BETHANY, W.Va. – Bethany College is honored to announce the recipients of the 2022 alumni awards, including the Community Service and Distinguished Alumni Achievement awards.
Recipients of these awards are set to be honored at the Alumni Awards Dinner during Homecoming Weekend.
Roy Austin ‘66 and Frank Calabrese ‘70 are receiving this year’s Community Service awards. The award is given to recognize alumni who demonstrate significant leadership and service to their region or community.
Austin founded Rockwell Business Solutions in 2007 and has provided coaching, mentoring, and seminars for hundreds of small businesses ever since. Austin has presented to audiences across the country at both the national and regional levels. He is a Vietnam Veteran with three Bronze Stars and two Army Commendation Medals. Austin is also a member of multiple clubs and founder of Libraries For Kids, Int’l, a nonprofit helping establish libraries for rural schools in Kenya with little or no electricity or internet access.
Calabrese holds many seats in W.Va. Not only is he a board member for the American Civil Liberties Union, but he is also a member of the Wheeling Human Rights Commission, National Demolition Association, West Virginia State Building Commission, AIDS Task Force, Task Force Domestic Violence, the NAACP, Friends of Wheeling, and the CALC—just to name a few. Calabrese was also selected in 2016 for the Martin Luther King Award from the Upper Ohio Valley Ministerial Alliance.
Ralph Shaaya ‘74, Richie Siconolfi ‘72, and Dr. Michael Hynes ‘94 were selected for this year’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement awards, given annually for achievements and contributions to their profession or field.
Shaaya created Citibank’s Innovation Center in collaboration with the government of Israel in 2011. Since then, the lab has evolved into a major center for innovation, incubation, and acceleration for early-stage start-ups, encompassing areas of mobile, security, risk engines, data intelligence, and automatic trading. Prior to his association with the startup world, Shaaya was the CEO of Citibank in Israel. He now divides most of his time between U.S. and Israel.
Siconolfi spent over three decades working for Procter & Gamble as the director of computer system validation for regulated products. Since his retirement in 2019, Siconolfi has been a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, where he conducts scientific audits and manages computer system validation events and projects. Siconolfi is a co-founder of the Society of Quality Assurance, where he was elected president in 1990. He was awarded the designation of Fellow by the Research Quality Assurance society in 2014. While at Bethany, he was four-time One Meter Diving Champion, was elected to the Presidents Athletic Conference’s 60th Anniversary Team in 2015 as a diver, and was a two-time PAC All-Conference Soccer Player. Siconolfi was inducted into the Bethany’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982 and earned All-American honors for diving. 
Hynes currently is a superintendent for the PortWashington School District in N.Y., a Fulbright Specialist, and an associate professor of education and leadership in Long Island, N.Y. Hynes’ personal mission is to spread the message of the importance of a holistic approach to educating children. He fulfills this mission by tapping into social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development in students and highlighting it in his TEDx and keynote presentations. Hynes has been awarded the Friend of Education award and the Distinguished Leadership award by Phi Delta Kappa, among many other awards, as well as having multiple articles published on him.
You can attend the Alumni Awards Dinner on Friday, Sept. 30, from 6-8 p.m. at the Pennington Quadrangle. To register for the event, click here.
ABOUT BETHANY COLLEGE
Bethany College, founded in 1840, is the oldest private college in West Virginia. The Bethany experience focuses on academic excellence in the area of liberal arts and prepares students for a lifetime of work and a life of significance.
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