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Mario D. Zamora Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award, the briefer name by which it was formerly known, was renamed in honor of Dr. Mario D. Zamora, who was Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary until his untimely death in August 1993. Born in Pampanga, Philippines, Dr. Zamora earned his doctorate in anthropology at Cornell University with top honors. He returned to the Philippines for some years before joining the faculty at William and Mary. His life was filled with honors: he was a University Scholar at the University of the Philippines, an Exchange Scholar to the Delhi School of Economics, a Fulbright/Smith Mundt Scholar to Cornell University, a Graduate Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Cornell, and one of nine Adlai Stevenson Fellows to the United Nations selected from all over the world. He published 14 books and nearly 100 articles. He served as President of the Virginia Social Science Association in 1986–1987. The Mario D. Zamora Distinguished Service Award is presented to a VSSA member who has contributed to the Association in outstanding ways over a period of years.

Prior to its renaming in 1995, a similar award had been made intermittently in the 1960s and 1970s and every year beginning in 1981.  In some years between 1967 and 1987, however, it appears that the Distinguished Service Award was presented in a manner more akin to what in 1998 was reconstituted as the Public Service Award or even, as given in 2007, the Distinguished Career Award. 

The first Distinguished Service Award, in 1963, was given to William E. Garnett, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, who served as the VSSA’s very first president, in 1926–1927.  Some subsequent awards also went to early VSSA presidents, including Richard L. Morton, of William and Mary (president, 1930–1931), in 1964, and Belle Boone Beard, of Sweet Briar College (president for two successive years during World War II, 1942–1944), in 1973.

 

Recent Zamora Award Recipients:

2007 — Donald Zeigler, professor of geography at Old Dominion University, became active in the affairs of the VSSA more than twenty years ago, serving for several years as newsletter editor and then as auditor.  As some others among the VSSA’s most faithful officers have done, after rotating off the board for a few years he then returned.  In 2002 he was elected vice-president, so in 2003–2004 he was the VSSA president.  In addition to all the many roles he has played as an officer of the Association, he has often reviewed articles submitted for publication in the Journal, and of particular significance has been his role in the Virginia Geographic Alliance in connecting the VSSA with efforts in the public schools of the Commonwealth to promote proficiency in geography.  Often he has organized geography sessions for the annual meetings.  As past-president, he coached the new president, Peter Wallenstein, whom he had recruited to come in as president when Lea Pellett retired.  Don would have received the Zamora Award in an earlier year, but he has often been traveling on professional business at the time of the spring conference—geographer Zeigler is also a practitioner—but at last this year we get to give him the recognition he so richly deserves. 

 

2004 — Lea Pellett:  The VSSA’s core functions each year revolve around the program of the annual conference and the central role we envision for student participation in it.  Professor Pellett, Sociology and Anthropology, Christopher Newport University, came to the Executive Committee in 1998 and almost immediately assumed the vitally important task—a monumental undertaking over the years—of recruiting students papers and evaluating them for the annual essay awards and for presentation at the annual meeting.  In 2003, when Bob Durel was called away shortly before the annual meeting, held at CNU that year, she stepped in and performed as arrangements chair, assuring a well-run meeting.  As Vice President the following year, she did an outstanding job of organizing the program for the 2004 meeting.  After this year, she is retiring from CNU, so she will not be serving as President.  We take this occasion to express our gratitude and appreciation for all her fine work by presenting Dr. Pellett the 2004 Zamora Award for distinguished service to the VSSA. 

 

2003 — James Gire, Professor of Psychology at Virginia Military Institute, was elected a director in 1997 and was immediately named parliamentarian, in which capacity he was instrumental in revising the VSSA constitution as we know it today.  In 2001 he was elected vice-president and was responsible for the excellent program at VMI at the 2002 meeting.  During that year, he also assisted Bob Durel in editing the Virginia Social Science Journal.  Then in 2002–2003, while serving as president, he became editor of the VSSJ, a position in which he continues to serve.  Few members have ever served in so many positions so vital to the Association, certainly at the same time.  We have been fortunate to enjoy his companionship and benefit from his contributions, and we are pleased this year to present him the Zamora Distinguished Service Award. 

2002 — John Tinkham, a retired political science professor from Troy State University, joined the VSSA, gave papers at its annual conferences, and joined in the leadership of the group.  In the several years he served as secretary, not only did he look scrupulously after the important day-to-day functions of the office, but he also put in countless hours to regularize — and computerize — the membership list.  An astute observer of the Association’s operations, he made many helpful suggestions to improving the group’s effectiveness.  With pleasure, we present him the 2002 Zamora Distinguished Service Award.   

2001—Mary Ferrari, This year the honor was awarded to Mary Ferrari, Chair of the History Department at Radford University. Mary, who is remembered for her encouraging students to present papers at the Meeting, began her service on the Executive Committee in 1994, and later became Treasurer, Vice-President, and President. As Vice-President, she was the program chair for an outstanding Annual Meeting at Radford in 1999. Shortly after she assumed the presidency for 1999–2000, she learned that her son had been stricken with leukemia. Undaunted, she managed to care for him while meeting her heavy academic demands; and somehow she served extremely well as VSSA President. Certainly no one has ever served as President under more trying circumstances, with a commitment that will be exemplary for the years to come.

2000 — Robert Durel, Department of Sociology, Christopher Newport University. Editor of the Virginia Social Science Journal. Bob began his VSSA career in 1991, when he was elected to the Executive Committee. He became Vice-President in 1993 and initiated the panel at which we today recognize the scholar awardees each year. In 1994 he became President and served with distinction. In 1995 he assumed the position of Editor of the Journal, the reputation of which he has enhanced. Bob Durel has provided a continuity of leadership over many years which will forever be distinguished.

1999 — Cecil D. Bradfield, Professor of Sociology and Director of its Aging and Family Studies Program at James Madison University, was recognized this year for his years of dedicated service to the Association. His degrees include an MDiv in counseling and theology from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and a PhD in sociology from The American University, and he has been at JMU since 1971. He has dedicated extensive service, especially in leadership capacities, to the community, to the profession, and to James Madison, for example as president of the Virginia Sociological Association in 1989–90 and speaker of the University Senate in 1991–92. So it has been with the VSSA. He sat from 1986 to 1993 on the Executive Committee, serving as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-President, and then President in 1990–91. Five of his many articles appeared in the Virginia Social Science Journal. Professor Bradfield is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church who has ministered to countless folks from the perspective of an academician. He has played that sort of role in VSSA, serving as an elder statesman to whom the Association regularly turned for counsel. He is outstanding as a teacher, administrator, scholar, and leader, and he is beloved as a person and colleague.

1998 — David Wall, faculty member in the Department of Geography at Christopher Newport University, served as secretary of the VSSA from 1994 to 1998, providing leadership in computerizing our records as well as producing lucid minutes of board meetings.  In addition, he presented papers at the annual meetings that reflected scholarly rigor mixed with good common sense.  Moreover, he used his wide social science knowledge in the real world by serving as consultant to local government and private groups.  His general leadership ability and capacity to channel the thinking of the Executive Committee in productive directions will be sorely missed, as he has accepted a position at St. Cloud (Minnesota) State University.  

1997 — Bernard “Bud” Levin, Professor of Psychology at Blue Ridge Community College, has the distinction of having served as president of the VSSA for two years (and survived).  He was vice president during 1992–1993 when the untimely death of Carol Knight robbed us of her our president, midway through her term.  Thus he served simultaneously as vice-president, taking charge of the program the 1993 annual meeting at Washington and Lee, and as president.  With leadership foisted upon him prematurely, Bud served with such distinction that we let him serve the second year, in 1993–1994, to which he would normally have succeeded.  The VSSA owes him a tremendous debt of gratitude for such unselfish and commendable leadership.  In fact, Bud was selected vice-president in view of his great contributions in preceding years as a member of the VSSA board of directors.  Beyond the VSSA, Bud is heavily involved in service in a variety of directions—the Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Waynesboro Police Department, and other groups much farther away from BRCC or the VSSA.  

1996 — This year the VSSA presents Peter Wallenstein with its Zamora Distinguished Service Award.  Born in New Jersey, Peter lived briefly in Virginia near the military base at Langley, as his father was stationed there for a time during World War II; but he grew up in New Hampshire.  Currently he is associate professor of history at Virginia Tech, where he has taught since 1983. Peter became involved VSSA affairs right after presenting a paper at a VSSA meeting in 1988.  He served for five years on the Executive Committee and as VSSA auditor, and he was instrumental in revising the VSSA constitution. Twice in recent years he has published an article in the VSSJ, both of them intended for classroom use, especially one on the history of Virginia using cartograms to illustrate important patterns and developments.  He routinely encourages his students to present their work at the annual meeting; one of his undergraduates won a prize this year for her paper, and one of his graduate students took first prize last year.

1995 — This year marked the first in which the VSSA Distinguished Service Award was granted under its new title.  The 1995 Mario D. Zamora Distinguished Service Award was made to Vinson H. Sutlive, Professor of Anthropology at The College of William and Mary.  Professor Sutlive is a longtime friend of the VSSA, having served for several years on the Executive Committee and as president in 1991–1992, as well as influencing countless students and colleagues to actively participate in the Association and its annual meetings.  Congratulations, and thank you, Vinse!

1994 — Carol Lynn H. Knight died in December 1992, midway through her term as president of the VSSA.  Carol was an outstanding leader and scholar, and a friend to many of us.  She is much missed, and this posthumous award reflects her service to the Association and throughout her professional life, as well as the esteem we held her in.  She received her BA at Rutgers University, her MA at Old Dominion University, and her PhD at the College of William and Mary.  She was above all a dedicated teacher, beginning in the Norfolk City schools in 1967, and continuing as a graduate assistant at William and Mary, before joining the faculty of Tidewater Community College as an assistant professor in 1973; she attained the rank of full professor in 1981.

1993 — Gregory L. Weiss was presented the 1993 Distinguished Service Award.  As was written at the time:  Professor of Sociology at Roanoke College, he has published numerous articles on the sociology of gerontology and health, and he has put this research into practical application in his service as a consultant to area governmental agencies.  Dr. Weiss has been a member of the Executive Committee of the VSSA since 1983 and has served as the Association’s vice-president and, in 1985–1986, president.  Since 1988, as editor of the Virginia Social Science Journal, he has served the Association with particular distinction; he has developed new approaches to the composition and printing of the Journal and has reduced its cost even as he has enhanced its quality.  We are deeply indebted to him.  His various contributions to the VSSA over many years make him an obvious choice to receive this recognition.