Distinguished Alumni 2005

Past award recipient bios as they appeared in that year's event program (*deceased)

Dr. Steven G. Belovich, ‘83 MS/’87 D.Eng.

Dr. Steven B. Belovich is a two-time graduate of the Fenn College of Engineering, with a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1983 and a doctorate in electrical engineering in 1987. He lives in Hinckley.

From 1987 to 1992, Dr. Belovich was an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the Fenn College of Engineering. He is now president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of SmartData, Inc., a software engineering company specializing in the design of virus-immune business software. The firm won the Enterprise Development Inc. (EDI) Innovation Award for its software in 2000.

Dr. Belovich remains active with the University and Fenn College, participating in last fall's Executive Forum; holding seminars for undergraduate and graduate students; hosting high school students participating in the Engineer for a Day job shadowing experience; and serving on the Visiting Committee for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Mary C. Grimm, ‘80 BA/’89 MA

Mary Grimm is a two-time graduate of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (formerly Arts and Sciences), with a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1980 and a master's degree in English, with a concentration in creative writing, in 1989. She lives in Cleveland.

A writer of national renown, she has been successful as a novelist (Left to Themselves), short story writer (Stealing Time) and poet. Her stories have been published in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Redbook and Antioch Review, and her articles have appeared in The Plain Dealer.

Grimm is the founder and former editor of Ohio Writer nad has received awards and grants for her works. She has been affiliated with Case Western Reserve University since 1989 and is an associate professor of English.

William J. Hunt, ‘69 MA

William J. Hunt earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1969 from the College of Science (formerly Arts and Sciences). He lives in Florida.

Hunt retired from classroom teaching in 1993 after 30 years with teh Mayfield City Schools. He served as department chair for much of that time, and also was the district's director of technology. He taught part time for the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland for 11 years and for Cleveland State, Cuyahoga Community College and Kent State University.

Hunt is a past president of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics and was a contributing author of the Ohio Competency-Based Mathematics Program. In 1983 he received the first Presidential Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. He served a two-year presidency and four-year term as board member of the Council of Presidential Awardees in Mathematics.

Benjamin W. Kearney, ‘93 MA/’00 Ed.D.

Dr. Benjamin J. Kearney is a two-time graduate of the College of Education and Human Services, with a master's degree in community agency cuonseling in 1993 and a Ph.D. in urban education in 2000. He lives in Elyria.

Dr. Kearney has dedicated his life's work to the diagnosis and treatment of youngsters with social, emotional and mental disorders. He has been employed by Berea Children's Home and Family Services since 1993. Starting as a case manager, he progressed to family therapist, clinical supervisor of family treatment, assistant director and director of intake and diagnostic assessment. In January 2005, he became vice president and chief clinical officer.

Charlene W. Mancuso, ‘82 BS/’93 MPA

Charlene Mancuso is a two-time graduate, with a bachelor of science in nursing, 1982, from the former College of Arts and Sciences (now College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences) and a master's of public administration in health care administration, 1993, from the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. She lives in Euclid, where she is a councilwoman-at-large.

Since 1994 Mancuso has been director of critical care operations for MetroHealth Medical Center's Division of Trauma, Burns, Critical Care, and Metro Life Flight. She joined the hospital in 1992 as trauma program manager in the Department of Surgery. Mancuso also has been a staff nurse, head nurse of emergency services, and trauma/EMS coordinator at St. Luke's Hospital. She serves on the State Board of Emergency Medical Services.

Cynthia A. Moore-Hardy, ‘90 MBA

Cynthia Moore-Hardy earned a master of business administration degree from the College of Business in 1990. She lives in Cleveland. Moore-Hardy has served as president and chief executive officer of Lake Hospital System since 1997. She joined the system in 1988 as assistant administrator of cardiology services. Through the years, her positions have included vice president of clinical services, chief operating officer of ambulatory services, and executive vice president and chief operating officer. She is a member of the Cleveland State's Graduate Program in Health Care Administration Advisory Committee.

James A. Thomas, ‘63 JD/’09 LL.D.

James A. Thomas graduated magna cum laude in 1963 with a JD from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and served as editor of the Law Review. He lives in Los Angeles. He chairs the Cleveland-Marshall National Advisory Committee and is currently funding a limited-term professorship and scholarship in the law school.

In the early 1990s, Thomas formed Thomas Development Partnters, which was renamed Thomas Properties Group in 1999. He is chief executive officer of the real estate investment, operating and management company that has shaped the skylines of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Sacramento, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Philadelphia.

Thomas is chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee, which is transforming the civic and cultural districts of downtown Los Angeles into a vibrant regional center of entertainment venues, restaurants and retail mixed with office buildings, a hotel and more than 1,000 new housing units. He was the owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team from 1992 to 1999. He is a member of the board of governors (and former chair) of the Music Center of Los Angeles Countyl chair of S.O.S. Coral Trees, which assists in the preservation of the official tree of Los Angeles; and a board member of the I Have a Dream Foundation.

GEORGE B. DAVIS AWARD: P. Kelly Tompkins, ‘81 JD 

P. Kelly Tompkins earned a JD from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1981. He is the senior vice president, general counsel and secretary of RPM International, Inc. He lives in Westlake. He will receive the George B. Davis Award for Service to the University. Alumnus Davis, for whom the award is named, received a BBA in 1941 and an MBA in 1981.

Tompkins participated in the University's first Executive Forum last fall, and served on the search committee that recently selected a new law dean. He has been a member of the Cleveland-Marshall Visiting Committee since 2000 and chair since 2002; and also serves on the College's new Development Council. In addition to donating his time and talent, he also is a generous financial supporter of the College and was a Silver Patron at the University's 2004 Moses Cleaveland Black-Tie Scholarship Dinner.

Tompkins is president-elect of the Cleveland Bar Association, trustee of the Cleveland Bar Foundation, and chair of the Corporate Counsel Advisory Group for the Washington, D.C.-based National Paint and Coatings Association.