• Marcia Balmut Ward '68- Inspires Students to Succeed
• Hank Sturges '73 - Helps Alma Mater Succeed
• Katherine Hollingsworth '74 - Take Pride in Lifelong Learning
• Jeff '78 and Debi Garrity Aarthun '77 - Serve Others in Business and Community
• Timothy Kremchek '81 - Keeps Athletes on Top of Their Game
• Janet Kirkpatrick Holdsworth '91 - Takes Lacrosse to the Next Level
• Jade Gianakopoulos '95 - Serves Wittenberg in Style

To her students in the Graham Local School District in St. Paris, Ohio, Marcia Balmut Ward is an inspiration. For Ward, Wittenberg and her students hold that distinction.

“Any success I have had is a direct reflection on my students and the education I received at Wittenberg,” Ward said. “A liberal arts education is vital to my philosophy of teaching, and I love to dwell in possibility.”

Recipient of Wittenberg’s 2004 Alumni Citation Award, given to those who have brought honor to the university through their exceptional accomplishments in which service to humanity is placed ahead of personal gain, Ward has made it her mission to help students succeed in her 36-year career.

Currently the director for alternative programming at Graham, Ward also serves as a substance-abuse coordinator and grant writer in addition to her science teaching responsibilities.

At the same time, Ward coordinates field trips to Rutgers University, which are designed to give students a firsthand look at work being conducted in such areas as spinal-cord and stem-cell research.

Despite her busy schedule, Ward still hosts international exchange students during their high school years, including current Wittenberg sophomore Charles Njoka.

She and her husband also just purchased the Frederick Otto house at 25 E. Madison Ave. in Springfield with plans to refurbish it as a “monument to the spiritual vibrancy and intercultural awareness Wittenberg experienced during the Otto years.”

“The Rev. Dr. Frederick Otto, and his wife Georgia, were incredible Christians who influenced not only my spiritual growth but hundreds of other searching souls,” Ward said. “I felt compelled to purchase the home.”

Ward also credits the relationships she made at Wittenberg with influencing her perspective on life.

From professors who guided her and her classmates by listening to their queries and sharing their lives with them to her Chi Omega sisters and dearest friends, Ward said she is forever indebted.

“They were magical times,” she said, “and I have been pleased over the years to encourage my high school students to attend Wittenberg.”