Indiana University of Pennsylvania will present the Distinguished Alumni Award to six outstanding members of the IUP community on April 13.
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest award given by the IUP Alumni Association to university alumni. It is presented to alumni who have achieved distinction in their chosen fields or who have demonstrated loyal and active service to their alma mater. Over the past 37 years, the IUP Alumni Association has honored less than 400 of its more than 150,000 alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Recipients for 2024 include Susan Burig, a graphic designer and film producer and native of Allison Park who splits her time between California and Atlanta; the Honorable Daniel Clifford, administrative judge of the Family Division of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, originally from York, now living in Ambler; Bergitta E. Controneo, chief operating officer of the American College of Physicians, of Alexandria, VA, originally of Bryn Mawr-Gladwyne; James Haslett, award-winning professional football player and coach, of Cranberry Township, originally of Avalon; David Holben, professor of nutrition and Gillespie Distinguished Scholar at the University of Mississippi, originally of Kittanning and now living in Oxford, MS; and Indiana native Carolyn Violi, the resident musical director and accompanist for the University of Alabama in Birmingham, a current resident of Birmingham.
Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients for 2024
Susan Burig
Burig, a 1988 graduate of IUP, has a 30-year career in the entertainment industry with almost 60 feature films to her credit, including Avengers: Infinity War; Avengers: Endgame; Guardians of the Galaxy II; Captain America: Winter Soldier; The Amazing Spiderman; Ant-Man; Austin Powers; The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; Transformers: Dark of the Moon; and Django Unchained. She also has done graphic design for the television series She-Hulk.
As a film designer, Burig designs many elements in every film, from large details to small, from billboards and posters to books and matchbooks. Elements in films that are highly visible but are accepted as real such as the “Smart Tech” store logo in The Forty Year-Old Virgin, the Pym Tech logo in Ant-Man, the ESD (Earth Space Defense) logo in Independence Day: Resurgence, all of the huge neon on the planet Contraxia in Guardians of the Galaxy: II, and the horse-drawn wagon for the “Amazing and Painless Surgeon/Dentist Dr. King Schultz as well as all of the wanted posters in Django Unchained.
She is a member of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars). Academy membership is a privilege offered to only a select few within the global community of filmmakers who have achieved excellence in the field of motion pictures. She won an Art Directors Guild Award in 2019 for Excellence in Production Design for Endgame after being nominated twice before for earlier work.
She is an avid horsewoman and is currently producing a docuseries involving equestrian show jumping.
While at IUP, she was a featured presenter for Slenkfest, a celebration of the late Robert Slenker, IUP’s first graphic design professor, and of the connections and career successes of graphic design alumni.
Daniel Clifford
Elected to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in 2015, the Honorable Daniel Clifford, a 1981 IUP graduate, is the administrative judge of the Family Division.
Prior to his election, he was managing partner of the Norristown office of the Philadelphia-based law firms of Wolf Block and Weber Gallagher. He is a judicial fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and, in practice, received recognition in the area of international child abduction from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program. He is a member of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges.
He served as chair of the 1,400-member PBA Family Law Section from 2013 to 2014. During his term, his initiatives were the production of the 70-minute, award-winning Judicial Interview of the Child video to educate judges, lawyers, and parents on the custody process (available on YouTube); the passage of Act 102 to reduce the time period from two years to one year for contested divorces (ultimately signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf in 2016); and the adoption of a parenting coordination program in Pennsylvania (adopted by the Supreme Court in 2018). He served on the PBA Diversity Task Force and is a delegate to the PBA House of Delegates.
He received the Pro Bono Award in 2014 and Special Achievement Award in 2015 from the PBA. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute from 2016 to 2018. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appointed Judge Clifford to the court’s Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee for service from 2015 to 2021 and designated him as vice chair in 2018 and chair in 2020.
Active in his community, he served on the boards of directors of Adoptions from the Heart, Equality Forum, the Advisory Board of Children and Youth Services, and he was chair of the Springfield Township Zoning Hearing Board for 20 years.
In 2009, 2011, and 2015, he received the coveted “highly recommended” rating from the Judiciary Committee of the Montgomery Bar Association, and he was one of 20 attorneys in the Commonwealth honored as Diverse Lawyer of the Year by the Legal Intelligencer in 2011 in recognition of his efforts in the area of diversity, which includes being cofounder of the Montgomery Bar’s Summer 1L Diversity Program, now in its sixteenth year.
He is a frequent speaker for PBA, PBI, AFCC, state trial judges, and county Bar Associations, and he guest lectures every year at four Pennsylvania law schools. The General Assembly appointed him to the Joint State Government Commission, Advisory Committee on Domestic Relations Law in 2018, which provides the legislature with expertise and advice in formulating legislation relating to family law. He was elected chair of the Family Court Section of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges in 2020.
Bergitta E. Cotroneo
Cotroneo, a 1980 IUP graduate, assumed the post of chief operating officer of the American College of Physicians in March. The 161,000-member organization is the largest medical specialty group in the United States, with an international membership that spans more than 145 countries.
She previously served as deputy chief executive officer and executive vice president of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine, with which she was associated for a decade and a half. She serves on several nonprofit boards and is active in her community of Alexandria, Virginia.
Prior to joining AAIM, she served as COO at the National Patient Safety Foundation in Massachusetts. Earlier leadership roles include serving as director of Ambulatory Practice Management, and later, director of medical staff affairs at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, executive director of the retina service at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, and assistant executive director of education, meetings, and research at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in suburban Chicago.
Controneo currently serves on several advisory boards and leadership councils, including the Flexible Medical Systems Advisory Board, the Carol Emmott Foundation Leadership Council, and the VHC Foundation Women's Health Circle Advisory Board. She has completed terms of service on the Women Business Leaders of the US Healthcare Industry Foundation Advisory Board, the George Washington University MHA Program Advisory Council, and the University of Phoenix School of Business and Technology Advisory Council.
Controneo was the first African American member elected to the Medical Group Management Association Board of Directors, where she served two terms and was elected to the board executive committee and later board chair. She was selected to join Women of Impact: Leaders in Health and Healthcare as a member of the 2019 cohort. In 2021, she was invited to serve as the inaugural chair of the WBL DEI Committee, and in 2022 she was appointed to the WBL Corporate Board of Directors.
In addition to her IUP degree, Controneo earned a certificate in nonprofit executive management from the Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership at Georgetown University and a certificate from the AAIM Executive Leadership Program. She is a fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives, MGMA’s certifying body. While at IUP, she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and as an alumna is active with IUP’s Educational Opportunity Program and the IUP African American Alumni Scholarship Committee.
James Haslett
A second-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills in 1979, Haslett, a 1993 IUP graduate, is the only person in NFL history to win both Rookie of the Year (1979) and Coach of the Year (2000) honors. After playing for the Buffalo Bills, he coached numerous NFL teams, including as head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2006. In 1984, he was chosen for the Bills’ Silver Anniversary Team, and in 2001, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was the first and one of only two IUP players to have his uniform number (86) retired and was inducted into the IUP Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. He is also the only IUP graduate to play in the Blue/Gray all-star game, which capped a playing career highlighted by nine All-American honors in three seasons and an ECAC Player of the Year tribute. Haslett's career record of 13 fumble recoveries in 1975–78 remains the IUP record. Haslett is unable to return to IUP for the awards ceremony.
David Holben
Holben is a 1985 graduate of IUP who has built an acclaimed four-decade career in the field of food and nutrition at major medical centers and universities. The recipient of a doctorate and a master’s degree from Ohio State, as well as a master’s from Wayne State, he was a two-time Fulbright Scholar in Canada. He has received numerous awards that recognize his research, scholarship, teaching, and service, most notably in the area of food insecurity. He attributes his lifelong philosophy and role as a servant leader to the character developed while growing up in Kittanning.
Prior to his current work, he was a dietitian in the United States Army Reserve Component, Medical Specialist Corps, and holds the rank of major. He was also a professor of nutrition at Ohio University, was an assistant professor of foods and nutrition at Youngstown State University, and was a part-time nutrition consultant for the Heart Center of Northeastern Ohio Cardiac Rehabilitation Department. He was also a pulmonary nutritionist and clinical dietetics instructor at Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary Medicine in Cincinnati.
He has many publications to his credit, is the co-author or author of four books, and has authored chapters in several books. He has been an invited presenter for conferences and professional meetings all over the United States. He has also had success with a number of externally funded grants, including a National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award for $1.18 million to support the STEM learning pipeline for underserved, minority youth through informal science learning environments.
He is a member of many professional associations, including the National Nutrient Databank Conference, the Association of Writers and Writing Professionals, the School Nutrition Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy)-American Dietetic Association, and the ADA Hunger and Malnutrition-Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group.
Carolyn Violi
Violi, a 1976 graduate of IUP, has a career that ranges from fostering a love of music in rural school students, including in Indiana County, to producing and directing on Broadway.
A two-time Tony Award nominee and Broadway producer, Violi has a background as both an educator and a conductor. She has more than two decades of teaching experience in Pennsylvania public schools—including the Marion Center, Homer Center, and Indiana Area school districts and St. Bernard’s Catholic School—and she was recognized as the Pennsylvania District 3 Music Teacher of the Year in 1984. Her expertise extends to guest conducting for various high school choral music festivals, and she continues to be in demand for musical theater master classes. She is also in demand as a church organist and has served in that role in communities in many towns, including in Indiana. She has also worked with the Indiana Players community theater.
Her journey into the professional theatre world began after her success in education. Violi spent four years as the conductor for Disney's Beauty and the Beast national tour, traveling the country and performing in all 50 states, most major cities, and all Canadian provinces. Her involvement extended to conducting tours of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and The Goodbye Girl, as well as playing in the pits for productions of Wicked, The Color Purple, and Spamalot.
Her current project is her role as coproducer for the new musical Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, a production that delves into Judy Garland's life before Oz. This show has received recognition with performances at Flat Rock Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, and Papermill Theatre. In July 2017, a developmental lab was conducted at the New 42nd Street Studios in NYC, and in 2023, a staged reading took place in London, further solidifying the show’s potential and impact.
Beyond her educational and conducting achievements, Violi has an impressive track record as a Broadway producer. She has contributed to productions such as Hello Dolly (starring Bette Midler), Tootsie (starring Santino Fontana), Betrayal (starring Tom Hiddleston), A Taste of Things to Come, New York, New York (featuring music by John Kander and additional music by Lin-Manuel Miranda), Once Upon a One More Time (featuring the music of Britney Spears and starring Justin Guarini), and the revival of the musical Tommy, with music by the Who, which opened in March.
In 2023, Violi had three shows on Broadway simultaneously, two of which received Tony Award nominations: New York, New York (Best Musical) and Fat Ham (Best Play), which was recently nominated for a 2024 GLAAD Award. Her expertise in musical direction earned her two achievement awards from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for her work on Godspell in 2022 and A New Brain in 2023. Additionally, she was voted the Best Musical Director in Birmingham, AL, by Broadwayworld.com in 2015.
Violi is a proud member of MAESTRA, an organization for women and non-binary people who make the music in the musical theater industry.
Distinguished Alumni Award recipients meet with students and community members during their time at IUP as schedules permit.