(Posted June 21, 2004)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College presented five alumni-related awards Saturday, June 5 during Alumni Assembly, part of "Juniata College Alumni Weekend 2004." Huntingdon residents E. Floyd and Lois McDowell, were awarded the Harold B. Brumbaugh Alumni Service Award; Washington D.C. resident Barbara Gumbiner, independent organizational consultant and former director of the information exchange and management system for the National Council for International Visitors, received the Alumni Achievement Award; Jacksonville, Fla. resident Grettel Wentling, research fellow in general surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, received the Young Alumni Achievement Award; and Oak Park, Ill. resident Stanley Davis Jr., retired executive director of the Chicago and Northern Illinois region of the National Conference for Community and Justice, received the William E. Swigart Jr. Alumni Humanitarian Award.

In addition, Dr. Perry Habecker, a Coatesville, Pa. resident and staff pathologist at the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, received the 2004 Health Professions Alumni Appreciation Award at the ceremony.

E. Floyd McDowell, a 1949 Juniata graduate, and his wife, Lois McDowell, a 1952 Juniata graduate and current member of the college's Board of Trustees, have participated in countless volunteer activities for Juniata College throughout their careers and currently in their retirement.

Floyd McDowell earned a master of divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary in Oak Brook, Ill. in 1953. He started his career as a pastor and director of Christian education at the Palmyra Church of the Brethren from 1953 to 1955. He served as pastor at the Lititz Church of the Brethren from 1955 to 1959. He spent the majority of his career as director of development for institutional advancement at Bethany Theological Seminary from 1959 until his retirement in 1991.

He has been active in a variety of community programs in Pennsylvania and Illinois, often seeking more cooperation and communication between churches and communities. His service to Juniata has included serving as the class of 1949 fund-raising agent, participating in a variety of student recruitment programs, and participating in Juniata student programs at the Stone Church of the Brethren. He also led the fund-raising effort for the Class of '49 Endowed Scholarship.

Lois McDowell has been a member of the Juniata Board of Trustees since 2002. She is a retired elementary school teacher, working in the Lombard, Ill. school district from 1969 to 1991. She earned a master's degree from Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. in 1985. She has been an active area volunteer in Illinois and during her retirement in Huntingdon. She volunteers in the Hospice Program and at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital.

She also served as chair on the college's Church-College Relations Committee from 1992-2003 and served on her 50th Anniversary Reunion committee. She remains active in many campus activities with her husband.

Barbara Gumbiner, a 1959 graduate of Juniata, started her career in education as a teacher in the Monroeville School District from 1959 to 1961, moving on to become director of religious education at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh from 1973 to 1977. She then moved into public service, becoming program coordinator of the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors in 1978 and earning a promotion to executive director in 1985. In 1989, she moved to the Institute of International Education. She was named director of professional exchange programs in 1996 and was named director of administration for the Washington, D.C. office in 1999.

Gumbiner joined the National Council for International Visitors in 2001 retiring in 2002 to become a consultant. She received the Excellence in Citizen Diplomacy Award from the NCIV in 2002 and received the Director's Award for Superior Achievement from the U.S. Information Agency in 1996.

She currently volunteers on the Juniata Career Team, mentoring a junior student, and participated in the college's 2002 Washington, D.C. "job shadow" program. She also serves on her 45th Reunion Committee. Gumbiner also served on the college's Alumni Council. In addition, she has taken graduate courses at Duquesne University and Adelphi University.

Grettel Wentling, who earned a bachelor's degree from Juniata in 1994, went on to earn her medical degree at the Mayo Medical School in 1998. She completed her residency in general surgery in 2003 and is currently a research fellow in general surgery at the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla.

Wentling, a native of Lancaster, Pa., has volunteered for overseas medical missions, including African trips to Nairobi, Kenya, Bomet, Kenya, and Tanzania, as well as a mission to Guyana in South America. She has served as a medical volunteer for the Billy Graham Crusade and serves on the Mayo International Health Program Advisory Committee.

At Juniata her interest in international service was sparked by receiving the Scholars Abroad Award and a study internship at the University of Leeds medical school. She is a member of the Priestley Society, the American College of Surgeons, the Mayo Alumni Association and the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

Rev. Stanley Davis Jr. received a bachelor's degree from Juniata College in 1959. He went on to earn a master of divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister of The United Church of Christ.

Throughout his career, Davis has worked diligently for civil rights and human rights. In the 1960s, Davis participated in forming the Chicago Freedom Movement and the ministry of Martin Luther King Jr. He has helped make his community, Oak Park, Ill. a racially integrated community. He served as executive director of the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region of the National Conference for Community and Justice from 1984 until retiring in 2003. The organization, founded originally as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a nonprofit human rights organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism.

He started his career as an executive of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, where among other accomplishments, he started Northwest Youth Outreach, an organization that helped troubled youth.

He has received a variety of awards for his work, including the 2000 Inter-religious Leadership Award from the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, and the 1998 Thomas and Eleanor Wright Award from the City of Chicago, Commission on Human Relations. He also received the Order of Merit from the Roman Catholic Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and the Interfaith Religion Award from the Muhammad Ali Community and Economic Development Corp. He also received honorary degrees from Lewis University and Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Ill.

He remains active in a variety of organizations, including the Chicago Dwelling Association, the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, the Illinois Coalition of Religious Leaders and Lincoln Academy of Illinois.

Perry Habecker, a 1976 Juniata graduate, earned a bachelor's degree in biology and went on to earn a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981. He also served a residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine from 1989 to 1992.

He started his career in 1981 as a large animal veterinarian in Mifflin and Chester counties. He switched career paths in 1986 as a veterinary medical officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service. After serving his residency at the veterinary school he was hired in 1992 as a lecturer in pathology at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.. He was promoted to assistant professor of pathology in 1995 and was named staff pathologist in 1999. He also has been chief of the center's Large Animal Pathology Service since 2000.

He is an active member of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and the American Association of Food Hygiene Veterinarians.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.