During Reunion, Carleton’s Alumni Association recognizes alumni who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their field or community, who have provided exceptional service to the College, or who are young alumni and have made a significant contribution that embodies the spirit of Carleton. Additionally, the Carleton ‘C’ Club is an organization of alumni who participated and lettered in varsity athletics during their time at Carleton.
Distinguished Achievement Award
The Distinguished Achievement award recognizes exceptional achievement with national or international impact within the field or fields of professional accomplishment, non-professional pursuit, or volunteer service. This honor is intended for living alumni of the College, and preference is given to those in the Reunion classes.
Exceptional Service Award
These awards recognize exceptional service that contributes substantially to the well-being of the College by furthering its purposes and programs. Individuals currently serving the College as employees, trustees or council members are not normally eligible, but can be nominated if they have retired or completed their service. This recognition is not restricted to alumni and may include friends, faculty, administrators or others who have served the College.
2020 Award Recipients
Don Barry ’70, Distinguished Achievement
After majoring in philosophy at Carleton and earning a Masters of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, Donald Barry ’70, embarked on a nearly 50-year career teaching high school mathematics.
He started in Tarsus, Turkey, where he created the country’s first math league and found himself writing all the problems. This became the story of his life.
Returning to the US in 1980, he taught at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts for 34 years and continued writing math contest problems in earnest. One nominator notes it is possible Don has written more math contest problems for more contests than anyone else. Such problems are not textbook problems—they require a lot of exploration, play, and creativity.
From 1995 through 2008, he was the head author for the American Regions Math League, known as the World Series of math contests.
He also wrote the end-of-the-year contests for both Massachusetts and New England, wrote and edited for the Massachusetts Math Olympiad, the Southeast Asian Math League, the ACT college entrance exam, and worked for an outreach program designed to support inner-city math teachers.
In 2013 he created some of the calculus problems for Khan Academy’s BC calculus course, a course used worldwide.
Currently, he is the chair of the American Regions Math League’s off-site division for international teams as well as an author of problems for two state contests, one regional contest, and for the national Math Madness Internet competitions for high school, middle school, and elementary school students. He has also taught several History of Math courses at Northfield’s Senior Center.
Don and his wife, Roxanne Scott Barry ’70, live in Northfield, 4 blocks from their first date.
Don Camp ’70, Distinguished Achievement
An internationally-recognized expert on China and South Asia, Donald Camp ’70 helped steer the United States through multiple foreign relations crises over the past 35 years.
As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia from 2001 through 2006, he played a key role in avoiding war and achieving peace between India and Pakistan, encouraged a return of democracy in Nepal, and worked on reconciliation in Sri Lanka after a violent civil war. Staying abreast of affairs in eight countries, Camp advised the White House on policy and humanitarian assistance, and provided expertise on how to work with the nations of South Asia.
As Director for South Asia on the National Security Council staff from 1999 through 2001, Camp planned and accompanied President Bill Clinton on his path-breaking visit to South Asia, setting the stage for a new partnership with India and restoring relations with Pakistan, allowing the United States to rely on Pakistan’s cooperation following 9/11. Camp also served as senior director on the National Security Council for President Barack Obama in 2009, where he managed a reset of Afghanistan policy and furthered relations with India.
Throughout his tenure in the Foreign Service, Camp has been a distinguished advocate for U.S. strategic interests as well as for peace and stability, while working to mentor young officers. As one nominator writes, “his contributions to U.S. diplomacy are beyond measure.”
Camp majored in mathematics at Carleton and lives in Falls Church, Virginia.
Elizabeth Davenport McKune ’70, Distinguished Achievement
Throughout her 33-year career in the United States Foreign Service, Elizabeth Davenport McKune broke several barriers for women and minorities.
She was the first female African-American ambassador in the Middle East and the first female ambassador from any country to the State of Qatar, where she served from 1998 through 2001; this appointment represented a historic breakthrough.
A year after her arrival in Doha, the Peoples Republic of China sent a female ambassador. McKune was also the first woman to serve as deputy executive secretary in the U.S. State Department, where she worked from 1989 through 1991.
She joined the U.S. Foreign Service at a historic time, becoming one of the first married women pursuing a career in foreign service, and served as a mentor to younger women and minorities—one nominator notes that McKune’s “leadership and reputation for excellence inspired and encouraged women to pursue assignments in Middle Eastern countries.”
McKune was the first female African-American to graduate from the National War College with distinction and has received the Department of Defense’s Joint Civilian Defense Award as well as Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards from the Department of State.
After retiring from foreign service, McKune became executive director of the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center in Washington D.C., (2007-2011) which promotes understanding between the United States and Oman.
A history major at Carleton, she also holds an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in International Affairs.
She and her husband Ken live in McLean, Virginia.
Randolph M. Nesse ’70, Distinguished Achievement
Devoting his career to bringing evolutionary biology to medicine, Randolph Nesse ’70 helped found the new field of evolutionary medicine that considers how natural selection has made humans vulnerable to disease and mental disorders, an approach that is now being applied to quandaries such as cancer, obesity, depression, and more.
As a professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan, in 1994 he coauthored the landmark book Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, which impacted scientists and physicians worldwide and is still cited today.
Nesse also founded and served a term as president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, as well as the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
In 2014 he left Michigan to found the Center for Evolution and Medicine at Arizona State University, the largest and most interdisciplinary center of its kind, and in 2019 he published a second groundbreaking book, Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry, which introduced the subfield of evolutionary psychiatry.
In recognition of his pioneering work in evolutionary medicine, Nesse was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Nesse, a psychology major at Carleton, holds an MD from the University of Michigan.
He and his wife, fellow Carl Margaret Howell Nesse ’70, live in Tucson, Arizona.
Barbara Weitz ’70 & Wally Weitz ’70, Exceptional Service
“Barbara and Wally Weitz, together with their children, have in truly visionary and positive ways recast the academic profile and quality of Carleton College,” writes President Steve Poskanzer in his nomination letter for Barbara Veach Weitz ’70 and Wally Weitz ’70.
The largest donors in Carleton’s history, the couple has never failed to support their alma mater with leadership, generosity, and wisdom.
Among their most prominent legacies have been their vision and realization of the Weitz Center for Creativity and their thoughtfulness in establishing the Weitz Fellows Program, a one-year placement opportunity for Carls to explore careers in the nonprofit sector of eastern Nebraska.
Additionally, they created the Trustee Challenge to kick-start the Every Carl for Carleton campaign in 2016—for which they both served on the planning committee—as well as the 1866 Scholarship Match, providing motivation for more alumni and parents to join in supporting financial aid for deserving students, and the 2020 Internship Match, which did the same for experiential learning opportunities.
Beyond their financial largess, the Weitzes have always been as generous with their time as avid volunteers. Wally has served on the Board of Trustees since 2000 and has been chair of the Board since 2016, and Barbara has worked on numerous committees.
Together, they co-chaired the steering committee for the Breaking Barriers, Creating Connections campaign in the early 2000s and the Parents Advisory Council in the 1990s, as all three of their children, Kathryn Weitz ’96, Roger Weitz ’99, and Andrew Weitz ’02, became fellow Carls.
As students at Carleton, Barbara majored in government; Wally majored in economics.
Barbara later earned a master’s of public administration degree from New York University and a master’s of social work degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and pursued a 15-year career there as a professor while Wally started Weitz Investments, hailed as one of the most successful value investing firms in the country.
They live in Omaha.
Past Recipients of Distinguished Achievement/Service Awards
Blue, Jon (Distinguished Achievement – 2015)
Craine, William (Exceptional Service – 2000)
Davis, Beth Boosalis (Exceptional Service – 2015)
Fraker, Susan (Distinguished Achievement – 1984)
Gendler, John (Exceptional Service – 2010)
Holt, Rush (Distinguished Achievement – 2005)
Kolker, Jimmy (Distinguished Achievement – 2000)