About the Award
The Honorary Alumni Award annually honors friends of the college for their personal contribution toward pharmacy achievement, leadership and service to the profession, or exhibits exceptional service to the college. These individuals inspire our students and serve as role models.
Nominees include individuals who have made contributions to the theory and practice of pharmacy, demonstrated major accomplishments in a professional pharmacy practice or in pharmaceutical research and development. Recipients also include those who have managed or directed an organization that has made noteworthy national or international contributions to the pharmacy profession, in addition to truly exceptional service to their community, the college, the profession, or the public.
2025 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Sharon Bighley
Sharon Bighley, BS, is a dedicated philanthropist. From a young age, she knew she wanted to become a nurse, earning her degree from Hamline University in Minnesota. There she met Lyle Bighley who was in the state training in pharmacy. The two married and moved to Iowa City where Sharon worked at University Hospitals while Lyle pursued his MS and PhD at the UI College of Pharmacy, eventually joining the faculty.
The Bighleys made their long-term home in the Kansas City area and have been steadfast supporters of the college, funding the Lyle and Sharon Bighley Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences – currently held by Professor Aliasger Salem. Guided by a deep commitment to learning, and both being the first in their families to receive a college degree, Sharon and Lyle realized education was what brought them a good life. Their goal for charitable giving is to subsidize research that will help make people’s’ lives better.
Past Honorary Alumni Award Recipients*
2024 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Sharon Bighley, BS
2023 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Gary Milavetz, BS, PharmD
2022 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Nancy Alvarez, PharmD
Vern Duba, BA, MA
2021 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Barbara Kelley, BBA, BA, MBA
Edward Yorty, MS Fin, FCAS, FSA MAAA
2019 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Leslie Williams, BSN, MBA
2018 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Kate Gainer, PharmD
Lisa Ploehn, PharmD
2017 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Mundi McCarty, BS
CoraLynn Trewet, PharmD
2016 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Bernard A. Sorofman, PhD, FAPhA
2015 Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
John Forbes, PH
George Hiller, ’80 BBA, ’82 MBA
2014 Honorary Alumni Award Recipients
Robert Greenwood, PharmD
James Otterbeck, BBA, MBA
*No ceremony was held in 2020.