By Tony Phifer, originally published on Source
Colorado State University will honor some of its most impactful alumni – and its 150th birthday – at the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
The annual celebration is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Lory Student Center. The event, which honors thought leaders, history makers, and game changers, is part of Homecoming and Family Weekend, which is themed “Proud to Be 150.”
From humble beginnings as a class of three graduates to its place as a world-class research university with nearly a quarter of a million alumni, CSU been making the world a better place since its founding in 1870. Each year, the best of the best alumni are celebrated, with each of CSU’s eight colleges honoring an alumnus and the university reserving its highest alumni awards for truly remarkable men and women.
For a a complete list of 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award winners, visit the CSU Alumni Association site.
Charles A. Lory Public Service Award
Morris W. Price, Jr. (BA, speech communication, ’87)
The Charles A. Lory Public Service Award is named for CSU’s fifth and lonest-serving president. Lory’s leadership helped the fledgling Colorado Agricultural College achieve a vital balance of teaching, research, and service. The Lory Award is given to alumni who set the standard for service and helping others, and who do so while connected to their alma mater. Morris W. Price Jr. epitomizes all of those qualities.
A native of Colorado and product Denver Public Schools, Price studies communication studies at CSU. He is now vice president and executive director of City Year Denver, a program designed to keep kids in school and help them graduate.
Prior to his position at City Year, Price served as the district director for the 1st Congressional District of Colorado (U.S. House of Representatives), national program officer for the Gill Foundation, and director of university and college relations for the Daniels Fund. Prior to his time with the Daniels Fund and Gill Foundation, Price spent 15 years in higher education including holding various leadership positions at the University of Denver, including associate dean and director of admissions.
He currently serves on the Rose Community Foundation Board of Trustees, Colorado Nonprofit Association Board of Directors, First Baptist Church of Denver Board of Directors, Compass Academy Governing Board, Denver Art Museum Marketing Advisory Board, and the CSU LGBT Alumni Alliance (founding and current president). Price has received a number of awards and recognition for his community involvement, including 2009 Professional Man of the Year Award (Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce), 2014 Paul Hunter Outstanding Community Leadership Award (Human Rights Campaign), 2015 25 Most Influential African Americans (Denver Urban Spectrum), 2016 Dennis Dougherty Award for Community Leadership (Matthew Shepard Foundation), and 2018 Community Educator Leader of the Year Award (the Education Center of Colorado).
Read more about Price in AlumLine.
Distinguished Graduate of the Last Decade Award
Kareem Rosser (B.A., economics, ’16)
When he was 8 years old, Kareem Rosser began a journey that would take him, one of six children raised by a single mother, out of a community plagued by violence and crime to faraway places and extraordinary achievements. It started at a nonprofit organization in Philadelphia called Work to Ride– an organization that teaches low-income children to ride horses and play polo in exchange for their help with chores in the stable. By way of a polo scholarship, Rosser was able to attend Valley Forge Military Academy where he led the first all-African American team to win the National Interscholastic Polo Championship and was named the Polo Training Foundation’s Polo Player of the Year. Later, he was accepted to Colorado State University where he again led his collegiate club team to the national title in 2015 and was named the U.S. Polo Association’s Intercollegiate Player of the Year. After graduation, he parlayed his CSU economics degree into a career as a financial analyst and continues to play polo. Invitations to compete in tournaments have taken him to Europe, Africa, and Asia, and he’s been featured on 60 Minutes, ESPN, and other outlets. Rosser also serves as executive director of Friends of Work to Ride, and since 2015, he has raised more than $800,000 to support at-risk youth and the program that gave him a future in polo. Additionally, he’s secured a partnership with Polo Ralph Lauren to support the WTR foundation with a grant that will directly fund collegiate scholarships for WTR high school athletes – shoes he once filled himself.
College of Liberal Arts Honor Alumnus
Daniel Tyler, Ph.D. (M.A., history, ’67)
Having grown up on the Crystal River Ranch in Carbondale, Colorado, Daniel Tyler, Ph.D., is an professor emeritus of history at Colorado State University. After receiving a degree in political science from Harvard College, Tyler trained to become an instructor pilot in the United States Air Force, where he taught students to fly single-engine jets. The late John Pratt of the CSU English department was one of his instructors in the program. When the USAF closed down the base where Tyler was stationed, he sought a job teaching history in Hawaii. After five years at Punahou School (where former President Barack Obama graduated in 1979), he returned to his roots, ranching in Colorado. Ultimately deciding that he preferred teaching, Tyler earned his master’s degree from CSU, followed by a Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. He was invited to return to CSU as an assistant professor in 1970 and taught courses on the American West, the Southwest, and the Mexican Borderlands. He took a particular interest in water law and water development and focused on research projects that resulted in several books, including The Last Water Hole in the West about the Colorado Big Thompson Project; The Silver Fox of the Rockies about Delphus Emory Carpenter and the Colorado River Compact of 1922; and Cowboy in the Boardroom, a biography of W.D. Farr, Greeley cattle feeder and water guru. Since retirement in 1999, Tyler continues to write (Love in an Envelope), consults in water rights cases, and supports students in need. At CSU, established the Gateway to Graduation scholarship – an endowment that enables juniors and seniors with financial need to remain in college and finish their degrees.