About
Each Homecoming, The University of Montana Alumni Association honors outstanding alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards. University alumni and friends are invited to nominate on an individual basis a graduate or former student for this award.
Recipients of the award are individuals who have distinguished themselves in a particular field and who have brought honor to the University, the state or the nation. The University of Montana Alumni Association Board of Directors Awards Committee focuses on career achievement, professional honors, professional membership/directorship, community service and UM &/or UMAA recognition/service in selecting recipients.
Click here to see a list of former Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Click here to nominate an individual for the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award
2010 DAA Award Recipients
Four outstanding University of Montana graduates will receive 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards during the Homecoming weekend festivities, Sept. 24-25. The awards are the highest honor presented by the UM Alumni Association.
This year's distinguished alumni are John Badgley, of Edmonds, Wash.; Patrick Cheney of State College, Penn.; Joseph P. Mazurek of Helena; and Colleen L. McGuire of Washington, D.C.
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John Badgley
Badgley, who was born and raised in Missoula, earned a bachelor's degree in history at UM
in 1952. He taught international relations and Asian studies at universities such as Miami,
Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Kyoto. In 1973 he founded the Institute of the Rockies, a public policy education organization. He also is a co-founder of the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation.
While at UM, Badgley was a member of the Phi Delta Theta and president of Silent Sentinel. He lettered in track during all four years at the University. He is a member of the Oscar J.
Craig Heritage Society for planned giving to archives and special collections at UM's
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library.
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 Patrick Cheney
Cheney is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University. A native of Great Falls, he earned a bachelor’s degree in English at UM in 1972. He is the author and editor of 15 books and numerous essays
on a variety of subjects that include William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.
Cheney has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a consultant for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. While at UM, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. He currently mentors young athletes and scholars.
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 Joseph P. Mazurek
Mazurek received a bachelor’s degree in business administration at UM in 1970 and a juris doctorate from the University in 1975. He has been active as a lawyer and politician in
Montana, serving 12 years as a state senator and eight years as attorney general. He has
worked across party lines to increase funding for K-12 education and for environmental and public health projects.
While at UM, Mazurek was a member and president of Phi Delta Theta and the fraternity’s Outstanding Graduate of 1970. He served as Associated Students of UM president and was
a member of Silent Sentinel and of Beta Gamma Sigma, a business honor society. In law school, he was associate editor of the Montana Law Review and a member of the Phi Alpha Phi legal fraternity. |
 Colleen L. McGuire
McGuire, a 1979 graduate of UM, is the first Montana woman to achieve the rank of brigadier general and the first woman ever to become provost marshal general of the U.S. Army and commanding general of the Army Criminal Investigation Command. She was sworn in as the Army’s top law enforcement officer during a January 2010 ceremony at Fort Belvoir, Va.
After graduating from UM, McGuire was commissioned in the Military Police Corps. She served nearly 30 years of active duty in Germany, Somalia, Iraq and the U.S. While at UM, she was a broadcast journalism major, a member of ROTC and a cheerleader for the Grizzlies. She
plans to retire in Montana.
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