FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                        April 20, 2007

FOUR TO BE HONORED AT NORTHWESTERN’S ALUMNI BANQUET

            Four Northwestern Oklahoma State University alumni will be recognized as Outstanding Graduates at the Alumni Association’s annual Spring Reunion Banquet on Saturday, April 28.

            Those to be honored are Sheldon Russell, Class of 1968, humanitarian; Jim Seeger-Newby, Class of 1968, education; Michael Rauh, Class of 1971, business/professional; and Camee Smith, Class of 2005, recognition award for achievement within five years of graduation.

            The quartet will be recognized at the banquet at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom. Tickets for the event are $15 each and may be purchased by calling the Foundation/Alumni Office at (580) 327-8593. Reservations must be made no later than 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 25.

Sheldon Russell

            Russell majored in English education and taught in the Ponca City public schools for four years while working on his master’s degree and doctorate at Oklahoma State University. After completion of his program as a reading specialist, he taught two years at the University of Louisville, then at the University of Central Oklahoma.

            During his academic career, Russell authored 25 professional articles and co-authored a text. He retired as professor emeritus from UCO in 2000.

            Russell always maintained an interest in creative writing and has published four novels. The first, a suspense novel titled Empire, was published in 1993. Two historic frontier novels followed: The Savage Trail and Requiem at Dawn, which was a finalist for Western Writers of America’s best original paperback award.

            In 2006, Dreams to Dust: A Tale of the Oklahoma Land Rush was released by the University of Oklahoma Press. It has been recognized as an official Oklahoma Centennial project and won the Langum Prize for excellence in American Historical Fiction for 2006. Dreams to Dust also was selected for the Oklahoma Book Award 2006 by the Oklahoma Center for the Book.

            Russell currently lives in Guthrie where he and his wife Nancy, a sculptor and artist, own and operate the Double Starr Studio and Gallery.

Jim Seeger-Newby

            Seeger-Newby is mobility director with Newby-Vance Mobility (at the John Vance Auto Group) in Guthrie. He developed and implemented an Inclusive Business Model (IBM) designed to serve the transportation and driving-related mobility needs of individuals with disabilities including children with special transportation needs and adults with special transportation and/or driving-related needs.

            He has developed and implemented business initiatives that include establishment of “one-stop” mobility and automotive service, staff training, operation agreements and liaison with manufacturers. His company became the first automobile dealership in Oklahoma to market, modify and service accessible vehicles for people with disabilities.

Seeger-Newby established a second IBM site at Hatfield Chevrolet in Columbus, Kan., and was the first multi-franchise “Big Three” auto group in the nation to implement comprehensive mobility and automotive sales and services to also include DME Medicare Service for power chairs, electric scooters and related peripherals.

In addition to his degree from Northwestern, Seeger-Newby earned a master’s degree at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a doctorate from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Through the years, Seeger-Newby has served as executive director of the Oklahoma Disability Law Center, superintendent of Schools for Watts, chief of staff of the Oklahoma State Department of Education and assistant state superintendent.

A native of Gate, Seeger-Newby is married to Dr. Linda Wilson. They have four children: Jennifer of Broken Arrow, Marcus of Guthrie, Andrew of Golden, Colo., and Steven of Lewisville, Colo. Other family includes brother Dan of Gate, brother Tom of Enid and his late sister Linda Elwood of Mooreland.

Michael Rauh

            Rauh is an Alva native who earned a degree in accounting and economics at Northwestern, where he was an active member and past president of Phi Beta Lambda. He received a master’s degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University and in 2005, received the Distinguished Alumnus from Industry award from there.

            Before joining Kerr-McGee in 1981, Rauh worked at Conoco in Ponca City and Arthur Young Public Accounting in Tulsa. At Kerr-McGee he had served in various capacities until his retirement in 2006 as vice president and corporate controller.

            He is a member of the American Petroleum Institute Accounting Committee, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executive Institute where he served as past president of the Oklahoma City chapter.

            Other civic involvements include 16 years on the Oklahoma Christian School’s board of directors (including being a past chairman), the Edmond Soccer Club and the boards of the Oklahoma Soccer Association and Frontier Country Soccer Association.

            Rauh’s other interests include hiking, fishing, gardening and bicycling.

            He and his wife Sue (Class of 1972) live in Edmond and have four children: Jay, an environmental consultant for Weston Solutions in Chicago; Chris, an English teacher in Rockford, Ill.; Laura, a student in the OU Health Sciences School of Physical Therapy; and Sally, a freshman at Edmond Memorial High School.

Camee Smith

            Smith is from Turpin and upon graduation from Northwestern, returned to her hometown to teach fifth and sixth grade science. She also serves as an assistant with the track and girls basketball teams at both the fifth-sixth grade and high school levels.

            She currently is working toward a master’s degree in guidance counseling (K-12) at Northwestern. Her brother Clay is a senior at Northwestern.

-NW-

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