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Four University of Delaware alumni recently returned to Newark campus to be inducted into the Alumni Wall of Fame, an honor that has been bestowed to men and women in a variety of vocations since the wall’s inception in the 1980s.
Members of the University of Delaware Alumni Association, who are located in every state and in countries around the world, have distinguished themselves in the fields of law, medicine, business, science, education, athletics, literature and the arts, religion, the military and politics. Alumni are elected for the inclusion on the Wall of Fame based upon their distinguished public and professional achievements and nominations are invited. The Alumni Wall of Fame is located in the Alumni Room in the Perkins Student Center.
This year’s inductees are the Rev. Alexander W. Boyer of Melbourne, Fla.; Richard E. Hangen of Medfield, Mass.; Debra Hess Norris of Wilmington; and Robert L. Siegfried Jr. of Chadds Ford, Pa.
Rev. Alexander W. Boyer graduated from the University of Delaware in 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree in pre-ministry. He served as a rector of Holy Trinity Church in Melbourne, Fla., from 1953 to 1980.
A building expansion program was implemented under his direction to serve his 1,300-member congregation. In 1958, the congregation’s historic building was moved next to a new facility composed of seven classrooms, a parlor, a kitchen and two offices. Additional classrooms were added later, and the Holy Trinity Parish Day School, which today is known as the Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy and which encompasses kindergarten through 12th grade, was established. He also paved the way for an apartment building and three subsidized apartment towers for the elderly.
The Rev. Boyer also has played a leadership role on various projects that serve a wide variety of constituents. He was involved with the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida and the local Melbourne Ministerial Association. During his tenure, Holy Trinity Church established two mission churches – Our Savior Palm Bay in 1961 and St. Sebastian in Melbourne Beach in 1964.
He also has been involved with the Kiwanis Club, the Jaycees and the town council there.
The Rev. Boyer and his wife, Margaret live in Melbourne, where he is an active volunteer with the church and in the community.
Richard E. Hangen received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering in 1963 from UD and earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in 1967.
Hangen is a founding partner of the Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB), a civil engineering firm, and has served as a president for 20 years. Under his leadership, VHB has emerged as a top engineering firm with expertise in transportation, facility design and project management, growing from six engineers to more than 700 employees in 14 offices from New Hampshire to Florida. Clients include Home Depot, Target, Sun Microsystems, 3 Com and Liberty Mutual.
Hangen also is credited with making VHB an employee-friendly workplace. CE News ranked VHB among the top 25 best civil engineering firms to work for the nation. Benefits offered to employees include flexible work schedules and a continuing education center, in which employees can enroll at no cost.
VHB also has been active in and generous toward local community organizations, such as the Lawrence, Mass., Boys and Girls Clubs and, nationally, the annual Jimmy Fund Golf Tournament supporting cancer research.
Hangen also has maintained close ties with the University of Delaware, collaborating on a major study for the state’s Department of Transportation. VHB sends its railroad engineers to annual UD seminars, and Hangen has made numerous gifts to the University in support of many areas, most notably a $50,000 pledge to DuPont Hall expansion marking his formal retirement. An Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) laboratory there will be named in his honor.
Hangen lives in Medfiled, Mass., with his wife, Claire Ann, who is a member of UD’s Class of 1965.
Debra Hess Norris was graduated from UD in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in art history and chemistry, and in 1981 she received her master’s degree from the Winterthur/UD Program in Art Conservation.
A world-renowned authority on photographic preservation, Norris has consulted on projects ranging from the Dead Sea Scrolls to collections of works by Thomas Eakins and Andy Warhol. Her expertise led the Mellon Foundation to create a national initiative in the conservation of photographs, with generous funding for fellowships and workshops designed exclusively by her. She has consulted internationally and has provided on-site teaching in St. Petersburg, Russia and Tokyo, Japan.
Norris is an associate professor and currently chairs the Department of Art Conservation at UD, where she advises and dedicates many hours to undergraduate and graduate students.
The only person to serve two terms as president of the American Institute for Conservation, Norris is now vice president and soon-to-be president of the National Institute for Conservation.
Norris and her husband, Robert, also a 1977 UD graduate, serve on their 25th class reunion committee, and she has been the keynote speaker at alumni award ceremonies on the campus.
The Norrises live in Wilmington, with their daughter, Sarah, who plans to graduate from UD in 2003.
Robert L. Siegfried Jr. graduated from the University of Delaware in 1981 with a bachelor of science degree in economics. He is president and CEO of The Siegfried Group, a nationally recognized accounting firm that offers higher-level services to its clients.
Founded in 1988 as a CPA firm, The Siegfried Group has experienced rapid growth and, in 1995, expanded its services to become one of the top providers of high-caliber accounting and finance professionals in the resource marketplace. Over the past five years, the firm’s growth rate has exceeded 40 percent, and it serves as the parent company for three operation subsidiaries. The company has received national recognition for its fiscal and management performance.
Delaware’s New Castle Country Chamber of Commerce named Siegfried the 1999 Small Business Person of the year. In 2001, he received the Alumni Award of Excellence from UD’s College of Business and Economics.
The Siegfried Group is an active supporter of the community through various organizations, and he serves on the board of directors of the University & Whist Club and is a past board member of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Delaware.
He lives in Chadds Ford, Pa., with his wife, Kathy Horgan Siegfried, a member of the Class of 1985, and their three children.
Article by Stacey Szluka
May 14, 2002
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