Alfred University News

Bronze statues, Alfred University’s new Alumni Council Awards, cast today at foundry

Six bronze statues, cast this morning in Alfred University’s National Casting Center, will be awarded to six Alfred University alumni next month during the University’s 2022 Alumni Reunion.


ALFRED, NY (May 13, 2022) – Six bronze statues, cast this morning in Alfred University’s National Casting Center, will be awarded to six Alfred University alumni next month during the University’s 2022 Alumni Reunion. The alumni awards represent what the University’s Alumni Council and the Alfred University Advancement Office are planning as a reinvigoration of the annual Alumni Council Awards program, dedicated to honoring University alumni nominated by their peers.

Erin Martinovich, Vice President for Advancement, noted alumni traditionally have been recognized and honored for distinguished achievement and lifetime service to Alfred University. The annual honors program, however, was suspended several years ago, but now is being restored through a joint effort with the University’s School of Art and Design.

Alfred University alumnus Jeff Scharl ’15, who serves as President of the University’s Alumni Council, said Friday the awards would be presented at the Saxon Circle Dinner Friday, June 10, during the University’s annual Reunion weekend. Scharl also noted the Alumni Council is accepting nominations for the 2023 awards.

The University’s Advancement Office, the Alumni Council, and the School of Art and Design (SOAD) began working together earlier this spring in organizing a call for award designs. The chosen design was submitted by Tomas Penc, a graduate student in the School of Art and Design’s Sculpture and Dimensional Studies program. The abstract shape of the mold, influenced by tree forms in Alfred, was generated through a 3D printing process.

Penc this morning joined a team of SOAD students in executing the 2,350-degree bronze pour for the award statues, under the supervision of Coral Lambert, Professor of Sculpture in the School of Art and Design.

His design will be used for the next five annual Alumni Council awards programs, beginning this summer; the casting material is expected to change with each annual pour. In four years, the University’s Advancement Office and SOAD will initiate a new solicitation for Alumni Award designs.

With nominations for next year’s Alumni Council Awards currently open, Scharl noted there are five award categories: Distinguished Service; Distinguished Achievement; the Lillian T. Nevins Award for Lifetime Service to Alfred University; the Abigail Allen Award for Service to Women; and the Rising Alumni Award. Learn more about the alumni awards program and/or to nominate an Alfred University alumnus/alumna/alumnx for the 2023 award.