Past Recipients: Distinguished Alumna of the Year

First presented in 1978, the 鶹 Distinguished Alumna Award was established to celebrate the notable achievements of Scripps alumnae and to focus attention on Scripps’ role in the education of women. The award is presented each year during Reunion Weekend.


Latest Recipient: Regina Gonthier ’71

After graduating from 鶹, Regina Gonthier ’71 studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), where she obtained her architectural diploma in 1977. Following early professional experience with the Swiss Archaeological Mission in Greece and in Swiss architectural practice, she co-founded an architectural office in Bern in 1983 with her husband. Together, they won numerous prestigious architectural design competitions in Switzerland, and several of their realised projects have received distinctions and awards.

As a practicing architect, Gonthier is deeply engaged with the profession’s evolution and its social, ethical, and aesthetic responsibilities. She views architecture as a public-interest discipline and believes quality in the built environment is essential to wellbeing and sustainability.

From the early years of her career, Gonthier has been actively engaged as a volunteer in professional organisations with a commitment to the promotion and regulation of architectural design competitions, a key instrument for achieving innovation and quality in the built environment.

She has served as visiting professor of architecture at ETH Zurich and as a member of expert councils for architecture and urban planning in several Swiss cities. She was a Swiss delegate to the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE), vice president of the Swiss Competitions Commission, president of the Swiss Conference of Architects (CSA), and co-director of the UIA International Competitions Commission.

Elected four times to the UIA Council, Gonthier currently serves as president of the International Union of Architects. Her mandate fosters dialogue among architects from the Union’s 124 member countries, advancing solidarity, equity, inclusion, sustainability, and peace while strengthening the organization to deliver meaningful outcomes for both architects and society.

Past Recipients

Year Alum
2025 Susan D. Anderson ’75
2024 Claire Sands Baker ’93
2023 Ellen Rosenblum ’72
2022 Sara Kim ’86
2021 Connie de la Vega ’75
2020 Anne Maltman Campbell ’70
2019 Barbara Brooks Tomblin ’66
2018 Michelle Cleveland ’00
2017 Carolyn Sheets Owen-Towle ’57
2016 Gayle Pope Morrison ’71
2015 Dwandalyn R. Reece ’85
2014 Margo Leonetti O’Connell ’64
2013 Sally Reeves Osberg ’73
2012 Maxine Borowsky Junge ’59
2011 Virginia Stibbs Anami ’66
2010 Gaye Burpee ’69
2009 Cynthia “Pae” White ’85
2008 Connie Butler ’84
2007 Louise Langlois Francesconi ’75
2006 Dr. Kathleen Brogan Schwarz ’64
2005 Dede Allen ’45
2004 Barbara Cook Wormser ’59
2003 Alison Saar ’78
2002 Pamela Corey-Archer ’62
2001 Hannah-Beth Jackson ’71
2000 Beth Nolan ’73
1999 Marsha Genesky ’80
1998 Susan Fallows Tierney ’73
1997 Barbara Arnwine ’73
1996 Elizabeth Arnold Stone ’71
1995 Marjorie Merryman ’72
1994 Nancy Neighbor Russell ’53
1993 Pamela Bowren Vandiver ’67
1992 Idelle Feinberg Weber ’54
1991 Ruth Ashton Taylor ’43
1990 Jil Harris Stark ’58
1989 Ruth Markowitz Owades ’66
1988 Jean Bixby Smith ’59
1987 Suzanne Muchnic ’62
1986 Tanya Cherry Tull ’64
1985 Susan Lautmann Hertel ’52
1984 Nancy Cook Aldrich ’66
1983 Rosemary Radford Ruether ’58
1982 Judith Nelsen Keep ’66
1981 Ruth Churchill ’54
1980 Laura Thurston Gutman ’57
1979 Maryanne McNellis ’68
1978 Ellen Hutchinson Ellis ’39

 

Tags