University of Dubuque to Honor Alumni at Awards Ceremony
Oct 22, 2018 | University Relations
DUBUQUE, Iowa – University of Dubuque will honor 10 outstanding alumni at the Alumni/ae Recognition Brunch and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 10:00 a.m. in Heritage Center. The ceremony is part of UD’s annual Homecoming celebration weekend.
This year’s honorees are:
Reverend Durwood “Woody” (C’52, MDiv’55) and Barbara (C’57) Busse, of Azusa, California, will receive the Alumna/us of Distinction Award.
Woody and Barbara Busse met at the University of Dubuque. While studying for his undergraduate degree, Woody was active in numerous campus organizations including Chi Alpha Omega, Student Christian Association, Student Council, Christian Life Council, and the Spartan Club. Barbara was also involved on campus. She was a member of Gamma Phi Delta and Chi Sigma Iota. She was class president her sophomore year, and studied her “Junior Year Abroad” in Lucknow, India.
While attending University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Woody related to seminary classmates from five nations who influenced his global perspective. During their courtship on campus, Woody and Barbara committed to ministry overseas. They were married Christmas 1957 in the University of Dubuque Chapel.
In 1956, Woody began his career as the alumni director at UD. Two years later, in 1958, Woody and Barbara spent six months training under the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They traveled to Iran in April 1959, where Woody was the director of the Alborz Foundation, a student center for Tehran University. Barbara taught physical education at Community International School. Woody later obtained a master’s in educational guidance and counseling from the University of Iowa to prepare for the couple’s second Iranian assignment at Mehr-Jordan Schools of the Iran Presbyterian Church. The Busses became involved in the total life of the Iranian Church throughout the country. Over the next few decades, the Busses traveled across the country and world, following calls from the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA). Barbara founded a women’s gospel choir singing African-American gospel music in Danville, California. She also became involved in the Dalit Ministry in India. From 1999 to 2005, Woody and Barbara opened up new work for the PCUSA and became PCUSA liaisons for five countries of Central Asia.
The Busses joined the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship in 2006, an organization that seeks to mobilize local churches to be involved in the unreached peoples of our world, with their main focus in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Woody and Barbara now focus on the Persian world that includes Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Persians of the Diaspora. Barbara continues her biannual trips to Tajikistan and occasionally to Iran.
Caroline (Zelent) Grunenwald (C’08), of Nashville, Tennessee, will receive the Award of Merit.
While attending UD, Caroline was a member of the Alpha Chi National Honor Society and Student Athlete Advisory Committee. She was the 2008 recipient of the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences Robert M. Miller Excellence in Biology Award. She also participated in the UD Concert Choir and was on the women’s cross country and track teams. Caroline earned the IIAC All-Conference award for cross country and the Academic All-Conference award (2004-2008) for cross country and track.
Following her undergraduate work, Caroline pursued a master in science in microbiology from Idaho State University. She went on to earn a doctor of philosophy in microbiology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2015. Her research focused on the eco-epidemiology and population genetics of parasites in wildlife. While pursuing her PhD, Caroline received several honors and awards including the University of Tennessee Department of Microbiology Graduate Teaching Assistant Award for Outstanding Teaching, Gamma Sigma Delta Honor Society Graduate Student (PhD) Award of Merit for Excellence in Agricultural Research, Top Student Oral Presentation – American Society for Microbiology – KY-TN Branch Meeting, and the UTCVM Dr. John C. New, Jr. Award for Excellence in Public Health or Epidemiological Research.
Caroline has authored multiple research publications and mentored a number of undergraduate and graduate students. In 2018, she was invited to speak at the Comparative and Experimental Medicine Seminar Series at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville, Tennessee. Caroline also presented at the 2018 International Conference for Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections in Copenhagen, Denmark. Additionally, she delivered a speech, titled Foundations of a Young Scientist, as a keynote speaker at UD’s Apex: Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity in 2015.
Caroline is a postdoctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her current project focuses on the metabolism of the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and defining how S. aureus acquires essential nutrients during infection.
Joshua Terrell (C’10, MBA’11), of Des Moines, Iowa, will receive the Award of Merit.
While studying at UD, Josh was on the wrestling team and capped of his wrestling athletic career with a National Championship in 2011. He was involved with the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, in which he held the position of vice president, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, for which he was president. Josh was also a Wendt Character Scholar, on the Deans’ List his senior year, and a member of the Gospel Choir.
After graduation, Josh began his career at Aflac in marketing and sales as an associate in Dubuque. He quickly advanced to a position as coordinator in training. Josh’s dedication to Aflac, combined with his leadership qualities, earned him a promotion to district sales manager in 2014. Josh continued to excel in his career at Aflac, and, in 2017, he was promoted to regional sales manager. In May 2018, Josh accepted a promotion to regional sales manager in Des Moines. Josh is now responsible for growth and leadership development of the state’s largest area.
Outside of work, Josh is dedicated to his community and church. He was one of the founding members of Radius Church in Dubuque and led the music ministry. The congregation was born of a desire to create a church atmosphere that reflected diversity. Josh believed it was important for students moving to Dubuque for their college education to have a “home away from home” to assimilate and integrate with the community. While living in Dubuque, Josh was also involved with the Dubuque Schools Mentor Program. Since moving to Des Moines, Josh is involved in music ministry at Bread of Life Church, where his family now attends.
Josh’s passion for wrestling continued beyond his athletic career at UD. He has continued to be a volunteer assistant for the UD wrestling program and coached a couple years at Wahlert Catholic High School. In April 2018, he competed in the 2018 Marine Corps U.S. Open, taking first place in the Masters A Freestyle 78 kg division.
Juris Terauds (C’ 61), of Olivenhain, California, will receive the Professional Achievement Award.
While studying at UD, Juris was involved in many on campus organizations including the Athenaean Fraternity, Theater, Sigma Delta Psi, Student Iowa State Education Association, The D Club, Student Senate, and Student Government. He was class president his freshman and senior years. He also participated in soccer as well as track and field. After graduating from UD, Juris received his master of science from UCLA and LASU in 1964 and his doctor of philosophy in biomechanics from the University of Maryland in 1972.
While earning his PhD from the University of Maryland, his main thesis research was on the aerodynamics and ballistics of the javelin and other research included creating an innovative tennis racquet that featured a unique handle grip designed specifically to combat tennis elbow. From 1972 to 1975, as associate professor at the University of Texas in Odessa, Juris developed a resistance system for sprinters and a pneumatic javelin launcher that enabled him and his colleagues to continue to study the aerodynamics and ballistics of competition javelins. The javelin designs used at world class field events and the Olympic Games since 1972 are based on this research.
In 1975, Juris joined the University of Alberta as professor of biomechanics, where his researched involved Olympic athletes during the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and lead to what was to become the stepping machine. The first prototypes followed in 1997. In 1980, Xiser Industries was founded. The U.S. patent for the Xiser stepper was filed in 1983. This new invention sparked the development of every stepping machine found in gyms around the world and for every portable stepper that has ever glanced the market. Juris then turned his energy and focus into creating a quality stepper for home use and travel that is the most durable, lightweight, and compact of any in production today. Juris’s most notable accomplishment in the invention of the Xiser was personally using the stepper as the main part of a training regime to fulfill one his ultimate goals. He competed for the USA in javelin at the 2009 World Master’s Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and won the gold medal.
In his professional career, Juris was the founder and president of the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports, director of Biomechanics Research at the Olympic Games, president of the International Photo Optical Instrumentation Engineers High Speed Cinematography Society, and developed the first Biomechanics PhD program in Canada and the British Commonwealth.
Reverend Judy Hay (C’68), of Rochester, New York, will receive the Service to Community Award.
During her time at UD, Judy was involved with many campus organizations including Zeta Phi Sorority, Alpha Si Omega, Association of Women Students, Acting, and Student Senate. Her senior year, Judy was a class officer, chairman of New Student Days, and was the Student Senate secretary.
After graduation, Judy continued her education at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago where she earned her master of divinity in 1971. Judy began her ministry in 1971 in Albany, New York, as associate pastor at Madison Avenue, Roselville, and West End Presbyterian churches. In 1973, she was elected associate pastor of Calvary St. Andrew’s Parish, a diverse inner city congregation in Rochester. Calvary St. Andrew’s was located in South Wedge neighborhood, a neighborhood that was becoming abandoned and isolated as families were flocking to the suburbs. There were drugs, gangs, and guns; boarded up and vacant houses lined the streets; businesses were diminishing.
Judy brought together local block club leaders, business owners, and residents. In 1975, she co-founded the South Wedge Planning Committee (SWPC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing the neighborhood. While still a full-time pastor at Calvary St. Andrew’s, Judy was appointed SWPC’s first executive director. SWPC established a tool-lending library where residents could borrow what they needed to fix up their homes. As executive director, Judy worked to secure revitalization grants from the city. Summer work groups were formed, which included youth from the neighborhood, to help low-income or disabled residents work on their homes. During her tenure, the corporation placed 120 houses back on the tax rolls, more than 13 new businesses opened, and three Habitat for Humanity houses were built. Additionally, SWPC spearheaded the development of Section 8 housing and the conversion of a closed school into condominiums. In 1979, Judy was called to serve as senior pastor of Calvary St. Andrew’s, becoming the first woman senior pastor in the PCUSA.
During her ministry at Calvary St. Andrew’s, the church was a vital center for community life in the neighborhood. It became a More Light Congregation, which is open to the LGBTQ community, started a program for people with disabilities, a large food ministry, a ministry in the Dominican Republic, and was a beacon for social justice issues that affected the city of Rochester and beyond. In 2008, Judy co-founded Urban Presbyterians, a consortium of 10 Presbyterian churches to address issues of public education, poverty, and racial equality.
After 40 years of service at Calvary St. Andrew’s, Judy retired in 2013. In her retirement, Judy has remained invested in the neighborhood she helped to build. In 2013, she became the co-leader of Neighbors Building Neighborhoods. In 2017, she assumed co-leadership of the Swillburg Neighborhood Association providing community events, education, beautification, and community gardens.
Royce (C’68) and Kathy (C’68) Farmer, of Des Moines, Iowa, will receive the Volunteer Recognition Award.
While studying at UD, Royce was involved with the Thirteeners Fraternity, Law Club, Beta Alpha Chi, and wrestling. Kathy was involved with Kappa Delta Phi, Zeta Phi, Pan-Hellenic Council, and Dorm Council. She participated in band, orchestra, and the Chamber Choir. She was also on the Dean’s List all four years of college.
In his professional career, Royce was a member of the United States Army and worked for PepsiCo and Pella Corporation in management and leadership training roles. He retired from Pella Corporation in 2006, and then he became self-employed in real estate investment and development. Kathy continued her education at Johnston Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, where she earned a two-year degree in accounting. She worked for a Subway franchise for over 20 years in payroll and financial oversight.
Royce’s fraternity brother and close friend, Jeffrey B. Dodge (C’68), was killed in combat in 1970 in the Vietnam War. Inspired and emotionally affected by the classroom dedication in Ron Sagers’ name at Homecoming 2009, Royce, a veteran himself, and Kathy promised themselves that one day there would be a fitting tribute created in Jeff’s memory. In 2014, Jesse James, dean of admission, emeritus, came to Royce with an idea and vision to keep Jeff’s memory alive on campus by creating a veterans center. The center would provide student-veterans with a means to seamlessly transition from military life to civilian college life, an unfamiliar place to many student-veterans, and assist them in reaching their full potential.
Royce and Kathy worked with Jesse and the UD staff to honor Jeff by naming the veterans center in his memory. The dedication of the Sergeant Jeffrey B. Dodge Veterans Center was held Homecoming 2015. Royce and Kathy have demonstrated extraordinary effort in helping UD obtain the financial support it needs for the Veterans Center as well as scholarships. They are also generous contributors to the Sergeant Jeffrey B. Dodge Veterans Center and other UD initiatives.
Royce and Kathy spend time volunteering in their community. Kathy’s volunteer contributions to the community include accompanying the high school swing choir and middle and high school students for contests. She also accompanies her church choir and plays for wedding and funeral services at her church. She has served as a deacon at her church and also was a volunteer EMT. Royce has served as a Pella Opera Hours board member and president.
Captain Paul Middents (C’61) will receive the Veterans Award for Distinguished Service posthumously.
While studying at UD, Paul was involved with many campus organizations including the Phi Omicron Fraternity, College Judiciary, and Dorm Council. He was also on the Dean’s List and served as vice president of the Chemistry Club his junior year. After graduation, Paul continued his education at Michigan State University where he earned a master of physics in 1963.
CAPT Middents served in the United States Navy from 1957 to 1991. He qualified on submarines on the U.S.S. George Washington completing 15 strategic deterrent patrols over his career. Highlights of CAPT Middents’ Naval career include command at sea on the U.S.S. Lafayette and commanding officer of the U.S.S. Proteus. He also was commanding officer of the Trident Training facility in Bangor, Washington, from 1983 to 1986.
Among the many awards CAPT Middents received for his service are the Legion of Merit with two Gold Stars, Meritorious Service Medal, and Navy Commendation Medal with Gold Star. In addition, he received the Navy Achievement Medal and Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon, among other military accolades.
After retiring from the Navy, CAPT Middents worked as an adjunct professor at Olympic College in Bremerton, Washington, teaching math, physics, and astronomy. In his spare time, he was an antiquarian book collector and an avid researcher of historic clocks. He wrote many articles and gave talks about turn-of-the-century Seattle jeweler and street clock maker Joseph Mayer. CAPT Middents was a member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, receiving a Star Fellowship Award for participation and scholarship over 50 years of membership. He also served as a clerk of session at Summit Avenue Presbyterian Church and president of the Kitsap county Historical Society. CAPT Middents passed away in his home in Silverdale, Washington, on April 19, 2018, after an eight-year battle with cancer.
CAPT Middents wife, Ellen (Thaden) Middents (C’63), was a devoted military wife, both to her family and to the spouses of her husband’s colleagues. While stationed aboard in the Mediterranean Sea, she served as a mentor, providing support and encouragement to other Navy families who were dealing with lengthy absences of their spouse, focusing on effective social services and community activities. As devoted UD alumni, Paul and Ellen have always shown support to their alma mater by contributing to the Middents Memorial Scholarship.
Colonel Harry “Bucky” Peterson (C’68), of Sonoma, California, will receive the Veterans Award for Distinguished Service.
During his time at UD, Bucky was a member of the Athenaean Fraternity and golf team. In his senior year, Bucky was in the Marine’s club.
Bucky was commissioned as a Marine in 1968. He served 32 years in the infantry in a variety of command and staff assignments in most areas of the world including Vietnam, the Mediterranean, Far East, Middle East, Somalia, Kuwait, and Iraq. Highlights of his career include commanding infantry units from rifle platoons to an infantry regiment. Staff assignments include serving as chief of staff for operations for both First and Third Marine Expeditionary Forces and chief of staff for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and Western Recruiting Region. After retiring in 1999, Bucky returned to active duty in 2001, first as chief of staff for operations, plans, and intelligence for Marine Forces in U.S. Central Command when the Marines were in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2002, then as chief of staff for current operations for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq in 2003.
Among COL Peterson’s awards are the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, two awards of Legion Merit, two awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Commendation Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and two awards of the Combat Action Ribbon.
Bucky is also a 1983 graduate from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and a 1991 graduate from the National War College.
From 2005 to 2013, Bucky served as the assistant and military advisor to the chancellor of the California State University System on veteran and military education matters and chairman of Governor of California’s Troops to College initiative. He also was the interim vice president of development for Sonoma State University in California from 2005 to 2007.
He was involved in nonprofit organizations including the Marines Memorial Association, Sonoma Valley Boys and Girls Club, and Sonoma Valley Education Foundation.
