Eminent alumni to be honored May 7

Four eminent alumni of UW–Madison – “Malcolm in the Middle” actress Jane Kaczmarek; the founder of Earth Day, former Senator Gaylord Nelson; Toshiba President Tadashi Okamura; and international expert and philanthropist Joan Edelman Spero – will return to campus on Friday, May 7, to receive this year’s Wisconsin Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Awards.

The awards program will take place at the Wisconsin Union Theater and is part of Alumni Weekend festivities. The 2004 Distinguished Young Alumni Award will be presented to TV news reporter Mark Saxenmeyer.

Kaczmarek is a 1979 UW–Madison School of Education graduate, with a major in theatre and drama. Among other accolades, she has received an American Comedy Award and two consecutive Individual Achievement in a Comedy awards from the Television Critics Association – the only woman to be so honored. Kaczmarek is married to Madison native and “West Wing” actor Bradley Whitford.

Nelson received his UW–Madison law degree in 1942. In 1958, he was elected governor of Wisconsin. He served two terms, then spent 18 years in the U.S. Senate. One of his best-known achievements is the founding of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. On that first Earth Day, nearly 20 million Americans took to the streets in support of creating a sustainable society. In 1995, Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians in the United States.

Okamura is president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of electrical components, computers, communications systems and medical-imaging equipment. In August 2003, Toshiba launched the world’s most-advanced CT scanner. Okamura earned his UW–Madison MBA in 1973.

Spero, president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, is responsible for directing a $1.5 billion fund that supports a variety of causes, including the performing arts, environmental preservation, medical research and prevention of child abuse. Spero graduated from UW–Madison in 1966 with a degree in international relations. From 1980 to 1981, she served under President Jimmy Carter as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In 1993, she was a leading adviser to President Bill Clinton at the G7 Economic Summits.

The Distinguished Young Alumni Award, presented to an exemplary UW–Madison graduate under the age of 40, will be given to Mark Saxenmeyer, a 1989 graduate of the School of Journalism in the College of Letters and Science. A special-assignment reporter now based in Chicago for the Fox network, Saxenmeyer’s work has earned him one national and fourteen regional Emmy Awards, and 10 regional Associated Press awards.

The May 7 event with some of UW–Madison’s most famous alumni begins with a reception at 5 p.m. in the lobby of the Wisconsin Union Theater, and includes the awards program and a dinner. To register, visit www.uwalumni.com/daa or call the Wisconsin Alumni Association at (608) 262-2551.