On June 6, 2009, Seton Hill University presented its Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award to eight alumnae who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and leadership in one (or more) of the following areas: education, business and professions, science and technology, arts, voluntary services, and philanthropy. The alumnae honored include: Sandra Burin Bobick, D.Ed. (SHU ’69) of Pittsburgh, Pa., Phil Cirucci Dymond (SHU ’59) of Latrobe, Pa., Lovenia DeConge Watson, Ph.D. (SHU ’59) of Baton Rouge, La., Sister Melanie DiPietro, S.C., J.D., J.C.D. (SHU ’69) of Pittsburgh, Pa., Susan Gillenberger Mercer, Ph.D. (SHU ’04) of Nashville, Tenn., Robin Heffernan Beck (SHU ’64) of Philadelphia, Pa., Lenore Parrott Luckey (SHU ’69) of Madison, N.J., and Pamela Williams (SHU ’04) of New Kensington, Pa.

Seton Hill also honored director of Alumni Relations Ellen Marker Greiner (SHU ’59) of Greensburg, Pa., with a special award for Distinguished Service to Seton Hill and the University’s alumni.

Sandra Burin Bobick (SHU ’69) is a faculty member with the biology department at the Community College of Allegheny County. Sandra graduated from the University of Dayton in 1971 with her Master of Science degree in biology. Her first job led her to the University of Illinois where she worked in the botany department. Sandra then moved to Brown University and worked in the department of biomedical pharmacology. After Brown, Sandra moved to Philadelphia and was an editor with Biological Abstracts. In 1985, Sandra and her family moved to Ohio. She obtained a Master of Education degree in elementary education from John Carroll University in 1987 and began teaching seventh grade at Saint Dominic’s School in Shaker Heights. Sandra returned to southwestern Pennsylvania and continues her career as a biology instructor with the Community College of Allegheny County for 20 years. She obtained her Doctor of Education degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999.

Phil Cirucci Dymond (SHU ’59), retired president of the Eastern Westmoreland Development Corporation, founded the consulting firm of Dymond Associates in 2000. Dymond Associates provides service in leadership training, media writing, marketing and advertising, business consulting, motivational training, and event planning. Through the last 50 years, Phil has served on, and chaired, more than 50 boards at local, county, and state levels. Phil was the first female president of the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association Board. She was appointed to the Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority Board by former Governor Robert P. Casey. Phil is also the first female chairperson of the Latrobe Area Hospital Board. In addition to her work with Dymond Associates and her community service initiatives, Phil is a popular public speaker. She conducts leadership training for Westmoreland Leadership and the Pennsylvania State University RULE Program.

Lovenia DeConge Watson (SHU ’59) is retired from Southern University in Baton Rouge and volunteers as vice president for Academic Affairs at Duplichain University, a new online graduate university based in New Orleans. Lovenia received her Master of Arts degree in 1962 from Louisiana State University. In 1968 she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree from St. Louis University. She was immediately hired as an assistant professor of mathematics at Loyola University of New Orleans. In 1971, Lovenia transferred to Southern University and accepted a position as associate professor of mathematics and was promoted to professor in 1982. From 1985-1995, Lovenia was the chairperson of the mathematics department. In 1995, she received a $3.5 million dollar grant from the United States Department of Energy to create the Center for Minorities in Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Technology, where she ultimately served as executive director.

Sister Melanie DiPietro, S.C. (SHU ’69) is the distinguished practitioner in residence with Seton Hall University and serves as director of the Seton Hall Law Center for Religiously Affiliated Corporations. Sister Melanie began her legal career as associate legal counsel of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, focusing on the representation of health, social service, and education institutions in corporate transactions, including the creation of national and regional health care systems and joint ventures between Catholic and non-Catholic facilities. Sister Melanie received her Master of Arts degree in Urban Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles and completed a Coro Fellowship in Urban Affairs. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University School of Law and a Juris Doctorate in Canon Law from the University of St. Thomas in Rome. Sister Melanie has served on local, state, national, and international boards of directors, including the Legal Commission of Caritas Internationalis, which is based in Rome.

Susan Gillenberger Mercer (SHU ’04), an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., combined her passion for teaching and conducting research as a medicinal chemist. Susan began this position in 2008 immediately after receiving her Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Maryland’s School of Pharmacy. Currently, she teaches students in the pharmaceutics and pharmacological basis of therapeutics courses and the integrated biomedical sciences laboratory at Lipscomb. Susan additionally mentors Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy students in the laboratory on medicinal chemistry and rational drug design projects. In addition to her work with Lipscomb, Susan is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. After developing research collaborations, Susan is currently examining the design and development of inhibitors for anthrax and staph bacteria.

Robin Heffernan Beck (SHU ’64) currently serves as vice president for Information Systems and Computing (ISC) and is responsible for the information technologies that support students, faculty, and staff at the University of Pennsylvania. Robin has also been a lecturer in the University’s Graduate School of Education. Prior to her work with the University, Robin was employed by the General Electric Company in the information technology field at various business units, including aerospace and power systems. Over the years, Robin has devoted much time and energy to mentoring programs for women. At General Electric, Robin taught a multi-year program for female employees who wanted to advance in their careers. In addition, Robin was a founding member of the Network of Women in Computer Technology in Philadelphia. She has given lectures to women from southeastern Asia on technology careers and participated in the University of Pennsylvania’s mentoring program as well.

Lenore Parrott Luckey (SHU ’69) is employed by Kraft Foods North America as a snacks nutritionist for nutrition applications. Following graduation from Seton Hill, and the completion of an internship at the Saint Mary’s Hospital/Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Lenore began working for the General Foods Corporation Consumer Center Test Kitchen. In addition to her work at General Foods, Lenore founded NutriServ Associates, a consulting firm that provided regulatory, nutrition, and dietetics services to corporate, health care, academic, civic, nonprofit organizations, and individual clients. In 1997, Lenore earned her Master of Science degree in nutrition from the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, N.J. She was ultimately hired by Nabisco, Inc. as a senior food technologist in nutrition and regulatory affairs and was responsible for the nutrition labels of every Nabisco branded product. In 2000, Nabisco became part of Kraft Foods.

Pamela Williams (SHU ’04), a crisis supervisor for Mercy Behavioral Health, manages a staff of 16 and addresses calls from a crisis line, offers walk-in crisis services, provides follow-up assistance, and works as a hospital liaison. In 2004, Pamela obtained her Master of Arts degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Seton Hill. Since that time, she has served as a speaker at numerous national conferences. Pamela addresses numerous topics about risky behaviors in which children are engaging. Pamela serves as a board member of the Pittsburgh Critical Incident Stress Team, which is a component of the Allegheny Crisis Intervention Team. For the past three years, Pamela has served as president of the Crisis Intervention Association of Pennsylvania. In addition to her work in crisis prevention, Pamela has been a volunteer firefighter since 1987 with the city of New Kensington, Pa.

Special Award for Distinguished Service to Seton Hill and the University’s Alumni

Ellen Marker Greiner (SHU ’59) graduated from Seton Hill in 1959 and has played an important part in the life of the institution ever since. She married Jack Greiner a week after graduation. That fall she began her career with Seton Hill as a biology laboratory instructor. After taking some time away from her career to raise her three children, John, Ellie, and Lisa, Ellen returned to Seton Hill in 1976 and became a physiology lab instructor. While Ellen enjoyed teaching, she decided to take advantage of a special opportunity to serve as director of Alumnae Affairs alongside her mentor Sister Mary Schmidt, S.C. Ellen would later become director of Alumnae Relations and the Annual Fund and ultimately director of Alumni Relations. Ellen is the third director of Alumni Relations at Seton Hill; her predecessors include Sister M. de Chantal Leis, S.C. and Sister Mary Schmidt, S.C.