LAKEWOOD — As part of the university’s centennial celebration, Georgian Court University has instituted the annual Court of Honor to recognize the accomplishments of the university’s most notable alumni.
One hundred alumni were selected to celebrate the first hundred years and were lauded at a celebratory dinner marking their induction on Sept. 20 in the Mansion on the Lakewood campus.
Criteria for being inducted into the Court of Honor include a record of distinguished service, leadership and achievement within a particular discipline, organization or cause. The inductees’ accomplishments must show evidence of “actual merit that has brought distinction to the university,” according to the guidelines.
In addition to honoring the centennial celebration of Georgian Court University, the Court of Honor also highlights the significant accomplishments of Georgian Court’s graduates who are entrepreneurs, judges, doctors, attorneys, teachers, scientists, nurses, legislators, and occupy many other positions, according to a press release.
The 100 alums honored include:
• Mildred Barry Hughes, ’23, the first woman elected to the New Jersey Senate and the first Democrat from Union County to be elected to the state Senate in 75 years.
• Jessica Dragonette, ’23, the international radio star and vocalist who achieved the longest commercial broadcasting record of any singer in the world by 1975.
• Moira McDonough Lyons, ’63, the first woman to preside over the 151-member ConnecticutHouse of Representatives as Speaker of the House.
• Delores L. Parron-Ragland, Ph.D., ’66, the first person to hold the legislatively mandated position of Associate Director for Special Populations at the National Institutes of Health who played a major role in the formulation of federal policies addressing the concerns of women and ethnically diverse populations.
• Marlene Lynch Ford, ’76, current Ocean County prosecutor and former New Jersey Superior Court judge.
• Judge Honora Mary O’Brien Kilgallen, ’82, the presiding judge of the Chancery Division, Family Part, of the Superior Court of New Jersey in Monmouth County.
• Felicya Senick Morreale, ’93, ’04, recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the nation’s highest honor for teachers of math and science in grades K- 12, and one of only four teachers in New Jersey to have achieved National Board Certification in math.
Additional members will be inducted in the future.