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Gordon Scribner Award for Distinguished Service

The Gordon Scribner Award was created to honor Gordon Scribner '42, former dean of students and director of alumni, upon his retirement. The award is given by the Alumni Association to persons who have made a major contribution of volunteer time and effort to Whitman College over an extended period of time and possess the ability to inspire. Any alumnus/alumna or friend of the College is eligible for this award. There are no restrictions regarding board involvement.

Recipient for 2013 is Dick Hunter '65

Trustee Emeritus Dick Hunter ’65 was recognized for decades of leadership and support for the college.

2013 Gordon Scribner Award for Distinguised Service, Dick Hunter '65A trustee from 1997 to 2009, he has led by example through his active involvement in multiple governing board committees, as well as with his participation in alumni events and activities. Hunter has served on committees for the Now Is the Time Campaign, development, buildings and grounds, enrollment, student life and technology; he was also the Reunion Fund Chair from 1999 to 2000. He donated the funds for a restoration of Hunter Conservatory, named in honor of his mother.

“It’s been an absolute delight to see the progress of the college,” he said. “I think the college is doing incredibly well, and I’m fortunate to be a part of that.”

After graduating from Whitman with a degree in math and physics, Hunter earned his master’s degree in aerospace science from Columbia University. Before joining the family business in irrigation, he worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories on U.S. Space Program projects at NASA headquarters. Walter Brattain ’24, another math and physics major who taught Hunter at Whitman, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for his work at Bell to develop the transistor.

“He was proud of me, because I was his only student who had gone to work for Bell Labs.”

Hunter retired this year as president and C.E.O. of Hunter Industries, one of the largest irrigation companies in the world.

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