Alumni recognized for health, education, busing contributions

A Richmond college is honoring seven alumni who’ve made an impact on children’s health, environmental education and transportation.

Earlham College’s Homecoming festivities take place Oct. 17-20.

Outstanding Alumni Award: Roberta Anderson Ballard and Phil Ballard graduated from Earlham in 1961, married in 1962 and completed Medical/Ph.D. training at the University of Chicago School and pediatric residency training at Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco’s Cardiovascular Research Institute.

They both specialized in neonatal/perinatal medicine before their recent retirement. Phil’s research involved developing lungs. Roberta’s career included clinical care/administration/teaching and clinical research applying laboratory findings to improve survival and developmental outcomes of preterm infants.

They have advanced physiological understanding and therapies in neonatal medicine, improved compassionate care and outcomes for mothers and infants, and provided guidance for future pediatricians. They published multiple scientific papers and have been honored with two major Pediatric Academic Societies awards. 

Distinguished Service Award: Earlham officials say Margaret Lechner has made a significant impact in the world of teaching through combining Quaker ideals with hands-on outdoor experiences. As a student, she participated in the founding of the August Wilderness program. After graduating in 1972, she designed the Southwest Field Studies program and joined Earlham’s faculty in 1974 to lead the program.

She later served Earlham as director of its wilderness program from 1982 until 2000 while teaching as an associate professor of biology and cofounding the Kenya foreign study program. She mentored generations of students who facilitate and direct outdoor education programs, teach in schools and universities, and serve in other significant roles in environmental education.

In 2000, Lechner left Earlham to lead Richmond’s Conflict Resolution Center. This connected her with the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), which she still facilitates in communities, prisons and schools. In 2010, she volunteered with Friends Peace Teams, Peacebuilding en las Americas, which led her to organize AVP International gatherings in Guatemala, Ireland and Nepal.

Young Alumni Award: Iman Cooper ’15, Leslie Ossete ’16, Sonia Kabra ’16 and Wyclife Omondi ’17 collaborated to create Team Magic Bus and win the 2016 Hult Prize, the largest student competition for the social good. They received the prize from former President Bill Clinton and were featured on NPR.  

Using $1 million in startup capital earned during the competition, they piloted a new text message-based ticketing system that has optimized public transit in Kenya and beyond. The venture was named one of the best three transportation startups at the Transdev Transport Challenge.

Now called BuuPass, the venture has won accolades in Africa and around the world, including the Bosch Africa Smart Mobility Start-up Award.

Athletics Hall of Fame

In addition, several more alumni were inducted in Earlham’s Athletics Hall of Fame. The latest inductees are 2012 graduate Jacob Naegeli (cross country, track and field); 2006 graduate Brandon Miller (basketball) and the women’s 2010-2012 soccer and men’s 2011-2014 tennis teams.