CWU Alumni Association To Honor Distinguished Alumni

October 16, 2003

ELLENSBURG, Wash.-- Four Central Washington University graduates, one from each of the university's academic divisions, will be honored as distinguished alumni by the CWU Alumni Association during the annual homecoming banquet and awards ceremony, Friday, Oct. 17.

The four are Dr. William Bonaudi, Moses Lake, from the College of the Sciences; Dr. Donald Duncan, Salem, Ore., College of Education and Professional Studies; Dr. Janine Pease, Billings, Mont., College of Arts and Humanities; and, Susan Swartz, Mercer Island, College of Business.

"Growing up in Cle Elum, CWU was the hometown school," Bonaudi says. "Central is where my career got its start and I have fond memories of campus. This is a surprising and complimentary honor."

Bonaudi will be honored for his outstanding achievements in higher education administration. He earned a bachelor's in zoology from Central in 1964, as well as a master's degree in biology from Wayne State University, Michigan, and his Ed.D. in administration and organizational leadership from the University of Southern California.

"Because of the education I earned at Central many of my personal and professional goals have been attained," he adds.

First a science instructor at Macomb County Community College in Michigan, Bonaudi went on to serve as dean of instruction at Truckee Meadows Community College in Nevada for two decades. He then served as vice president of academic affairs at Northern Nevada Community College before taking up his current position as president of Big Bend Community College in 1995.

"Over the years, it has been my pleasure to have assisted in the education of young people in science disciplines and helped others develop leadership skills, proving the cycle of education reaches far beyond the boundaries of the classroom," Bonaudi notes.

In recent years, Bonaudi served as president of the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges and chaired the Executive Committee for the Center for Information Services. He was also elected to the Executive Board of the Grant County Economic Development Council.

At Big Bend Community College, Bonaudi recently supervised the successful completion of the accreditation process as well as the modernization of the college's Flight Training Center. After nearly a decade of lobbying, Bonaudi is now overseeing the construction of a state-funded library and the privately funded Grant County Advanced Technologies Education Center. The library is the first state-funded capital project in the college's 40-year history.

Bonaudi lives with his wife, Karen Jones, in Moses Lake. He has three children and eight grandchildren.

Duncan will be honored for his lifelong accomplishments in education. At Central, he earned a bachelor's degree in recreation administration in 1951 and a master's degree in school psychology and counseling in 1955. He later earned an Ed.D. in counseling, school psychology and higher education from Washington State University.

During his career, Duncan worked as a high school teacher and recreation director for the Highline Public School District; school psychologist in Yakima and Lake Oswego, Ore.; dean of men at Western Washington University; and both dean of men and dean of students at Central. He also served as chair of special education and chair of education and psychology at Western Oregon University (WOU).

A professor emeritus of special education, Duncan retired from WOU in 1989. He currently serves as president of the Resident Advisory Council at Capital Manor Retirement Community in Salem, Ore., and vice president of the Monmouth/Independence Community Foundation.

In 1955, he became the first graduate of Central to be accepted into the American Psychological Association. Later, he received the Rotary District 5100 Honor for mentoring master's degree scholars; Phi Delta Kappa recognition for foundation leadership; Outstanding Elementary Teacher Education Program award from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, and numerous other awards.

"Our lives have been enriched through fond memories of those wonderful professors and administrators at Central," Duncan says. "We continue to draw upon their excellence as teachers and their humaneness, as we have molded our lives during these past fifty-plus years, in our professional and community endeavors."

Duncan and his wife, Verna, a CWU alumna, live in Salem, Ore. They have two daughters.

Pease says, "Education is the key to Native American freedom." In July, she assumed the post of vice president for Native American affairs at Rocky Mountain College, Billings, Mont.

That appointment comes on the heels of her recently-completed research for the American Indian College Fund. Called "Native American Language Immersion: Innovative Education for Families and Children," the study determined that students learn better if they are taught in their own language and in the context of their own culture.

"Language immersion gives the people back their language, culture and history," says Pease, a member of the Crow Tribe of Montana. Born in Colville and raised in eastern Washington, she lists Hidatsa Indian, German and English as also among her ancestry.

Her research further indicates that cultural immersion improves students' self-respect and pride, while leading to a decrease in dropout rates.

Pease, who served for 18 years as president of Little Big Horn College, holds bachelor's degrees in sociology and anthropology from CWU along with a master's degree and Ph.D. in adult and higher education from Montana State University-Bozeman.

A MacArthur Fellow, Class of 1994, Pease currently serves as a presidential appointee to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. Previously, she served on the board of directors of the prestigious American Indian Higher Education Consortium and National Museum of the American Indian.

In addition, she is a recipient of the Jeannette Rankin Civil Liberties Award, presented annually by the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana.

Swartz, a highly-successful tax accountant, graduated from Central in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance and a minor in economics. She earned a master's degree in taxation from Golden Gate University in 1983. A 22-year employee and tax partner at the big-four firm KPMG LLP, Swarz provides tax advice to "high net worth" individuals, corporate executives and family businesses.

"Public accounting has always been appealing to me because of the great variety of challenging work, and I have always enjoyed the role of business advisor," she says. "As a tax advisor, I can bring great value to clients at some of the most important turning points of their companies or lives."

In 1978, Swartz received the Central Investment Fund Scholarship to attend CWU. Just three years later, she completed her four-year degree at Central and won a Gold Medal Award for the highest CPA exam score in Washington - "thanks to the rigorous program and relentless professors at Central," she notes.

Swartz is currently the member of numerous trade associations and is a board member for the Northwest Women's Law Center and the CWU College of Business Advisory Board.

A strong supporter of the CWU accounting program, Swartz says: "KPMG actively recruits accounting grads from CWU, and I always seek out Central students at recruiting functions and interviews."

Two of her sisters also graduated from Central, as well as her husband, Toby Suhm, with whom she has two school-age daughters.