David LaFrance '86, president of the Lewis & Clark College Board of Alumni, cordially invites you to join us in celebrating the achievements of these three outstanding alumni.
Student/Young Alumni (last 5 years)/Faculty/Staff - $15 per person
The Alumni Honors Banquet is the first night of Alumni Weekend. For a complete schedule and online registration, visit the Alumni Weekend web page.
AWARD RECIPIENTS
PIONEER ALUMNI LEADERSHIP AWARD:
KIMBERLY HANSINK '86
This award honors an alumnus/a of Lewis & Clark who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in their service to the College.
Kimberly A. "Kim" Hansink is the past president of Lewis & Clark's Board of Alumni. Hansink is a senior consultant in the San Francisco office of The Gallup Organization. Armed with Gallup’s proprietary talent selection and development tools, Kim is also an executive coach and talent advisor to her clients.
Hansink graduated with a B.A. in English, and took part in the Scotland overseas study program and student government. One of her favorite subjects is the appreciating value of a liberal arts education in a fast-changing world. After graduation, she worked in the Annual Fund department of the College. She spent the early years of her career in sales and marketing in the hospitality business. Her first foray into consulting was in the mid 90's, when she led the marketing effort for KPMG's technology practice in the Southwest. She has served as an admissions volunteer and volunteers as an L&C Network career advisor.
Hansink resides in San Francisco, California.
OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNUS AWARD:
SAGALA RATNAYAKA '93
This award honors an alumnus/a for rendering superior performance in his or her chosen field and superior service to his or her chosen community within 15 years of graduation.
Sagala Ratnayaka had not set sights on being part of his island home’s legislature to attempt shaping the destiny of his nation when he entered Lewis & Clark College in 1989 to study business administration. Four years later, in 1993, he returned to Sri Lanka with his Bachelor of Arts and a strong desire to be of service to the community. He held several posts with an international bank until he was handpicked by the leader of Sri Lanka’s largest political party, the right wing United National Party (UNP) to run for provincial political office.
A believer in himself with a desire to see positive changes in his society, Ratnayaka accepted the challenge and entered the Southern Provincial Council representing the main opposition in the year 1999. Since then, there has been no turning back. Barely two years later, Ratnayaka secured one out of the 225 parliamentary seats as one of the island’s youngest legislators. In doing so, he secured the second highest number of preferential votes and stood shoulder to shoulder with those who have dabbled in national politics for decades. In 2002 with the victory of the UNP, Ratnayaka was elevated to the rank of Deputy Minister of Power and Energy, a sector that required dire reforms to meet the country’s growing energy requirement. He was also put in charge of the National Youth Corps (YC), the country’s youth development program. Ratnayaka currently serves as an opposition Member of Parliament representing the Matara District and holds membership in the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms and the parliamentary consultative committee on power and energy.
Ratnayaka currently resides in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD:
JAIYA JOHN '89
This award honors an alumnus/a for rendering superior performance in his or her chosen field and superior service to his or her chosen community.
Jaiya John is the founder and Executive Director of Soul Water Rising, a Silver Spring, Maryland-based educational mission devoted to improving human relations and overcoming prejudice. For 15 years he has traveled the nation as a professional speaker, poet, author, and youth mentor. He has addressed over 40 thousand youth and adults. He authored the award-winning memoir, Black Baby White Hands: A View from the Crib and is currently at work on poetry, novels, screenplays, theatre plays, songs, and children’s books. Jaiya served as professor of social psychology at Howard University from 1995-1998; and as associate director for the National Center on Permanency for African American Children from 1999-2001.
Jaiya studied psychology at LC and lived during 1988 in Nepal, where he studied Tibetan medicine, laying the foundation for his holistic approach to social issues. In 1994 he earned his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Cruz in social psychology. Being of African, Seminole, Blackfoot, and Cherokee descent; and having grown up among New Mexico’s American Indian and Latino communities, Jaiya deeply appreciates the spiritual and communal passions that spring from these worlds. Jaiya shares a philosophy based on the interconnectedness of life as he consults and teaches families, individuals, and organizations; creates youth literacy projects; and articulates a vision of the unique purpose within each of us.
John resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.
DONALD G. BALMER AWARD:
RAY WARREN '65, M.A.T. '71
This award honors an alumnus/a, faculty or staff member, or friend of Lewis & Clark who has rendered outstanding voluntary service to the College.
Ray Warren, a dual graduate of Lewis & Clark College (B.S. '65, M.A.T '71), a 1989 inductee into the Lewis & Clark College Sports Hall of Fame, and a beloved staff member, passed away December 19, 2004, after a 7-year bout with cancer.
Ray Warren began his work at Lewis & Clark in 1987 as an associate dean of admissions and was named associate dean of students and director of ethnic student services in 1992. He was instrumental in admissions recruiting and in supporting students of color at Lewis & Clark. He took the lead on organizing the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. day celebrations held on campus, and his leadership was an essential part of the Diversity Cluster and the LINCS programs. Ray was a strong supporter of the athletic program and our student athletes here as well.
Ray was born in 1942 and grew up in the Pleasant Hill community near Linden, Texas, until his family moved to Portland when he was 14. Ray graduated from Jefferson High School in Portland and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from Lewis & Clark College in 1965 and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Lewis & Clark in 1971. He served in the U.S. Army from 1965-1967 and had a tour of duty in Vietnam, and then he taught school at Vernon Elementary School in Portland for four years where he met his wife Sheryl.
Ray served as Associate Dean of Admissions at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, for seven years beginning in 1971, and after working in commercial banking for seven years, he rejoined higher education and worked with students at Reed College from 1984 to 1987. Then he returned to Lewis & Clark College for good. He was elected to the Lewis & Clark College Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 for his excellence as a baseball player during his college years, and just this past fall a new annual symposium, the Ray Warren Multicultural Symposium, was named in his honor.
Ray was 62 years old when he died peacefully and comfortably at home with his wife Sheryl, daughter Mindy, and other family members by his side on December 19, 2004. He had battled cancer for a number of years, and succumbed to cancer that had metastasized to his liver. Along with being a husband and a father, Ray was an important part of the large and well-known Warren family here in Portland. A wonderful service celebrating his life was held at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in Portland on December 27, 2004. A Memorial Celebration at Lewis & Clark College was held in Agnes Flanagan Chapel on January 30, 2005.
More information on the Alumni Honors Program
