Awards & Recognitions

BUAA Distinguished Alumnus BUAA Outstanding Young Graduate BUAA Lydia Moss Bradley Award BUAA Dr. Domenico Volturno Award CIBAC Francis C. Mergen Memorial Award for Public Service Alumni Spotlight Feature Bradley University Centurions

Meet our 2009 BUAA Award Recipients

Brad Cohen 2009 Outstanding Young Graduate Award
Brad Cohen ’96

Brad Cohen is a nationally recognized teacher, award-winning author, and motivational speaker. He’s even been “Homer,” the Atlanta Braves team mascot. First and foremost, Brad Cohen is a teacher. Diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at age 13, Brad set out to become the teacher he never had and, against overwhelming odds, succeeded.

As a student, Brad very quickly became a respected campus leader. He was active in his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Hillel, a member of the Inter Fraternity Council and Anaga staff, and was a recipient of the Bradley University Alumni Association’s Volturno Award and the Student Senate Presidential Award for Outstanding Achievement. Off campus, he founded a Tourette Syndrome Support Group that remains active today.

Upon graduating cum laude with a degree in elementary education, Brad relocated to Georgia, where he completed his master of education and specialist degrees in early childhood education, and landed his first teaching job, for which he received the Sallie Mae First Year Teacher of the Year Award for the State of Georgia. He has served on several regional educational advisory councils, has conducted workshops on the integration of instructional technology and policy in the classroom, and served as an Area Lead Teacher. Brad currently holds a position as Assistant Administrator of Mountain View Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia.

Brad is equally accomplished outside of the classroom as a spokesman, author, and community advocate and volunteer. He authored the best-selling book Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had, which led to an article in People magazine, appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and National Public Radio. In December of 2008, Brad’s book became a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie which aired on CBS. One week later, Brad and his wife Nancy were invited to the White House to meet President and Mrs. Bush in recognition of Brad’s dedication to teaching tomorrow’s leaders.

Brad is active with numerous community organizations including the United Way, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, the Children’s Bookshelf Committee, and the Tourette Syndrome Association. This summer, Brad launched his newest project, Camp Twitch and Shout, one of only five overnight weeklong camps in the country for children with Tourette Syndrom, and has founded the Brad Cohen Tourette Foundation to raise money to help send children to the camp.

Brad remains active as a Bradley alumnus, having presented at the Peoria Discovery Forum and the 100th Anniversary of the Teacher Education Department. In 1998, he received the College of Education and Health Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award.

Brad and his wife, Nancy, live in Roswell, Georgia.

Paul Moore 2009 Lydia Moss Bradley Award
Paul Moore ’62

Paul Moore has the distinction of having begun his Bradley University volunteer journey in Asia. His passion for Bradley is embodied in many years of distinguished service that could not be diminished by the oceans that separated him from the Hilltop.

Paul attended Bradley on a track and field scholarship. Named Most Valuable Player for four consecutive years, he earned more individual conference championship titles than any other Bradley athlete – a record that still stands. In 1961, he was voted Most Outstanding Athlete. Paul majored in biology and was an active member of Theta Chi fraternity.

After graduation, Paul served in the U.S. Army Reserves and Illinois National Guard. He then joined Caterpillar Inc. and served with distinction for 33 years, living and working in Switzerland, China, Korea and South Africa, with brief assignments in Peoria. But he was never far from the Hilltop in spirit. Among other things, he was a tireless advocate for his alma mater and coordinated the fundraising efforts for Bradley’s Centennial Campaign in Asia.

Soon after his return to Peoria in 1999, Paul was elected to serve on the boards of the Braves Club (2000-2009), the B-Club where he is currently vice president, and the Bradley University Alumni Association (BUAA) (2001-2008). He was elected president of the BUAA board of directors for the 2006-2007 year, and today continues to serve on the organization’s alumni center and strategic planning committees. Paul was selected to represent the BUAA on the search committee which brought President Joanne Glasser to the Hilltop, and has served with distinction on the BU Council and the athletic department’s long-term strategy review committee. He is a staunch supporter of the women’s basketball Braves, and is member of the Sixth Brave Club.

In 1963, his first year of eligibility, Paul was elected to the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame. He was named in 2008 to the MVC All-Centennial Track and Field Squad and received the Orville Nothdurft Lifetime Achievement Award.

Today, as always, you’ll find Paul and his wife Diane at nearly every Bradley athletic contest from men’s and women’s basketball to soccer, volleyball, and more. If they’re not helping to sell hot dogs or raffle tickets, they’re in the stands both at home and on the road, consistently giving of time, talent and treasure in support of Bradley University and its student-athletes. Paul and Diane live in Peoria, Illinois. They have two grown children, Jeffrey ’89 (and his wife, Joan) and Daniel (and his wife, Lisa).

Jim Weinstein 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award
Dr. James Weinstein ’72

Dr. James Weinstein is an internationally known spine surgeon and researcher. He has been a leader in patient-centered care and shared decision-making for patients. Currently he is a professor and chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth Medical School. In 1998, he founded the Center for Shared Decision-Making at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the first of its kind in the nation. He also serves as director of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, home of The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care and one of the nation’s leading health services research and educational organizations studying and addressing reform of the U.S. health care system. He is editor-in-chief of Spine, an international, peer-reviewed periodical.

Recently he was appointed Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors of Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system, the largest supplier of health services in northern New England with more than 1.8 million patient visits annually and more than 8,300 employees across five major locations.

Known as one of the foremost experts on spine tumors, Dr. Weinstein developed the first Spine Tumor Classification system, which is used around the world. He is the originator and author of the first musculoskeletal Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, and the principal investigator of the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT), the largest study ever funded by the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Weinstein’s peer-reviewed research grants have totaled more than $50 million.

Dr. Weinstein has been widely published in various peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Spine, and Journal of Neuroscience Methods. He has been featured frequently in the media, including The Washington Post, New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, NPR, CBS and MSNBC. He is a popular national and international speaker.

An award-winning scholar, he received the Bristol-Myers Career Research Award in pain research and the prestigious Kappa Delta Award. He was only the 7th person to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine. He is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons board of directors and a director of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.

After earning a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Bradley in 1972, Dr. Weinstein received his doctorate of osteopathy in 1977 from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. He completed a residency in orthopaedic surgery at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. He later received a master of science degree in health services research from Dartmouth. Before joining the Dartmouth Medical School faculty in 1996, he was a professor and co-director of the Spine Research Center at the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

Jim and his wife, Mimi, parents to Brieanna and Shelsey, live in Lyme, New Hampshire.



The Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Bradley University Alumni Association adopted the Distinguished Alumni Award program in the spring of 1952 to recognize those alumni who bring highest distinction to themselves, their community and to Bradley University. BUAA Distinguished Alumni are automatically inducted into the University’s Centurion Society. This award is presented at the annual Founder’s Day Luncheon. Click here to print out a nomination form, or complete an online nomination here.

The Outstanding Young Graduate Award. The Outstanding Young Graduate Award was created in 1980 by the Bradley University Alumni Association to recognize a graduate (40 years old or younger) who has gained early and exceptional professional or civic achievement in addition to continuing his/her University involvement. This award is presented at the annual Founder’s Day Luncheon. Click here to print out a nomination form, or complete an online nomination here.

The Lydia Moss Bradley Award. The BUAA established this award in 1985 to honor outstanding service to Bradley University in the tradition of our founder. Recipients of this award are not required to be Bradley graduates. This award is presented at the annual Founder’s Day Luncheon. Click here to print out a nomination form, or complete an online nomination here.

The Dr. Domenico Volturno Award. The Volturno Award is presented to that outstanding senior student who values service to humanity. Applications are reviewed by the BUAA Awards Committee along with Dr. Volturno’s widow, Mrs. Betty Volturno ’65, and the award is presented at the Senior Reception each May. Students, faculty and staff are asked to submit nominations for this award. Request more information at bualum@bradley.edu

The Francis C. Mergen Memorial Award for Public Service. The Central Illinois Bradley Alumni Chapter (CIBAC) selects and presents this award in recognition of a Bradley faculty or staff member who has distinguished him or herself in the area of public service. This award is presented at the Annual Founder’s Day Convocation.

Alumni Spotlight. Each month, the BUAA Awards Committee selects and features a special alumnus/a or alumni organization to spotlight on the BUAA web site. The criteria for these spotlights is simply that the alumnus/a is doing something interesting or unique that may be of interest to other alumni. Do you know someone who has a unique career? Whose community involvement is making a special impact? Whose hobby or avocation is particularly unique or unusual? Submit a suggested Alumni Spotlight or view Archives.

Bradley University Centurions. The Centurion Society was created by the Board of Trustees on the occasion of the Universit;y’s 85th anniversary to honor outstanding Bradley alumni for their career achievements in business, public life, and the professions. Centurions are individuals of special talent and attainment who have become national or international leaders in their field. Charter members of the Centurion Society were all recipients of the BUAA Distinguished Alumnus/a Award, one of Bradley’s highest alumni honors. Since 1982, other distinguished alumni recipients have been selected for membership.