TAMPA, FL – July 10, 2017 – The University of South Florida Alumni Association has announced the 2017 recipients of the University’s highest alumni honors, the USF Alumni Awards, celebrating USF graduates for outstanding professional achievements and for service to USF and its students. One award also recognizes a non-USF graduate for dedicated service to USF and the Tampa Bay community.
This year’s honorees include
• a retired rear admiral who also served as State Department spokesman – the voice of the United States
• a Dallas surgeon whose heartfelt candor elevated the national discourse in the aftermath of police-involved shootings
• a top Raymond James executive known as much for his financial prowess as his community volunteerism
• a USF St. Petersburg graduate who has dedicated more than 45 years to the school’s success
• a former marketing executive who has devoted years of leadership, volunteerism and philanthropy to the USF System and the Tampa Bay region
The USF Alumni Awards will be celebrated Oct. 12 during the Alumni Awards Dinner in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom, USF Tampa.
The 2017 USF Alumni Award recipients are:
Rear Admiral (retired) John Kirby, History ’85 – Distinguished Alumnus Award
Recognizing a USF alumnus who has reached the pinnacle of success in his career
Rear Admiral John Kirby served as U.S. State Department spokesman and assistant secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs from 2015-17. Prior to that, he served as Pentagon press secretary and Department of Defense spokesman. He’s currently a national security analyst for CNN cable news network.
Kirby was commissioned into the Navy in 1986 and qualified as a surface warfare officer aboard the guided-missile frigate USS Aubrey Fitch. He eventually made a lateral move to the job of public affairs officer and served in that capacity in numerous assignments at sea and ashore, including duty aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal; with the Navy’s flight demonstration team – the Blue Angels; and as spokesman for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kirby also served as spokesman for the Department of the Navy, leading a public affairs team of more than 2,700 communications professionals.
Kirby earned master’s degrees in international relations and national security and strategic studies, and received numerous awards throughout his military service. Those include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, four Meritorious Service Medals, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
He and his wife, Donna, also a Navy veteran, have two grown children. Meagan recently gave birth to the Kirbys’ first grandchild and Colin is an officer candidate in the Navy ROTC at North Carolina State.
Dr. Brian H. Williams, Doctor of Medicine ’01 – Distinguished Alumnus Award
Recognizing a USF alumnus who has reached the pinnacle of success in his career
Dr. Brian H. Williams is an associate professor of surgery in the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s division of burn/trauma/critical care, and director of the medical school’s general surgery residency program. He was thrust into the national spotlight, becoming a prominent voice against social injustice, in July 2016 after a Dallas sniper shot 12 police officers and two civilians during an anti-police brutality protest. That night, Dr. Williams was the lead trauma surgeon on call at Parkland Memorial Hospital, which received seven of the wounded officers.
During a press conference in the aftermath, Dr. Williams spoke candidly about his concerns as a black man with regard to racial injustice at the hands of law enforcement and simultaneously decried violence targeted at law enforcement. He continues to speak to audiences around the country on the effects of gun violence, racism, resilience, and the need to improve relations between law enforcement and African-Americans, including at USF earlier this year.
A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Dr. Williams came to USF in 1997 after serving six years in the Air Force as an aeronautical engineer. He completed his general surgery residency and a trauma research fellowship at Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a trauma surgery fellowship at Emory University.
He and his wife, Kathianne, have a 6-year-old daughter.
Dennis W. Zank, Accounting ’76 – Distinguished Alumnus Award
Recognizing a USF alumnus who has reached the pinnacle of success in his career
Dennis W. Zank is chief operating officer of Raymond James Financial, Inc. and chief executive officer of Raymond James & Associates, Inc. Raymond James Financial is a diversified financial services holding company with over 7,200 financial advisors worldwide. Raymond James Financial (NYSE symbol RJF) went public in 1983 and was recently added to the S&P 500. In 2012, he helped oversee the company’s $1 billion acquisition of Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and in 2016, the affiliation of the Alex. Brown Private Client Services division, a unit of Deutsche Bank. These transactions, along with steady organic growth over decades, have helped make Raymond James one of the largest independent full service brokerage firms in the country.
Zank was appointed president of Raymond James & Associates, Inc. in 2002. He joined Raymond James’ Accounting Department in 1978, becoming the controller in 1982. He was appointed treasurer in 1985 and was promoted to senior vice president in 1986 and executive vice president in 1992.
A first-generation university graduate, he was an early advocate for USF Muma College of Business’s Corporate Mentor Program, which pairs first-generation business students with area executives for a year-long mentoring relationship. Zank is the program’s longest serving mentor – 20-plus years. He has a history of volunteerism and philanthropy to USF and the Tampa Bay community. He is married to a fellow USF graduate, Marnie Zank and resides in St. Petersburg.
Joan “Sudsy” Tschiderer, English ’71 and MA English ’83, USF St. Petersburg – Donald A. Gifford Service Award
Recognizing a USF graduate who has provided countless hours of service to USF
Joan “Sudsy” Tschiderer graduated from USF St. Petersburg in 1971 – and never left. She has worked there for more than 45 years, but it is her efforts on behalf of the institution, its students, alumni and the community, well beyond job responsibilities, that have made her the unofficial ambassador for USF St. Petersburg. She’s among the first to welcome new students to the school; becomes a familiar, caring presence throughout their time there; and stays in touch after they graduate.
Tschiderer currently works part-time helping facilitate special projects for USF Advancement and previously coordinated special events, all of which she designed to further USF St. Petersburg’s mission: to engage in service projects and partnerships that nurture the university and community’s social, economic and intellectual life.
Tschiderer organizes and directs the USF St. Pete Singers, a volunteer group created in 1974 and comprised of students, faculty, staff, alumni and their families. The Singers bring original holiday musical shows to nursing homes, senior centers and Bay Pines VA Healthcare. In 2003, they received United Way Tampa Bay’s Volunteer of the Year award.
As one of USF St. Petersburg’s earliest students, Tschiderer founded the campus newspaper that became the Crow’s Nest, developed a student activities and recreation program, and helped launch a coffeehouse called The Mushroom. She has started clubs, held rallies, developed community partners, and even painted the pool.
Debbie Nye Sembler – Class of ’56 Award
Recognizing a non-USF graduate who has provided outstanding service to USF and the Tampa Bay community
Former marketing executive Debbie Nye Sembler grew up in Daytona Beach and graduated from the University of Florida, but has dedicated years of volunteerism, leadership and philanthropy to the Tampa Bay area and the USF System. A member of the USF Foundation Board of Directors, she served on the USF Board of Trustees for 13 years and as chair of the USF St. Petersburg Campus Board from 2005-16, for which the university named the Sembler Student Success Center in her honor. The Sembler Family Fountain at the heart of USF St. Petersburg is a tribute to the gifts she and her husband, Brent, provided for campus development. She has been a member since 2012 of USF Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, which supports USF System women and women’s initiatives.
In the community, Sembler is a member of the Florida Holocaust Museum Advisory Board and the boards of All Children’s Hospital, the Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation, Shorecrest Preparatory School and Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services Agency, among other groups. She is a former member of the Florida Commission on the Status of Women.
In 2004 she and Brent received the Florida Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “To Life” award in honor of their efforts to teach tolerance and fight racism.
The couple have three children: Tayllor, Preston and Logan.
About the USF Alumni Association
The USF Alumni Association is a self-funded, nonprofit organization comprised of former students and friends of the University of South Florida. The association helps USF’s 321,000-plus alumni stay connected and provides meaningful ways for USF Bulls to support, promote and protect their university. For more information, visit www.usfalumni.org, like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USFalumni or follow us on Twitter @USFAlumniAssn.