tutor in Chicago public high schools for eight years.

Bruns, a former political consultant, co-established one of the leading political consulting firms in the country which handled presidential campaigns for Hubert Humphrey and Jimmy Carter. She also taught political science at Webster University in St. Louis.

In addition, Bruns appeared on cable television talk shows in St. Louis and Atlanta, and has been involved with community theater groups since her time at Southeast. While attending Southeast, she starred in the musical "Good News," and she currently performs with Little Theatre in the Washington, D.C., area.

Kinder is president pro-tem of the Missouri State Senate and a candidate for lieutenant governor of Missouri. Kinder attended Southeast from 1975 to 1977 before continuing his education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

In the past, he has served as associate publisher, assistant to the president and columnist at the Southeast Missourian newspaper, as well as an attorney and real estate representative for Drury Industries. Kinder also successfully managed Bill Emerson's first campaign for Congress in 1980 and then served on Emerson's Washington, D.C., staff for three years.

Barringer is an associate professor of criminal justice at Florida Gulf Coast University. In the past, he has held teaching positions at Southeast Missouri State University and the College of Lake County in Illinois.

Barringer also served in the U.S. Army, as a principal juvenile intensive probation officer, a principal detention officer, a Big Brothers-Big Sisters delinquency coordinator, a mental health technician, a senior youth counselor, and in drug enforcement. Barringer also serves his community as coordinator for a program which pairs criminal justice students with delinquents in the juvenile system.

Yoshiya, a Japanese television personality and chief executive officer of Nutri-Cooking Inc., attended Southeast from 1985 to 1987, taking courses in English, food and nutrition

After returning to Japan, she taught an international culinary class at the culinary school Ecole De Cuisine Egami, and served as a lecturer at Yomiuri-Japanese Television Cultural Center before founding her own company, Nutri-Cooking Inc., in 2001. Yoshiya's company specializes in creating healthy lifestyles and delicious, yet nutritious menus with a focus on disease prevention. She serves as a nutritional consultant for corporations and organizations and as a nutritional expert for broadcast and print media, in addition to lecturing and teaching culinary classes.

Yoshiya also has been host of her own television cooking show in Japan.

Chew graduated from Southeast with bachelor's degrees in cello performance and computer science in 1994.

An accomplished conductor and composer, Chew's works are appreciated throughout Asia. Currently, he is assistant conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In the past, Chew has served as music director of the Professional Cultural Center Orchestra of Malaysia, during which time the orchestra nearly doubled in size and expanded its repertoire to include contemporary and premiere works. He also has conducted highly-acclaimed joint orchestra concerts in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Chew has received several awards for his compositions, including the Outstanding Composition Award in the 2002 Chinese Music Competition.