Homecoming to honor UM
distinguished alumni

The UM Alumni Association’s highest honor will go to three UM graduates during the 2005 Homecoming celebration Friday and Saturday, Sept. 30-Oct. 1.

This year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Bruce D. Crippen of Billings; James Grady of Silver Spring, Md.; and Deborah Doyle McWhinney of Tiburon, Calif.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, in the University Center Ballroom. A reception will follow. The public is invited to both events.

Crippen, a Billings attorney, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UM in 1956 and a juris doctorate in 1959. From 1981 to 1999, Crippen served as a senator in the Montana State Legislature and is the only senator from Yellowstone County to be named president of the Montana Senate. During his time in the Senate, he also served as minority whip, minority leader and president pro-tempore.

In the 1970s, Crippen developed Billings’ Rimrock Mall, often referred to as the first “middle America” shopping mall in Montana.

While attending UM, Crippen was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and of Silent Sentinel, a senior honorary society. He has served as chair of the Public Service Board of Billings, director of the Billings Yellowstone Art Center and the Billings YMCA, president of United Way of Yellowstone County, and adviser of Eagle Mount, a nonprofit organization that provides recreational opportunities for people with disabilities.

In 1995, Crippen received the Neil S. Bucklew Presidential Service Award at UM’s Charter Day celebration. He and his wife, Mary, have four children: Ken, Gretchen, Kirsten and Clay.

Grady, a native of Shelby, received a bachelor’s degree in journalism at UM in 1972. He was a staff aide for the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention. At age 24, Grady sold his first novel, “Six Days of the Condor,” later made into the movie “Three Days of the Condor.” That same year he left for Washington, D.C., where he served as an aide to Montana Sen. Lee Metcalf and then later worked as an investigative reporter for nationally syndicated columnist Jack Anderson.

Grady has published 13 novels and many short stories. His writing has won literary awards in France and Italy. Grady’s film and television credits include cable feature movie scripts, episodes for a dramatic series and original screen plays. He also served as a consultant for the CBS Movie of the Week. Grady lives in Silver Spring, Md., with his wife, Bonnie. They have two children, Rachel and Nathan.

McWhinney, a native of Missoula, earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at UM in 1977. She is the president of Schwab Institutional, a division of Charles Schwab & Company Inc., which she joined in 2001. Before joining Schwab, McWhinney served as group president for Engage Media Services and executive vice president at Visa International. She also spent 17 years with Bank of America Corporation, where she helped establish trends that continue to influence banking today.

In 2002, she was appointed by President Bush to the board of directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. McWhinney was listed as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times in April 2005. She is executive adviser to the Hitachi HDS and Hitachi Limited board and executive team.

McWhinney is past chair of the UM Foundation Board of Trustees and an emeritus member of the University’s Business Advisory Council and the Alumni Association’s board of directors. While attending UM, she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and a UM Advocate. She lives in Tiburon, Calif., and is the mother of two daughters, Aidan and Megan.