Date: 10/09/2006

The SJSU Tower Foundation has named alumna Connie Lurie as the recipient of its 2006 Tower Award. The university's highest honor, the award is presented annually to a graduate, faculty member or community leader for his or her service to SJSU. Lurie's projects include funding a permanent endowment for SJSU's Lurie Author-in-Residence Program, which brings nationally and internationally known writers to campus for up to two semesters. Past participants include Molly Giles ("Iron Shoes"), James D. Houston ("Farewell to Manzanar") and Simon Winchester ("The Professor and the Madman"). Lurie also helped establish the Connect, Motivate and Educate Society, which assists SJSU students who were once foster children. In Southern California, she initiated Spartans in the Desert, an annual alumni event in Palm Springs. Read more.