SIUE Inducts Nine to Alumni Hall of Fame during A Night Among the Stars
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville honored nine remarkable graduates at the 2017 SIUE Alumni Hall of Fame ceremony, “A Night Among the Stars,” on Friday, Oct. 6 in the Morris University Center (MUC). These impressive alumni have made exceptional contributions in their chosen fields, in their communities and at SIUE through their leadership, character and hard work.
The School of Dental Medicine honorees will be recognized at the Saturday, Oct. 28 Dean’s Scholarship Gala.
“Those selected for the Alumni Hall of Fame represent the best of SIUE,” said Alan Kehrer, SIUE Alumni Association president.
The 2017 honorees listed by their college or school:
School of Business: Robert McClellan Jr., BS Business Administration ’73, MBA ’76
McClellan is the retired president and CEO of Hortica. He started his career as director of management information services at SIUE. He was an adjunct faculty member at SIUE and Webster University and served in senior management with Home Nursery and Automation Facilitators before joining Hortica (then Florists’ Mutual Insurance Company) in 1987. He has been an active member of more than 20 boards and community groups, including the SIUE Foundation, and has received many honors, including the SIUE Distinguished Service Award.
“I’ve been connected to SIUE in some fashion since 1964,” McClellan stated. “I got a great education with wonderful real work experiences. I owe much to SIUE and the School of Business. We need to help SIUE provide the opportunities to young people that we have been afforded.”
College of Arts & Sciences: Matthew Samsel, MS Mathematics ’00
As head of trading and a vice president with NRG Energy in Princeton, N.J., Samsel supervises the company’s wholesale trading activity in power, fuels and emission markets. Prior to joining NRG, he served in trading and leadership roles with International Power America, Citigroup Energy, Exelon, and Florida Power & Light. Before working in energy, Matt traded nonferrous metals for Metal Exchange Corp. in St. Louis. Since 2011, he has volunteered as a tutor and as a fundraiser for the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in West Trenton, N.J.
“Anything that I’ve accomplished reflects favorably upon the University,” Samsel said. “I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Andrew Neath, who made my work here possible.”
Thomas Schamberger, BA Mass Communications ’74, MS Mass Communications ’81
Schamberger is the retired executive director of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Foundation. He held this position from 2006 until he retired in 2014. He also served as treasurer and chief financial officer for the Baldrige Foundation, and he continues to advise the foundation as needed. Previous positions held include quality control at Barnes Hospital, numerous human resources positions at McDonnell Douglas/The Boeing Co. and vice president of performance excellence for Premier Inc. in San Diego. He came to SIUE after serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
“My mentors engaged me in a way that was fun, and all of my success can be traced back to the foundation that was laid here,” Schamberger said. “SIUE is one of the best universities in the Midwest.”
SIU School of Dental Medicine: Dr. Julie Paulson, DMD ’79 / Dr. Peter Paulson, DMD ’78
Drs. Peter and Julie Paulson share a general practice in Mt. Zion. He is a past president of the Illinois State Dental Society (ISDS) and past regent of the 8th District of the International College of Dentists (ICD). She serves as a director on the ISDS Foundation’s board of directors and leadership coordinator for the 8th District of the ICD. Both are active members of the Decatur District Dental Society, the ISDS and the American Dental Association (ADA). Both are Fellows of the ICD and the American College of Dentists. Peter received the SIU SDM’s Outstanding Alumni Award in Leadership in 2000. In that same year, he also earned the ISDS President’s Award.
School of Education, Health and Human Behavior: Greg Moats, PhD, BS Physical Education ’76, MS Educational Administration ’93
Moats was an educator for 34 years. He retired as the superintendent of schools for Belleville Township High School District 201. Previous positions included teaching, coaching, assistant principal, director of technology, and assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. In retirement, Greg furthered his involvement in education as the coordinator of teacher education at Lindenwood University-Belleville and as an assistant coach during the inaugural season for the basketball program. He was a member of the State Superintendent’s Advisory Board, and a board member and officer of the Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois High School District Organization and Illinois School District Liquid Asset Fund.
“I learned from one of my mentors that students don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care,” Moats said.
School of Engineering: Robert Mock Jr., PhD, BS Industrial Engineering ’90
Mock became president of Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte in October 2015. His career in higher education began in 1995 as a staff member in continuing education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2010, he joined the University of Kentucky as the vice president for student affairs. Mock’s undergraduate experience included winning Illinois’ Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Brother of the Year Award in 1990, being awarded multiple academic scholarships through student associations and the engineering program, among other accolades. He has since earned a master’s and doctorate, and achieved a wealth of experience in business, the military and higher education.
“SIUE shaped me and gave me the opportunity to plan manufacturing facilities,” said Mock, who acknowledged the hurricane victims, Las Vegas shooting victims and protestors in St. Louis before closing his remarks by reciting from the poem “Invictus.”
School of Nursing: Anne Perry, PhD, EdD ’91
Perry, professor emerita and former interim dean of the SIUE School of Nursing, is a highly recognized and esteemed nursing clinician and educator. She is the author and co-author of textbooks and references in topics of nursing fundamentals and clinical skills. Her textbooks are required reading in nursing schools in 13 countries and have been translated into 10 languages. She has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the Missouri Nurses Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, North American Nursing Diagnosis Association International Mentor Award in 2012, Saint Louis University School of Nursing Alumni Merit Award in 2016, and the March of Dimes Legends in Nursing Award in 2016. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.
“The School of Education, Health and Human Behavior helped shape my direction as an educator,” Perry said. “It helped me learn how to partner with a student, and help that student achieve and become the best they can be.”
Graduate School:Patricia Heberer Rice, PhD, BA History/Foreign Languages and Literature ’86, MA History ’89
Heberer Rice is the director of the Division of the Senior Historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. She oversees and coordinates the extensive research activities of the Center. She specializes in medical crimes and eugenics policies in Nazi Germany. She often works with the American Medical Association to bring the history of the Holocaust and its repercussions for medical ethics to medical faculty throughout the U.S. She has extensively published in her field and has given well over 200 presentations nationally and internationally.
Heberer Rice was unable to attend due to another academic engagement. Jim Weingartner, emeritus professor of historical studies, accepted on her behalf.
