Each year McPherson College recognizes the accomplishments of young alumni during the Honors Convocation at Homecoming. This year three alumni – Joseph-Vincent V. Blas ’05, Myron Stine ’94, and Rahila Weed ’95 – were presented Young Alumni Awards on October 19.
The purpose of the Young Alumni Award is to recognize the achievement and potential for accomplishment of the college’s young alumni. The award is given to alumni who are meeting significant challenges in pursuit of professional goals as well as involved in service to others and church, and who participate in alumni activities.
Joseph-Vincent V. Blas, Greenville, South Carolina, graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2005 with a degree in biochemistry. As a member of the vascular surgery faculty at Greenville Health System of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, Dr. Blas is an assistant clinical professor of surgery. He received his medical degree from Creighton University in Omaha and completed his general surgery residency at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
As an undergraduate at McPherson College, he received the Burkholder Research Award and awarded for outstanding undergraduate research. He remains active in research and publications as author of several chapters in vascular surgery textbooks and as a presenter at vascular surgery conferences. He is one of the co-directors of the Aortic Center at the Greenville Health System and serves on several quality assurance committees for the health system as well as the diversity committee for the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Blas is also assistant fellowship program director for the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery.
Myron Stine, Adel, Iowa, graduated in 1994 with a degree in crop science. Stine proudly supports the family business by providing direction in marketing strategies and sales force infrastructure for Stine Seed Company. He understands the importance of working hard and developing relationships. With a background in crop science, sales, and marketing, Stine has worked his way up through the organization, starting his career on the family farm, serving as a district sales manager, regional sales manager, national sales director, vice president of sales and marketing, and now as president of Stine Seed Company.
He has served McPherson College as a member of the board of trustees for four years and is currently serving as a member of the Auto Restoration National Advisory Board. He also serves on the Iowa State University executive MBA advisory board. Stine shares his agriculture expertise as a committee member of the FFA Stine Seed Enrichment Center at Des Moines Area Community College and served as a director on the Cultivation Corridor Board. He pursues his interest in cars as a trustee on the Iowa Automotive Heritage Foundation Board and has served as committee chair of the Des Moines Concours d’Elegance.
Rahlia Weed, Warrensburg, Missouri, graduated in 1995 with a degree in art and psychology. Dr. Weed is a professor of art education and serves as the assistant chair of the school of visual and performing arts and division head of art and design at the University of Central Missouri. She received her teaching certificate, master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. She has been honored as the Missouri Art Education Association Higher Education Art Educator of the Year and was nominated for the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Education. She shares her passion for art education through involvement and collaborations such as presenting at the statewide Girl’s STEAM event.
Dr. Weed lends her expertise to the Marilyn Zurmuehlen Working Papers in Art on its education editorial review board. She has served on the Missouri Art Education Association as a council member, district representative, and web editor and a member of several international, national, and state professional and academic associations. She is a frequent presenter at the National Art Education Association and has been published in several scholarly journals.