The Alumni Association honored six at its 32nd annual banquet Homecoming weekend: Dr. Carlos and Mrs. Carol Moya, John Fabsits ’04, Bob Vecchione ’75, Capt. Keith Hoskins ’88 and Dr. Susie Hennessy.
Herb ’35 and Peggy Iffert Award for Outstanding Service to the University
Dr. Carlos and Carol Moya
Dr. Carlos and Carol Moya
The Moyas moved to St. Joseph in 1980 and have been avid Missouri Western supporters and great community volunteers since then.
Carol Moya served on Missouri Western’s Board of Regents and Board of Governors, and she served two terms on the Foundation Board of Directors. She was vice president of that Board two years. Both have volunteered on Missouri Western’s capital campaigns.
“We try to help as much as we can. Education has always been very important to us. An educated workforce is very important,” Carlos Moya said.
Along with volunteering for Missouri Western, they have been active volunteers and board members for a number of community organizations.
John Fabsits ’04
GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) Award
John Fabsits ’04
A native of St. Louis, John Fabsits ’04 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications with a public relations emphasis. He is currently the Assistant Scout Executive/Chief Operations Officer for the Boy Scouts of America Great Rivers Region, which includes 33 counties in central and northeast Missouri, 300 individual packs and troops, and 10,000 youth and adults.
Fabsits lives in Columbia, Mo. and is very involved in volunteer organizations, including the board of the Young Professionals Group and the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation state board. He was a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and continues to help out on the association’s Mid-Missouri Chapter. He also works with the TKE fraternity both locally at University of Missouri-Columbia and nationally.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Bob Vecchione ’75
Bob Vecchione ’75
Bob Vecchione ’75, a Chicago native, followed his cousin to Missouri Western to play baseball, and he played for three years.
For several years, he had a successful sales career, but had always wanted to work with athletics. While working for National Car Rental, the company became a corporate partner with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and that was the beginning of Bob’s career evolution.
Bob joined the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics in 1992 and was named its Executive Director in 2011. The professional association serves more than 6,500 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Capt. Keith Hoskins ’88
Distinguished Alumni Award
Capt. Keith Hoskins ’88
Capt. Keith Hoskins ’88, from Parkville, Mo., came to Missouri Western to play football and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He was commissioned into the U.S. Navy in 1989 after completion of Aviation Officer Candidate School and was designated a naval aviator in 1992. He was a member of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s prestigious flight demonstration squadron, for three years.
In 2013, he became the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. In that role, he oversees approximately 23,000 military and civilian personnel and 1,500 buildings and structures.
Capt. Hoskins has completed several flying combat missions in operations across the globe throughout his naval career. He earned a master’s degree in national resource strategy and policy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Distinguished Faculty Award
Dr. Susie Hennessy
Dr. Susie Hennessy
Dr. Susie Hennessy began teaching French at Missouri Western in 1997 and is a full professor. She became the Coordinator of Foreign Languages for the department in 2000 and became chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages in 2014.
She also serves as chair of the annual Foreign Language Day, which brings high school students from across the region to campus for a day of foreign language immersion. Dr. Hennessy received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académique (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) from French Ministry of National Education.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Romance Languages from The Colorado College and a Ph.D. in French Literature from the University of Colorado.
The history of the Alumni Association Awards
In October 1983, in conjunction with Homecoming, the Alumni Association held its first awards banquet at the St. Joseph Country Club, and it has been held every year since.
The first Distinguished Alumni Award recipients were Dr. Alvin M. Liberman ’36, president of Haskins Laboratories and professor of linguistics at Yale University; Christel E. Marquardt ’70, a partner in the law firm of Cosgrove, Webb and Oman, Topeka, Kan.; W. Dale Maudlin ’71, president of First Midwest Bancorp, Inc., St. Joseph; David H. Morton ’42, senior partner in the law firm of Morton, Reed and Counts, St. Joseph; and Blaine J. Yarrington ’37, retired vice president of Standard Oil Company of Indiana.
The first Distinguished Faculty Award recipient was Francis Kessler, political science professor.
Col. John Byrne Logan pioneered the idea for the awards program and served as chair of the first awards committee.
The Herb ’35 and Peggy Iffert Award for Outstanding Service to the University was created in 2007, and the GOLD Award, Graduate of the Last Decade, was added in 2010.
Since 1983, 223 have been honored by the Alumni Association.