One of the true pleasures of working with the HEUG are the amazing volunteers who have put so much of their lives into this organization. It is a great privilege to announce the new inductees into the HEUG Hall of Fame!
Each year a committee of HEUG members reviews nominations for the HEUG Hall of Fame and make recommendations to the Board of directors for individual induction. Each of these nominees must have:
- Demonstrated leadership in important initiatives that advance the HEUG
- Outstanding service to the HEUG
- Being highly respected in the higher education industry
- Demonstrating sustained contribution to the HEUG.
At Alliance 2019, we inducted 3 new members into this distinguished group.
Larry Hill
Our first new inductee has spent a career in Higher Education on both the academic and IT side of the house. Larry Hill, from Indiana University, has been a member of the HEUG for the past 14 years, and has become synonymous with Academic Advisement. He started simply enough by answering questions (there are over 900 posts in the HEUG.Online from Larry), but he quickly became more involved with the HEUG by serving on the Academic Advising Product Advisory Group for two terms where he served as the Alliance Conference Track Chair (twice) as well as serving as the Advisory group chair.
Larry has always enjoyed presenting, and has done so countless times (17 times to be exact), since his first Alliance in 2007. Larry has also presented at two MIDHEUG conferences and conducted a workshop at the very first Canada Alliance conference.
Larry and his wife Chris have been married 40+ years and have two children and two grandchildren. We know he was particularly happy with being inducted this particular year (in Orlando 2019) as the Hill family love Florida, and are self described "Disneyholics".
Debby Hill
Our second inductee, was Debby Hill, most well known as the Assistant Provost and Director of Academic Scheduling for the University of Southern Mississippi. A member since 2001, she has given back to the HEUG and our community for 18 years now (and was one of the first people I was introduced to back in 2003 when I first started working with the HEUG). She served two terms on the Academic Advisory Group, as well as another term on the Student Records advisory group, serving as Alliance Track chair and Chair each time.
That alone may qualify her for the Hall of Fame, but Debby took another bold leap, and joined the Alliance conference planning team in 2013 and was the Alliance Conference Chair for the amazing 2015 conference in Nashville (and those that attended remember her fondly as Minnie Pearl). She and her husband Kyle still live in Hattiesburg, and as she told me recently, “Faith, family and friends are my greatest blessings and the driving force to leave things better than I found it.” That truly is Debby.
Paul Cazarapata
Our final inductee was Paul Czarapata, the Vice President and CIO for Kentucky Community and Technical College System, has been around the HEUG since 2001 when he came to his FIRST Alliance, it happened to have been held right here in Orlando. He quickly got engaged with the HEUG and spent the next 8 years serving on the Admissions Advisory group and then the Technical Advisory Group, serving as the Chair of each of those groups. For those that know Paul, you can still remember advisory group calls and hear his booming laugh in your ear.
He was then elected to the HEUG Board or Directors and served for two years as the Vice President for Products overseeing the advisory groups, and the annual summit. Since rolling off of the board, Paul has been a strong advocate of the HEUG and has actively encouraged colleagues and members to volunteer and be active. In his own words, “I have forged wonderful friendships while serving the HEUG and it has made a huge difference in my personal and professional life – I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Congratulations to all 3 new inductees, and you can watch the complete induction video below.