The University of Pennsylvania will honor eight distinguished alumni and a notable faculty member at the 2024 Alumni Award of Merit Gala on Friday, Nov. 15.
Alumni sharing the spotlight will be Belinda Bentzin Buscher, Ira Hillman, Jennifer Krevitt, Sally Jutabha Michaels, and Marc H. Morial, who will all receive the Alumni Award of Merit, and Deepak Prabhakar, who will accept the Young Alumni Award. Desiree Martinez will receive the Penn Alumni Social Impact Award and Robert Cort will accept the Creative Spirit Award. In addition to the alumni awards, André Dombrowski will be recognized this year with the Faculty Award of Merit.
A Class of 1992 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, Belinda Bentzin Buscher is being recognized for her enduring commitment to Penn through her leadership as chair of the Regional Clubs Advisory Board and service as co-president of the Penn Club of Seattle. In this later role, Bentzin Buscher has for more than a dozen years worked to celebrate and strengthen the Penn community in creative and engaging ways, such as hosting an annual event for new and longstanding members.
Acclaimed and prolific movie producer Robert Cort, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history in the School of Arts & Sciences, Class of 1968 and 1970 respectively, and an MBA from the Wharton School in 1974, is the recipient of the 2024 Creative Spirit Award. Cort produced films that include “Three Men and a Baby,” “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” “Jumanji,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “Runaway Bride,” “Save the Last Dance,” “On the Basis of Sex,” and many more. His 2004 HBO film “Something the Lord Made,” about the pioneering Black heart surgeon Vivien Thomas, won three Emmy Awards. Cort has served as a member of the National Advisory Board of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships helping to ensure the Center has a lasting and sustainable impact on Penn, the local community, and the wider world.
Active in Penn Hillel, Mask & Wig, the Greenfield Intercultural Center, and the LGBT Center while at Penn, Ira Hillman earned his undergraduate degree from the College and Wharton, Class of 1992. For his service with the Board of Advisors at the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), Penn Leadership Q, and PennGALA, helping to lead the 10th, 15th, and 20th anniversary celebrations for the Penn LGBT Center, Hillman is being recognized for his work as a champion of social justice and advocacy for more LGBTQ+ leaders at Penn.
Sally Jutabha Michaels, who earned her MBA from the Wharton School, Class of 1990, is being recognized for her dedication to growing Penn’s alumni community in Thailand. Serving as an officer of the Penn-Wharton Club of Thailand and as a member of Wharton's Executive Board for Asia for nine years, Jutabha Michaels was instrumental in hosting events such as the Wharton Global Forum in 2015 in Bangkok. And as president of the Penn Club of Thailand and the School Liaison she has strengthened the University’s alumni community throughout the country.
Jennifer Krevitt graduated from the College, Class of 1986, and returned to Penn to earn her J.D. in 1992. She is being recognized for her leadership and engagement. Krevitt served as both vice chair and then chair of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women (TCPW) and in 2023 joined Penn Carey Law’s Board of Advisors where she also served as a member of the Dean’s Women’s Council and later the Law Alumni Society Alumni Engagement Committee.
A graduate of the Class of 1995 in the College, Desiree Martinez is the recipient of the Penn Alumni Social Impact Award in recognition of her leadership, advocacy, and support of the Native community at Penn. As an undergraduate, Martinez helped found the University’s first organized cultural group for Native Americans, Six Directions, now known as Natives at Penn and subsequently found Penn’s Association of Native Alumni. She has also consulted for the Penn Native Community Council helping to plan celebrations of Native American Heritage Month on campus.
Marc H. Morial graduated from the College, Class of 1980. He is being recognized for his commitment to efforts that encourage the next generation of African American student leaders. Returning to campus again and again, Morial has shared his experiences, talking with students about what vibrant civic engagement can look like and participating in dialogues on important issues through Penn Spectrum events. Morial is also a longstanding member of the Black Alumni Society and the James Brister Society and a non-resident senior fellow with the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program at Penn Arts & Sciences.
Deepak Prabhakar, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Class of 2011 and 2012 respectively, will receive the Young Alumni Award for his work rallying alumni around reunions, campaigns, and volunteer activities in service as the Class of 2011 president since 2016. His involvement and leadership as an undergraduate in numerous groups including Penn Traditions Undergraduate Board and the Senior Class Executive Board to the Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity and the Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity earned him the Penn Alumni Student Award of Merit in 2011.
This year’s Faculty Award of Merit goes to André Dombrowski in recognition of his work as a long-term faculty host with the Penn Alumni Travel program. Dombrowski, who came to Penn in 2008, is the Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of 19th Century European Art in the History of Art Department in the School of Arts & Sciences. He has written books and articles on such crucial artists of the period as Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Adolf von Menzel, and is the author of “Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life.”
In addition to the individual awards, the classes of 1989 and 1974 will receive Class Award of Merit, and the Class of 2004 will receive the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications. The Alumni Club of Merit will go to the Penn Club of Boston, with special acknowledgement to the Penn Club of Hong Kong, Penn Club of Switzerland, and Penn Club of Philadelphia.
