Annual Alumni Awards

The Catlin Gabel alumni board honored Gretchen Corbett ’63 with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award for significant accomplishments in business or professional life. Gretchen is a well-known actress who has appeared in prominent roles in theater, film, and television.

 

Gretchen’s theater background includes major roles on and off Broadway, in Shakespeare festivals, and in notable regional theaters across the nation. Her career has been punctuated by her work in many iconic roles including Jeri in Kojak, Jessica Conroy in Columbo, Arlene in Gunsmoke, Glynis in Hawaii Five-O, and Beth Davenport in The Rockford Files.

 

Locally, Gretchen has performed for Portland Center Stage, Portland Playhouse, Third Rail Rep, and Sojourn Theatre, receiving numerous lead actress awards. Gretchen is also an award-winning director for her work with Reasons to be Pretty and Anse and Bhule, and acted as resident director for the ASK Theatre in Los Angeles. Gretchen founded and ran the Haven Project, a local nonprofit focused on pairing underserved children with professional actors to create original theater, for 10 years.

 

During Gretchen’s acceptance speech she spoke of English and theater teacher “Mrs. Jo,” Vivian Johannes: “She expected you to come in with a burning appetite to work on some scene or play or monologue. And these were not plays of light fare—these were Euripedes and Ugo Betti and some odd playwright named Constant Connaught, who, I found out later in my adult years, was Vivian herself. . . . I was taught that my passion was not only appreciated, it was a requirement for my success.”

 

The Catlin Gabel alumni board honored Wick Rowland ’62 with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award for extraordinary service to the community, state, nation, or the world.

 

Wick is a leader in public broadcasting and communications studies. Wick is longtime president and CEO emeritus of Colorado Public Television and has played many key roles in the development of public broadcasting and its stations and policies. He is also dean and professor emeritus of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Colorado–Boulder, and served as president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. Wick’s published works have focused on communications policy, public media, television violence debates, and the history of journalism and communication education. He received a BA in history from Stanford, an MA in communication from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD from the Institute of Communication Research at the University of Illinois.

 

When asked to speak to Upper School students on life after Catlin Gabel and the path he took, Wick spoke of Manvel “Schauff” Schauffler’s enduring legacy and said, “After you graduate and over the years as you move on to other things, I hope you will remember this heritage and always celebrate it, just as those of us returning this weekend are doing.”

 

The Catlin Gabel alumni board honored Amani Reed ’93 with the Distinguished Younger Alumni Award, for high achievement in a profession or social service before the age of 40.

 

Amani is a leader in independent schools and progressive curriculum development. After Catlin Gabel, Amani attended Howard University and the University of Portland. He began his career in education at Sewickley Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his former Catlin Gabel mentor Roy Parker hired him as Summerbridge director. Amani worked at the school for six years, teaching, coaching soccer, working in admissions, and serving as diversity director. He went on to serve as assistant middle school head at Lakeside School in Seattle.

 

After completing his master’s in educational leadership from the Teachers College at Columbia University, Amani was hired as middle school principal at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. In 2012 Amani was appointed head of the School at Columbia University, leading 500 students and 130 faculty and staff members. Most recently, Amani successfully led the school through a major facilities renovation.

 

In accepting the award, Amani said, “As I thought about today, I focused on the time I spent at Catlin Gabel, and how this school has influenced my life as an educator. Important lessons were learned here about perseverance and belonging. . . . I rely on the leadership lessons learned from mentors like Roy Parker and Jim Scott and Lark Palma, who helped me understand what it means to truly care. I think about the community that found such strength in itself to bring a class together, that truly survived it all, and I think about what I might have become had I not had the opportunity to come to Catlin.”

 

The Catlin Gabel alumni board honored retired 35-year Upper School history teacher Dave Corkran with the Joey Day Pope ’54 Volunteer Award for a Catlin Gabel community member who personifies volunteerism within the community. The awardee is selected by a committee of alumni and faculty-staff. Dave is a leader in many arenas in the Catlin Gabel community, continuing to dedicate his time as a committed volunteer.

 

Dave graduated from Middlebury College and received his MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Catlin Gabel faculty in 1968, and began coaching cross country and track in 1971. Ten years into retirement, Dave is still an enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteer coach, and a vocal soccer fan. Coaches, players, and spectators often hear him imparting words of encouragement from the hill above Davis-Gant field.

 

In presenting the award, Len Carr ’75 said, “Dave has given generously and selflessly to the athletic program for 45 years. He has traveled thousands of miles across the state by school bus and has left his indelible mark on hundreds of athletes and students.” Dave has led 16 senior class environmental restoration trips to Mount Hood and 16 other senior trips around Oregon, and continues to go on freshman trips. He has been committed to the Elana Gold ’93 Memorial Environmental Restoration Project since its inception in 1991, leading Catlin Gabel students and alumni in more than 15,000 hours of volunteer work restoring degraded land and protecting sensitive riparian zones. In 2010 Dave accepted a Regional Forester’s Award from the Mt. Hood National Forest for the successful restoration work that has been done through the project.

 

Dave ended his acceptance speech noting, “The Colombian environmentalist and reformer Paolo Lugari says that if you are not dreaming you must be asleep. Thanks everyone, for helping me stay awake.”