Five new members to join Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Collectively, their work has advanced patient rights, saved the lives of heart attack patients and moved the nation toward a more sustainable energy future, among other achievements. For their contributions to such fields as health, journalism and literature, five individuals will join the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the highest honor the university can bestow on alumni.

Since Rutgers University created the Hall in 1987, such notables as best-selling author Janet Evanovich, actor and humanitarian Paul Robeson and Nobel Prize winners Selman Waksman and Milton Friedman have been named to its ranks.

This year’s honorees are: Walter G. Alexander II, the first black man appointed to the New Jersey State Board of Dentistry; Dorothy W. Cantor, the first woman clinician to serve as president of the American Psychological Association; Mir A. Imran, a developer of the world’s first automatic implantable defibrillator; Ralph Izzo, environmental policy advocate, chair, president and chief executive officer of PSE&G; and Natalie Morales, national correspondent and co-anchor for NBC’s Today.

The honorees will be inducted into the Hall of Distinguished Alumni May 2 at The Heldrich in New Brunswick. The annual awards reception and dinner will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Their inclusion in the hall brings the number of distinguished alumni to193. Information about previous classes of honorees is available at www.alumni.rutgers.edu/HDA. Members of the public can also visit Winants Hall, 7 College Avenue on the New Brunswick Campus, to view the Hall of Distinguished Alumni display.

Anyone who would like to attend the May induction ceremony can register at www.alumni.rutgers.edu/HDA2008.

Meet this year’s nominees:

Walter G. Alexander II, School of Engineering, 1943

Medical, Military Pioneer

South Orange, N.J.

The first black man to graduate from the College of Engineering in 1943, Walter G. Alexander went on to train in the military and was commissioned second lieutenant in June 1945 as a Tuskegee Airman. The Tuskegee Airmen were America's first black military airmen. With few opportunities for black engineers after the war, Alexander earned a degree in dentistry from Howard University. He later became the first black man to be appointed to the State Board of dentistry in 1972. He retired in 2007, having practiced dentistry for more than 50 years in South Orange.

Dorothy Cantor, Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, 1976

Psychologist

Westfield, N.J.

In 1996, Dorothy Cantor became the first person with a Psy.D degree to lead the American Psychological Association (APA). Her work had a direct impact on the creation of the Patient’s Bill of Rights. She was also the first woman clinician to lead the APA and its 148,000 members. Under her leadership, the association developed the landmark document, Your Mental Health Rights, which was distributed to all members of Congress, the president and health-care provider organizations. Many of the points contained in the document were included in the federal government’s Patients’ Bill of Rights.

Mir Imran, School of Engineering, 1977

Inventor, Entrepreneur

Los Altos Hill, Calif.

Mir Imran is a scientist, prolific inventor, angel investor in medical technology companies and a special limited partner in several prominent venture funds. He was among the developers of the first automatic implantable defibrillator, a device that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and has become a standard of care in cardiology. He is the founder and CEO of InCube Laboratories, Inc., one of North America’s oldest and most successful medical device incubators. Imran has founded more than 25 high-tech and biomedical companies and has been named in almost 200 patents.

Ralph Izzo, Rutgers School of Business, 2002

Business Executive

Cranbury, N.J.

Ralph Izzo has become a national leader in the search for sustainable energy. As leader of PSE&G, he explores global climate change as it affects New Jersey, the nation and the world. In recent congressional testimony, Izzo said government should act immediately to address climate change. He heads PSE&G, a $12 billion corporation that ranks sixth among electric and gas utilities on Fortune’s list of most admired companies. NJBiz named the company the 2007 New Jersey Corporation of the Year for its financial stability, leadership on environmental issues and commitment to New Jersey. Izzo chairs the board of the Center for Energy Workforce Development. In 2006, he became president and COO of PSE&G. In April 2007, he was elected the corporation’s chair, president and CEO.

Natalie Morales, Rutgers College, 1994

National Correspondent, NBC

Hoboken, N.J.

Natalie Morales joined NBC’s Today as a national correspondent in February 2006. Morales also co-anchors the program and fills in regularly at the news desk. Before joining Today, she had been an anchor and correspondent at MSNBC since March 2002. While working for Today and MSNBC, she has contributed to NBC’s news coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino and the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, as well as major breaking news stories, including Hurricane Katrina and the recovery efforts. She also assisted in the coverage of the Tsunami disaster; the death of Pope John Paul II; the 2004 presidential election, the Iraqi War and the Columbia Shuttle explosion. Hispanic Magazine named her one of the “Top Hispanics to Watch” in 2005 and one of the “Top Trendsetters” of 2003.