Certificate Award Recipients

Named for a 1990 graduate of the CSS Program, the Katie Y. F. Yang Prize is awarded annually to the international graduate of the program with the most outstanding academic record.

This year’s recipient is Ryoko Fukumoto, a citizen of Japan and graduate of Tokyo University, where she majored in Japanese literature. Fukumoto has worked since 1997 at Tokyo Gas Co.

The Phyllis Strimling Award recognizes the character and achievement of a CSS graduate who has used or is preparing to use the CSS experience for the advancement of women and society.

The 2005 recipient of this award is Levani Lipton, executive director of the Ananda Foundation since 2001. Lipton has demonstrated a strong commitment to women’s empowerment issues. She initiated grants for 500 women and children living in poverty on three continents, and assisted two young girls from a nomadic tribe in Kenya in gaining admission to a private boarding school. She tries to live her life according to Gandhi’s words: “We must become the change we wish to see in the world.” Read her story.

Harold V. Langlois Outstanding Scholar Award recognizes a CSS graduate who has demonstrated exceptional academic accomplishment and promise as a manager.

The 2005 recipient, David Fleming, received a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and a juris doctorate from the University of Maryland School of Law. After serving as a partner in a number of New York City law firms, he joined Warren Resources, Inc., a public company specializing in gas and oil exploration and drilling, as senior vice president and general counsel.

JoAnne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes exceptional teaching in the CSS Program.

This year’s recipient, Paul Tumolo, is principal of Edusult Performance Systems, a consulting firm that provides operations and service consulting and executive education services for leading technology companies. He has been an instructor in the program since 1997, teaching Operations Management and co-teaching Customer Relationship Management. His student evaluation ratings have been consistently outstanding, placing him in the highest strata of Extension School instructors. He is known as an energetic lecturer who also possesses a strong commitment to individual student learning.