Alumni Awards

Ambassador to Syrian Arab Republic named Alumnus of Merit

The Whitman College Alumni Association presented its highest award for alumni achievement to Ryan Crocker, '71, U.S. ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic. As the award was announced this spring, Crocker was in Syria, involved in sensitive negotiations over the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. He has been ambassador to Syria since June 1998.

Ryan Crocker, '71, was involved in Israeli-Lebanese negotiations earlier this year

Cited by the alumni association for "living his life in service to others," Crocker has held numerous positions in the foreign service, the vast majority in the Middle East, over the past 29 years.

Crocker's first assignment in 1971 was at the American consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran, and subsequent assignments took him to Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, he became the director of the Iraq-Kuwait Task Force. Named U.S. ambassador to Lebanon in November 1990, he was in Lebanon in April 1993 when the American embassy was bombed and 17 Americans were killed. In 1994, he was named ambassador to Kuwait.

Crocker's experience and his extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures, history, and languages make him one of the State Department's leading experts on Middle Eastern affairs. He has received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.

Ferguson, Manning cited for dedication to Whitman

Baker Ferguson and Ivan Manning, both 1939 graduates of Whitman, are receiving this year's Gordon Scribner Award for Distinguished Service. The award will be presented at the Alumni Volunteer Leadership Conference in September.

Ferguson, who earned an M.B.A. at Harvard University, is retired president of Baker Boyer Bank in Walla Walla. Former chair of the Whitman College Board of Trustees, he has served as an adviser to presidents and deans of the College for more than 40 years. Named to the board of overseers in 1957, he was elected a trustee in 1966 and served as chair from 1972 until 1983. He retired from the board in 1989, but he continues to provide counsel to the College today as a trustee emeritus.

After Ferguson retired from active banking, he and his wife, the late Jean Ferguson, renovated the Lowden, Washington, schoolhouse and became well-known members of Washington's wine industry, producing the award-winning L'Ecole No. 41 wines. The couple hosted Whitman College reunions and other festivities at the winery.

Manning is a retired public relations consultant who spent his career as a private practitioner, corporate staff member, political appointee in state government, and military and civil service public affairs officer. In 1971, he was honored as one of the two top Navy Department Public Affairs Officers.

He became a class representative in 1983. Noted for his warm and sympathetic, yet persuasive letters, he has encouraged his classmates year after year to support Whitman. Under his leadership, the class of 1939 was the first ever to reach 100 percent participation in the Alumni Fund.

Manning is still tireless in his class campaigns, and he encourages other classes to meet his 100 percent target. He also has supported Whitman in many other ways including attending reunions, volunteer workshops, and alumni events on the campus and elsewhere.

Johns Hopkins researcher Pete Reid Award

Joe Hurt, '90, is the winner of the 2000 Pete Reid Award as a young alumnus who exemplifies commitment to his profession and community. The award will be presented at Homecoming this fall.

After graduation from Whitman, Hurt spent a year teaching English at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China. He is currently an M.D./Ph.D. student at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and works as a research assistant.

Hurt has volunteered for Whitman as an admission representative, worked with the Career Center on informational interviews and internships, and now serves as a class representative for the alumni fund.