LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Walter L. Wahlen of Cleveland, OH, and David J. McCue of Bridgewater, NJ, head a list of six Rider University graduates selected as alumni award recipients for 1997.

The awards are bestowed annually by the board of directors of the Rider University Alumni Association and by faculty and administrative committees representing each of the four academic colleges on the University's Lawrenceville campus.

Wahlen, a 1949 Rider graduate, was chosen to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest honor offered by University. The award is presented by the Alumni Association for exceptional attainments in life by an individual which reflect credit to the University. Wahlen has been associated with Rider for 36 years and held several administrative positions, including alumni secretary, director of public relations, vice president for development and college relations, and secretary of the College. He was a long-time member of the Trenton Rotary Club and a well-known public speaker and event emcee. He retired as vice president of college relations at Western Maryland College in 1992.

McCue, who received his B.S. from Rider in 1978, was selected for the Gordon E. Prichard Alumnus Award. This prize is also presented by the Alumni Association for distinguished and exceptional volunteer service to the University. McCue is the chief information and resource officer for APM Management Consultants, a division of Computer Sciences Corporation in midtown Manhattan. He is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Rider's Alumni Association, and currently serves on the Education/Human Services Advisory Board.

Four Life Achievement Awards were also presented to outstanding alumni for leadership, professional achievement, and dedication to the University. Selections for these awards were made by committees from each of the sponsoring colleges on the Lawrenceville campus.

The 1997 Life Achievement Award recipients are (with graduation year and hometown):

College of Business Administration

Michael B. Kennedy '72 / Moorestown, NJ

College of Liberal Arts, Education and Sciences / School of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Linda R. Feinberg '71 / Lawrenceville, NJ

College of Liberal Arts, Education and Sciences / School of Education

Jill S. Canastra '72 / South Orange, NJ

College of Continuing Studies

Eleanore K. Szymanski '82 / Princeton, NJ

The awards will be presented during a luncheon in the recipients' honor on Sunday, February 22, 1998 at noon in the Student Center Cavalla Room on Rider's Lawrenceville campus. The cost for attending the luncheon is $25 per person, which includes admission to Rider's 3 p.m. men's basketball game against Siena College in Alumni Gymnasium. The honorees will be introduced at halftime of the game.

For more information on the alumni awards or the luncheon, please contact the Rider University office of alumni relations at (609) 896-5340.

Rider University is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian institution with a 353-acre main campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and a 23-acre campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The University offers 58 undergraduate programs and 17 graduate programs in the Colleges of Business Administration; Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences; Continuing Studies; and Westminster Choir College. Ninety-three percent of the faculty hold doctoral or other appropriate advanced degrees. U.S. News and World Report has again ranked Rider in the top tier of northern universities based on the quality of its programs.