Distinguished Alumna/us Award
The Distinguished Alumnus/a Award recognizes lifelong service and achievement by a Disciples Divinity House alumnus or alumna. The recipients have been exemplars of varied forms of ministry and service; in some sense, they have each defined these forms.
The award, established in 1979, is given every other year. The Alumni/ae Council receives nominations, selects the recipient, and presents the award.
The 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus/a Award will be William E. Crowl. The Alumni/ae Council cited his deep love for the church, especially for congregations, and his distinguished ministry throughout the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He is the seventeenth recipient of the award.
While still a Disciples Divinity House Scholar, Bill Crowl became the founding pastor of First Christian Church of Downers Grove, Illinois. He earned his BD in 1969. He later served thriving congregations in Baltimore and Columbus, Ohio, before becoming the Regional Minister and President of the Central Rocky Mountain Region. More recently, he completed an extended interim ministry at Cherry Log (Georgia) Christian Church. He is currently the Intentional Interim Pastor at Christian Church of Arlington Heights, Illinois. The Disciples Divinity House is among the many Disciples and ecumenical organizations that he has served. He was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1987, and was its president during DDH’s Centennial. From 2000-05 he was Associate Dean. He has been elected on three separate occasions to the Alumni/ae Council, and previously served as its president.
The Award will be presented at the DDH luncheon during the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) meeting in Orlando. The luncheon will be Monday, July 15, at the Orlando Convention Center. More information on the luncheon is available here.
Previous recipients
Click the highlighted names to read edited versions of their Distinguished Alumnus addresses.

2011 Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Academic Theology and Disciples Dissent
2009 Don S. Browning, Are Disciples Christian Humanists?
pdf version
2007 Ian J. McCrae, Open Minds and Hearts
2005 Melvin Ray Schultz (A tribute by Laird Thomason)
2003 Raymond B. Williams, Faithful Reason and a Reasoned Faith
2001 Samuel C. Pearson
1999 J. Robert Moffett, Freedom for the Quest
1997 John R. Bean
1995 Centennial Year recognition
1993 Dan B. Genung, Does History Just Happen?
1991 Frank C. Mabee
1989 William N. Weaver
1987 Marvin E. Smith, Crisis in the Christian Church
pdf version
1985 Robert A. Thomas
1983 K. Barton Hunter
1981 Irvin E. Lunger
1979 Arthur A. Azlein
