Distinguished alumni 2007
Each year the Board of Woodstock appoints a number of alumni to its Distinguished Alumni Honor Roll. This year four alumni have been so honoured.
Bhavanesh Kumari Patiala '50
T.Z. Chu '52
Dorothy Irene Riddle '60
Robert E. Scott, '62
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| Bhavenesh Kumari Patiala '50 |
Bhavenesh Kumari Patiala '50
Bhavenesh Kumari Patiala '50 has been nominated for her ground-breaking career as a woman lawyer in India. A member of the royal family of Patiala, she excelled in a career that was closed to women and to those of her lineage.
Bhavenesh came to Woodstock in 1948, inspired by memories shared by her British governess Josephine Newman - a teacher trainee at The College (the former incarnation of Midlands). It took much persuasion before family traditions were put aside to send Bhavanesh to Woodstock. Lena, as she came to be known, decided early on that the hillside had far more for her than book learning: she excelled in sports, hiking and student government.
Bhavenesh attended Miranda House (Delhi University) where she decided on a career in law. She broke gender and social barriers with a law degree from Delhi, followed by another from Yale Law School.
On her return to India, Bhavenesh became a partner in the largest law firm in New Delhi. She became one of India's first specialists in international corporate law, and her work served as foundation for later globalization efforts. Bhavenesh was the first woman to practice in several countries of West Asia. Practicing in the Supreme Court, she represented Sikkim's ruling family with the Government of India in what became an important landmark in her career. Another was to help sort out a multi-billion-rupee mess in Hyderabad and Australia for "The Last Nizam" --- recorded by John Zubrzycki in his book of that title (Phaidon 2006). She has always made time to support good causes and those in need of legal aid. These have included villagers displaced by the Rajasthan Canal, and a range of hospitals and schools. When two states offered her judgeships, Bhavenesh declined in order to sustain her public service. "That way, I could do more for people. For me, law is not a profession. It's a way of life." Invited to membership by four Bar associatons, recognition also came through the Indian Law Federation, and the Indian Commission of Jurists' invitation to join its executive, the first woman lawyer elevated to this position.
Through all these years, Bhavenesh remained one of WOSA-India's most active members. Her wisdom and skills have helped successive Woodstock administrations over a range of management and liaison needs, including the legal complexities of property rights vital to Woodstock's sustainability. In 2005, Kaye Aoki shared her impressions with Woodstock students: "What is most impressive about Bhavenesh is her enormous generosity of spirit and how she has used her status, both earned and inherited, to enhance the experiences of others".
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| TZ Chu '52 |
T.Z. Chu '52
T. Z. Chu, Class of 1952, has been recognized for his pioneering work in analytical instrumentation, his facility as an early practitioner of global business strategy for smaller companies, his leadership in promoting diversity in management as a role model and as an industry leader, and his committed support of his high school and university through multiple means, including service as a Board member of Woodstock School.
Mr. Chu earned a BSc degree in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1958. An active supporter of the university, he has served as a volunteer in numerous capacities, including as a trustee of UC Berkeley Foundation and volunteer fund-raiser. He established a Distinguished Professorship in Chemistry in 2005.
For 45 years, Mr. Chu enjoyed a successful career in the analytical and scientific instruments industry as a scientist, manager, entrepreneur, and venture investor in several pioneering instrumentation fields. The products, methodologies, and applications he helped to develop are the basis of worldwide environmental regulations, pharmaceuticals development, drugs-of-abuse detection, nuclear energy development and safeguards, and in molecular and cell biology research.
From 1962 through 1996, he organized and managed operations of his company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Japan, and China. From 1972 to 2006, he served as a board member of private and public companies, trade associations, and nonprofit organizations. He was the first Asian chief executive officer of a publicly held technology company in North America in 1972, and from 1993 to 2006, he served as a board member of LSI Logic (New York Stock Exchange) and other public and private companies.
Mr. Chu was elected chairman of the highly influential American Electronics Association in 1980. In 1972 he was a founding board member of the Women's Resource Center, the first nonprofit organization devoted to advancing women's management careers in technology companies. He served on the boards of KW International, Kodaikanal International School, and Friends of Woodstock School from 1996 to 2006.
Mr. Chu, a U.S. citizen, was born in Shanghai, China, in 1934. His mother was Japanese, and his father was Chinese. His father received his university education in France. T. Z. Chu has been married to Irmgard Suetterlin Chu, a Swiss citizen, since 1963. They have one daughter and two grandchildren.
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| Dorothy Irene Riddle '60 |
Dorothy Irene Riddle '60
Dorothy Riddle was born in the United States. She accompanied her parents to China after World War II, learned Chinese, and was ready to start school when the communist takeover of the country forced the departure of all foreigners. In 1950 Dorothy started lower kindergarten in Woodstock School, where her grandfather, Allen Parker, had been principal. She graduated as valedictorian of her class. She completed a BA, summa cum laude in psychology and philosophy at the University of Colorado; a PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University; and an MBA specializing in service industries from the University of Arizona.
Throughout her career, Dr. Riddle has focused on initiatives to empower disadvantaged groups and economies. In 1971, she was responsible for launching the first BA-granting women studies program, based at City University of New York. During the early 1970s, Dr. Riddle was part of an American Psychological Association Task Force which was ultimately responsible for the official change in status of homosexuality from a psychiatric disorder to a lifestyle. She also developed the "Riddle Scale", a tool for measuring homophobia that is now being used to measure changes in a range of other social attitudes.
In 1981, Dr. Riddle joined the faculty of the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona, and developed and delivered the first courses on international services trade and international services management. In 1986, she completed a study of the service sectors of 81 countries at four levels of development. She has done groundbreaking research and consulting work in over 80 countries on the importance of leveraging the service sector for economic growth. She has been recognized by the United Nations as the leading world expert on services and economic development.
Dr. Riddle has developed a series of online assessment tools for export readiness, e-business readiness, and business competitiveness. She and her business partner developed and launched the online Employment Readiness Scale (see www.EmploymentReadiness.org). Her most recent accomplishment is the Spiritual Evolution Assessment Scale which she designed and field tested in 24 countries with 417 participants from a range of spiritual traditions (see www.SEAScale.net).
Dr. Riddle has served on the Board of Directors of the North-South Institute, a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating global poverty and enhancing social justice through research that promotes international cooperation, democratic governance, and conflict prevention.
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| Robert E. Scott '62 |
Robert E. Scott, '62
Robert E. Scott is a nationally renowned teacher and scholar in the fields of contracts, commercial law, and bankruptcy. He has co-authored five books on contracts and commercial transactions, is the author of more than three dozen scholarly articles, and is widely recognized for setting the standard for the economic analysis of the law of contracts.
Robert Scott earned his bachelor's degree cum laude from Oberlin College and in 1968 graduated from the William & Mary School of Law, where he had the highest academic average in his class. Scott earned an S.J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1973, after which he joined the law faculty at William & Mary.
In 1974, Dr. Scott joined the Virginia School of Law faculty, where he served from 1974 to 2006. He served as Dean of the Law School from 1991 to 2001. Under his leadership, the School completed a $203 million capital campaign in 2000. He also spearheaded the most ambitious building project in the School's history, a $30-million renovation of the David A. Harrison III Law Grounds, completed in 1997, followed by a $7-million law student-faculty meeting and dining center, completed in 2002 and named "Scott Commons." Dr. Scott also instituted the Mary Morton Parsons Seminars in Ethical Values, a program that provides insights into the moral and ethical responsibilities of the lawyer.
In April 2000, the University of Virginia established the Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professorship in Law, made possible by support from more than 250 of his colleagues on the faculty, former students and friends of the school, who committed $1.9 million for the professorship. In 2004, Robert Scott was recognized by the University of Virginia with its highest honor, the Thomas Jefferson Award for his "integrity and honor, bold and skillful leadership, unfailing civility, and uncompromising excellence, qualities that have distinguished Mr. Scott's tenure as dean and his thirty-five years of teaching and scholarship."
Scott joined the Columbia Law School faculty in July 2006, having been a frequent visiting professor at Columbia, most recently as Justin W. D'Atri Visiting Professor of Law, Business and Society from 2001-2006.
Scott served a number of times as chair of the American Association of Law Schools' sections on Contract Law, Law and Economics, and Commercial and Consumer Law. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999 and has been a fellow of the American Bar Foundation since 1993.