Benefactors honored at homecoming Touchstone Dinner

Shevenaugh, Souder spotlighted

 

Frances Kain Shevenaugh and U.S. Congressman Mark Souder earned awards as important Trine University contributors during the university’s Touchstone Awards Dinner on Oct. 2 during Homecoming weekend.

 

Trine University officials, alumni and benefactors gather in Ketner Sports Center for the annual Touchstone Awards Dinner during Homecoming weekend Oct. 2 and 3.

Frances Kain Shevenaugh, at age 108 the university’s oldest alumna, received the Woman of Distinction award. A 1921 graduate of Tri-State College’s teacher’s training program, Shevenaugh built a career in the lumber, steel, railroad and insurance industries in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California and Florida. She was honored in absentia through an interview and award presentation filmed at her Florida home and screened during the dinner for the alumni and university audience.

“Frances Shevenaugh is one of this university’s most long-lived and distinguished alumni,” President Brooks said in making the award. “Throughout her richly varied life she has never forgotten the little school that marked the beginning of her incredible journey. In 1997, she gave back to this little school with a gift to Tri-State’s New Horizons campaign and to an endowment for the University’s Department of Elementary Education. Her gifts were recognized on May 1, 1997 with the naming of the Frances Kain Shevenaugh Department of Elementary Education. Since that time, Frances has continued her support and interest in the institution and has kept up with its changes and progress.”

 

Trine benefactor Dr. Ralph Ketner enjoys an appetizer buffet arranged around an ice sculpture celebrating the university's 125th anniversary at the Touchstone Awards Dinner. Dr. Ketner, co-founder of the Food Lion grocery chain, kicked off the university's Distinguished Speaker series with a presentation during Homecoming weekend.

          Frances Shevenaugh                 Congressman Mark Souder

 

Rep. Mark Souder, R-Fort Wayne, received the Pillar of Success, the university’s highest honor. The award recognizes individuals for their achievements and accomplishments, leadership, service, philanthropy and commitment to community, profession and to Trine University.

A member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Congressman Souder is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism. He is also a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Souder has worked closely with Trine University on several issues, including building a technology base to draw better-paying jobs and keep college graduates in northeast Indiana.

Souder’s efforts on Trine’s behalf include securing funding for the Center for Technology and Online Resources; setting up a field hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness in Angola to highlight an initiative between the university, Angola High School and the Plastic Technology Center; working to secure a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help fund research; securing $140,000 for the development of a proposed Center for Educational Excellence; and working for a $462,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the expansion, renewal and renovation of the business and engineering departments, as well as the Leadership Institute and Center.

He is currently involved with two appropriations bills totaling $750,000 to help fund the university’s biomedical engineering program and assist with its distance learning and online education delivery.

“This is very touching, and I’m glad I didn’t have to wait until I’m 108 to get it,” Souder said with humorous reference to Shevenaugh. “It has been a great honor to work with this university’s innovative leadership.”