The UCLA Alumni Association will honor five outstanding individuals on June 4 for their professional achievement and their public, community and university service. The 61st annual UCLA Awards ceremony also will honor outstanding graduate students and distinguished teachers.

The UCLA Awards tradition, which began in 1946, pays tribute to alumni and friends who manifest outstanding achievement in their professional fields and have demonstrated a commitment to excellence through their contributions to society.

Congressman Jerry Lewis (Redlands, Calif.), class of 1956, will receive this year's Edward A. Dickson Alumnus of the Year Award. Lewis represents the 41st Congressional District of California, which encompasses San Bernardino and Riverside counties. A member of Congress since 1979, Lewis has chaired several influential committees and currently chairs the House Appropriations Committee. In California, he has been instrumental in making policy to toughen clean-air standards, to create effective drug and crime policy, and to solidify natural disaster emergency relief funding. He also has led projects involving low-income housing, improving roads and highways, erecting research centers for cancer study and NASA, and constructing the Santa Ana flood control project.

Linda Alvarez (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), class of 1963, will receive the Professional Achievement Award. Alvarez has served as an anchor and special assignment reporter at KCBS‑Channel 2 since 1993. She has been on the front line of numerous breaking news stories locally and abroad, from California earthquakes to the Iraq war, making her a widely recognized figure in Los Angeles news broadcasting. She has received a multitude of journalism and community involvement awards, including 12 Emmy awards and Press Club honors.

Theresa Elders (Colville, Wash.), class of 1978, will receive the Community Service Award. Elders has worked tirelessly to champion healthy lifestyles and environments in the United States and abroad through such agencies as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, the Arkansas Department of Health, the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps*VISTA. She also has carried her message to other advocates by training counselors, social workers and teachers, and speaking around the world at conferences on health and social service issues.

Chief Michael Soderberg (Upland, Calif.), class of 1969, will receive the Public Service Award. Soderberg has served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for 35 years. Prior to becoming chief, he advanced up the ranks from deputy sheriff to commander and, in 2001, was named chief of detectives. Active in a multitude of philanthropic causes, he has been honored with the L.A. Sheriff's Department Distinguished Service Medal and the Career Achievement Award.

Roy Aaron (Los Angeles) will receive the University Service Award. A philanthropist and former chair of the UCLA Foundation, Aaron is a graduate of UC Berkeley but has served the UCLA community for more than 30 years. In addition to his extensive involvement with the foundation, Aaron has served in leadership roles in a multitude of campus organizations, including Bruin Hoopsters, the Hammer Museum, the School of the Arts and Architecture, the School of Theater, Film and Television, and the College of Letters and Science.

Outstanding graduate students also are being honored at the UCLA Alumni Awards event.

Maria Carpiac-Claver, class of 1997, received her master's degree with honors and is completing her doctorate in the UCLA Department of Social Welfare in the School of Public Affairs. She is conducting research examining challenging issues related to providing health care to older adults. For two years, she taught a class at UCLA, "Frontier in Human Aging: Biomedical, Social and Policy Perspectives," and she continues to make presentations on this topic at professional conferences.

Tina Arora will receive her doctoral degree in special education and educational psychology from UCLA this summer. A specialist in the area of education of young children with severe and complex disabilities, including cerebral palsy, low-incidence disabilities and autism, Arora has been the recipient of a UCLA Chancellor's Distinguished Student Leadership award and has served for several years as the president of the Graduate Students Association in Education.

Also being recognized are distinguished UCLA teachers Robert Gurval, classics; Patricia McDonough, education; Albert Moore, law; Kenneth Nagy, ecology and evolutionary biology; David Rigby, geography; and Geoffrey Symcox, history.

California's largest university, UCLA enrolls approximately 38,000 students per year and offers degrees from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and 11 professional schools in dozens of varied disciplines. UCLA consistently ranks among the top five universities and colleges nationwide in total research-and-development spending, receiving more than $820 million a year in competitively awarded federal and state grants and contracts. For every $1 state taxpayers invest in UCLA, the university generates almost $9 in economic activity, resulting in an annual $6 billion economic impact on the Greater Los Angeles region. The university's health care network treats 450,000 patients per year. UCLA employs more than 27,000 faculty and staff, has more than 350,000 living alumni, and has been home to five Nobel Prize recipients.

For more information about the UCLA Award recipients, please contact Christine Cahill at (310) 206-1995 or ccahill@uclalumni.net, or visit http://www.uclalumni.net/AlumniStories/Awards/NewRecipients.cfm.

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