Established in 1937 by the George Washington Alumni Association, the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards are presented annually to the alumni who have obtained notable success in their chosen profession thereby bringing honor to themselves and their alma mater.
This year, during the 76th annual Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards, held during Alumni Weekend, we are proud to honor six alumni with this prestigious recognition:
Bobby R. Burchfield, LAW JD ’79, is a partner at McDermott Will & Emery, co-head of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office, and a member of the firm-wide management committee. He is a nationally prominent trial and appellate lawyer who defends major corporations against antitrust, class action, securities fraud and other commercial cases. Mr. Burchfield has argued before the United States Supreme Court and has never lost a jury trial.
Kathleen M. Dumais, MVC BA ’80, is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 15, and serves as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. She also is senior counsel at Ethridge, Quinn, Kemp, McAuliffe, Rowan & Hartinger, where she concentrates in family law. She was named as one of the top 50 divorce lawyers in the Washington Metropolitan area by the Washingtonian and was named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Daily Record.
Simon S. Lee, SEAS MS ’05, is founder, chairman and CEO of STG, Inc., a premiere information technology company headquartered in Reston, Va. STG specializes in enterprise network operations, cyber security, financial services, systems engineering and integration, software engineering, and linguistics and intelligence solutions. Mr. Lee emigrated from South Korea to the U.S. in 1979 and founded STG in 1986. He has led STG’s evolution as a provider of performance-based solutions with customers spanning across government and industry around the world.
Paul D. Miller, CCAS MS ’66, SMHS MD ’70, is a distinguished clinical professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Medical School and medical director of the Colorado Center for Bone Research. His research has focused on the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Dr. Miller has authored or coauthored more than 300 peer-reviewed publications. His work has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, and he serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Clinical Densitometry.
Raúl H. Yzaguirre, GWSB BS ’70, has served as U. S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic since 2010. Previously, Ambassador Yzaguirre was a presidential professor of practice and executive director of the Center for Community Development and Civil Rights at Arizona State University. Ambassador Yzaguirre also served as president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, and he was named to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.
The Recent Alumni Achievement Award is given to graduates of the last 10 years who have attained notable achievements in their field of endeavor. This year’s recipient is Matthew J. Tosiello, GSEHD MEd ’08, a specialist in English for speakers of other languages and teacher at Randolph Elementary School in Arlington, Va. Mr. Tosiello, who speaks English, Spanish, French, and Japanese, and is studying Mandarin Chinese, is an advocate and ardent supporter of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. He was named 2011 Teacher of the Year by Arlington County Public Schools and was one of 21 metropolitan D.C. area teachers honored by the Washington Post as part of the annual Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Awards.
