Janice Nease-Wittschiebe

Janice Wittschiebe, Arch 78, M Arch 80, was presented the Outstanding Alumna Award for her "enormous contributions" to the Georgia Tech community during the Women’s Leadership Conference 2005.

"Awaken Your Passion, Reinvent Your Future" was the theme for the mid-November conference and an evening reception featured food with a Spanish flair and flamenco dancing.

"Ole" called out Wittschiebe, chairman-elect of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, as she made her way to the podium to accept the award from Marilyn Somers, director of the Living History program.

Somers called Wittschiebe a leader by example, a line also used by keynote speaker Deborah Wagnon, IM 76.

"What do you want your obituary to say, that you were the fastest hamster on the wheel?" Wagnon asked. "No one will mourn your failure to yourself more than yourself."

An entertainment attorney by trade, Wagnon decided to "stop winding up for the pitch" and follow her passion after 9-11. She enrolled at Goddard College in Vermont to feed her "starving soul" and earn a master’s in fine arts and write a novel.

Wagnon also fed an internal need to become a mother and adopted a baby girl in Guatemala. "I can’t remember what it was like without her," she said.

"When the truth is unveiled to you, you’ll know it. Go wisely, thoughtfully and strategically with your truth."

Also honored during the conference were Bonnie Heck, outstanding faculty; Cindy Jordin and Janice P. Rogers, outstanding staff; Shannon Watt, outstanding graduate student; and Elizabeth Solomon, outstanding undergraduate.

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