The Indiana State University Alumni Association has announced the recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award. The 2007 recipients will be honored at a reception and banquet, marking the 50th anniversary of the award, on Friday, Oct. 19, in Hulman Center. The 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are:
Barbara Beadle
Beadle currently serves as state program specialist for the Indiana Department of Education for the areas of business, marketing, information technology and co-operative education.
As state program specialist, she provides leadership and coordinates professional development activities for Indiana’s business, marketing, information technology, co-operative education and other career and technical educators; develops standards, curriculum and assessment strategies for high school business, marketing and information technology and co-operative education; oversees federally funded projects; represents the state on the National Business Education Association and the MarkED Resource Center for national standards projects; and oversees student organizations DECA and the Business Professionals of America.
She is active in numerous local, state, regional and national professional organizations and was a 2001 recipient of the Indiana Association for Career and Technical Education’s Professional Educator of the Year Award, the National Association of Supervisors of Business Education Outstanding Leadership Award and the North-Central Business Education Association’s Outstanding Service Award for the administrator division.
Beadle served on the advisory committees for ISU’s marketing and business education programs and was involved on a committee that began the organization of personal finance standards for ISU’s Networks Financial Institute. She worked with Kelly Wilkinson, associate professor of business education, on a new vocational business endorsement currently being offered at ISU, in addition to presenting at the school’s Business Education Clinic on numerous occasions during the past 16 years.
Beadle, who earned a bachelor’s degree in 1965 and a master’s degree in 1972 from Indiana State, spent time in secondary and postsecondary classrooms in Indiana. She taught in the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation and at Castle High School, in addition to classes at Ivy Tech State College in Evansville and Indiana Business College.
Beadle resides in Indianapolis. She has two children, Tamara Stultz and Scott Beadle, both of whom are ISU graduates.
Jim Lewis
Lewis currently serves as president of Disney Vacation Club, an innovative vacation-ownership program that revolutionized the timeshare industry in 1991 with an unprecedented level of service and flexibility. The division of The Walt Disney Company includes eight themed resorts, more than 300,000 individual members from more than 100 countries and every U.S. state, and more than 2,000 employees. Disney Vacation Club has more than doubled its business since 2000, while attaining the industry’s No. 1 position in member satisfaction under Lewis’ leadership.
Previously, he served as senior vice president, business development and public affairs for the Walt Disney World Resort, overseeing efforts in international business development, alliance development, minority business development, government relations, public affairs and diversity.
As a member of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide Operations Steering Committee, he helps develop the vision and strategy for this global growth business, managing performance expectations, technology application, product-investment levels, competitive positioning, expansion and talent development.
Lewis’ Disney career began in 1996, when he served as director of Planning and Finance for Walt Disney Attractions and progressed into roles as vice president of business development and vice president of finance.
Prior to joining The Walt Disney Company, he spent eight years at PepsiCo, progressing through a variety of executive-level positions, including controller, director of investor relations, and vice president and general manager at Frito-Lay.
A native of Hammond, Ind., and a certified public accountant, Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Indiana State in 1984, and his master of business administration from the Krannert School of Business at Purdue University.
Lewis credits his Indiana State education for helping him land a position at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which launched his business career.
He represents Disney on the boards of Enterprise Florida and the Coalition for the Homeless. Lewis has served as chairman of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Lewis and his wife, LaFaye, a 1985 College of Education alumna, have been married for 21 years and are the proud parents of two sons, Jalen and Jaren.
Timothy O’Neill
Timothy O’Neill is a 1969 graduate and a retired executive of First Indiana Bank.
Following military service, O’Neill began a 35-year career at First Indiana Bank in Indianapolis, where he would go on to serve as senior vice president and president of the bank’s national mortgage operation before retiring in April 2005.
During his career, he led First Indiana’s expansion into mortgage lending. Having established offices in Tampa, Charlotte, Raleigh, Orlando and Phoenix, O’Neill managed the bank’s expansion into residential construction and development finance - an unusual strategy for a community bank. During his career, First Indiana Bank received numerous awards for its commitment to affordable housing and the revitalization of Indianapolis’ inner-city neighborhoods.
He is currently a member of the Greenwood Building Corporation and has served on the city’s Economic Development Commission and Parks and Recreation Board. While a senior vice president of First Indiana Bank, he was a member of several national banking organizations.
O’Neill has served on the ISU Foundation Board since 1996, chairing the first athletic development committee and heading up the finance committee. He held the office of treasurer before accepting the role as interim president in 2006.
He was a member of the Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1995, serving as its vice president and secretary. He was a member of the ISU Alumni Association Board from 1979 to 1985, and was elected president of the organization in 1982.
In honor of his service to the University, O’Neill was presented the Jones Medal in 2000 and was recently presented the University Medallion in April.
A native of Indiana, O’Neill came to Indiana State on an athletic scholarship for swimming and served as the team captain his senior year. He was also active in Blue Berets, Blue Key, I-Men, Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Interfraternity Council.
O’Neill and his wife, Bobbie, a 1970 College of Education alumna, reside in Greenwood and have three sons.
Jill Bolte-Taylor
After earning her Ph.D. from Indiana State in 1991, Taylor went on to spend seven years teaching and performing brain research at Harvard Medical School, and served on the board of directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for three years.
But that all changed in December 1996, when at age 37 Taylor experienced a rare form of stroke, an arterio-venous malformation (AVM). The stroke had a profound effect - she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life.
Following the stroke and major brain surgery, Taylor has been successfully rebuilding her brain. She now creates and sells unique stained-glass brains.
Her book, “My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey,†chronicles her recovery and describes the insights she gained into the workings of her brain.
Her work has been featured in numerous newspapers, O Magazine and on ABC, CNN, the Learning Channel and NPR.
Today, Taylor continues to serve as the spokesperson for the mentally ill for the Harvard Brain Bank, and is the president of the Greater Bloomington Area affiliate of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She resides in Bloomington and teaches neuroanatomy at the IU School of Medicine.
Also known as the Singin’ Scientist, she delivers a very popular keynote address, “The Beauty and Resiliency of the Human Brain.â€Â
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Contact: Elizabeth Tuttle, ISU Alumni Affairs, (812)237-3779
Writer: Paula Meyer, ISU Communications & Marketing, (812) 237-3783 or pmeyer4@isugw.indstate.edu