Each year, Carthage alumni are asked to submit their nominations for the Distinguished Alumni Awards. After extensive deliberations, the Alumni Council selects the recipients.

2006 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

Col. Keith Birkholz

Col. Keith Birkholz, '80, Leonardtown, Md., will receive a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Col. Birkholz is a career officer in the U.S. Marine Corps who assumed leadership of the Marines' light and attack helicopter program last year.

Previously, he was assigned to the staff of the deputy chief of naval operations at the Pentagon. Col. Birkholz served during the Persian Gulf War, and was assistant chief of staff for safety and standardization for the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinawa, Japan. His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

Col. Birkholz is a Chicago native who received a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Carthage and a master of science in military studies from Marine Corps University, Quantico, Va., in (1994). He also is a 1994 graduate of the Defense Systems Management College, Fort Belvoir, Va., in the Program Management Course.

Col. Birkholz and his wife, Kathy, have two children, Jared, and Rebecca.

Kathy (Koeneke) Heavers

Kathy (Koeneke) Heavers, '69, Montrose, Colo., will receive a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Mrs. Heavers, who has taught English at Montrose High School for 35 years, was selected as Colorado's 2005 Teacher of the Year by the Colorado Department of Education.

Mrs. Heavers created seminar classes at her school, and co-authored several textbooks on study skills and reading comprehension, including one that has sold more than 200,000 copies.

Mrs. Heavers earned a master arts degree in secondary education at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. She has done additional graduate work at Colorado State University, Adams State College and Western State. Since 1987, she has been an adjunct professor at Adams State College.

Dr. Cary Bjork and Sharon (Byrge) Bjork

Dr. Cary Bjork, '68, and Sharon (Byrge) Bjork, '68, Marquette, Mich., will receive Distinguished Alumni Service Awards. Dr. Bjork is a prominent physician on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, practicing with Marquette Internal Medicine Associates.

Dr. Bjork graduated from Carthage magna cum laude, and graduated from the University of Colorado medical school cum laude in 1972. After graduating from medical school, he served on the Navajo reservation for two years with the Indian Health Service before completing his residency at the University of Colorado in 1977, then returned to his native Upper Peninsula.

Since 1998, Dr. Bjork has served as program director for the Health Volunteers Overseas Internal Medicine program at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Mrs. Bjork is also active in the program, which recruits volunteer physicians to serve in Uganda.

In 1997, and again in 2002, the Bjorks spent a month in Uganda as part of the Internal Medicine Overseas program. Dr. Bjork provided training to interns and medical students at a hospital, while Mrs. Bjork taught first graders at a school in Kampala.

Dr. Bjork has also gone to Ecuador as a medical missionary, accompanied by his wife and two sons. He is an Influenza Sentinel Physician monitoring the spread of influenza viruses for the Centers for Disease Controls, and helped establish the Medical Care Access Coalition in Marquette, serving as first vice president.

Both Dr. Bjork and Mrs. Bjork have served Carthage as alumni ambassadors, and have represented Carthage at student recruitment events in the Marquette area.

Mrs. Bjork has been a volunteer for the Marquette General Hospital gift shop; the Beacon House, a hospitality center for the families of patients; and the Peter White Public Library. She was also a longtime classroom and library volunteer at Whitman Elementary School in Marquette.