ATHENS, Ohio -- Two longtime friends of Ohio University and four graduates received awards from the College of Arts and Sciences at the Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner held on campus Sept. 27.

Wilfred R. and Ann Lee Konneker received a newly-created award named in their honor. The Wilfred R. and Ann Lee Konneker Award for Distinguished and Enduring Service recognizes individuals for sustained patterns of leadership and philanthropy.

"Will and Ann Lee have demonstrated exemplary dedication to Ohio University for more than 45 years," said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Leslie Flemming. "It seemed obvious that this type of exceptional service and support was deserving of a special award, and it seemed equally obvious that Will and Ann Lee be its first recipients."

Patricia Goedicke, Dolores Hanna, Dale Quattrochi and Henry Roenigk, Jr. received Distinguished Alumni Awards at the third annual awards ceremony.

Goedicke is an award-winning poet. She has published 12 books of poetry. Her most recent book, "As Earth Begins to End," was named one of the top ten poetry books for 2000 by the American Library Association.

She earned her master's degree in creative writing from Ohio University in 1965 and taught writing there until 1970.

Hanna is a trademark attorney and led the extensive study of the U.S. trademark system that resulted in the Trademark Law Revision Act of 1988, the first major revision of the statute since 1946. She received a bachelor's degree in political science from Ohio University in 1949.

Quattrochi is a geographer and senior research scientist in NASA's Earth Science Department at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. He is an authority on urban heat islands and appears frequently on network and cable television news programs to explain climate change and other weather phenomena. He graduated from Ohio University with a degree in geography in 1973.

Roenigk, a dermatological surgeon, is a professor emeritus from Northwestern University Medical School. He has written 11 textbooks and more than 380 scientific articles. He is chair and CEO of the Skin Disease Foundation and also has been in private practice in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona since 1998. Roenigk received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Ohio University in 1956.

Konneker received a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1943 and a master's degree in physics in 1947 from Ohio University. After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II, he earned a Ph.D. in nuclear physics in 1950 from Washington University in St. Louis. Mo. He founded and co-founded several successful corporations and from 1983 to 1991 he served as director of Ohio University's Innovation Center and Research Park. Konneker and his wife, Ann Lee, were awarded honorary degrees from the university in 1980.