Receiving the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award are Newberry resident James E. Wiseman Jr., retired dentist and fund-raising chair of the Newberry Opera House; Don Belt of Great Falls, Va., a senior editor of National Geographic; and Donald E. Saunders of Columbia, distinguished professor emeritus from the USC School of Medicine.

Also to be honored are J. Frank Martin Sr. of Hopkins, recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award; WLTX evening news co-anchor and Ladson native Darci Strickland, recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award; and Sandra Glover, associate professor at the Arnold School of Public Health, recipient of the Outstanding Black Alumni Award.

Honorary lifetime memberships in the Carolina Alumni Association will go to Colgate W. Darden III, professor emeritus of physics; Larry Faulkner, vice president for medical affairs and dean of the USC School of Medicine; Wade T. Batson, writer, plant taxonomist, and professor emeritus of biology; and USC President Andrew Sorensen and his wife, Donna Ingemie Sorensen.

The gala will begin with a 6:30 p.m. reception, with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and will include music and dancing. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $32 per person. To reserve tickets, call the Carolina Alumni Association at 7-4111.

Wiseman was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and earned his bachelor of science degree from USC in 1955 and a D.M.D. from the University of Louisville Dental School. He is a past member of the USC Board of Visitors and a member of USC Advocates. He served as a member of the Newberry City Council and, as chair of fund raising, was instrumental in the renovation of the historic Newberry Opera House.

Belt, a Columbia native and graduate of A.C. Flora High School, earned a degree in English from USC in 1975. He began working for National Geographic as a freelancer in 1981 and joined the editorial staff as a writer in 1985. With areas of expertise ranging from the Middle East to Mexico to subjects related to national security issues, he has been a featured guest on many radio and television programs, including NPR's Morning Edition, CNN's Moneyline with Lou Dobbs, and Fox and Friends.

Saunders graduated magna cum laude from USC in 1951 and was first in his class at the Duke University School of Medicine. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Omicron Delta Kappa. He has been actively involved with a number of USC organizations, including the USC Educational Foundation Board of Directors, the USC Bicentennial Commission, and the School of Medicine Partnership Board. In October 1998, Saunders and his family established the Saunders Family School of Medicine Fund.

Martin earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from USC in the 1950s and an M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1961. He was a principal investigator on a landmark USC study about risk factors that cause heart disease and has served as a board member of the AIDS Benefit Foundation of South Carolina. He retired from full-time practice in 1993 but has been a volunteer physician at the Free Medical Clinic on Harden Street for 20 years.

A graduate of Summerville High School, Strickland joined WLTX-TV in 1997 as a general assignment reporter and weekend weather anchor and worked her way up to becoming the evening co-anchor of News 19. She is a popular speaker at schools in the Midlands and is involved in several community programs, including serving as a volunteer guardian ad litem with Richland County and on the board for the Palmetto Place Children's Shelter.

Glover, who earned her MBA and Ph.D. in business from USC, was tapped earlier this year to lead a $3 million, five-year project to help combat health problems among African Americans in South Carolina. She has served as an associate professor for the department of health administration at the Arnold School of Public Health since 1999 and has been the graduate director of the program since August 2002. She also serves as deputy director of the S.C. Rural Health Center.

Darden came to USC in 1964 as a part-time lecturer for the physics department. During that first year, he began a course in astronomy that became the basis for the present day astronomy program for undergraduate studies. He also helped to establish a program in intermediate energy nuclear physics, which became the current program in nuclear research.

Faulkner was chair of the School of Medicine's Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science from 1990 to 1995. He also served as director of the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, the research and training hospital for the S.C. Department of Mental Health, at the same time. He assumed his current position at the School of Medicine in 1995. He is a member of the Management Advisory Committee of the S.C. Veterans' Administration Network.

Batson, who served on the faculty of USC's Department of Biological Science from 1952 to 1982, was a noted educator, writer, and plant taxonomist. He served as president of the S.C. Academy of Science and wrote more than 40 publications, including Wildflowers in South Carolina. He was inducted into the S.C. Hall of Science and Technology in March 1995.

President and Mrs. Sorensen came to USC in May 2002. Before coming to USC, Sorensen served as executive director of the AIDS Institute at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and director of the School of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts. He was a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Public Health Task Force on AIDS and the Education Advisory Committee for President Bush's Transition Team during 2000–01. He was appointed to the Council on Public Health Preparedness in 2001.

Mrs. Sorensen is a board member of the Girl Scout Council of the Congaree Area and of the S.C. Arts Foundation. She is the vice chair of the national Board of Directors for the American Social Health Association. Shortly after her arrival at USC, she was appointed by S.C. Department of Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum to the S.C. Department of Education Task Force on Nutrition and Health in Our Youth.

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