The University of Pennsylvania will honor eight distinguished alumni at the 2017 Alumni Award of Merit Gala on Friday, Nov. 3.

Winner of five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, alumna, actress and author Candice Bergen will receive the 2017 Creative Spirit Award for her life-long commitment to and excellence in the arts. A member of the undergraduate Class of 1967 and a 1992 honorary doctor of laws degree recipient, Bergen’s passion for performing and interest in photojournalism blossomed at Penn. 

As an award-winning actress of television series, motion pictures and Broadway plays, Bergen’s roles in Murphy Brown and Boston Legal, garnered Emmy Awards and Golden Globes. She received a BAFTA prize for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the1982 film Gandhi, and her performance in Starting Over garnered Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. Bergen is also the author of the 2015 memoir, A Fine Romance and the 1984 memoir, Knock Wood.   

Active in a broad range of philanthropic causes, Bergen has established both endowed and term scholarships in her name at Penn. 

Sharing the spotlight with Bergen will be Gilbert Casellas, Kyle Kozloff, Egbert Perry, Alice Way Waddington and Sue Dreier Wishnow, who will all receive the Alumni Award of Merit, along with Louis Hornick III and Rohit Singh, who will accept Young Alumni Awards. 

Gilbert F. Casellas, a 1977 graduate of the Law School has served as a leader on issues of inclusion and diversity. Since 2013, he has been co-chair of the James Brister Society, which aims “to improve the quality of the campus experience for students, faculty and administrators of color.” He has served tenures on the Board of Overseers of the School of Social Policy & Practice and the School of Nursing and he is a founding member of the Association of Latino Alumni and a member of the Penn Alumni Board of Directors. His engagement also includes support for financial aid, diversity initiatives, annual giving and the Penn Nursing Center for Global Women’s Health.  

1990 Wharton graduate Kyle Kozloff comes from a long line of family members to graduate from Penn. A proud Quaker, he has for 14 years served as the emcee of the Alumni Weekend Parade of Classes. He is active in alumni causes and has served as president of the Class of 1990 for the past 17 years, as co-chair of the Southern California Regional Advisory Board and in the local alumni community in Los Angeles. He has also served as the Vice President for Alumni Programming for the Penn Alumni Board of Directors. A longtime member of the Alumni Class Leadership Council, he is currently co-chair of special programs, overseeing the Penn Reunion Leadership Conference and events bringing class presidents together. 

Following a decade of service as a University Trustee, Egbert Perry was appointed to Emeritus Trustee in 2016. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Penn Engineering and a graduate degree from Wharton. His tenure as a Trustee has included terms as chair of the Facilities and Campus Planning Committee and of the Trustees’ Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity and service on numerous board committees. He has also served on the Board of Overseers of Penn Engineering, was instrumental in the shaping of the Penn Institute for Urban Research, as chair of their Advisory Board, and is a former gift chair and current member of the Class of 1976 Gift Committee. In addition to his service, he has been a loyal supporter to Penn IUR., and in 2006, he and his wife Renee established the Percival and Margaret Perry Endowed Scholarship at Penn Engineering honoring his parents. 

Earning her degree in education from the College in 1949, Alice Way Waddington has been a longserving volunteer to the University and her class. She has served as a member of the Alumni Class Leadership Council, the Homecoming Host Committee and the Penn Alumni Council and, for more than a decade, has served as president of the Class of 1949. As co-president (with George Wills) of both the 60th and 65th Reunion Committees, she worked in partnership with Alumni Relations and Development staff to develop activities designed to appeal to her classmates, including a mural arts tour of the city. Credited with a thoughtful, inclusive leadership style, her efforts delivered a stunning turnout for the 65th Reunion.

Sue Dreier Wishnow is a devoted member of the Class of 1986 and has served as Class co-president for the past 10 years. In 2016, as outreach chair for the Class of 1986’s 30th reunion and a longtime member of the Gift Committee, she helped the Class earn the top spot for total giving to the University; raising  $28.5 million for The Penn Fund, a record for a 30th reunion and the fourth largest for any reunion class. In addition, she has served in key roles on the Penn Alumni Council, the Alumni Class Leadership Council and as a member of the Penn Alumni Board of Directors. While living in London, she chaired the Penn Alumni Interview Program for six years and was active in the Penn Club of the United Kingdom. Now a resident in the Garden State, she serves as an active member of Penn Club of Metro New Jersey.

Louis “Tripp” Hornick III is a 2002 graduate of the College and a fourth generation Penn grad. As an undergraduate his service to the Sphinx Senior Society, his fraternity, Phi Kappa Sigma, the Provost’s Alchohol Rapid Response Team and to Mask & Wig as secretary-treasurer earned him the 2002 Penn Alumni Student Award of Merit. As a member of the Mask & Wig Board of Governors since 2003, he has chaired both the House Committee and the Tour Committee. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Alumni Class Leadership Council, and was the first to hold the position of “young alumnus” on the Penn Alumni Board of Directors.

Rohit Singh is a 2002 graduate of the College and Wharton. Having spent a year as an undergraduate in Lyon, France as part of the Huntsman Program in International Studies & Business he supports and serves on the Huntsman Advisory Board and is the founding chair of the Huntsman Alumni Council. He has provided further leadership as co-gift chair for the Class of 2002 Gift Committee, as co-chair of the Libraries Orrery Society and an Ex-officio member of the Libraries Board of Overseers and volunteer for the Penn Alumni Interview Program. The Singh Family Endowed Scholarship supports an international Huntsman student and he established a Singh Family Fund for South Asian Studies.

In addition to the individual alumni awards, the Class of 1967 will receive the Class Award of Merit, the Class of 1972 will receive the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications and the Penn Alumni Club of Seattle will receive the 2017 Club Award of Merit.