Index of University Press Releases

June 12, 2006

DWU alumni to be honored

MITCHELL – Dakota Wesleyan University will honor six alumni at a special recognition banquet during the annual Alumni Days celebration.

The Alumni Awards Banquet is set for 6:30 p.m., Saturday, June 17, in the Sherman Center. Seating is limited and reservations can be made by calling the university’s alumni office at (605) 995-2603. Alumni Days runs June 15-17.

Robert Benson

Robert C. Benson III, a 1967 graduate from Castle Rock, Colo., will receive the 2006 Alumnus of the Year award.

Benson is a founder and the president of American Business Advisors Inc. and a specialist in the development of small and midsized companies. He has cofounded and developed seven businesses, including SecurCare Self Storage, which ranks in the top 10 self-storage companies in America. He currently serves on the boards of directors for Project CURE, an international medical relief organization; Love & Logic Institute of Golden, Colo.; and Dakota Wesleyan University. He is also a member of the advisory board for Global Connections International of Littleton, Colo., and is an elder emeritus for the Evangelical Presbytery Association. Benson and his wife, Ree Ann, have two sons and three grandchildren.

Lisa Pekas Rentschler

Lisa Pekas Rentschler, 1990 graduate from Savage, Minn., daughter of Joe and Kay Pekas of Mitchell, will receive the 2006 Outstanding Service to Alma Mater award.

Rentschler is a senior financial consultant for Robert Half Management Resources in Richfield, Minn. Through her work she provides businesses with upper-level specialized financial expertise for short- and long-term projects. Rentschler is currently a member of the DWU Board of Trustees and served on the DWU Alumni Board for six years, including a term as president from 2002 to 2004. She has served as her class agent since 1991 and is a past chair of the annual DWU Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity alumni service project. While on the alumni board, Rentschler played a leadership role in re-examining the purpose of the board and developing a new purpose statement, “to develop and nurture relationships with our Wesleyan community,” which helped transform the board from an advisory board to an active, working board. Rentschler and her husband, Marc ’90, have two daughters.

Myron Fuerst LaVerne Moe Olson

Myron Fuerst, a 1964 graduate from Sioux Falls, and LaVerne Moe Olson, a 1949 graduate from Presho, will each recieve the 2006 Outstanding Educator award.

Fuerst began his teaching career in Alcester in 1964. He joined the Sioux Falls School District in 1965, serving as a math and physical education teacher until 1989 when he became the coordinator of the adult basic education program. In that position, he worked with students whose reading and/or math levels were zero to eighth grade. In addition, he was instrumental in starting a GED Preparation Program and worked with more than 300 ESL students. In 1996, he became a full-time math teacher and tutor coordinator for Southeast Technical Institute. He retired in 2000, although he continued to teach at STI part time until 2004. Currently, he is a full-time teacher with the Career Learning Center of Volunteers of America, Dakotas, working with students who are preparing for the GED exam. Fuerst and his wife, Bonnie, have one daughter.

Olson taught 44 years in the Presho and Lyman County school districts before retiring in 1993. During her teaching career, Olson was introduced to the age of computers and embraced it wholeheartedly. In the late 1970s, Olson purchased the first Apple Computer for the school and spent the next two decades serving as a certified computer instructor while spending thousands of dollars of her own money to ensure students had access to the latest computer technology. In 1990, Olson launched the three-year process of automating the libraries at Lyman High School and Presho Elementary School. Olson is one of a few educators certified to teach on the elementary, middle, junior high and secondary levels. Olson continues to work as a part-time librarian at the Presho Public Library. She and her husband, Paul, have two children.

Michael Baer

Michael Baer, a 1964 graduate from Venice, Fla., will receive the 2006 Outstanding Professional Achievement award.

Baer is president of Michael Baer, Ph.D. Psychological Services, PC and is a licensed psychologist in both New York and Illinois. He has served as the chief psychologist for the Rochester Rehabilitation Center, Rochester, N.Y., and the LaSalle County Comprehensive Mental Health Center, Ottawa, Ill. He was the president of the Professional Forensic Institute and has also been on staff at the University of Rochester, N.Y., Department of Preventive Medicine. He has served as a neuropsychological consultant at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Baer is chairman of the American Psychotherapy Association Executive Advisory Board and was the first person to be awarded the Master Therapist designation by that group. He has authored countless articles for the Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, and in 2003 was awarded the Physician of the Year award by the Republican National Committee. Baer and his wife, Teresa, have two children.

William Thayer

William Thayer, a 1964 graduate from McCook Lake, will receive the 2006 Humanitarian of the Year award.

Thayer began his career in retirement community care in 1966 as the director of administration and comptroller for the Ebenezer Society, a large continuing care retirement community on several campuses in central Minnesota. From 1977 to 2001, he was the president and CEO of the Madrid Home for the Aging in Madrid, Iowa. Since his retirement, Bill has been actively involved in the Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministry (STEMM), traveling several times to the country of Tanzania, where he assisted in the development of the Kikititi Orphanage and the operations of a health clinic. His devotion to STEMM has allowed the organization to double its fundraising and increase its educational scholarship program in Tanzania. Thayer and his wife, Janet, have three children.

For nomination information and forms for the 2007 DWU alumni awards, visit www.dwu.edu/alumni or contact the alumni office at alumni@dwu.edu or (605) 995-2603.