Dudley Webster Dudley, 2010 recipient of the University of New Hampshire's Granite State Award for outstanding community service.

DURHAM. N. H. - A former state representative who took on Aristotle Onassis and an education expert are the recipients of the University of New Hampshire's 2010 Granite State Award, given in recognition of outstanding community service.

Dudley Webster Dudley, who served in the New Hampshire House from 1972 to 1976, and Mary Christine (Chris) Dwyer of RMC Research Corporation will receive the awards during UNH's 140th commencement ceremony Saturday, May 22, 2010. NASA astronaut Lee Morin and commencement speaker Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life is good, will receive honorary degrees.

In the early 1970s, Dudley ('59) proposed legislation to stop Aristotle Onassis from building an oil refinery in Durham. A former USNH trustee, Dudley also served on the board of directors for the UNH Alumni Association. She was the first woman elected to the N.H. Governor's Council and, from 1987 to 1998, was executive director of the Women Legislators' Lobby, a national organization of women state legislators.

Dudley is a past overseer of Dartmouth Medical School and past director of the NH Civil Liberties Union. She has served on the board of the Cabot Trust and the Greater Piscataqua Community Foundation. Dudley worked with a group of UNH students to reunite a Congolese family separated when the parents had to flee the country and leave their children behind.

Christine (Chris) Dwyer, 2010 recipient of the University of New Hampshire's Granite State Award for outstanding community service.

Dwyer ('72, M.Ed ) is senior vice president and a partner in active management of RMC Research Corporation, a national leader in program research and evaluation, professional development, consultation, and product development. The Portsmouth-based firm has seven regional offices nationwide. Dwyer has more than 20 years of experience directing projects related to policy analysis, evaluation, technical assistance and research in the fields of educational improvement and reform; family and community services; and arts and culture.

A Portsmouth city councilor, Dwyer was instrumental in the creation of the city's cultural plan, for which she received the Municipal Volunteer Award from the New Hampshire Local Government Center in 2005. Dwyer was the first chairman of Art-Speak, the cultural commission that grew out of the cultural plan.

She is a past board member of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the New Hampshire Center for Non-Profits, the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts, the Friends of the Music Hall, and the Currier Museum of Art.

Lee Morin, NASA astronaut and UNH Honorary Degree recipient.

Lee Morin ('74, '78) who is a naval flight surgeon and served in Operation Desert Storm, was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1996 and took part in the 13th space mission of the shuttle Atlantis in 2002 as it traveled to the international space station. During the mission, Morin and fellow crewmate Jerry Ross successfully attached a $790 million girder to support the station's solar panels.

After the Atlantis mission, Morin served in the State Department as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science, Space, and Health in the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science. He is currently assigned to the exploration branch of the Johnson Space Center where he is working on NASA's newest spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life is good, 2010 University of New Hampshire commencement speaker.

Commencement speaker Bert Jacobs co-founded Life is good, an apparel and accessories company known for optimistic messages, with his brother John in 1994. Today the $100 million company sells its products in 4,500 retail stores nationwide and in 30 countries around the world. The Boston and Hudson, N.H.-based company does no product advertising and attributes 100 percent of its growth to customer word-of-mouth.

Jacobs has appeared on The Today Show, CNN's Tips from the Top, CNBC's Business Nation, and the Donny Deutch Show. During speaking engagements, Jacobs teaches that optimism is fun, healthy and empowering.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling more than 12,200 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.

-30-

PHOTOS:

Lee Morin, NASA astronaut and UNH Honorary Degree recipient.
/unhtoday/news/campusjournal/2010/Mar/31gsa01-morin.jpg

Dudley Webster Dudley, 2010 recipient of the University of New Hampshire's Granite State Award for outstanding community service.
/unhtoday/news/campusjournal/2010/Mar/31gsa02-dudley.jpg

Christine (Chris) Dwyer, 2010 recipient of the University of New Hampshire's Granite State Award for outstanding community service.
/unhtoday/news/campusjournal/2010/Mar/31gsa03-dwyer.jpg

Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life is good, 2010 University of New Hampshire commencement speaker.
/unhtoday/news/campusjournal/2010/Mar/31gsa04-jacobs.jpg