This article pertains to UNH recognizing state leaders for their service, philanthropy, and excellence.
DURHAM, N.H.—A lifelong advocate for individuals living with disabilities and a couple committed to university athletics recently received the University of New Hampshire's most prestigious awards for their history of continued support and service to the university.
Jere Lundholm ’53 and Harriet Forkey ‘54 were presented with the Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy. The award recognizes individuals whose philanthropic leadership and gifts have strengthened UNH and/or who have promoted philanthropy throughout the state. Lundholm and Forkey were founding members and cochairs of the UNH sports gallery project, a photographic display located in the Field House that represents men and women’s sports teams from 1894 to the president.
Donald Shumway, former president and CEO of the Crotched Mountain Foundation, was awarded the Charles Holmes Pettee Medal, given to honor the kind of devotion to service shown by the medal's namesake, the late Dean Charles Pettee, who, beginning in 1876, served the college for 62 years.
In addition, Jean Mitchell, a 42-year employee of the university, received the profile of service award and Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts ’13, recipient of the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest and most prestigious military decoration, received the outstanding recent graduate award.
Lundholm worked at the international consulting firm Arthur D. Little, Inc. from 1957 to 1991, following a two-year stint in the U.S. Air Force. Early in his career with the company, Lundholm was a key engineer in the design and testing of the propellant loading system for the Atlas rocket, representing the company at launch control at the first operational countdown. Forkey was a partner with New Dynamics Associates from 1978-1988. Prior to that, she worked for the National Training Laboratories in Washington, D.C. and with N.H. Department of Education as the affirmative action director and Title IX coordinator.
Prior to his role at Crotched Mountain, Shumway was commissioner of N.H. Department of Health and Human Services and before that served as director of the state Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services. He was instrumental in the closing of the state school that had institutionalized people with developmental disabilities for 90 years.
Mitchell started at UNH in 1977 as a housekeeper, taking over as the Field House facilities manager for grounds and housekeeping in 1992. Known as Mama Jean, she received the Joan Leitzel Award in 2012 for her contributions to the lives of UNH’s student-athletes. Her office has been described as a place of “refuge and love—sometimes tough love but love nonetheless.”
Pitts graduated summa cum laude from UNH in 2013 with a degree in business. While at UNH, he was named a Presidential Scholar and received the Brennan Award for character, perseverance and academic excellence. He also received the UNH Award of Excellence as well as several student leadership prizes. He formerly served on the Alumni Association board.
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation, and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. As one of the nation’s highest-performing research universities, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, and receives more than $110 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea, and space.