The Alumni Association Board of Directors annually honors a distinguished graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University.  This is the most prestigious award the association bestows upon an FGCU graduate in recognition of the recipient's contributions to society.

The criteria for this award include a distinguished professional career (both regionally and nationally), distinguished in community and recognized for service to others and dedicated to providing ongoing service to the University.


2008 Alumna of Distinction Award:
Florida Gulf Coast University Alumni Association Board of Directors recently presented the “Alumni of Distinction Society” award to 2002 FGCU graduate Nola Theiss, former mayor and resident of Sanibel. Theiss received a Master in Public Administration from FGCU in 2002. During her service on the Sanibel City Council from 1998 to 2003, she developed the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Sanibel and FGCU.

Notwithstanding her achievements as an elected official, Theiss is the founder of Human Trafficking Awareness Partnerships Inc. Her dedication has brought the issue of human trafficking to the forefront of public awareness, returning most recently from the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking in Vienna, Austria.

This year’s Alumni of Distinction Society recipient has been recognized by the Fort Myers News-Press in their “People to Praise” feature and by the National Association of Social Workers as the 2008 Florida Public Citizen of the Year.

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Alumni of Distinction Society

Past Recipient	Award Year
Guenther Gosch, '03	2007
Robert Mulhere, '01	2006
Dr. Allen Weiss, '01	2005
Dr. John Little, '03	2004

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Download the Award Nomination Form (.pdf - 51.5 kb).