The Manheim Township Alumni Association is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award. Since 1997, Manheim Township has honored graduates who have outstanding professional accomplishments and who have positively impacted their communities. The annual recognition is meant to spotlight the noteworthy achievements of alumni and inspire current students.
The 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Jonathan D. Ference, Pharm.D., class of 1997; Carolyn Jones, class of 1975; and Vickie Kutz (Goddard), class of 1964.
Distinguished Alumni Award honorees will be recognized at a breakfast reception at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at Calvary Church, 1051 Landis Valley Road, Lancaster. The cost to attend is $20 and RSVP is required. Register online or by contacting Becca Stamp at 717-560-3117 or [email protected] by Wednesday, May 29. DAA honorees will address the 2024 graduating class during commencement rehearsal following the reception. Donations in honor of DAA recipients may be forwarded to Manheim Township Educational Association, 450A Candlewyck Road, Lancaster, PA 17601.
Jonathan D. Ference, PharmD. MTHS ’97 is Dean of the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy at Wilkes University.
At Manheim Township, Ference played varsity basketball and was the recipient of the Steven R. Hermann Award his senior year. He attended Wilkes University graduating Magna Cum Laude with a Doctorate in Pharmacy in 2003. He completed a Family Medicine Specialty Pharmacy residency and Family Medicine Faculty Development Fellowship at UPMC St. Margaret’s and University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. Ference began his pharmacy career as a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy, earning the Roche Preceptor of the Year Award in 2008.
Ference returned to Wilkes University, serving as an assistant, then associate professor of pharmacy practice. He held a number of leadership roles including, Director of Pharmacy Care Labs, Assistant Dean of Pharmacy, and Associate Provost of the University. He has authored over 25 publications and presented over 45 scholarly works at regional, national and international conferences. He was named Nesbitt School of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2014. In 2014 he received the WIlkes University Carpenter Award, the highest teaching honor at Wilkes. Ference received the 2015 School of Pharmacy Outstanding Advisor Award and was the 2016 recipient Wilkes University Colonel Blazer Award, honoring individuals who have made significant contributions to the progress of Wilkes University.
He was appointed CEO Dean of the School of Pharmacy in 2023, and serves as the Associate Dean in the College of Health & Education and an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice.
Ference is the inaugural president of the nonprofit veterans service organization Heroes Hearthstone, training veterans and first responders in warrior-based wellness and self-regulation practices. He serves on the board of directors of Educational Opportunity Centers of PA and the Wilkes University Alumni Board of Directors. He is a volunteer coach for local youth sports, including the Back Mountain Blackhawks club ice hockey team.
Ference and his wife, Kimberly, reside in Wyoming, Penn and are the parents of two children, Jack and Katie.
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Carolyn Jones MTHS ’75 is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, author and speaker.
At Manheim Township High School she was photo editor of the Hi-Lite student newspaper and the Neff-Vue yearbook. After earning a B.S. in Photography from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Jones apprenticed with celebrated photographer Hiro in New York City.
Early in her career she worked in fashion photography, and in 1986 became the first American woman to compete as a racecar driver in the Paris Dakar Rally.
In 1994, Jones published her first book, Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS, accompanied by shows in Tokyo, Berlin, and at the United Nations World AIDS Conference.
Subsequently she published several more books: The Family of Women: Voices Across the Generations; Every Girl Tells a Story: A Celebration of Girls Speaking Their Minds; Heroes Happen Here; and The American Nurse: Photographs and Interviews.
Since 2012, Jones has directed The American Nurse Project, a book, four feature documentary films, and series of ongoing interviews, chronicling the lives and experiences of nurses and seeking to raise the volume of the nurse’s voice in this country. Her award-winning documentaries include The American Nurse; Defining Hope, In Case of Emergency and American Delivery.
She is also the founder and president of the 100 People Foundation, a non-profit that helps students to better understand the complex issues facing our planet and the resources we share, creating educational films and curricula for students in over 90 countries. She serves as a cultural ambassador for the American Film Showcase, a cultural diplomacy program of the U.S. Department of State and the USC School of Cinematic Studies. As a lecturer, she has presented at conferences, universities and events around the world, and delivered two TED Talks, “A Tribute to Nurses” and “100 People: A World Portrait.”
Jones was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the State University of New York in 2018 and has been inducted into the American Academy of Nursing and Academy of Emergency Nurses as an Honorary Fellow.
She lives with her husband, Jacques Borris, in Redding, Connecticut in a house built by the photographer Edward Steichen. They are the parents of two adult children, Zoe and Mercer.
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Vickie Kutz (Goddard) MTHS ’64 is a retired educator and administrator who served the students of Manheim Township School District for 33 years.
As a student at Manheim Township, Kutz played field hockey and participated in the Tri-Hi-Y service organization, serving as Chaplain her senior year. After earning a B.A. in Elementary Education from Catawba College, she taught four years in a high school special education class at Burlington Township (N.J.) High School, where she also coached field hockey and served as athletic director for girls’ sports.
Kutz then returned to Lancaster County and was hired by Manheim Township to teach a self-contained learning support classroom at Neff Elementary, the district’s first at the time.
Kutz holds an M.Ed in Special Education, a Special Education Supervisor Certificate and a Principalship Certificate. For more than 25 years, she taught learning support at several district elementary schools, including Brecht Elementary School for 20 years. At Brecht she served as Head Teacher, organized school wide service activities, and, through a grant request, became the first elementary teacher in the district to have a classroom computer and then a modem, training teachers to use the technology in instruction. She was assistant principal at Manheim Township Middle School and, finally, principal of the Neff Sixth Grade Building, retiring in 2006.
Kutz piloted the inclusion format for teaching learning support students within a regular classroom at both Brecht Elementary School and Manheim Township Middle School, supervised more than 30 student teachers, was honored as Cooperating Teacher of the Year by Millersville University, Department of Special Education, and was recognized by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools for outstanding service to secondary education.
Kutz was president of Manheim Township Education Association, served on the Board of Manheim Township Educational Foundation, and was instrumental in establishing the Manheim Township Alumni Association. She is a sustaining member of Junior League of Lancaster, and has volunteered with many local community organizations, including Habitat for Humanity and Lancaster County Prison. She has served as a Deacon and Elder at Highland Presbyterian Church where she has participated in several missions trips.
Kutz resides in Lancaster.