Five outstanding NDSU alumni will be recognized during the NDSU Alumni Association’s 2014 Alumni Awards Celebration, scheduled for Thursday, May 1, at 11:30 a.m. at the Fargodome.
Garry Higdem, BS ’75, civil engineering, and Sandy Fiechtner, BS ’78, home economics, will receive Alumni Achievement Awards, which honor alumni who have achieved exceptional distinction in their professional field.
Higdem is president of the Parsons Construction Group. During his career, he has managed large civil engineering projects across the U.S. and abroad. He is the former project executive on the $5.2 billion Panama Canal Expansion program and was associated with building the Hiawatha Light Rail in Minneapolis. He lives in Castle Rock, Colo.
Fiechtner is the founder of Sandy Fiechtner Human Resources Consulting and Coaching. She is a former human resources executive with Pfizer Inc. and consultant with Hess Corp. Fiechtner earned a master’s degree in human resources and industrial relations at the University of Minnesota and an executive education certificate from Columbia University. She lives in New York.
Darrell F. Strobel, BS ’64, physics, will be honored with the Henry L. Bolley Academic Achievement Award, which recognizes alumni who have excelled in the area of education. Strobel, who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, Departments of Earth and Planetary Science and Physics and Astronomy, earned his master’s degree and doctorate at Harvard University. He was co-investigator of the U-V Spectrometer experiment on the Voyager Mission, a key member of a team that used the Hubble Space Telescope to discover oxygen atmospheres on two moons of Jupiter, an interdisciplinary scientist for the Cassini Mission to Saturn, and a co-investigator on the New Horizons Mission to Pluto. He lives in Baltimore.
Gary W. Boehler, BS '70, pharmacy, will receive the Heritage Award for Alumni Service, which recognizes outstanding support of NDSU projects or activities. Boehler is the former executive vice president of pharmacy operations for Thrifty White. A driving force behind the support for NDSU’s Thrifty White Concept Pharmacy Instructional Laboratory and telepharmacy program, he also serves on the NDSU Pharmacy National Advisory Board. He lives in Plymouth, Minn.
Amy Uthus, BA ’07, art and English, will be recognized with the Horizon Award, which honors a graduate of the past 15 years who has distinguished themselves in their profession or service to their community. Uthus, an artist who works in pottery and ceramics, has already participated in more than 15 juried exhibitions.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.