BGSU :: Offices :: Alumni Association honors five at Oct. 3 dinner

BOWLING GREEN, O. — The Bowling Green State University Alumni Association will host its annual Alumni Awards Dinner on Friday, Oct. 3. This year’s honorees are Shaun Moorman, Denise Van De Walle and Joseph Martini, all of Bowling Green; Kermit Stroh of Wapakoneta, and Gregory T. DeCrane, a former Bowling Green resident who now lives in Sunset Beach, N.C.

Moorman will receive the Recent Graduate Award. He is currently the business and operations manager/production coordinator for the BGSU Department of Theatre and the Huron Playhouse. In 1997, he received a bachelor of music education degree with emphasis in vocal and choral music.

Moorman is the chair of the BGSU Men’s Chorus Alumni Society Board of Directors. In May 2002 he organized the first BGSU Alumni Men’s Chorus event, which brought more than 80 alumni back to campus to share their love of music. He is also a member of the BGSU Arts Round Table and the chair of the Department of Theatre’s Show Selection Committee.

Stroh and Van De Walle will receive Honorary Alumnus Awards.

A former member of the University’s Board of Trustees, Stroh served as board president in 1999-2000. Active in a number of University organizations, Stroh is a member of the Presidents Club and BGSU Falcon Club, a supporter of the Coaches Corner and a winner of the Doyt Perry Award.

Stroh founded Moulton Gas Service Inc., a propane gas distributor to more than 21,000 customers in west central Ohio. He has held the positions of president and chief executive of the organization. His civic and professional activities include participating in the Ohio Propane Gas Association, Rotary Club, Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Committee and Auglaize County Regional Planning Commission. A lifelong resident of Wapakoneta, he has two daughters, a son-in-law and grandson who are BGSU graduates.

Van De Walle is the women’s volleyball coach at BGSU and has been dedicated to University athletics for 21 years. She serves on the BSGU Administrative Staff Council and the Student Affairs Advisory Board. She also is involved with the Bowling Green Christian student organization H2O and is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes faculty adviser, and has traveled the world teaching volleyball and sharing her Christian faith.

She has been on the USA Volleyball Board of Directors for five years and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Board of Directors for eight years, serving as the president of the AVCA and Division I representative. Also a member of the AVCA Top 25 coaches voting poll, she was head coach of two Olympic festivals, USA Senior Elite Coach, USA National Team apprentice coach, four-time Mid-American Coach of the Year and a NCAA “Yes” clinic coach several times.

DeCrane, former director of student affairs and dean of students, is the recipient of an Alumni Service Award. A 1969 graduate, DeCrane dedicated 30 years to student affairs before retiring as dean of students in 1999. While an undergraduate at the University, he was president of the Union Activities Organization, historian for the Undergraduate Alumni Association and a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Brotherhood of Renaissance. Several awards and programs at the University are named in his honor, including the Gregory T. DeCrane Award of Excellence in Leadership, Gregory T. DeCrane Leadership Institute and Gregory T. DeCrane Applauding Excellence Awards Program.

A member of the Falcon Club Advisory Board, he has been active in the BGSU Retirees Association, Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, Bowling Green High School Bobcat Booster Club, Bowling Green Noon Kiwanis Club, Black Swamp Arts Festival and American Red Cross. After working five years for Newlove Reality in Bowling Green, he and his wife, Darlene, recently relocated to North Carolina.

Martini, a 1963 graduate and former bursar will also receive an Alumni Service Award. Martini served 30 years in the Office of the Bursar at BGSU before retiring in 2000. He received the BG Best Award in 2000 for his willingness to work with students and help them find alternative payment options that would allow students to continue their education.

He has served on a number of campus committees, including the Alumni Finance Committee, Administrative Staff Council and Administrative Computing Council. He has been a chapter adviser and financial adviser for Sigma Chi fraternity and last year earned the national award from the Order of Constantine. He also is a Falcon Club member and has been a Presidents Club member since 1998.

A reception for the honorees will begin at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3, followed by dinner and the program, at 7 p.m., in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union. The cost to attend the Alumni Awards dinner is $25 per person; the deadline for reservations is Sept. 19. For reservations, contact the Office of Alumni Affairs at 419-372-2701.