Harvey Mudd Alumni Association Announces 2025 Awards

The Harvey Mudd College Alumni Association Board of Governors (AABOG) has announced the recipients of its annual awards, including the Outstanding Alumni award, which recognizes impact on Harvey Mudd College as well as service to society.

Outstanding Alumni Awards

The board of governors selected four Outstanding Alumni. Given from alumni to alumni, the award recognizes individuals who have made a sustained and effective commitment to improving society and who best exemplify the mission of Harvey Mudd College.

Nate Cook ’95 (physics) leveraged his physics education from Harvey Mudd College as a foundation for a 30-year career in education, engineering and service with the U.S. Air Force. He began as a high school physics and computer science teacher and coach, then earned a master’s in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, where he also served as a teaching and research assistant. In 2002, he joined the U.S. Air Force, beginning a 21-year tenure that included roles in ballistics testing, flight engineering, technical leadership and education. He pioneered the use of digital video in live fire testing, instituted a water rocket competition (EGGS Prize, modeled after the X-Prize), mentored a high school robotics team, and graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School as its only civilian in his class. He accumulated over 118 hours of flight time in 25 types of aircraft and led significant technical efforts on the F-16. Throughout his Air Force career, Nathan held leadership roles at Wright-Patterson AFB, Edwards AFB, and Eglin AFB. He developed safety programs, coordinated multi-command test operations, and served as chief flight test engineer. Most recently, he was chief data officer for the 96th Operations Group, where he also organized a data hackathon.

David Goodsell ’62 (engineering)*, a self-described “average student” at Harvey Mudd and later Harvard, Goodsell had a diverse and fulfilling career that spanned multiple states and sectors. He began as a physics instructor at Tustin High School in California and later served as assistant dean of admission for Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, and Pitzer colleges. He became an associate professor at Valdosta State College in Georgia but found his most gratifying role as headmaster of Heritage Hall School in Oklahoma City, where the administration building bears his name. In 1988, Goodsell became a director of The Desert Sun Science Center in Idyllwild, California, which now serves 15,000 children and teachers annually. Outside of education, Goodsell was a passionate magician for more than 40 years, serving as national president and journal editor of The Society of American Magicians. In 2007, he was named a literary fellow of the Academy of Magical Arts and Sciences and honored for his work as a writer, editor and historian.
*Posthumous recognition

Jack S. Levy ’70 (physics) is one of the preeminent political scientists in the United States. A Board of Governors Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, he is also a senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. His research foci are the causes of interstate war, foreign policy decision-making, political psychology and qualitative methodology. He has held tenured positions at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Minnesota, and visiting or adjunct positions at Tulane, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and NYU. Levy is past president of the International Studies Association and of the Peace Science Society. He received the Helen Dwight Reid (now Merze Tate) Award for the best dissertation in International Relations in 1975-76 from the American Political Science Association, the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Foreign Policy Analysis Section of the International Studies Association (2000), and the Distinguished Scholar Award for lifetime achievement from the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association (2022). Win2004

John Lulejian ’90 (engineering and management/CMC) has made a lasting impact on society through his distinguished career in law and dedicated service to Harvey Mudd College. After earning his degree, John pursued a J.D., was admitted to the Bar and became an assistant United States attorney. Over the years, he has handled high-profile and complex cases, including work on the D.C. Sniper complaint, international drug trafficking and money laundering prosecutions, and the conviction of the first defendant charged under the Protect Act of 2003, which established the Amber Alert system. His international experience includes serving as the resident legal advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Armenia with the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training. He has also contributed to global justice efforts through extradition work, including on the Mumbai terror suspect case and the return of a COVID-19 loan fraud ringleader. For his outstanding contributions, John received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service—the Department of Justice’s second-highest honor. In addition to his legal career, John has remained deeply engaged with Harvey Mudd, serving as a past president of the Alumni Association and continuing to support the college community.

Honorary Alumni Award and Lifetime Recognition Award

Honorary Alumni are chosen for being a longstanding friend of the College, its students and alumni; and having contributed significantly to the betterment of the students and alumni. Lifetime honorees have provided outstanding and recognizable dedication to Harvey Mudd College over many years.

Theresa Lauer

Lauer, senior director for facilities and emergency preparedness and safety, has been a dedicated member of the HMC community for over 37 years, serving as a key leader in the Office of Facilities and Maintenance. During her time at the College, Lauer made significant positive impacts to the day-to-day facility operations and promoted a culture of safety on campus. She’s brought a breadth of knowledge and trusted care while managing facilities administration, operations, events, maintenance, the mail room, custodial, grounds, safety, training, and emergency planning. She taught hundreds of courses on first aid and CPR to the members of our community. Lauer served as a key member of the Faculty Safety Committee, Campus Operations Leadership Team, the TCC Facilities Managers Committee and TCC Emergency Managers Committee. She expertly coordinated emergency preparedness activities and implementation of the Emergency Operations Plan with the President’s Cabinet and various constituents. A recipient of the Henry T. Mudd Prize in 2008 for her outstanding contributions, Lauer will retire from Harvey Mudd on May 19.

Mike Sutton

The selection of Sutton for these two honors reflects his transformative role in the success of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Athletics, both as a coach and athletic director. Since becoming athletic director, Sutton, an alum of Claremont McKenna College, has led CMS to national prominence among NCAA Division III programs, including a best-ever 11th place finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings and five consecutive Top 25 national finishes. Under his leadership, CMS has won numerous SCIAC All-Sports Trophies and become the top-rated athletic program in the West Region. Sutton has championed the growth of women’s sports, improved athletic facilities like Roberts Pavilion and the Biszantz Family Tennis Center, and expanded intramural and physical education offerings. He has hired and mentored 22 head coaches and bolstered support staff, significantly enhancing the student-athlete experience. Before becoming athletic director, Sutton led the CMS men’s swimming and diving program to 18 SCIAC titles in 19 years and six NCAA national runner-up finishes. He coached 22 individual national champions and was named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year in 1983. In recognition of his legacy, Sutton was inducted into the inaugural class of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Division III Hall of Fame in 2024.

Honorary Alumni Awards

Honorary Alumni are chosen for being a longstanding friend of the College, its students and alumni; and having contributed significantly to the betterment of the students and alumni.

Ramona Campoy

As assistant manager, catering/dining services, Campoy manages catering operations, manages dining services staff and oversees the dining hall during mealtimes. She worked at Scripps College for seven years before arriving at Harvey Mudd to work in dining services. Campoy has supported numerous events, including commencement and weekend events for parents and alumni. Nominators noted her significant impact upon students and alumni. She retires this year after 32 years at Harvey Mudd.

Jeff Groves

Groves was recognized for his longtime impact in the classroom and beyond. His 40-plus-years career at Harvey Mudd was marked by significant achievements in teaching and leadership. He helped organize unique experiences, and his courses spanned various disciplines, including Middle English literature and environmental analysis. He taught a Shakespeare course for 22 years, which, starting in 1989, included a full production every spring. Dickens, Hardy, and the Victorian Age, a course he co-taught with Jim Eckert, and took students to England every other year between 2000 and 2023. He taught Building Los Angeles with Dan Petersen then with Char Miller (Pomona), which took students into Los Angeles to learn about its history, infrastructure and architecture. As vice president and dean of the faculty, Groves played a crucial role in curricular changes and racial inclusion initiatives. An inaugural director of the College’s makerspace, Groves, oversaw its development and facilitated planning for its use.

R. Erik Spjut

Spjut, professor of engineering and Union Oil Company Engineering Design Fellow, has built a remarkable 37-year career at Harvey Mudd College defined by intellectual curiosity and a passion for teaching. Holding a PhD in chemical engineering from MIT, where he also taught in the Materials Science department, Spjut brought to HMC deep expertise in radiative heat transfer, high-temperature heterogeneous kinetics, containerless materials processing and non-contact temperature measurement. His research spans process control and optimization, computerized data acquisition, automatic test equipment, and digital audio processing and synthesis. He has published widely in these areas, including two chapters in The CSound Book (MIT Press). His work has been supported by the NSF, NASA, the Department of Energy and Southern California Edison, and he has consulted for organizations such as JPL, Space Systems/LORAL, Radiant Technology Corp. and Advanced Energy Dynamics. At Mudd, Spjut has taught nearly every required engineering course, plus electives like Music Fundamentals and psychoacoustics, and has served as Engineering Clinic director. Known for sparking “lightbulb moments,” he’s also helped students build and fly rockets.