Richard Parsons, president of Time Warner Inc., will present the keynote address and be the honored guest at the 1998 Fairfield Awards Dinner on Tuesday, April 28, at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich, Conn.

Ned Lautenbach, senior vice president and group executive for sales and distribution at IBM Corporation and a University trustee, will serve as the dinner chairman. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Fairfield Awards Dinner is an annual fund-raising dinner hosted by the Alumni Association to benefit the AHANA (African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American) Scholarship Fund. The dinner has raised over $1.3 million for multicultural scholarships since the event moved off campus in 1988.

If anyone is interested in attending or sponsoring a table at this year's dinner, contact Anissa DeMatteo, special events director, at (203) 254-4000, ext. 2661.

Parsons, who will receive the University's Distinguished Leadership Award, is responsible for all corporate staff functions, including all corporate financial activities, legal affairs, public affairs and administration. He is also a member of the Time Warner Board of Directors.

As president of Time Warner Inc., a worldwide leader in the media and entertainment industry, Parsons has provided direction for many of the company's social responsibility initiatives. Time Warner's "Time to Read" literacy program is the nation's largest corporate-sponsored program with 3,500 volunteers providing more than 700,000 hours of tutoring a year for adolescents and adults at 250 locations across the country.

"Dick Parsons is an exceptional business leader with the broad experience, financial acumen and knowledge of our businesses that have strengthened our corporate management," said Gerald Levin, chairman and CEO of Time Warner.

In addition to serving on the board of Time Warner, Parsons also serves as a director of Citicorp, Citibank, Fannie Mae and Philip Morris.

Before joining Time Warner, Parsons was chairman and chief executive officer of Dime Bancorp, Inc., one of the largest thrift institutions in the United States with more than $20 billion in assets.

Prior to joining the Dime in 1988, he was the managing partner of the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. From 1971 to 1977, he held various positions on the state and federal levels, including first assistant counsel to former New York governors Nelson Rockefeller and Malcolm Wilson, and general counsel and associate director of the Domestic Council under President Ford.

Active in community affairs, he is chairman of the New York City Partnership and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation and is committed to these projects aimed at enhanced opportunities for youth and lasting revitalization for troubled areas.

At the Fairfield Awards Dinner this year, the following distinguished alumni and a member of the faculty will be honored:

Dr. Suzanne MacAvoy, a nursing professor who has been devoted to helping impoverished people in Central America, South America and in Bridgeport, Conn., will receive the award for Distinguished Faculty.

Dr. MacAvoy has been active in coordinating student nursing programs at urban centers in Bridgeport and in participating in the University's Mission Volunteer Program which sends students to serve the poor of Haiti, Honduras, Ecuador, Belize and Mexico. She has been instrumental in collecting medical supplies for Haiti and Ecuador, including on one trip several 75-pound drums of chewable vitamins, on another 32 cartons of medical supplies, and on another an ultrasound machine, EKG and respiratory therapy equipment.

She received a diploma in nursing from St. Joseph Hospital School and a B.S. in nursing education from the College of Misericordia, both in Pennsylvania; an M.S. in nursing from Boston College and an Ed.D. in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

In 1972, she joined the University as an assistant professor of nursing, and has since served as acting dean, director of the RN program, Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Health Sciences chair from 1990 to 1993, and most recently, director of the undergraduate program.

Donald Browne, a member of the class of 1955, will receive the award for Alumni Professional Achievement. Browne graduated with a B.S.S. in government and then went on to receive his law degree from the University of Connecticut in 1958 and his L.L.M. (criminal justice) from New York University in 1987.

He recently retired as the state's attorney. Since 1987, he has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Bridgeport/Quinnipiac College Law School.

He went into private practice with the firm of Browne & Browne from 1958 to 1973 in Bridgeport. He then served as the assistant state's attorney for Fairfield County from 1965 to 1973. In 1973 he was appointed the state's attorney of Fairfield County/Judicial District of Fairfield by the judges of the Superior Court.

He has served on the Alumni Association Board since 1993.

Robert Monk '60, who graduated from Fairfield with a bachelor of science degree in marketing, will receive the award for Outstanding Alumni Service.

Monk currently works in his own independent sales agency that services the millwork and building materials industries.

He has been active with the Alumni Association for many years as a participant in the Alumni Network, reunion chair and reunion volunteer. In 1972, he received a certificate of achievement award in recognition of distinguished service to the University, community and fellow man. He was the co-chair in 1986 for the annual fund-raising golf tournament committee, and has remained on the committee to help raise money for scholarships. He was chairman for the Alumni Fund in 1986-1987, and has served on the Alumni Association Board since 1985.

Posted On: 03-01-1998 09:03 AM

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