The Alumni Award for Excellence in Public Affairs recognizes graduates who have exceptional achievements in their professional endeavors, while demonstrating outstanding commitment to the ideals of public service.

This recipient of this year’s Award of Excellence in Public Affairs is Steven F. McDonald, a 1966 Political Science alumni. Steve spent four decades focused on peace building, conflict resolution, democracy and governance in Africa, Northern Ireland, Timor Leste and Brazil. He worked with South Africans, including Nelson Mandela, to bring about the change from Apartheid to majority rule in 1994.

At the award ceremony, Steve fondly recalled the influence of the late Frank Dinka who “opened the eyes of this country-born and wide-eyed youth to world politics and possibilities.”