UTSA Alumnus of the Year Marian Sokol and UTSA Distinguished Service Award
Winner Marguerite McCormick.
Second Annual Gala to Award Alumnus of the Year and Distinguished Service Award
(Aug. 17, 2001)--The University of Texas at San Antonio Alumni Association will present to Marian Sokol the Alumnus of the Year award and to Marguerite McCormick the Distinguished Service Award at the second annual UTSA Alumni Gala at the Institute of Texan Cultures on September 8.Previous recipients of these awards include Sarah Garrahan, judge, Bexar County Court at Law #4; Ernest Bromley, chairman & CEO, Bromley Communications; J. Earl King Sr., vice president of business integration, USAA; Howard Peak, former mayor, City of San Antonio; Bob Rivard, editor and senior vice president, San Antonio Express-News; Jamie Rochelle, general manager and CEO, City Public Service; and Sundra Kaye Lenox, director, San Antonio Public Library Foundation.
Alumnus of the Year recipient Marian Sokol is the founding executive director of Any Baby Can of San Antonio, Inc. (ABC) Sokol, who has focused her work on children with special needs, received a master’s degree from UTSA in 1975. She founded Any Baby Can in 1982 to serve chronically ill and disabled children from birth to 12 years old. Sokol's award-winning work includes ABC's designation by President Bush as a "Point of Light" in 1992. Married to architect Thomas Sokol, the Sokols have two grown children and a granddaughter.
Distinguished Service Award recipient Marguerite McCormick is the founder and executive director of The Children's Chorus of San Antonio, which she founded in 1983, when she also received a master of music degree from UTSA. Recently featured on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," the chorus is composed of San Antonio area children, ages 7 through 18. The mission of the group is to bring high quality choral music education and performance opportunities to children.
The second annual gala is the Alumni Association’s major fundraiser for the fall, and honors UTSA’s outstanding alumni. The inaugural gala in 2000 raised more than $19,000. This year’s gala theme will be "Charting Our Future" with Martha Trevino as the mistress of ceremonies. The evening will include a cocktail reception, seated dinner, presentation of awards and dance featuring The Mo-Dels. Tickets for the alumni gala event are available by calling the Alumni Association at (210) 458-4133.