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Juniata College

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Juniata College

(Posted June 15, 2016)

Juniata College recently honored five alumni during the college's Alumni Weekend 2016. The winners are as follows, from left: Kelly Wike, of Altoona, Pa., an independent agent for State Farm Insurance, with presenter Gunter Volders, associate marketing director at Penn State's World Campus, behind her; Dr. Douglas Spotts, of Mifflinburg, Pa., family physician and chief medical information officer at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, Pa., with presenter Amanda Siglin, director of Juniata's Health Professions Program, behind him; Maurice Taylor, of Bowie, Md., vice president for academic outreach and engagement at Morgan State University, with presenter Tom Snyder, a retired higher education administrator and entrepreneur, behind him; and William Chew, of Collegeville, Md., retired systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, with presenter Marion Kercher Oliver, a retired teacher, behind him. Another award recipient, Scott Kofmehl, of Washington, D.C., senior watch officer for the U.S. Department of State, was unable to attend the ceremony.
Juniata College recently honored five alumni during the college's Alumni Weekend 2016. The winners are as follows, from left: Kelly Wike, of Altoona, Pa., an independent agent for State Farm Insurance, with presenter Gunter Volders, associate marketing director at Penn State's World Campus, behind her; Dr. Douglas Spotts, of Mifflinburg, Pa., family physician and chief medical information officer at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, Pa., with presenter Amanda Siglin, director of Juniata's Health Professions Program, behind him; Maurice Taylor, of Bowie, Md., vice president for academic outreach and engagement at Morgan State University, with presenter Tom Snyder, a retired higher education administrator and entrepreneur, behind him; and William Chew, of Collegeville, Md., retired systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, with presenter Marion Kercher Oliver, a retired teacher, behind him. Another award recipient, Scott Kofmehl, of Washington, D.C., senior watch officer for the U.S. Department of State, was unable to attend the ceremony.

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College, as part of its "Alumni Weekend 2016," presented five alumni-related awards Saturday, June 4, during Alumni Assembly.

Bowie, Md. resident Maurice C. Taylor, vice president for academic outreach and engagement at Morgan State University, in Baltimore, Md., was awarded the Alumni Achievement Award; Collegeville, Pa. resident William Chew, a retired systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, received the Harold B. Brumbaugh Alumni Service Award; Altoona, Pa. resident Kelly Wike, an independent agent for State Farm Insurance and Financial Services, received the William E. Swigart Jr. Alumni Humanitarian Award; Washington, D.C. resident Scott Kofmehl, senior watch officer in the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Operations Center, was awarded the Young Alumni Achievement Award; and Dr. Douglas Spotts, family physician and chief medical information officer at Evangelical Community Hospital, in Lewisburg, Pa., received the Health Professions Alumni Appreciation Award.


Maurice C. Taylor, a native of Baltimore, Md. and a 1972 graduate, has been at Morgan State University since 1991, serving as vice president of academic outreach and engagement since 2012. He oversees the university's online, professional and continuing education programs, as well as community service, summer school, winter session and English as a Second Language.

Taylor started his executive career in higher education at Morgan State, starting as an assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He was promoted to assistant vice president for academic affairs in 1995.
He left Morgan State to accept a job at St. Augustine's College, in Raleigh, N.C., where he worked as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost from 1997 to 2000. He led the college's academic and administrative sections and managed the institution's budget.

In 2000, he returned to Morgan State as special assistant to the president and was named dean of the School of Graduate Studies and professor of sociology in 2001. From 2005 to 2010, he served as a member of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) board, including a term as board chair. He was promoted to vice president for university operations at Morgan State in 2008.

Before specializing in academic administration, Taylor earned a law degree in 1989 from the Duke University School of Law. He went on to practice as a labor lawyer in the Baltimore-based firm of Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander from 1989 to 1991.

Taylor earned his bachelor's degree in sociology. He went on to earn a master's degree in 1974 in sociology/criminology and a doctorate in 1978 in sociology/criminology, both from Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green, Ohio.

He has remained active at Juniata College, serving as a member of the board of trustees from 1993 to 2014. As a trustee, he served of various committees, including Business Affairs, Executive Committee and Investment Committee. He also chaired the Committee on Academic Affairs and Student Life. In addition, he served as a Juniata Admission Ambassador and as a Gold Card Recruiter.

He is exceptionally active in his community, serving on the board of directors for the State of Maryland African-American Museum since 2015. He also serves on the board of trustees at Baltimore's Mercy High School and as a member of the Walters Art Museum's audience committee. He also is a member of the Visit Baltimore Multicultural Advisory Committee and Maryland Campus Compact Senior Advisory Group for Engagement.

William Chew, a Collegeville, Pa. resident, earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1964 at Juniata. He went on to earn a master's degree in 1966 from the University of West Virginia and also earned a master's degree in 1971 from Stanford University in operations research.

Chew began his working career in the aerospace industry, starting as a systems engineer in 1966 for TRW Systems, in Houston, Texas, where he worked on the Apollo space missions. He continued to work for TRW at its Sunnyvale, Calif. offices, specializing in satellites, from 1969 to 1974. From 1974 to 1976, he worked at Systems Control Inc., in Palo Alto, Calif., and returned to TRW from 1976 until 1980.

His career arc turned eastward when he accepted a job at General Electric, in Valley Forge, Pa., in 1980. He retired as a senior systems engineer at Lockheed Martin, in King of Prussia, Pa., in 2013.

Chew has remained active as a Juniata volunteer since graduating, serving as a co-class fund agent and reunion planner for his graduating class. He served on the class steering committee from 2004 to 2014 He also served on the college's alumni council from 2011 to 2014. He has served as a Juniata College Admissions Ambassador for more than a decade and also worked on the Juniata Career Team. Chew also manages his class website.

Chew also is active in the Delaware Valley Regional Alumni Club and helped start the Alumni Emeriti Hospitality Lounge.

Kelly Wike, a native of Tyrone, Pa. and a 1973 Juniata graduate, earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the college.

She started her career as a secondary school teacher in 1973, teaching in the Tyrone Area School District until 1985. She left teaching and became an insurance agent for State Farm Insurance in July 1985 and continues to operate her insurance office in Tyrone, offering home, health, life and auto insurance, as well as financial services..

Wike is active in her community and has served as president, vice president and treasurer of the Tyrone Rotary Club and currently serves as president of the Altoona Sunrise Rotary Club. She also served as the Rotary's centennial District Governor from 2004 to 2005. In addition to her international humanitarian efforts, Wike also has hosted 10 Rotary foreign exchange students.

She is president of the board of directors for the Tyrone Regional Health Network, serving previously as treasurer and vice president.

Wike has increased her volunteer work in the last decade, working on several humanitarian aid projects for Rotary and other organizations. She has traveled to India six times as part of the Rotary project to eradicate polio all over the world. She also has been involved in helping communities in India build a dam to capture monsoon rainwater that can be used in agricultural irrigation projects. She also traveled to Nicaragua as part of a HungerPlus project to feed and educate poor children.

Recently, Wike has become an ambassador for Shelterbox USA, a charitable organization that provides tents, blankets and other items to refugees from such countries as Syria and Somalia, as well as disaster victims in foreign countries and the United States. She received the President's Volunteer Service Award in 2012.

Wike currently serves on the national Rotary Relations Committee for ShelterBox USA. She also is trained as a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and is a member of the Tyrone Chamber of Commerce. For Juniata, Wike has volunteered as a Juniata Alumni Ambassador, the Juniata Career Team and as a Gold Card Recruiter.

Scott Kofmehl, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa. and a 2003 Juniata graduate, has been a Foreign Service officer since 2007.

Kofmehl earned a bachelor's degree in international political economy from Juniata and went on to earn a master's degree in public policy in 2005 from Harvard University. He earned a doctoral degree in 2008 from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He began his diplomatic career in 2007 as an economic officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. In 2010 he became vice consul at the American embassy in Mexico City.

Kofmehl was named chief of staff for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2011, serving there for two years. He returned to the United States in 2013, working as senior Vietnam desk officer at the U. S. Department of State building in Washington, D.C.

Currently, Kofmehl serves as senior watch officer at the state department's Operations Center, where he manages a team of six watch officers who provide oral and written briefings to senior officials during crises and in support of the Secretary during phone calls to foreign leaders.

He has remained active at Juniata when his schedule and assignments allow. He has volunteered as a class fund agent for his class, become a Gold Card Recruiter and worked with the Juniata Career Team. He has returned to campus periodically to give guest lectures in the politics department.

As a student at Juniata, Kofmehl received the National Security Education Undergraduate Scholarship, the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and the Pickering Fellowship. As a graduate student he received Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship.

The Health Professions Alumni Appreciation Award was given to Douglas Spotts, a 1989 graduate of Juniata College and a family physician and chief medical information officer at Evangelical Community Hospital, in Lewisburg, Pa.

Spotts started his medical career in 1996 as a family physician for the Evangelical Medical Services Foundation. In 2003, he opened his own medical practice, which remained open until 2011, when Spotts started his current job at Evangelical Community Hospital.

Spotts earned a bachelor's degree in 1989 in biology from Juniata, and went on to earn his medical degree in 1993 from the Penn State University College of Medicine. He served a residency at the Harrisburg Hospital Family Practice Residency Program.

Spotts is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
He has been an active volunteer at Juniata and served as alumni trustee from 2012 to 2015.

He has served his profession as both past president and past board chair for the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians. He is a trustee of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation board of directors and was recently elected as treasurer.

In 2002 Spotts was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He also holds many professional memberships, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, the American Medical Association, the Pennsylvania Medical Association and Union County Medical Society. He also is a member of the American College of Physician Executives and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Spotts was named an Eagle Scout in 1983 and continues to serve the Boy Scouts in various capacities. He is an active member of the Lewisburg Sunrise Rotary Club and an active member of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Lewisburg.

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

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