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Frank D. Martinez, 277-1811

Dec. 7, 2001

FOUR NAMED TO RECEIVE UNM REGENTS' MEDALS

University of New Mexico will award the UNM Regents' Meritorious Service Medals to Dr. Janette S. Carter of the UNM School of Medicine, posthumously, and to Associate Professor Emeritus of Communication and Journalism Hank Trewhitt and the Regents' Recognition Medal to Stephen L. Wilkes, also posthumously, and former United States Ambassador to Spain Edward L. Romero at UNM's fall Commencement ceremony Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 at 6 p.m. in the University Arena ("The Pit").

The Regents' Meritorious Service Medal is awarded to UNM faculty and staff members to recognize extraordinary and distinguished service to the University and the Regents' Recognition Medal is awarded to individuals other than faculty or staff who have performed outstanding service to the institution.

Dr. Janette S. Carter

Friends and colleagues across New Mexico were saddened to hear that two valued and much loved members of the UNM family, Dr. Janette S. Carter and her husband, Stephen Wilkes, died in an airplane crash shortly after takeoff during a sightseeing trip in Alaska on July 15.

Carter was associated with the UNM School of Medicine throughout most of her career. Carter also practiced at the VAMC. She was known across campus and throughout the city as a social-activist, a successful researcher in the field of diabetes, a devoted wife, mother and good friend.

"Dr. Carter's most significant contribution comes from her work with Native Americans who have diabetes," wrote Dr. Robert Strickland in 1998 when he proposed her for tenure and promotion to associate professor. "Because she has established outstanding relationships with a number of pueblos in northern New Mexico, she forms the critical link between the School of Medicine and one of the state's most underserved and disadvantaged populations. Dr. Carter has won the respect and admiration of people who have generally been suspicious of academic activities."

Carter received her B. A. from Linfield College in 1974 and her M.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in 1978. She also completed her post-graduate education at UNM. She was a pathology fellow from 1978 to 1979, a resident in internal medicine from 1979 to 1982 and the chief medical resident from 1982-1983.

From 1983 to 1989, Dr. Carter was director of the Diabetes Model Project and Area Diabetes Control Officer of the Albuquerque Service Unit for the Public Health Service/Indian Health Service. She joined the SOM faculty part-time in 1989, and became full-time in 1998.

Henry "Hank" L. Trewhitt

Hank Trewhitt became a New Mexican when the Navy sent him to UNM in 1945. He graduated in UNM's first journalism class in 1949 to become the only correspondent in Los Alamos at that time for The Santa Fe New Mexican. He served in that capacity for a year and a half at a time when Los Alamos became a county and scientists there developed the thermonuclear bomb.

At the Chattanooga Times, his hometown newspaper, Trewhitt received a Nieman Fellowship for a year's study at Harvard University, where his work in international affairs set the course for most of his later career. In 1957, he and his wife, Barbara, moved to Baltimore. There, The Sun sent him to Germany for five years and, from Bonn, he reported on NATO and many of the international developments and crises of the 60s.

Trewhitt left The Sun after 10 years to join Newsweek as diplomatic, and later, White House correspondent, serving through the Watergate years. Following President Nixon's resignation in 1974, he returned to The Sun as diplomatic correspondent, serving for another 10 years. He closed his career in active journalism serving five years as foreign editor and chief diplomatic correspondent for U.S. News and World Report. His final report on the Soviet military received an award for distinction from the Overseas Press Club.

During his career he worked and traveled in more than 100 countries, including several periods of reporting in Vietnam. He was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Gridiron Club and appeared frequently on Sunday public affairs programs. For more than 20 years, he was a regular panelist on the public television program, "Washington Week in Review." He was a questioner during the presidential campaign debates of 1976 and 1984.

Trewhitt left Washington to return to UNM as an associate professor of journalism in 1989. He retired in 1997, but remained active in the Alumni Association and campus committees, including the Student Publication Board. He remains writing coach for the Daily Lobo.

He is the recipient of the UNM Alumni Association's Zimmerman Award. Additionally, he is also the recipient of the Order of Merit from the German government and received a Weintal Award for international correspondence while at The Sun.

Edward L. Romero

On April 2, 1998, President Clinton announced his nomination of Edward L. Romero as U.S. Ambassador to Spain. On June 1, the President named him to serve concurrently as Ambassador to Andorra. Following Senate confirmation, Romero arrived in Madrid on June 28 and presented his credentials to King Juan Carlos two days later.

A Korean War veteran, Romero was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Advanced Sciences, Inc., an international environmental engineering and waste management corporation that merged with Commodore Applied Technologies, Inc. in 1998.

He has been a member of the U.S. Trade Representative's Services Policy Advisory Committee and has led a number of U.S. delegations to Mexico. During the Carter administration, he served on the Federal Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Helsinki Accords.

He is a well-known leader in the Hispanic community and was a co-founder of the Hispanic Culture Foundation and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, which was dedicated by Crown Prince Felipe of Asturias, Spain, in October, 2000. He has served on the President's Hispanic Advisory Committee, was a founding member of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce and served on the board of directors of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. In 1989, Romero was named National Hispanic Businessman of the Year by the Hispano Chamber of Commerce. He is the founder of Valor Telecommunications Southwest.

Additionally, Romero serves or has served on the boards of numerous corporations and organizations.

In October, 2000, UNM President William C. Gordon said Romero "deserves an enormous amount of credit" for his role in making the $1.5 million Prince of Asturias Endowed Chair in information science and technology a reality at UNM. The Crown Prince of Spain, Felipe de Borbón, Prince of Asturias, participated with Romero and other officials and dignitaries in a UNM ceremony to announce the establishment of the endowed chair in information science and technology that bears his name.

Romero also has been credited in helping UNM establish ties and exchange programs with a number of institutions in Spain.
Romero, who is and has been engaged in a variety of civic and charitable activities, is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In 1999, a plaza was named in his honor in Toledo, Spain. Also that year, he was named a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Madrid, Spain. In 2000, Romero was named an Honorary Brother of the International Brotherhood of Researchers, Toledo, Spain; a Noble Honorary Brother of the Illustrious and Most Ancient Brotherhood of Mozarabic Knights, Toledo, Spain; and, an Honorary Academic of the World Academy of Science and Technology, Valencia, Spain. In 2001, he was bestowed the Gran Cruz Isabela la Católica by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Romero also is the recipient of other national and local awards and honors.

Stephen "Steve" L. Wilkes

Management consultant Stephen L. Wilkes, husband of Dr. Janette Carter, was familiar to many faculty and staff for the numerous retreats he facilitated across the UNM campus.

"Those of us who participated in those experiences valued enormously his optimistic, enthusiastic and fun approach to bringing people together to solve tough problems," said Dr. Mary Lipscomb, chair SOM Department of Pathology.

Wilkes believed that people should take away a message to their staff in an easily explainable way. His admonishment, "What is going to be your elevator speech about that?" became a familiar refrain heard in UNM Hospital hallways. It became part of the HSC culture, a phrase that meant, "what is the essence of what you are working on? What do you want people to take with them?"

A 1965 graduate of Sandia High School, Wilkes received his Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education from UNM and began his early education career at S.Y. Jackson and Larrazola elementary schools in Albuquerque. He was a master teacher trainer for the Albuquerque Public Schools in 1975-76, a clinical supervisor in the UNM Department of Education from 1976-78 and a visiting instructor/supervisor for graduate students in that department in 1979.

From 1980-82, he taught in California schools while his wife, Janette, was in residency there, and then returned to Albuquerque where he completed his Master's Degree in Educational Administration at UNM. He taught at Lincoln Middle School from 1983-84 and went on to serve as assistant principal at Alamosa Elementary School and Rio Rancho Elementary School, and later as principal of Comanche Elementary School and Chaparral Elementary School.

Prior to forming Stephen L. Wilkes and Associates Management Consulting, Wilkes managed organizations for seven years and served for three years as an internal management consultant to Sandia National Laboratories. He became known internationally for his facilitation work with boards of major corporations, educational institutions, government agencies and community organizations.

Wilkes helped create "The Jug Band," a local band that remained popular for more than 25 years. Wilkes played classical guitar and, in the band, played the jug. The band played with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, on the Merv Griffin Show and in Las Vegas, NV, where their agent was approached for them to stay permanently.

He also helped create the Rio Grande Bosque Nature Preserve Society. "Species diversity was the focus of his vision as a vital part of public education. The Rio Grande Nature Center was one result of this initiative," said his father, Perry R. Wilkes.

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The University of New Mexico
Public Affairs Department
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