2007 Recipients
Charles F. H. Crathern
Charles Crathern, over the years, you have given back to WPI in numerous ways – from financially supporting the institution to working with the Alumni Association for various activities.
After earning your degree in mechanical engineering in 1952, you embarked upon your chosen career field of machine design. In 1963, after filling a position of design project engineer with the packaging machine division of the FMC Corporation, you founded Crathern Engineering Co., a New Hampshire Firm dedicated to the design and development of production machinery for the paper converting industry. Over the following years, the machines your personally designed earned more than a dozen U.S. and foreign patents and were in use in countries around the world. Crathern Engineering grew from a one-man company, building machines in the basement of your home in rural New Hampshire, to an international firm with manufacturing plants in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Belgium, Italy, and Singapore, before your retirement and sale of the company in 1999.
In 2002, you generously donated to the Class of ’52’s Anniversary Fund and became a member of the President’s Advisory Council, now the President’s Circle. You also served as chairman of your class’s 50th Anniversary Gift Campaign. As a Presidential Founder, you have matched and exceeded John Boynton’s founding gift – a truly generous and thoughtful deed. Over the years, you have given to WPI because you believe in its mission, and that does not go unnoticed. With people like you, we are able to continually establish ourselves as a competitive academic institution.
Throughout your career you increasingly recognized that the solid engineering training you received at WPI was a major factor in your success, and you have worked at giving back to your alma mater. WPI is considered to be an elite institute because of the efforts of people like you.
Charlie Crathern, WPI is honored to present you with the Herbert F. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
George Long
George Long, your willingness to give back to WPI is outstanding. As an alumnus, you promote your alma mater and all that it has done for you.
For years, you have devoted your time to fund-raising, including your 25th, 40th and 50th Anniversary Gift Campaigns. As one of the four chairmen, you’ve been leading your class toward record goals for your 50th Reunion. You volunteer as an Alumni Admissions Ambassador and served as the first chairman of the Chemical Engineering Advisory Board. You also helped organize the WPI London Projects Center and served as a board member.
You’ve helped raise millions of dollars; your own generous donations have made you a Presidential Founder and a member of the President’s Circle. You’ve also been a Class Agent and have helped plan Reunion Weekends.
You spent your entire career with Exxon, later ExxonMobil. You’ve held a number of technical and managerial positions around the world, including being startup leader for a new refinery in Spain, head of the European Engineering Office in London. You were responsible for being responsible for engineering satellite offices across the globe; you also led the recruiting efforts at WPI for Exxon.
In retirement, you serve as president of a nonprofit adoption agency in Vermont, when you’re not out on the ski slopes.
George Long, we honor you today with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.
Michael J. Stephens
Michael Stephens, you have done so much to promote WPI within your class and among other alumni. During your four years, you represented the university well as a multi-sport athlete, excelling in football, basketball, and tennis. Over the years, you have taken part in many alumni events including golf tournaments and class reunions. As chairman of your class’s 25th and 50th reunions, your leadership unites many people who could easily have lost touch over the years.
You have been instrumental in establishing the Class of ’57 Excellence Scholarship, which awards $100,000 to the Excellence in Teaching program, and $20,000 toward the purchase of an Alpha computer to service the WPI website. As technology continues to become a vital piece of any successful business, it is with great appreciation that we acknowledge your efforts. With your help, the Class of ’57 has become one of the most recognizable and successful classes ever to graduate from WPI.
Your paper detailing the problems with the Alumni-By-lines convinced your peers that it was time to revise and update them. After analyzing the alumni giving process, you recommended a different approach to maximize fund-raising. Much time was spent working to re-invigorate alumni participation; it was your responsibility to meet with each group of class representatives. You named the new organization the “Class Board of Directors.” Your efforts to re-connect the alumni community are greatly appreciated; with many of your tactics are still used today.
You are the coordinator of WPI alumni on Cape Cod as well as scorekeeper and handicap generator for regular golf outings. With events held every three weeks, you constantly manage to unite graduates from the 1940s with the most recent graduates – a task that is sometimes quite difficult. Through alumni events and your dedicated scholarship work, you allow new relationships to form and develop.
Mike Stephens, for always going above and beyond, WPI honors you with the Herbert F. Taylor Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.
Curtis R. Carlson
Curtis Carlson, you are known around the world for your technological and entrepreneurial achievements. WPI is honored to claim you as an alumnus and friend.
Before graduating from WPI with your degree in physics, you were a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and co-captain of the varsity swim team. You went on to earn a PhD from Rutgers University and join RCA’s Sarnoff Laboratories, which became part of SRI International in 1987. You started and helped lead the high-definition television team that set the standard for the United States, leading to an Emmy for outstanding technical achievement in 1997. Your team won a second Emmy in 2000 for broadcast quality testing. As head of ventures and licensing at Sarnoff, you helped form over a dozen new companies. You have more than 15 U.S. patents and over 50 publications to your credit in television, computer vision, and perception. In 2006, you wrote the book, Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want, which was selected by Business Week as one of the top ten business books of 2006.
After more than 20 years with the Sarnoff Corporation, you were ready for a new challenge, becoming president and CEO of SRI International in 1998. During your tenure, you began giving back to WPI. In 1999, your work toward the construction of the WPI Silicon Valley Project Center has helped hundreds of WPI students.
You are a worldwide leader in your field. Government task forces, including the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the Defense Science Board, have asked for your assistance. You serve on the General Motors Science and Technical Advisory Board and co-chair Singapore’s Science Advisory Board. You are also vice chairman of the Sarnoff Corporation. A WPI Trustee since 2002, you are a member of many WPI committees, including the Academic Planning, the Development Committee, and the Technology Committee.
Curt Carlson, leader among your peers, it is with great honor that WPI recognizes your success by presenting you with the Herbert F. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
Joseph L. Ferrantino
Joseph Ferrantino, with your extraordinary efforts, the WPI Alumni Association continues to expand and prosper.
You exhibit a rare sense of devotion in each of your endeavors. Since graduating in 1967, you’ve remained connected to your alma mater by working alongside the Alumni Association – whether as a recruiter, a class agent, or a member of the Class Board of Directors. You restarted the Hartford /Springfield alumni chapter, and your continued participation attracted many alumni to these local events.
Not only do you give generously to WPI, but you are an active participant in your hometown of Ware, Massachusetts. After 20 years as an elected member of the Ware Planning Board and a volunteer member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and the School Building Committee, you were elected president of the Ware Rotary Club. Your volunteer service also included several years as president of the Orchards Golf Course, president of Beaver Lake Club Corporation, a homeowners association of Ware, and vice president of Sunset Pointe Home Owners Association of Hilton Head, South Carolina.
In your entire professional career, you remained with the same company. At Monsanto, later Solutia Inc., you rose to be a leader in your field, retiring as a senior specialist in research and development.
Joe Ferrantino, WPI and the Alumni Association thank you for all your efforts. It’s people like you who keep this community connected. We are proud to present you with the Herbert F. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
William D. Cunningham
William Cunningham, your participation benefits the university, and your work with many of our alumni organizations only begins to describe your appreciation for your alma mater.
After receiving your bachelor of science in electrical engineering from WPI and your MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College, you quickly worked your way up the corporate ladder while giving back to students at the university level.
You are currently CEO of Diamond Fiber Composites, an advanced materials company that manufactures nickel- and copper-coated carbon fiber for aerospace, electronic, biomedical, and defense industries. Before joining the company, you worked at AT&T, Data General, and Apple Computer in sales and marketing. In 1992 your first of five startup companies, CollegeView, opened for business. You taught entrepreneurship from 1995 to 2000 at Xavier University’s entrepreneurship department and served as director of its Entrepreneurial Center from 1997 to 2000. In 1999, Ernst & Young selected you as the Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year for the Ohio Valley Region. You are now an adjunct professor for the Northern Kentucky University Entrepreneurial Institute.
At WPI, you have served as a member of the Class Boards of Directors, the President’s Advisory Council, the Entrepreneurs Collaborative Advisory Board, the Alden Society, and the Trustee Search Committee. You’ve also been a Reunion volunteer, a class agent, and a phonathon volunteer. You exemplify the ideal WPI alumnus. Your dedication and commitment to helping the university remain connected with its graduates is a fine example of leadership and loyalty.
Bill Cunningham, we thank you. We are proud to honor you today with the Herbert F. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service to WPI.
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