Five alumnae receive recognition awards at CSB Reunion

Five alumnae from the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, have been honored with awards from the CSB Alumnae Association. The awards were presented at the Gala Dinner during the CSB Reunion June 26 at Gorecki Dining and Conference Center.

• Mary White Frey, '80 received the Benedictine Service Award, which honors an alumna for continued commitment and contributions to community service and social justice.
• Karin Remington, '85 and Jacquelyn Mychlewhite, '00 each received the Distinguished Alumna Award, which honors an alumna for outstanding achievements in her chosen profession and whose daily life reflects the Christian ideals and mission of the college.
• Gretchen Adelmann Korf, '00 received the Decade Award, which honors a 2000 alumna for outstanding achievements in her chosen profession and demonstrates global consciousness and community involvement.
• Laura Kelly Lovdahl, '85 received the inaugural S. Emmanuel Renner, OSB Award, which honors a person who has performed extraordinary volunteer service to the college.

Frey, who lives in Edina, Minn., was a nursing major at CSB. Originally an oncology nurse, she went on to earn a doctorate in psychology. She is the chair of the Board of Directors of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Frey was also the co-founder of an organization that was originally called Women of Courage but is now called Giving Women. The organization's goal is to nurture women's collective leadership in philanthropy. She also serves on the boards of the Courage Center Foundation and the Frey Foundation along with her husband, Jim, who has just completed a term as the chair of the Saint John's University Board of Regents.

Remington graduated with degrees in mathematics and natural science from CSB. She later earned a doctorate in math from the University of Kentucky. She is currently director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' (NIGMS) Center for Bioinfomatics and Computational Biology, where she oversees research and training grants to support projects that integrate biology with computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and physics. The NIGMS is one of the National Institutes of Health, the principal medical research agency of the Federal Government. She resides in Germantown, Md.,

Mychlewhite, a native of Nassau, Bahamas, could only take one subject per semester in CSB's Bahamian program due to scarce financial resources and a heavy work load. She eventually finished her individualized major at the CSB campus in 2000, nine years after she had started. When she entered the work force, she was the human resources manager in the Bahamas Public Hospital Authority. Before her retirement in 2009, she managed to earn a master of business administration degree with a major in human resources management and a doctor of philosophy degree in organizational leadership from McHari International College.

Korf graduated with a major in accounting and a minor in management from CSB. She spent the next year in Detroit volunteering for AmeriCorps at Boys Hope/Girls Hope. Korf then passed her certified public accountants' exam, and compiled an impressive resume in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. Korf, who lives in Plymouth, Minn., is currently the director of finance at United Health Group in Minnetonka, Minn. Prior to that, she was a manager at Ernst and Young. Korf also serves on the resource development committee of the CSB Alumnae Board.

Lovdahl, who resides in Maple Grove, Minn., started her service to CSB as a phonathon volunteer not long after she graduated with a degree in liberal studies. She went on to serve and then chair the resource development committee of the CSB Alumnae Board. While on the board, Lovdahl led efforts to raise awareness of the importance of annual giving and worked to strengthen the connections of alumnae with their classmates and the college. Lovdahl became president of the CSB Alumnae Association, and was a member of the college's Board of Trustees.