Elmhurst College honors alumni, former professor
Elmhurst College recently presented Alumni Merit Awards to four graduates who made exemplary contributions to society and the school.
The college also presented its Faculty and Staff Merit Award to retired biology professor Frank Mittermeyer.
Established in 1962 by the Alumni Association of Elmhurst College, the awards are given to those who embody and achieve excellence in community, career or service.
• Susan Frick (Class of 1985) received the Distinguished Service to Society Award. Frick, of Westmont, has dedicated her career to supporting individuals and families affected by Alzheimer's disease.
As a social worker at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, she manages a variety of training programs for staff of residential care facilities who work with individuals with Alzheimer's disease.
• Herb K. Washington, Jr. (Class of 1997) received the Distinguished Service to Alma Mater Award.
A vice president with Aspire, a Chicago nonprofit dedicated to supporting children and adults with disabilities and their families, Washington was instrumental in forging a relationship between Aspire and the college's Best Buddies chapter.
The Berkeley resident also supported the college's First Leap program and hosted several students for internships and field work experience.
At Aspire, he has actively promoted the concept of inclusion as a means of improving not only the lives of individuals, but also their communities.
• Zubair Ahmed (Class of 2006) was one of two to receive the Young Alumni Award. A neurologist, scholar and teacher, he is a rising star in the field of headache medicine.
As chief resident at the Cleveland Clinic, he was the first neurology resident chosen for a highly selective administrative fellowship at the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He also completed a fellowship in headache medicine at the University of Utah, where he was awarded the Frontiers in Headache Research Scholarship.
Ahmed returned to the Cleveland Clinic in 2016 as faculty and staff physician. He lives in Cleveland.
• The other recipient of the Young Alumni Award was Katherine Lenz (Class of 2009), an optometrist who embodies the college's core value of social responsibility through her work in treating underserved patients.
Lenz, of Barrington, was the first Elmhurst College graduate admitted into the prestigious Illinois College of Optometry. At ICO, she had extensive training in the areas of pediatrics, low vision, specialty contact lenses and ocular disease, and completed externships with Chicago Cornea Consultants, Sidney Hillman Health Center, Lighthouse for the Blind, Illinois Eye Institute and Lossman Eye Care Associates.
• The Dr. Andrew K. Prinz Faculty/Staff Merit Award was given to Frank Mittermeyer, a retired Elmhurst College biology professor and founding director of the Center for the Health Professions.
A longtime professor of biology at Elmhurst, Mittermeyer was a passionate and dedicated mentor to generations of students.