April 19, 2019
2019 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients to be honored
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale will honor five individuals during the annual SIU Distinguished Alumni Award ceremony on April 26.
The event will take place at 4 p.m. in the Student Center Auditorium. A reception will immediately follow in the International Lounge. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Chancellor John M. Dunn and Rick Wysocki, Alumni Association Board president, will give opening remarks.
Media Advisory
Reporters, photographers and news crews are invited to attend the SIU Distinguished Alumni Award ceremony at 4 p.m., April 26, in the Student Center Auditorium. Rick Wysocki, Alumni Association Board president and Kathy Dillard, interim Alumni Association executive director, will be among those available for interviews.
The awards from the SIU Alumni Association honor career achievement, humanitarian efforts, cultural impact and young alumni achievement. Individuals are selected for their outstanding accomplishments within each award category.
The Distinguished Alumni Awards began in 1998. Full bios on each recipient are available on the SIU Alumni Association website.
The 2019 SIU Distinguished Alumni recipients are:
Stephen J. Scates (Career Achievement)
Scates, of Shawneetown, is a retired farmer but still actively involved in his family farming operations. He is president of Scates Valley, Inc., is a senior partner at Pat Scates and Sons Farms, and is on the board of directors for Scates Gardens, Inc. He earned his bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1959 and earned the College of Agricultural Sciences 2008 Outstanding Alumni Award.
Scates served in many leadership capacities, including the Illinois Soybean Association board of directors, where he was board chair for two years. He served for eight years as the Illinois State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, and he played a major role in administering major revisions of the 1996 Farm Bill.
He also facilitated the endowment to the university by the Illinois Soybean Association, formerly known as the Illinois Soybean Program Operating Board.
Seymour L. Bryson (Humanitarian Impact)
A native of Quincy, Bryson, a three-degree alumnus of SIU Carbondale, has a connection to the university that spans six decades of service and support. He was a three-year MVP and two-time team captain for the Saluki men’s basketball team, but his work with the university spans numerous faculty and administrative positions and honors.
Bryson earned his bachelor’s degree in social work in 1959, a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling in 1961 and a doctorate in educational psychology in 1972. Bryson was instrumental in promoting educational summer and year-round programs to enhance academic opportunities for underrepresented and low-income students. In providing academic support through tutoring and mentoring services for students, Bryson also spearheaded many programs, including:
- Project Upward Bound.
- Head Start.
- Center for Academic Success, now Exploratory Student Advisement.
His numerous awards include:
- SIU Board of Trustees Diversity Excellence Award.
- Lindell W. Sturgis Award for Professional Achievement.
- State Sen. Emil Jones Mentoring Award.
- Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
- SIU Carbondale and Quincy High School athletic halls of fame.
Benjamin J. Kalina (Cultural Impact)
As chief operating officer for Titmouse, Inc., Kalina, a 2003 cinema and photography graduate, is responsible for overseeing production and development across the company’s three studios in Los Angeles, California, New York City and Vancouver. He helps promote and maintain the studios’ overall vision, facilitates all incoming jobs and manages processing techniques.
Prior to working at Titmouse, Kalina worked in production at Warner Bros. Animation and VFX, helping to develop a digital pipeline and transitioning the studio from traditional paper animation to a digital workflow. In 2016, while serving as producer, Kalina shared a Daytime Emmy in the “Outstanding Children’s Animated Program” category for Amazon’s series “Niko and the Sword of Light.”
Thomas G. Macz and Traci M. Macz (Young Achievement Award)
The couple own four funeral homes in south central Illinois. Both graduated in 2004 from the Mortuary Science and Funeral Service program.
The Macz’s received the 2015 Emerging Entrepreneur Award from the Illinois Small Business Development Center and South Central Illinois Growth Alliance. In both 2017 and 2018, they received the National Funeral Director Pursuit of Excellence award, and the 2018 Illinois Award of Funeral Service Distinction.
Thomas Macz is the Region 3 director for the Illinois Funeral Directors Association and assists with implementing mandates from the region and serving as a liaison for the region and organization.
Traci Macz is a member of the Mortuary Science and Funeral Service External Advisory Board, which assists in making curriculum recommendations along with mentoring and preparing students for their future profession. In 2016, she was selected “Boss of the Year” from the local Business and Professional Women’s Club, Inc.
Macz Funeral Homes provides annual scholarships to local college students through the late Larry Irvin Scholarship and the university’s Mortuary Science Development fund. The couple believes their involvement is important to making the communities they serve a better place. Additionally, within the industry and academic setting they believe that their role as mentors calls for them to give back to the next generation.