This award celebrates those who have brought honor to Wittenberg by their exceptional and continual dedication to Wittenberg's ideals. Any Alumnus/a shall be eligible for the citation on the basis of exceptional professional accomplishments and service to humanity ahead of personal recognition or gain.
A double major in sociology and psychology at Wittenberg, Suzanne Stiver Lie has spent much of her career inspiring young people and pursuing scholarly endeavors. A lecturer, researcher, assistant professor and a full professor at numerous universities in Norway, Lie has also served as a visiting scholar at the University of London, the American University of Beirut and Harvard University, teaching in such areas as rural sociology, women's studies, multicultural education and comparative education. She also served as director of the women's studies program for Social Science Faculty at the University of Oslo.
The author of eight books and multiple articles on women, Lie co-founded the Estonian Women's Studies and Resource Centre at Tallinn Pedagogical University in 1997 and served as its academic director for three years. In 2006, she was honored by the Norwegian-Estonian Association as Estonia's friend of the year for her work in furthering democratization in Estonia and engagement on its behalf.
Married for nearly 50 years to Kai Lie, a Fulbright student at Wittenberg from 1955-56 who later became a Norwegian ambassador, Lie has lived around the globe, including in Stockholm, London, Prague, Damascus, Washington, D.C., Beirut and Tallinn. She received her M.A. in sociology from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1967, and though now retired, she continues to supervise master students as they write their theses.
Kara Teeple has devoted her life and career to helping individuals and families in need. Currently the public service administrator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), based in Chicago, Teeple assisted with the implementation of a housing program on the city's southwest side that works to keep families intact through intensive supportive service delivery. She also trains private agency and department caseworkers on the program, manages foster care and specialized foster care contracts, and recently coordinated a consent decree that aided families by offering cash and/or housing assistance in order for children to be returned home.
Prior to her work with DCFS, Teeple was a part-time child and family therapist with CareWorks Inc., where she established treatment plans to monitor progress for both individuals and families. After graduating from Wittenberg with a B.A. in sociology, Teeple served as childcare counselor with Allendale Association, where she supervised emotionally disturbed adolescent females in residential treatment programs and established treatment plans. Shortly thereafter, she joined Catholic Charities as a child welfare specialist, where she managed relative family care child abuse and neglect cases. For the last eight years, she has also directed, on a part-time basis, Dignity Diner, a restaurant-style meal program for the homeless. Teeple earned her M.S.W. from Loyola University in 2000, and she continues to remain active in her community, including as a longtime festival committee member for the Irish American Heritage Center.
Since graduating from Wittenberg with a degree in sociology, Douglas Vinsel has enjoyed an impressive career in the field of hospital administration. In 2006, Vinsel was named CEO of Duke Raleigh Hospital in North Carolina, where he oversees the 186-bed acute care hospital owned by the Duke University Health System. In this position, Vinsel is also responsible for all of Duke medicine in Wake County, including the development of multi-specialty ambulatory care centers, recruitment, and relationship management of Duke primary and secondary physicians as well as alignment of Duke Raleigh Hospital with the mission, vision and values of Duke University.
Prior to his current position, Vinsel spent 12 years as the COO and executive vice president of Hospital and Health Systems, WakeMed, in Raleigh, where he not only managed a 700-plus bed hospital, but also served as the lead executive in establishing a comprehensive children's program with the first North Carolina Children's Emergency Department, an eight-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, a 25-bed in-patient unit and a 28-bed level III Neonatal ICU. Additionally, Vinsel created a mobile cardiac transport service with expanded service to provide pediatric support to the Children's Program, and developed and sustained a successful self-governance model for nursing leadership.
Vinsel has also served as vice president/operations at Euclid General Hospital in Euclid, Ohio, assistant administrator at York Hospital in York, Pa., and administrative assistant, First Health of North Carolinas in Pinehurst, N.C., where he developed a state-of-the-art ophthalmology program. Following his graduation from Wittenberg, he received his master's in health administration from Duke University in 1974 and attended King's Fund College of Hospital Management in London, England, that same year thanks to a grant from the Duke Endowment.