Contact: Christine Polansky, 277-5808 Media Contact: Michael Padilla, 277-1816

October 22, 2002 UNM Zia Award Recipients Announced The University of New Mexico Alumni Association will honor the recipients of this year’s Zia Awards as part of UNM’s Homecoming at the all-University Breakfast at the Albuquerque Petroleum Club at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26. Recipients of the Zia Awards include Alex Beach, Fred Begay, Breda Bova, Tom Chávez, Ramon Huerta and William Federici. The Zia Awards are given to alumni living in New Mexico who have distinguished themselves in philanthropic endeavors, public office, service to the University, community and volunteer activities, business or professional fields, or who have made a contribution to education. Beach has been a lead volunteer in Albuquerque since her days as president of the Pi Beta Phi Sorority her senior year at UNM. She continued her involvement at UNM as president of the Alumni Association from 1992-93. She served on the association’s executive committee from 1990-94. She has received the Mortar Board Alumni Lobo Award, the Buick Volunteer Spirit Award for outstanding service to UNM and the UNM student Service Award. She has also worked hard on behalf of the Junior League of Albuquerque, serving as president from 1987-88. She received the honor of “Sustainer of the Year” for 1996 and 1997. She remains involved with her sorority as a member and chair of the alumni advisory committee. She received the Sorority Alumna Meritorious Award in 1985. She served on the board of directors of the YWCA of Albuquerque from 1989-95 and has remained involved in the Y’s Guadalupe Partners, Inc. She was on the Board of Directors of St. Pius X High School Foundation and Our Lady of Fatima School. She served on the board of The Catholic Foundation Archdiocese of Santa Fe from 1995-97. Most recently, she chaired the Ronald McDonald House Charities 20-year celebration, and is on the board of trustees of the Dominican Ecclesial Institute. Begay is a nuclear physicist currently serving as senior staff physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, assistant for Science and Technology to the president and vice president of the Navajo government, and president of the Seaborg Hall of Science, an independent non-profit education and research institution devoted to public service in the Navajo community in science and technology. After training to be a farmer in Bureau of Indian Affairs’ managed schools in Colorado and New Mexico and subsequent service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict, Begay enrolled at UNM, earning a bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. in 1961, 1963 and 1972, respectively. In 1971, he began work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, with later teaching appointments at Stanford University and the University of Maryland. Begay’s life has been documented in three TV films and in numerous articles. He has received the Ely Parker Award from the American Indian Society for Engineering and Science, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Science Foundation, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, and other awards from the Department of Energy and the Navajo Government. Begay is a concerned citizen with regard to public literacy in science and technology. Bova is professor and associate dean for undergraduate studies and community outreach at the UNM College of Education. Previously, she was chair of the Educational Leadership and Organizational Learning Department. Bova serves on the boards of New Mexico Parent and Child Resources, the APS Foundation, Golden Apple Foundation and the YWCA. She is a former chair of the board of the United Way of Central New Mexico and president of the Junior League of Albuquerque. She has been recognized with YWCA’s Woman of the Year award and the Governor’s award for Outstanding New Mexico Women, the Teacher of the Year award and the UNM Regents Lectureship. Bova received her Ph.D. from UNM in 1979, and became a member of the faculty in 1981. Chávez is executive director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Previously he served as director of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe for 21 years. A historian who received his master’s degree from UNM in 1977 and his Ph.D. from UNM in 1981, Chávez has published five books regarding the history of New Mexico and the historic relationship between Spain and the United States. Chávez received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Spain in 1987. He is a former president of the New Mexico Association of Museums, The Old Santa Fe Association and the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. He is a recipient of the Distinguished History Award Medal from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the 1997 Excellence in the Humanities Award from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. He also received the 1998 Mayor’s Recognition Award for Excellence in the Arts in Santa Fe and the Old Santa Fe Association’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the People of Santa Fe. Retired classroom teacher Huerta taught Spanish at Highland High School from 1955-85, in addition to teaching Spanish on TV for APS from 1963-64 and for the UNM Peace Corps Training Center from 1963-65. Through the years he served as president of the Albuquerque Classroom Teachers Association, on various committees of the New Mexico Classroom Teachers Association and on the National Advisory Council of the Classroom Teachers Association of the United States. He also served on the board of the New Mexico Educational Association and on the board and executive committee of the National Education Association of the United States from 1972-74. Huerta is active in the Albuquerque Breakfast Lions Club, Elks Club, Albuquerque Association of Educational Retirees and Toastmasters International. Active in the Democratic Party, Huerta served in the New Mexico State House of Representatives from 1988-94. Federici is a former justice and chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. He graduated from UNM in 1939 and from the University of Colorado Law School in 1941. He served as an assistant attorney general of New Mexico in 1941 and 1946-48. He served in the U.S. Army in the intervening years. He joined the law firm of Seth and Montgomery in 1948, and became a partner shortly thereafter. After serving on the Supreme Court from 1977-85—the last two years as chief justice—he returned to the firm in the capacity “Of Counsel.” Federici served as president of the New Mexico State Bar, 1990-1991, and was a member of the New Mexico State Bar Commission for many years. He is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Probate Counsel. His awards include the University of Colorado Law School Alumni Award for Distinguished Service in the Judiciary, the State Bar of New Mexico Professionalism Award, and the American Inn of Court Professionalism Award for the US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit. ###

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