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Distinguished Alumni Award

By John Stabinger
Posted on 6 April 2020 | 12:49 pm
Alumni / About Us / Alumni Awards / Distinguished Alumna or Alumnus Award

Distinguished Alumna or Alumnus

Celebrating our alumni leaders

This award was established in 1983 to recognize those alumni who have made significant contributions to their professions or to their communities over a long period of time, and thus reflected very favorably on the College of Charleston.

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2023 Distinguished Alumnus

Matt Tuerk ’02

Matt Tuerk ’02 is the Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the third-largest city in the state. At the College, Tuerk majored in international business and studied abroad in Cuba. He was also inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and worked in the Center for Student Learning.

Tuerk went on to earn his MBA from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. He then joined the Allentown Economic Development Corporation, where he helped establish the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, a national coalition of cities dedicated to strengthening their manufacturing economies. He also worked to develop resources at the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, helping AEDC earn a grant from the Economic Development Administration and a visit from the U.S. Secretary of Commerce in 2012. Tuerk co-founded the Lehigh Valley’s first co-working space and first community-operated “hackerspace,” where individuals with shared creative pursuits can meet and collaborate.

In 2013, Tuerk joined the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation and was quickly promoted to vice president of Administration. He led LVEDC in attracting billions of dollars in economic growth to the Lehigh Valley, creating thousands of jobs for its residents. LVEDC was recognized as a Top 20 Economic Development Organization by Site Selection magazine in 2019 and 2020. That year, Matt stepped down from his position at LVEDC to run successfully for Mayor of Allentown. He is the first Spanish-speaking mayor of the city. He also speaks Portuguese and French, is learning Chinese and has plans to learn Arabic.

In his spare time, Tuerk runs marathons including the Boston, New York and Chicago Marathons. He and his wife, alumna Karen J. Tuerk ’02 (M.S., marine biology), are the proud parents of two daughters, Amelia and Margot.

 

Distinguished Alumna or Alumnus Past Recipients

1983
1983
1983
1983
1983
1984
1985
1985
1986
1986
1987
1987
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1989
1990
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
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2002
2002
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2003
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2007
2008
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2010
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022		 Pierrine Smith Byrd ’22 *
Willard N. Hirsch ’24 *
F. Mitchell Johnson ’37*
Gus H. Pearlman ’33 *
John Arthur Siegling ’28 *
Louis E. Condon ’50 *
George B. Buell ’22 *
Paul M. Macmillan ’03 *
Frances Smythe Edmunds ’39*
Carl J. Likes ’37 *
James B. Edwards ’50 *
Richard H. Gadsden ’50 *
C. Desmond Koster ’43 *
E. Lawrence Powers ’38 *
Richard F. Dame ’64 *
Myrtle Craver Riggs ’46 *
Frank W. Ryan ’40 *
Margaret Virginia Smith Townsend ’40 *
Frances Gooding Buell ’24 *
William H. Grimball ’38 *
John A. Hamrick ’37 *
Solomon Breibart ’36 *
Louis D. Rubin ’44 *
Hall T. McGee, Jr. ’35 *
Angelo Peter Creticos ’42 *
Peter C. Gazes ’42 *
H. Biemann Othersen, Jr. ’50
Suzanne Fair McCall ’79
Marjorie E. Peale ’36 *
David A. Caldwell ’76
Anne Bellinger Villeponteaux ’58 *
William E. McLeod ’06 *
Nadine Orsoff Vogel ’85
Jeanne Fowler Stiglbauer ’76
R. Keith Sauls ’90
Jean Rouse Spell ’58
James F. Hightower ’82
Joseph W. Cabaniss ’47 *
H. Davis Adkisson IV ’84
Morris D. Rosen ’42 *
Arlinda F. Locklear ’73
Charles T. (Bud) Ferillo, Jr. ’72
Sharon Brock Kingman ’80
Neil W. Draisin ‘65
Mel Marvin ’62
George B. Rabb ’51 *
Mariana Ramsay Hay ’82
Brucie Howe Hendricks ’83
Michelle Asha Cooper ’95
Stephanie B. Wheeler ’03
Patricia Ricketts Scarafile ’66
Roland A. Cruickshank ’94
Donnetta Lavinia Grays ’99
Melissa Siegel ’03
Stephen C. Osborne ’73

* Deceased