Frontier Spirits
Alumni Fellows expand the horizons of their professions

Each fall, the UO College of Arts and Sciences honors three outstanding alumni who have distinguished themselves in their respective careers. Alumni Fellows Awards are presented annually at a special Profiles in Achievement Banquet in November.

The program provides today's students an opportunity to learn from people outside the academy who have taken active roles in shaping our society. Award recipients hold informal seminars, discussing career paths, learning opportunities, and types of skills most relevant to the emerging educated citizen.

(Note: Beatrice Aitchison died on Sept. 22, 1997.)

Working women were not very popular in the 1950s, said Dr. BEATRICE AITCHISON, 1937 UO alumna. "But I learned to ignore the situation. I was brought up believing people were people." Aitchison in 1953 became the first woman ever to reach a top position in the U.S. Postal Service. As Director of Transportation Rates and Economics, she supervised the switch of first class mail delivery from trains to airplanes, thus creating a place for herself in American communication history. "I was delighted with my work. It was the first job I ever had where my decisions, my recommendations, had an effect on how much money this country had. If we had not done what we did in that year, we would have paid $50 million more than we should have."

Aitchison's UO degree in economics followed master's and doctoral degrees in mathematics from John Hopkins University. After teaching mathematics at American University and the University of Richmond, Aitchison returned to the UO in 1939 as an instructor of economics.

Before joining the Postal Service, Aitchison worked as a principal transportation economist for the Interstate Commerce Commission and spent two years working for the U.S. Department of Commerce. (From the Autumn 1996 issue of Cascade)

A former track star at the UO, KENNY MOORE went on to become a member of the U.S. Olympic Team at the unforgettable 1972 Munich Games where he placed fourth in the marathon.

Moore earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy in 1966 and a master's degree in creative writing in 1972. He has served as Senior Writer and Senior Editor of Sports Illustrated, where he has spent 16 years.

Moore is a co-screenwriter for the movie Pre, which is based on the life of Oregon track legend Steve Prefontaine. The movie was filmed in various parts of Oregon, including Hayward Field on the UO campus.

Moore's affiliations include the International Institute for Sports and Human Performance and the Webfoot Society. (From the Autumn 1996 issue of Cascade)

An immediate past president of the American Society of Internal Medicine (ASIM), KATHLEEN WEAVER, M.D., has received the Upjohn Achievement Award and been recognized by the Fellow American College of Physicians.

Weaver earned a B.S. in biology at the UO in 1964 and went on to graduate summa cum laude at OHSU with a Doctorate of Medicine in 1967. Wanting to be a doctor nearly all her life, Weaver is a physician of internal medicine at Westside Internal Medicine in Portland, as well as a Clinical Associate Professor at OHSU and a Faculty Associate at Linfield College in McMinnville.

In addition to ASIM, Weaver has served as President of the Oregon Society of Internal Medicine (1983-1984) and as President of the Oregon Chapter American Women's Medical Association (1984-1985). She is an alternate delegate to the American Medical Association from Oregon and is one of 10 women physicians on the AMA Advisory Panel on Women in Medicine.

Weaver has published widely on topics including health care reform, AIDS and coronary diseases. She also enjoys piloting, skiing, and fly-fishing with her husband and two daughters. (From the Autumn 1996 issue of Cascade)