Jeanette Wagner

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 1995

Wagner was the president and CEO of Estée Lauder’s international operations from 1986 to 1998, transforming a small and relatively unprofitable division into one that accounted for half the company’s business. After stepping down from running the international division in 1998, she served as the company’s vice chairwoman and on the boards of many nonprofits, including the Library of America. She died on February 26, 2022 in Manhattan at the age of 92.

Kelly O'Donnell

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 2014

Kelly O’Donnell is an American Journalist and anchor, Chief Justice and National Affairs Correspondent
for NBC News covering the Justice Department.
She appears on NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, MSNBC, and Meet the Press.

O’Donnell served as Whitehouse correspondent for NBC News during the 2nd term of G. W. Bush. Following the 2008 presidential campaign season she became Capitol Hill correspondent. During the Iraq war she was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Baghdad and Qatar.

In 1987 O’Donnell graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree, focusing on a combined course of study in journalism and public policy.

She has received many honors, including Emmy Awards, a national Headline Award, a New Hampshire Primary Award for political reporting and Los Angeles Press Club Awards. In 2021 she was elected president of the White House Correspondents Association for 2023-2024.

She has reported a wide variety of events, including the September 11 attacks, the space shuttle Columbia disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing, the O. J. Simpson trial, and the travels and death of Pope John Paul 11. She also covered both summer and winter Olympic games.

Gwynne Shotwell

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 2015

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Businesswoman, engineer, “rocket scientist,” and mentor are just some of the terms used to describe Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, a commercial space exploration company, recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s 2015 Alumnae Award.

The Alumnae Award recognizes a woman who has brought honor to Northwestern University through outstanding professional contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition. Established in 1976, the Alumnae Award has been presented every year to an outstanding alumna who has had a significant impact in her field of endeavor. Educators, journalists, doctors and artists are included among The Alumnae’s roster of award recipients.

Ms. Shotwell received, with honors, her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1986 and Masters of Science degree in applied mathematics in 1988, both from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She currently serves on McCormick’s Advisory Council and spoke as McCormick’s convocation speaker in 2011.

Prior to joining SpaceX, Shotwell spent more than 10 years at the Aerospace Corporation. There she held positions in Space Systems Engineering & Technology, as well as Project Management. She was promoted to the role of Chief Engineer of an MLV-class satellite program (medium launch vehicle), managed a landmark study for the Federal Aviation Administration on commercial space transportation, and completed an extensive analysis of space for NASA’s future investment in space transportation. She was subsequently recruited to be Director of Microcosm’s Space Systems Division where she served on the executive committee and directed corporate business development.

Shotwell was SpaceX’s seventh employee when she joined as Vice President of Business Development in 2002. In that position she helped develop the Falcon rocket family of vehicles, which resulted in more than 50 space launches, representing over $5 billion in revenue. Today as president and chief operating officer, Shotwell is responsible for day-to-day operations, managing over $7 billion in contracts, including multiple contracts with NASA to deliver supplies and eventually crew to and from the International Space Station.

SpaceX has grown to more than 3500 employees, three launch sites, a rocket-development facility in Texas, and a 550,000 square foot factory with offices in Hawthorne, California. The company designs, manufactures, and tests the majority of the components of its space vehicles in-house. The company is currently making final modifications to its Dragon spacecraft to ready the spacecraft for human transport, and was recently certified by the United States Air Force to launch national security payloads to space, which represents the largest market for launch services in the world.

In 2014, Shotwell was appointed to the United States Export Import Bank’s Advisory Committee and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Management Advisory Council. She has been awarded the World Technology Award for individual Achievement in Space (2011), has been inducted into the women in Technology International Hall of Fame (2012), and was elected to the honorable grade of Fellow with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 2015, she was listed as the 90th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.

SpaceX supports science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs locally near its offices, as well as at national engineering programs and competitions. Through leadership in both corporate and external programs, Shotwell has helped raise more than $1 million for STEM education programs reaching thousands of students nationwide.

“As part of our Centennial celebration, The Alumnae of Northwestern University is extremely proud to present the 2015 Alumnae Award to Gwynne Shotwell,” said Alumnae president Janet Bilandic. “She joins a distinguished group of women from such diverse fields as business, education, journalism, music, medicine, theatre and public service. The Alumnae takes great pride in presenting this year’s award to a woman whose life of achievement has brought honor to Northwestern University.”

Ms. Shotwell will receive her award at a ceremony to be held at 4 p.m., Thursday, November 12, at the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall in the new Music and Communication Building. The public is invited.

The Alumnae of Northwestern University is an all-volunteer organization of women that raises funds for a wide range of projects to benefit the University and shares the University’s academic resources with the community through its Continuing Education program. Founded in 1916, The Alumnae has given more than $7.5 million to the University in the form of grants, fellowships, scholarships, an endowed professorship, as well as providing funds for special university projects and summer internships. For more information, visit The Alumnae website: (www.nualumnae.org).
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For immediate release
November 1, 2015
For more information:
Janet Bilandic, president
Michele Bresler, chair, Public Relations
The Alumnae of Northwestern University
847/869-1010; [email protected]

Lisa Franchetti

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 2016

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Rear Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti, recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s 2016 Alumnae Award, was recently assigned as chief of staff, J5, The Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. Prior to this promotion, she served as commander, Carrier Strike Group Nine, with additional duty as commander, Carrier Strike Group Fifteen, San Diego, California.

The Alumnae Award recognizes a woman who has brought honor to Northwestern University through outstanding professional contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition. Established in 1976, the Alumnae Award has been presented every year to an outstanding alumna who has had a significant impact in her field of endeavor. Educators, journalists, doctors and artists are included among The Alumnae’s roster of award recipients.

Franchetti, a Medill School of Journalism (’85), Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and Naval Reserve Officers Training Corp graduate, is the first woman to serve as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea and one of fewer than 40 female admirals in the U.S. Navy. An expert military tactician and strategist who has commanded a guided missile destroyer and served as commodore of a destroyer squadron, she was the U.S. Navy’s representative in the Republic of Korea whose main job was to strengthen collective security efforts in the region.

“The Alumnae of Northwestern University is extremely proud to present the 2016 Alumnae Award to Rear Admiral Franchetti,” say Alumnae Award committee co-chairs, Mary Schuette and Susie Stein. “She joins a distinguished group of women from such diverse fields as business, education, journalism, music, medicine, theatre and public service. The Alumnae takes great pride in presenting this year’s award to a woman whose life of achievement has brought honor to Northwestern University.” An article in the Spring 2015 issue of Northwestern magazine notes that “Franchetti has all the self-confidence, ambition and intellect one would expect of a person who has achieved so much, say her staff, but none of the standoffish behavior sometimes seen in people at the top of their profession.”

No one in Franchetti’s family was involved in the military and the idea of a career in the Navy was not in her plans. But a chance encounter during freshman orientation week in 1981 changed her plans. “I was on my way from Patten Gym and saw a bunch of NROTC students having a cookout and playing football, and I stopped by to talk to them,” she says. “I was whisked away into their office building, talked to a lieutenant who told me how great the Navy was and, next thing I know, I’m signed up and getting my uniform and some books. Than that’s how it started.”

After graduation, Franchetti spent two years at Naval Station Great Lakes, north of Chicago, and then went to Surface Warfare Officers School in Newport, R.I., and then to her first ship, the USS Shenandoah, a destroyer tender, where she was the auxiliaries officer. The journalism major was in her early 20s when she received her initial assignment to lead 67 men, including three petty officers and one other woman, in the Shenendoah’s auxiliary engineering division.

Many sea assignments followed; shore assignments include commanding officer, Naval Reserve Center Point, Oregon; aide to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations; protocol officer for the Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; 4th Battalion officer at the U.S. Naval Academy; division chief, Joint Concept Development and Experimentation, on the Joint Staff, J7; deputy director of international engagement and executive assistant to Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3/N5) on the Navy staff; military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy; and Commander U.S. Navy Forces Korea.

Franchetti is also a graduate of the Naval War College and holds a master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Her personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (five awards), Meritorious Service Medal Franchetti is also a graduate of the Naval War College and holds a master’s degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Her personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (five awards), Meritorious Service Medal (five awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards).

Rear Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti will receive her award at a ceremony to be held at 3 p.m., Friday, October 28, at the Hilton Garden Hotel, Evanston, Ill. The public is invited.

The Alumnae of Northwestern University is an all-volunteer organization of women that raises funds for a wide range of projects to benefit the University and shares the University’s academic resources with the community through its Continuing Education program. Founded in 1916, The Alumnae has given more than $7.5 million to the University in the form of grants, fellowships, scholarships, an endowed professorship, as well as providing funds for special university projects and summer internships. For more information, visit The Alumnae website: (www.nualumnae.org).

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For immediate release
October 17, 2016
For more information:
Michele Bresler, President
The Alumnae of Northwestern University
847/869-1010; [email protected]

Marg Helgenberger

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 2012

Best known for her role as the main character in the CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-12), she earned 2 Emmy nominations and 2 Golden Globe nominations. In 2012 Marg received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her television work. In 2015 she brought that character back in the television film Immortality and in the second and third season of the.sequel series CSI: Vegas (2022-24) In addition to television, she has appeared in a number of films including Erin Brockovich and In Good Company. As a result ot her mother’s 27-year battle against breast cancer, she has hosted a cancer charity event since 1999.

Jeongyoon Yeo

STEM Scholarship Recipient, 2022

Jeongyoon (Cassia) Yeo, WCAS, from Fullerton, Calif., is majoring in mathematics and biological sciences. She plans on pursuing an MD/PhD program to prepare her for a career as a physician/scientist. Her goal is to become a surgical oncologist. In addition, she would like to do genetic research. Jeongyoon received the U.S. House of Representatives Certificate of Congressional Recognition as a STEM scholar in high school. She is also a recipient of the Gold Medal President’s Volunteer Service Award.

Catherine Choi

STEM Scholarship Recipient, 2023

Catherine Choi, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (WCAS), from Bayside, NY, is a member of the class of 2025, as a candidate for a Bachelor of Science degree. Catherine is majoring in Global Health and Neuroscience and plans to apply to medical school while completing an accelerated MPH. Her goal is to become a surgical oncologist. She is also interested in serving communities where healthcare and medical expertise are most needed.

Maria Comninou

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 1984

M.S. 1971 in Applied Mechanics, Ph.D. 1973, in Philosophy in Applied Mechanics Mechanical engineer, engineering educator and Nobel Prize winner

Comninou joined the faculty of the University of Michigan (MU) in 1974, as an assistant professor. In 1985 she was promoted to professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. Her research on “interface cracks” was honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers with a Henry Hess Award and five other societies, including a 1978 Noble Prize. She published more than 90 papers on the many aspects of contact and crack problems and on elastic waves at interfaces. Her research had a significant impact on the micromechanics of composites and on modeling of earthquakes and faults. After earning a law degree (cum laude) in December 1996 she was admitted to the Michigan Bar. After retiring from MU in 2000, she worked as patent attorney for a Michigan law firm, and later as an independent contractor until her retirement in 2014.

Carole Kamin Bellows

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 1978

Attorney, President of Illinois Bar Association

Bellows (born May 24, 1935) is the former president of the Illinois Bar Association. Elected in 1977, Bellows was the first woman to serve as the president of a State Bar association. She later served as a Circuit Court judge in Cook County, Illinois, from 1986 to 2018. Bellows attended law school at Northwestern University, and graduated in the class of 1960.

from Wikipedia

Olga Jonasson

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 1979

Physician, Chief of surgery, Cook County Hospital

Olga Jonasson, MD, FACS (August 12, 1934 – August 30, 2006) was an American transplant surgeon. She performed the first kidney transplant in the state of Illinois. She was also the first woman to be appointed head of an academic department of surgery at a coeducational school of medicine (Ohio State University) and the first woman to be appointed chief of surgery of a major medical center.

Her undergraduate degree was from Northwestern University, and her medical degree was from University of Illinois College of Medicine.