2018 Alumni Award Winners
Celebrate Our Amazing Alumni!
Do you know someone who deserves an alumni award? Nominate someone for the following categories for the 2019 Alumni Awards:
- Sister Denis Donegan Award for Long Term Service to Marywood
- Distinguished Alumni Award
- Alumni Achievement Award
- Recent Alumni Award of Excellence for Professional Achievement
Go to www.marywood.edu/connect/awards to nominate a worthy Marywood graduate!
Sister Kathryn Kurdziel, IHM ’68
2018 Sister M. Denis Donegan Award for Long Term Service to Marywood
Sister Kathryn Kurdziel, IHM, or Sister Kathy, as she is affectionately called, truly epitomizes Marywood’s core values of Catholic Identity, Respect, Empowerment, Service, and Commitment to Excellence.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Marywood in 1968. In the decades to follow, she earned a Master of Arts degree from the University of Scranton, completed CPE Chaplaincy Training, and earned a Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies from Aquinas Institute of Theology, in addition to participating in multiple workshops in education, theology, vocation, formation, and personnel issues. Sister Kathy began her professional life as a teacher of English and Theology in the Diocese of Scranton’s Catholic high schools, where she was a department chair, frequent mentor, and co-op teacher for Marywood and University of Scranton students. She also served as staff coordinator for a vacation site sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York for severely disabled adults. During her tenures as the Vocational Director for IHM Sisters and as Director of Candidates and Novices, Sister Kathy was responsible for inviting and mentoring new members and designing programs for their training. She traveled extensively, collaborating with other religious congregations for diocesan education and service programs, and she co-chaired Region II of the Religious Vocation Conference and was a board member of the National Religious Formation Conference.
Sister Kathy served as the Coordinator of the Institute for Contemporary Spirituality at Marywood University, an initiative established to train spiritual directors and provide enrichment programs for educators and pastoral ministers. Her service, demonstrated by helping others in local, national, and global communities, includes her prayer experiences for women prisoners in the Lackawanna County Prison System, service as an ESL teacher, and as Director of Summer Splash, a program for disadvantaged children. As Director of IHM Summer Splash Service to Impoverished Children, Sister Kathy worked with Marywood students, IHM Sisters and Catholic high school teachers and student volunteers to design, schedule, and administer a program of cultural education and service in collaboration with agencies serving the poor in the Scranton area. Additionally, she assisted the Director of the Washington Archdiocesan Healthcare Network, advocating and serving on behalf of poor, homeless, and uninsured medical patients. She volunteers with the Yearly Mission Appeals for the IHM mission in Peru, and her many religious and professional affiliations include a Collaborative Ministry Group in the Diocese of Scranton, membership in the Ecumenical Commission, and her work as Service Committee Chair on the Marywood Alumni Association Board.
For her abiding and longstanding dedication to her alma mater and its core values, and in celebration of her 50th Class Reunion, the Marywood Alumni Association is pleased to recognize Sister Kathryn Kurdziel, IHM with the 2018 Sister M. Denis Donegan Award for Long Term Service to Marywood.
Carol Martini Hemphill ’70
2018 Distinguished Alumni Award
Carol Martini Hemphill’s life exemplifies excellence and leadership. She cites the skills and knowledge she learned at Marywood, particularly a strong science and liberal arts background, as the backbone of her success.
After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics from Marywood, Carol rose to the rank of Colonel in the United States Army and enjoyed an illustrious career that spanned over 22 years as a Military Intelligence Officer. Her career has taken her throughout the United States, to places such as Alabama, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and others, as well as to foreign countries, including Germany, Italy, and England. Wherever in the world Carol has found herself, she has been a respected leader and an ambassador of excellence, always demonstrating the distinctive attributes of a Marywood education. She has served her country in many capacities, leading many men and women in the line of duty on behalf of our country.
Carol earned a Master of Science degree in Communications from American University in 2000. After her military career, she went on to teach English, German, and Home Economics in Fairfax County, Virginia, educating and molding the minds of young people. Once back in Northeast Pennsylvania, Carol continued her community involvement in the Rotary Club, rising to the office of District Governor. Through her involvement in the Rotary, which has spanned more than 15 years, Carol has gone on missionary trips to India, where she dispensed polio vaccine, and to Honduras, where she offered her assistance to make living conditions better for the local citizens. Carol is currently running a successful horse riding camp and teaches youngsters riding skills. With these lessons, the young people learn other responsibilities, such as the care and grooming of the animals.
With proud acknowledgement of, and grateful appreciation for, her excellence, leadership, and accomplishments, the Marywood Alumni Association is pleased to recognize Carol Martini Hemphill with the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Pamela Motzer Barnes ’73
2018 Alumni Achievement Award
Pamela Motzer Barnes, B.A., M.Ed., RN, Csn-Nj, always had a passion for life and for the French language. Fast forward to 2018, and she has turned her passions for both toward health and Haiti.
Pam earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in French/Education from Marywood in 1973. She soon pursued a Master's degree in special education focusing on emotional disturbances and learning disabilities from Northeastern University. Pam then worked with autistic children and schizophrenic adolescents in Boston, and, later, with a classroom of autistic students in New York. After taking a professional break for more than a decade to raise her two children, Maggie and Emily, Pam received her registered nurse diploma, graduating 3rd in her class, in 1997 from the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing in Montclair, N.J. She then worked as a school nurse for the Montclair Public School System, prior to working as a nurse at The Children’s Institute in Verona, N.J., a school designed to help children, adolescents, and young adults with autism and similar disabilities develop adequate academic, behavioral, and social skills.
Her work is not limited to the United States. Pam has actively volunteered in Haiti since the country experienced a catastrophic earthquake in January 2010, killing nearly a million residents. After reading about the devastation, she went immediately into action, visiting this impoverished country 10 times over the past few years, using her skills and training as a nurse and her fluency in French to help the injured survivors. Pam has worked diligently to raise money for various public service projects. During her trips to Haiti, she has used these funds to educate families in Port-au-Prince about the Zika virus, while also providing mosquito nets and repellants, medication, and family care information. Pam reopened portable classrooms for a school that had closed, and even secured prom dress donations so the students wouldn’t miss this important rite of passage in their lives. She herself wears the badge of survivor, having overcome Stage 2 breast cancer. In addition to her amazing efforts in Haiti, Pam has run in New York City’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and participated in a Survivor Fashion Show.
In 2011, Pam received NJ BIZ 'Healthcare Hero Award'. She has published several articles and essays regarding her efforts in Haiti and School Nursing. She has been recognized with the 2016 Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey’s Lester Z. Lieberman Humanism in Healthcare Award and the 2016 ASAH Regional Related Services Provider of the Year.
To these accolades, and with grateful appreciation for all she has done to assist others locally, nationally, and globally throughout her distinguished medical career, the Marywood Alumni Association is pleased to recognize Pamela Motzer Barnes with the 2018 Alumni Achievement Award.
Dallas Scopelliti Shaw ’03
2018 Recent Alumni Award of Excellence for Professional Achievement
Dallas Scopelliti Shaw ’03 is the lifestyle industry's most coveted illustrator and visual director. She is a fashion illustrator, artist, project designer, creative director, and brand ambassador. Her creative path has led her from working as a Disney World artist to a career in the fashion world, collaborating with names such as Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, and Kate Spade. She is THE girl that designers, beauty brands, and even travel companies call—and call back—to lend drawings and style expertise at the beginning of every important product launch.
Dallas honed her artistic skills at Marywood University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration, and she has translated her personal sense of style into a phenomenal career. Dallas recently published a book, The Way She Wears It: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Revealing Your Personal Style, which she wrote to help readers craft and curate their own signature looks, free from the intimidation that some feel when it comes to fashion. She did each illustration and all of the styling for the book. Her general rule is that fashion should be fun. Like the basic staples of a good wardrobe, Dallas relies on a much-coveted personal sense of style that never fails to shine, which makes perfect sense, because she is known in the industry for having “the Midas touch.”
Having played a crucial role in product launches, either as an ambassador or behind the scenes as a visual director, Dallas helps designers make their newest endeavors more approachable to masses. She shares art and fashion illustrations, outfits of the day, products she loves, travel photos, and daily inspirations on her social media pages for 300,000 followers, who consider Dallas their insiders’ secret, following her every move. If she’s into it this week, she’s got the rest of the industry onboard and lusting over it with her. She shares every moodboard, color palette, and million-dollar project online (along with the occasional joke). On her personal website, www.dallasshaw.com, she states, “I am very lucky that every day of my life I find myself surrounded by beautiful things.”
For her visionary creativity and tremendous accomplishments, and for demonstrating that beauty and self-confidence never go out of style, the Marywood Alumni Association is pleased to recognize Dallas Scopelliti Shaw with the 2018 Recent Alumni Award of Excellence for Professional Achievement.