Faculty Award — Larry T. Shillock Ph.D.
Professor Shillock’s record as a scholar, educator, and Chambersburg area community servant is enviable and impressive. Currently a professor of English, he served as the Assistant Academic Dean from 2006 to 2018 and still retains a position as College Marshall. He has taught every level and nearly every English course Wilson offers, from 101 Written Communication to 270/370 Topics of Seventeenth and Nineteenth-Century Literature, through 400 classes in Guided Study and Senior Advanced Study in Research.
And he hasn’t confined his efforts solely to the classroom. His numerous committee, club, and administrative services for the College include representation to the Board of Trustees in areas of finance, sustainability, and admissions and financial aid. He has been a presence in the life of students as a faculty adviser to the student literary magazine Bottom Shelf Review, as well as a co-adviser to the College’s theatrical troupe, the Kittochtinny Players (Wilson’s beloved “K.P.”). Off-campus interests have also benefitted from his time and talents. They include Chambersburg Youth Soccer, the Audubon Society, Trout Unlimited, the Cumberland Valley Chamber Players, and St. Andrew’s Church vestry.
His instructional excellence has been recognized by Wilson with the bestowal of the Donald F. Bletz Award for Outstanding Devotion to the Art of Teaching, both as a junior and senior faculty member.
He has been a Humanities Division Research Scholar and held the Drusilla Stephens Mazur Research Professorship from 2005 to 2007. 2022 marks the year of his retirement, and we can think of no one more deserving of Wilson’s Faculty Award, as well as the College’s admiration and affection, than Larry Shillock.
Outstanding Young Alumna Award — Kacie Oberholzer Bachman ’12
Kacie Oberholzer Bachman set a high bar for achievement, even before her membership in the Navy as a program analyst in logistics; her service to the Horseshoe Valley Equine Center as a certified veterinary technician; and her ownership of Bachman Equine, LLC in Jonestown, Pa. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Wilson (Veterinary/Animal Health Technology), a Master of Business Administration from Liberty University, and certifications in supply chain and project management from Penn State.
Kacie was active in the Wilson College Government Association and the College’s eventing, dressage, and drill teams. She was awarded a Presidential Scholarship in 2008 as a student in the top 20 percent of her class, an AAWC Franklin County Club Scholarship, and a Curran Scholarship, and she also received the Sarah Wilson Award as an exceptional, all-around student. Kacie has volunteered her services within her church in the community and the Middle Creek Search and Rescue Mounted Team. She continues her Wilson alumni involvement with admissions letter writing, career networking, serving as a class officer, and donating to the Wilson Fund
Distinguished Adult Degree Program Award — De-Enda Rotz ’05
As the Director of Executive Services at Mercersburg Academy, De-Enda Rotz exemplifies both career and community success and service. She has served the school since 1993, working in advancement and public relations offices and, for the last four years, in the head of school’s office.
As a student in Wilson’s Adult Degree Program, De-Enda studied both communications and business and applied both disciplines to her endeavors. She has demonstrated continuous service to Wilson as a member of the AAWC Board, chairing the Recognition and Stewardship Committee, a donor to the Wilson Fund, and a supporter of career networking and Admissions Office activities. The AAWC is proud indeed to award De-Enda Rotz its Distinguished Adult Degree Program Award.
Distinguished Alumna Award — Anne Grimes ’82
Anne Grimes has been a U.S. Foreign Service Officer for 28 years and is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Her previous postings have included Antananarivo, Madagascar, Surabaya, Indonesia, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Jakarta, Indonesia, as well as Mumbai, India, and Beijing, China. She speaks French, Indonesian, and Mandarin and joined the Office of International Visitors as office director in September 2018. She received a Department of State Meritorious Honor Award for her work in Mumbai in the wake of the 9/ll terrorist attacks. Anne has received six Meritorius Honor Awards, two Superior Honor Awards, and two Meritorious Step Increases.
While at Wilson, Anne pursued a double major in history and French. She has donated to the Wilson Fund and the John Stewart Memorial Library Fund and has served as a class officer and volunteer with the Aunt Sarah Program, among other alum activities. She is married to Tala Ramiandrisoa, a professional jazz musician, and is the mother of two adult children: a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Joelle. In light of her distinguished history in service both to her country and Wilson College, the AAWC is pleased and proud to present its Distinguished Alumna Award to Anne Grimes.
Tift Award (Service) — Joan McCulloh ’52, Paired Nomination: Connie Hench Loarie ’66 and Marsha Haley Lamson ’66, Carol Ann Tschop ’72
Joan personifies the spirit of the AAWC’s Tift Award as a person “who has demonstrated exemplary efforts to promote the continuing growth of Wilson College.” A member of the Class of ’52, Joan has regularly participated in regional clubs and events such as the former Franklin County Club and the Blue and Silver Line at the College’s yearly commencement. She is a regular volunteer at the Hankey Center, an AAWC Board member (1998 – 2001), and a donor to both the Wilson Fund and the John Stewart Memorial Library Fund. As her current class co-president and former Reunion chairperson, Joan is also active in other alumni events, maintaining regular contact with her classmates and serving as the main contact for the Class of 1952 scholarship.
Joan earned her B.A. in English with a minor in history and has pursued a host of other academic post-degree studies, which she continues to put to good use as a member at large of the Mercersburg Historical Society and frequent contributor to its website as a researcher. Joan has written several articles on Mercersburg area history, emphasizing the betterment of the community and with a specific focus on the life of Harriet Lane Johnston. The Mercersburg Historical Society annually presents the Joan McCulloh History Award to a graduating senior in James Buchanan High School. Joan’s additional community service includes the Mercersburg Women’s Club, Quincy Care Auxiliary, First United Methodist Church of Mercersburg, Franklin County and Clear Spring Historical Societies, and the Allison-Antrim Museum.
The formidable accomplishments honored by the Tift Award, “exemplary efforts to promote the continuing growth of Wilson College,” are personified by Connie Hench Loarie and Marsha Haley Lamson in instituting the tradition of a 50th Reunion Class Gift. At their 40th Reunion class meeting in 2006, Connie presented a vision to her classmates: a substantial sum donated to the College to celebrate their upcoming 50th reunion ten years hence. Although the College’s challenging years of the late ’70s and early ’80s lay in the past, Connie reasoned that, rather than making a gift to the Wilson Fund, some alums might be more comfortable supporting a Class of 1966 legacy gift. By the time of the class’s 45th Reunion, Marsha had joined Connie in the ongoing effort to raise substantial sums for Wilson, which their classmates continue to this day.
The group has raised $220,000, which includes $50,000 for a conference room in the re-done John Stewart Memorial Library and just over $170,000 for the Class of 1966 Endowment Fund, which continues to grow. The “first of its kind” gift has continued ever since. Beginning with the Class of 1963 50th Reunion, every class has made a substantial monetary donation to the College in support of efforts deemed important to the future of Wilson. The Class of 1966 recognizes that without the vision and determination put forth by Connie and Marsha, Wilson’s future might have been remarkably different. To these two alumnae, then, the Tift Award seems particularly appropriate.
To say that Carol Tschop enjoyed a robust engagement with Wilson College is an understatement of gigantic proportions. Carol’s involvement with Wilson continued throughout her adult life, whether as a beloved member of the Class of ’72, as an indefatigable leader of the Save Wilson effort, or as a dedicated professional working in the public information, development, and advancement offices of the College. Somehow she also found the time to be a founding board member of the Cumberland Valley School of Music, an active member of the Council for the Arts, and a leader in the local healthcare efforts as founder of the AGE Institute as well as The Institute for Caregiver Education.
In recognition of her many and varied gifts to Wilson, Carol was honored with the first Outstanding Young Alumna at Homecoming in 1989. And in no small measure, Carol, whose musical abilities ran wide and deep, was gifted with the ability to bring people and causes together. As a classmate wrote of her, “She had the unique ability of lifting others up and found great reward directing that gift in her dedication to the power of education, especially at Wilson, and the care given to making every life stage rewarding and meaningful.” Much more was said and shared of Carol over the course of Reunion Weekend by the many who loved her and whose lives were made richer by her. It is fitting that her remarkable work at and for Wilson is recognized through her posthumous Tift Award.
