Alumni Association

Four alumni to receive awards during GLSW

LSSU's annual Alumni Awards Banquet will be busy this year with four outstanding alumni returning to campus to receive awards from the Alumni Association.

Betsy Demaray '83, Sault Ste. Marie, Bill Rothwell '74, Houston, Chuck Cliff '77, Johnstown, Penn. and Paul Shagen '94, Lansing will all be on hand for the banquet, which begins with a social gathering at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, as part of the kick-off to Great Lake State Weekend. Tickets, $20 each, are available contacting Susan Fitzpatrick at the Alumni Office, sfitzpatrick@lssu.edu, 906-635-2831, or get them when you register for the weekend online at lssu.edu/glsw.

Outstanding Alumna Award

Sault Ste. Marie's Betsy Demaray will be presented with LSSU's Outstanding Alumna Award, the highest honor awarded by the Alumni Association. Established in 1968, it recognizes personal and professional accomplishments.

In 2006, she created and funded a scholarship at LSSU to help Eastern Upper Peninsula students returning to college after a long hiatus. She holds a master's degree in business administration from LSSU and knows what it's like to return to school later in life, as does her daughter, who followed in her mother's footsteps.

"LakeStatehasbeenapartofmylifeformanyyears-bothas LSSC and LSSU," Demaray said. "I look at the school as the heart of Sault Ste. Marie. It offers this community a good education, cultural activities, fantastic sporting events and it brings in high-quality faculty and staff who become part of our town.

"My family is proud to have been associated with LSSU for the past 38 years. I earned my degrees there; I've taught as an adjunct professor; my mom and husband have both taught part-time there, and my daughter is a graduate. Lake State is part of the family."

Demaray and herhusbandKenhavetwochildren,Eric(Kathy)Demaray and Kristina (Scott) Nason, and five grandchildren. Her mother, Marion Strahl Boyer, has also endowed a scholarship at LSSU.

Kenneth J. Shouldice Achievement Award

Bill Rothwell '74 will be presented with the Shouldice Achievement Award, which has honored individuals since 1994 whose personal and professional successes serve as outstanding examples to LSSU graduates.

Rothwell is the VP for Innovations and Chemicals Technology for Shell Oil, where he has been working since 1980. He has recently been appointed to the board of directors for Codexis Inc, a developer of clean biocatalytic technology manufacturing processes.

Rothwell said he owes his life-long interest in chemistry to LSSU and his sister, Nancy (Fenlon), whose husband Paul worked for LSSU for many years. Born and raised in the Sault, Rothwell was 9 when Nancy took him on a tour of Lake State where he said he vividly remembers seeing a fascinating array of exotic laboratory glassware, which forever piqued his imagination. Soon afterwards, his sister gave him a chemistry set for Christmas, and he was hooked for life. 

When Rothwell was in seventh grade, high school chemistry teacher David Imig arranged for him to begin college chemistry under then LSSU department chairman Prof. Ray Chelberg. After a successful initial year, Rothwell continued his studies under another Lake State great, Prof. John Lehman, in organic chemistry. By the time he graduated from Sault High, Rothwell had amassed 32 credits in college chemistry and biology. 

"The only high school science course I took was physics," Rothwell said. "This was quite a turnaround for me, since I managed somehow to fail second grade!"

Knowing he needed to improve his math skills to succeed in chemistry, Rothwell said he was pleased to meet Prof. Bernie Arbic, "a very inspirational and challenging math professor…By the time I transferred to Michigan State my junior year, Prof. Arbic had a new convert to the field! I earned two BS degrees at MSU in 1976, one each in mathematics and chemistry."

Following graduation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rothwell and his new bride, Patricia Maki, another LSSU student and Sault resident, moved to Houston where he began work as a research chemist for Shell. In less than five years, he became known internationally as a pioneer in non-medical applications of MRI. When Shell’s worldwide chemical businesses were combined in 1998, the Rothwells and their four sons moved to London where Bill headed up Shell Chemicals global Portfolio Strategy and Planning group. After a few years, they returned to Houston where he became vice president and general manager of a $1.5 billion global chemical business for Shell.

"This was a lot of fun, and I was able to travel extensively through Asia, Europe and North America, visiting global customers," Rothwell said.

In 2007, after 17 years in various business roles, Rothwell returned to technology in his current position, where he oversees 500 scientists and engineers in five technology centers across the world and leads Shell’s research in areas like petrochemicals, biofuels and CO2 removal.

Reflecting on the Shouldice award, he said, "I am thrilled to be associated with this particular award. When I first started my studies at Lake State, Dr. Shouldice was president. I remember him well as a distinguished, visionary leader who did much for LSSU. He created a strong, early impression on me."

Donald and Catherine Finlayson Award

Chuck Cliff '77 will receive the Donald and Catherine Finlayson Award, which is presented to a friend of the university in recognition of contributions to profession, and community, and as an advocate of LSSU through their time and/or resources. The award originated as the Distinguished Citizen Award and was first presented in 1968.

Cliff attended LSSC and University of Detroit in the mid-1970s and studied business administration. Before graduation, he went on to found and run an engineering company. For the past 19 years, he has worked as an independent contractor with industrial robot and controls programming.

"My customers are mostly machine tool builders," Cliff said, listing firms such as panel Processing, TRW, Pilkington, Titan Tire and Contech as some of the firms with which he has worked. "I have worked with companies in many states, as well as Canada and Mexico."

It is with his work at LSSU that Cliff is known to many in the Sault. He and his wife Barbara '79, a former member of the LSSU Board of Trustees and 1998 recipient of the Outstanding Alumna Award, are enthusiastic fans and generous donors of the hockey team and other LSSU programs.

"He follows the Laker hockey team everywhere," said Susan Fitzpatrick, director of the LSSU Alumni Association. "He is an incredibly dedicated, loyal fan."

Although he is a member of the Elks and American Legion, Cliff said most of his activities center around LSSU.

"Between extensive travel for work, Laker hockey and an occasional trip to hunting camp, I don't have time for much else," he said.

Still, he has served on the LSSU Foundation's board of directors since 2000, is a member of Laker Club, assisted with the Gem of the North campaign and, with Barbara, established the Cunningham Nursing Scholarship in memory of Barb's mother.

Cliff is currently head of Alternative Robotics in Fraser, Mich. He and Barbara have a daughter, Jenny.

Paul Ripley Award for Young Alumni

Paul Shagen '94, who was LSSU's Outstanding Political Science Graduate and was chosen as the Outstanding Native American Graduate, will add the Paul Ripley Award for Young Alumni to his list in October. The award has been presented since 1994 to graduates and former students who have enjoyed exceptional personal and professional success early in their careers.

After leaving LSSU in 1994, Shagen attended law school at University of New Mexico-Albuquerque and earned a juris doctorate and Indian law certificate. He was also named as the school of law's outstanding graduate.

Returning to Sault Ste. Marie, Shagen was elected to the board of directors for the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians and was an attorney for the tribe. He left to pursue a private business venture locally, then moved to Wisconsin to become the prosecutor for the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Court, but is now back home in Michigan teaching at Cooley Law School in Lansing.

Throughout his graduate school and work experiences, Shagen said he became appreciative of his years at LSSU.

"The high quality of an education from LSSU became readily apparent in law school," he noted. "The rigor of the political science and pre-law programs had prepared me to excel academically. Dr. Gary Johnson, along with other dedicated faculty, continuously challenged me to think independently and critically, an essential skill in both the practice and teaching of law."

Johnson will introduce Shagen during the Alumni Awards Banquet.

Shagen and his wife Emily have three daughters, Claudia, Emma and Isabella.

For more information on the Alumni Awards Banquet and other Great Lake State Weekend events, visit lssu.edu/glsw.