Viterbo University honored 10 people at its annual Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony Oct. 13 in the Fine Arts Center's Nola Starling Recital Hall as part of Viterbo Days.
Viterbo’s alumni awards, which go back to 1967, this year honor five alumni with professional achievement awards, one from each college, and include two rising professional awards. In addition, the tradition of honoring alumni with the Spirit of Francis Award and Service to the University Award continues.
Winners of 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards include the following:
Spirit of Francis — Susan (Sue) Rieple Graf ’82
Service to the University — Georgia Christensen FSPA ’70 and Barbara Quillin
College of Business, Leadership, and Ethics Professional Achievement — Dr. Scott Rathgaber ’22
College of Engineering, Letters, and Sciences Professional Achievement — Michelle (Pixley) Reichert ’86
College of Nursing and Health Professional Achievement — Linsie (Sanger) Clements ’08
School of Education Professional Achievement — Juan Jiménez ’01, ’06
Conservatory for the Performing Arts Professional Achievement — Dean Yohnk ’87
College of Business, Leadership, and Ethics Rising Professional — Kolin Huth ’21, ’22
College of Engineering, Letters, and Sciences Rising Professional — Andrew Santoso ’13
Spirit of Francis — Susan (Sue) Rieple Graf ’82
For most of her life, community service was something Sue Rieple Graf always managed to fit in on top of her work and family life. She was an active volunteer in her church, in the local schools, and served as a Girl Scout leader. In 2011, her church was looking for someone to prepare a meal to feed 15 people seeking refuge at La Crosse’s Winter Warming Center. Raising her hand for that set her on a path toward founding and running a nonprofit organization in 2021, What I Need Now (WINN), a mobile mission to serve unsheltered people in the region.
Service to the University — Georgia Christensen FSPA ’70
When she was a student at Viterbo, Georgia Christensen, FSPA ’70, always planned on a career in teaching. Little did she realize then how wide ranging that career would be, how far from home it would take her, and how much of an impact she would have when she returned to Viterbo as a faculty member and administrator. Currently vice president of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, Christensen continues to serve Viterbo as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and on the board of Viterbo Ministries.
Service to the University — Barbara Quillin
Barbara Quillin and her late husband, Phil, were honored by Viterbo University in 2014 with the St. John XXIII Award, the university’s highest non-academic honor, in recognition of the impact their philanthropy has had on the La Crosse community. This year, she is being recognized for her impact at Viterbo in particular, which has benefited greatly from her financial support and her service on the university’s Board of Advisors. “With the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration setting such an amazing example, we felt it was our family’s calling to give back and serve this wonderful community,” Quillin said.
College of Business, Leadership, and Ethics Professional Achievement — Dr. Scott Rathgaber ’22
By the time Gundersen Health System CEO Dr. Scott Rathgaber enrolled in Viterbo’s Master of Arts in Servant Leadership Degree program in 2018, 30 years after earning his doctoral degree, he’d already had a lifetime of learning. But growing up in Indiana, his parents instilled in him a strong love of education, and Rathgaber felt the obligation as a CEO to be the best possible leader he could be.
College of Engineering, Letters, and Sciences Professional Achievement — Michelle (Pixley) Reichert ’86
As a sophomore, Michelle (Pixley) Reichert did an internship in Washington state that involved studying the effects of radiation on the human body. That experience set in motion her educational and career path, which culminated in her being named the first female chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, a company with more than 11,000 employees that is one of the nation’s largest federal contractors.
College of Nursing and Health Professional Achievement — Linsie (Sanger) Clements ’08
Linsie (Sanger) Clements ’08, a labor and delivery nurse at Gundersen Health System, has a strong sense that she is right where she is supposed to be, and that comes from a sense of openness to new paths. After first specializing in cardiac care, Clements switched to labor and delivery with a passion for supporting the birth process and helping parents going through the grief she had when she lost her child.
School of Education Professional Achievement — Juan Jiménez ’01, ’06
When he came to Viterbo, Juan Jiménez pictured himself spending his life as a math teacher. He did begin his career as a math teacher, but after returning to Viterbo for a master’s degree in educational leadership, his horizons broadened. Currently associate dean of health and public safety at Western Technical College and a member of the La Crosse Board of Education, Jiménez has been fueled by “a passion for education and supporting people’s journey to their academic and career goals.”
Conservatory for the Performing Arts Professional Achievement — Dean Yohnk ’87
Growing up in Cornell, Dean Yohnk was inspired by his teachers, and he knew when he came to Viterbo in 1982 that he wanted to become a theatre arts and English teacher himself. He became that and more, a much-honored college professor and administrator in a career that saw him teaching at Viterbo from 1992-2001. Yohnk recently retired from UW-River Falls after serving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of stage and screen arts starting in 2018, the climax of a superlative 30-year career in higher education.
College of Business, Leadership, and Ethics Rising Professional — Kolin Huth ’21, ’22
As chief financial officer at Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa, Iowa, Kolin Huth ’21, ’22 is doing just what he always pictured himself doing. Huth knew he wanted to be a health care executive, reasoning that the way he can help the most people is by taking care of the doctors, nurses, and others who care for the patients. He is, however, doing it a lot sooner than he envisioned. “I did not expect to be in an executive role this early in my career, but the tools, experiences, and education that Viterbo gave me allowed me to accelerate into an executive position,” he said.
College of Engineering, Letters, and Sciences Rising Professional — Andrew Santoso ’13
Andrew Santoso credits his Viterbo advisor with steering him toward the field of medical physics. Since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in mathematical physics, Santoso has been speeding along that career path. He’s now an assistant professor in medical physics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he’s the lead physicist at the UCHealth Long’s Peak Medical Center, tasked with ensuring high quality radiation therapy treatment.