EUGENE–The University of Oregon faculty will honor with Distinguished Service Awards a citizen advocate for good government, an international leader in developing sports opportunities for disabled persons, and a state leader in land-use planning and energy management at the 1999-2000 commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 10.

This year’s honorees are Annabel Kitzhaber, former president of the League of Women Voters of Oregon; 1978 UO graduate Robert D. Steadward, an internationally recognized leader in developing sports opportunities for persons with disabilities; and Dorothy Anderson, member and former president of the Eugene Water and Electric Board.

The Distinguished Service Award, one of the highest honors the UO faculty conveys, will be presented at the university’s spring commencement ceremonies at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at Hayward Field, 1580 E. 15th Ave., on the UO campus. The UO faculty annually selects recipients for this award who, through their knowledge and skills, have made a significant contribution to the cultural development of Oregon or society as a whole.

"These three recipients have volunteered not only thousands of hours but also provided remarkable leadership and a fiery passion in making a difference in the quality of lives of the general politic and for special groups who have special needs. We are very proud of them and grateful for their building a foundation of good works for the rest of us to stand upon," said UO President Dave Frohnmayer of this year’s honorees.

Kitzhaber, who received the League of Women Voters highest award, the Carrie Chapman Catt Award in 1995, served on the state League of Women Voters board of directors from 1966 to 1973 before serving as president in 1978-79. She also has served as president of the League of Women Voters of Lane County and as a budget committee member of the national league. In 1987-89, she chaired the state league’s SCHOOLS project, organizing two rounds of 28 meetings across the state to seek solutions to Oregon’s school finance problems.

In 1982, Kitzhaber received the Senior Woman of the Year Award from the Lane County Council of Organizations.

Her service to the state of Oregon began under Gov. Tom McCall, first as a member of the Governor’s School Finance Tax Force in 1972, and then as a member of the Special Legislative Committee on Equal Education Opportunity.

Locally, Kitzhaber served as chair of the Eugene Mayor’s Committee on International Cooperation from 1964-68 and helped develop the Mount Pisgah Arboretum. In 1976-77, she served as a director on the Lane County Transit Board and in 1991 served as a member of the Lane County Citizen Task Force to advise the county on developing manuals on the initiative, referendum and recall.

She is currently active as a member of the Eugene City Club board and its program committee and has served as a member of the Relief Nursery Auxiliary since 1995.

Kitzhaber received her B.A. cum laude from the University of Idaho in 1938 and her M.A. from Washington State College in 1940. She began her college teaching career at Iowa State College in 1942, served as an instructor in English at Washington State College in 1943 and was a lecturer in English at the University of Oregon from 1963-73. Between 1968 and 1984 she co-authored the Language Strand, including six student texts and six teacher texts for grades 7-12 of The Oregon Curriculum, and the Language Strand, Spectrum of English, that included four student texts for grades 3-6.

Steadward, a professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Physical Education and Recreation, is director of its Rick Hansen Centre and was chairman of the university’s Department of Athletics from 1985-1989.

He has a distinguished record of service to society as a whole through 35 years of volunteer work in support of persons with disabilities. He is currently president of the 160-nation International Paralympic Committee, the second largest sports organization in the world, and is past president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.

Virtually every phase of development of the Olympic movement for disabled persons has felt Steadward’s influence whether in coaching, fund-raising, research, management or administration.

He chairs the boards of the MacEwan Medical Clinic and Edmonton Sport (medicine) Clinic as well as director of sport counseling at the medical clinic . He also is director of operations for the organizing committee for the Edmonton 2001 World Championships in Athletics.

In 1999, Steadward received Canada’s highest civilian award, appointment to the Order of Canada, in recognition of national achievement and merit of a high degree, especially in service to Canada or humanity at large. That same year, he also received the Order of Iceland, that nation’s highest award for a non-Icelandic citizen, for a lifetime of service and contribution to people with a disability throughout the world.

Among nearly 30 awards received in the past 15 years, Steadward was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, received the Bryce Taylor Memorial Award for Canada’s outstanding sport volunteer, and the King Clancy Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadians with a Disability.

Anderson, for more than four decades, has been active as a concerned citizen, volunteer, elected board member and government appointee, primarily in land-use planning and energy management.

She was an appointed member of the first Land Conservation and Development Commission and since 1990 has served on the Eugene Water and Electric Board, serving two years as its president.

She was an appointed member of the Central Lane Metropolitan Study Commission, which produced the 1990 Comprehensive Plan; served for eight years as a member of the Eugene Planning Commission and chaired the Metropolitan Area Plan Advisory Committee. She served on the Governor’s Task Force on Growth and the EWEB Underground Task Force.

She also served as EWEB representative to the Northwest Energy Coalition and the McKenzie Watershed Management Council. In addition to her active role with the League of Women Voters and its state board of directors, she has for many years been the land-use planning expert for the league in Eugene. She also has been active in Masters Track and served as treasurer of Mount Pisgah Arboretum.

In 1998, the City Club of Eugene honored her with its Turtle Award, given to an individual who has stuck her neck out for the good of the community.

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