The Northern Michigan University Alumni Association recently honored four award winners during Homecoming weekend. The recipients and their awards are: Fred Stonehouse ('70 and '77) of Marquette and Bruce Remington ('75) of Dublin, Calif., Distinguished Alumni; Jeannie Thoren ('68) of Duluth, Alumni Achievement; and Curt Tucker ('82 and '08) of Saginaw, Alumni Service.  

An advocate for a greater understanding of American maritime history, Stonehouse has expanded his career to include achievements as an educator, award-winning author and active community member. He is recognized as a prominent Great Lakes maritime historian and national expert on U.S. Life-Saving Service and the early Coast Guard. As an author of more than 30 books on maritime history, his expertise is often called upon by national and regional organizations, including the National Geographic Society and the History Channel. A devoted Marquette community member, Stonehouse is a founder of the Marquette Maritime Museum and has served as an adviser or board member for Marquette’s City Commission, the Harbor Advisory Committee, DeVos Art Museum, Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, the Iron Ore Heritage Trail Committee and the NMU Alumni Association.      

Remington, a physicist with the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, has conducted groundbreaking research there since 1988. In 2011, he received the Edward Teller Medal for his "pioneering scientific work in the fields of inertial confinement fusion, laboratory astrophysics and high pressure material science and leadership in development of an international effort in high energy density laboratory astrophysics.” Remington has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific reports, co-authored five national reports and presented at more than 30 international conferences. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a co-recipient of the APS Excellence in Plasma Physics Award.          

Thoren is credited with changing the way the downhill skiing industry thinks about female skiers. She developed the “Thoren Theory” after 30 years of retrofitting her own equipment as a method of improving the technique of women skiers through modified equipment. Today, Thoren and her husband Tom own and operate the Jeannie Thoren Women’s Ski Center in Vail, Colo., providing consultations, specialized service and equipment sales for women. She appears in various industry-related magazines and holds numerous awards for her achievements, including being named one of the most influential skiers of the century by Ski magazine.                  

Tucker is an alumnus of NMU’s industrial technology program. After founding his own auto-racing safety technology company, he still supports NMU in many ways. His company, TeamTech Motorsports Safety Inc., is based in Saginaw. Its development of quality safety equipment and three safety-related patents owned by Tucker helped to decrease the injury rate in auto racing by 95 percent. Through all of this, Tucker served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors for six years and served for the past 15 years on the engineering technology department’s industrial advisory board. Tucker donates safety equipment and secures sponsorships for the NMU Society of Automotive Engineers Baja racing team. He also connects students with employment opportunities within the industry.