Haverford College Alumni Award Recipients
Haverford College will present its 2019 Alumni Awards on Saturday, June 1 as part of Alumni Weekend at the College. Below is a list of alumni student-athletes who will be honored over the weekend.
Tal Alter '98 – The Forman Award
Two-year captain and All-Centennial Conference performer on the baseball team and currently works with the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball.
The Forman Award is selected by the Alumni Association Awards Committee and presented by the Athletic Department. Friends and relatives of Larry Forman approached the College in 1991 about creating an award in his honor. Haverford responded enthusiastically with an award designed to recognize someone whose athletic career in college and subsequent devotion to serving society was reminiscent of Forman.
Alter heads the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation, which works to mobilize baseball fans, enhance player philanthropy, and build partnerships in the community. He previously worked at PeacePlayers International, a nonprofit that uses basketball to educate and inspire young people living in communities in conflict.
Key initiatives include youth and community development programming at the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, grants to local non-profits, community improvement projects, and collective impact through strategic partnerships with a variety of stakeholders. Tal became the first executive director of the Nationals Academy in 2013 and oversaw the start-up and implementation of an organization that now operates a $3.5M program serving D.C. youth and their families. Prior to joining the Nationals, Tal spent nearly five years as director of operations for PeacePlayers International, a nonprofit that uses basketball to bring people together in areas of conflict throughout the world. He also previously worked for six years with Positive Coaching Alliance, a Stanford University-based organization focused on transforming the culture of youth sports. Tal played baseball at Haverford, and graduated with a B.A. in English in 1998. He also has a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he studied organizational leadership and non-profit management. Tal lives in Bethesda, MD, with his wife, Kara, and son, August.
Bill Harris '49 – The Kannerstein Award For Sustained Service to the College
Member of the 1945 men's soccer team which completed the only undefeated season in school history. The team was inducted into Haverford's 2014 Hall of Achievement.
Harris served on the Board of Managers from 1989 to 2001. He and his late wife, Nan (BMC '51), provided leadership support for the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center, the future Lutnick Library, Swan Field, and two named professorships.
Bill Harris established the Harris Orthopedic Laboratory and was chief of the Arthroplasty Service of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mass General Hospital and the Alan Gerry Clinical Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He was also a founding member and president of both the North American and International Hip Societies. He is widely recognized for creating many leading advances in total hip surgery including the Harris Hip Score for quantifying the results of hip surgery and major contributions to identifying and eliminating the worldwide disease of bone destruction around total hips. At Haverford, Bill majored in chemistry, receiving a B.S. with high honors, participated on the tennis, soccer and wrestling teams, on the Student's Council and in the Chemistry Club. His M.D. was granted in 1951 by the Perlman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. Bill and his late wife Nan (BMC '51) provided support for the Koshland Integrated Natural Science Center, the future Lutnick Library, and Swan Field. Their two named professorships at Haverford initiated the studies in Computational Science and Environmental Studies. Bill served on Haverford's Board of Managers 1989-2001, becoming an Emeritus Member in 2004. In 2000 Haverford awarded Bill an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Bill lives in Lexington, MA.
Robert Riordan '64 – The Haverford Award for Service to Humanity
Four-year member of the baseball team and a captain during his senior season and also a member of the football team.
Rob Riordan is a co-founder of High Tech High (HTH) in San Diego and president emeritus of the HTH Graduate School of Education (GSE), the nation's first graduate school of education situated wholly in a K-12 environment. A lifelong educator, he has co-developed 14 new schools spanning the K-12 years, focused on equity, innovation, and community. As a long-time teacher in the Cambridge, MA, Rindge and Latin School, Rob developed an award-winning writing center and two pioneering school-to-work transition programs. Later, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education, he directed the New Urban High School Project that led to the development of HTH. At HTH, through its graduate school, Rob has worked with educators around the world to transform the social relations of schooling by fostering dialogical approaches to teaching and learning. His work is best described in his chapter, "Schools as Equitable Communities of Inquiry" in Sustainability, Human Well-Being, and the Future of Education (2018). Rob earned a B.A. in English from Haverford in 1964, an M.A.T. from Harvard in 1969, and an Ed.D. from Harvard in 1977. While at Haverford, he was a member of the baseball and football teams, a perennial contributor to Class Night shows, host of a jazz show on WHRC, and sports co-editor for the Haverford News. An avid runner, he has completed 25 marathons, including 11 at Boston. Rob and his wife Judy have two children: Charles and Marc. The couple resides in Cambridge, MA.
Jacob Weisenthal '13 – Young Alumni Award for Accomplishments in Leadership
Four-year member of the men's tennis team and three-time selection to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.
Jacob Weisenthal '13 is the co-founder and senior operations director for Semilla Nueva, a social enterprise working to reduce chronic malnutrition in Guatemala. Semilla Nueva produces and sells seed that costs less than other commercial corn and has double the amount of zinc and protein—two of the principal deficits in the Guatemalan diet.
Instead of trying to change what Guatemalans traditionally eat, Semilla Nueva produces and sells a corn seed that yields as much as other commercial corn seeds, costs less, and has double the amount of zinc and protein–two of the principal deficits in the Guatemalan diet. Over four years in Guatemala, Jake oversaw Semilla Nueva's seed production, marketing, sales, and impact evaluation departments; and the corn seed is projected to reach over a million people by 2021. Having discovered a passion for Latin America during a gap year in high school, Jake served as a volunteer in Mexico and a Princeton in Latin America Fellow in Guatemala before joining Semilla Nueva. Jake graduated from Haverford magna cum laude in 2013 with a double major in political science and Spanish. He is currently a joint degree candidate for an M.B.A. and M.P.P from the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School respectively. As an undergraduate, Jake was a member of the tennis team as well as a Customs co-head. He lives in Somerville, MA.
Adam Care '09 – The Perry Award (exemplary service to the College in the area of fundraising)
Captain of the men's soccer team who earned Scholar All-Region status during his career.
The CHARLES PERRY AWARD is given for exemplary service to the College in the area of fundraising. As a current member of the Young Alumni Advisory Group, Adam J. Care '09 has worked to engage alumni in the 10 youngest classes. His diligent support and virtual engagement helped achieve fundraising goals.
Adam Care is an AVP and senior client company manager for Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Adam received a B.A. with honors, in political science from Haverford in 2009. As an undergraduate, he was a captain of the men's varsity soccer team, served as an admissions office senior interviewer, a teacher's assistant, and as a committee member on the Distinguished Visitors Committee. He also studied abroad in Freiburg, Germany. Adam attended Haverford with his twin sister, Laura Davies '09. Now, as a current member of the Young Alumni Advisory Group (YAAG), Adam has worked to engage alumni 0-10 years out. Without Adam's diligent support, virtual engagement, and responsiveness to the College's needs, fundraising goals for this cohort would not have been so enthusiastically met throughout the campaigns. Adam lives in Austin, TX, with his wife Katherine.
Nominations are being accepted for 2020 when the classes of 1945-2015 will be celebrating Reunions, on the 5-year cycle. Nominees do not necessarily have to be in a reunion class; however, it is particularly meaningful to receive an award while celebrating with classmates. All nominations must be submitted by Monday, August 12, 2019.