Glenwood Alumni award winner to address GCHS Class of 2017

The second recipient of the Glenwood Alumni Association’s Charlene Nelson Nutting and Tom Nutting Alumni Achievement Award will be recognized during Sunday’s commencement ceremony for the Glenwood Community High School Class of 2017.

Barbara Evans Markuson, a graduate with the Glenwood Class of 1947 who went on to earn international distinction while completing a “trail blazing” career in librarianship, will also give a brief address to this year’s graduating class.

Markuson said her address to the Class of 2017 will contain three areas of emphasis:

-  Don’t forget your roots.

- Work hard, but be willing to take risks.

- Never think you did it all on your own to get your education. Many people made it possible for you to get your diploma.

Markuson, who now resides in her home town of Glenwood, holds a bachelors of arts degree in mathematics with a minor in philosophy from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a masters of library sciences  degree from the University of Texas. She’s been recognized for her revolutionary work in cooperative automation of information systems and ended her career in 1995 as the executive director of the Indiana Cooperative Library Services Authority.  As an expert in her field, Markuson authored numerous scholarly papers and lectured internationally, including in China, Australia and England.  Over her lifetime, Markuson promoted the value of public libraries, including testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in 1992.

Markuson has been an active leader in her communities, with special interests in ballet and historical preservation.   Markuson said she’s honored to the receive the alumni award.

“I think it’s a great honor,” she said. ‘There’s nothing like earning an award from your home town.
“It’s important for the children  to know you can do interesting things in your life and come back to Glenwood.”

The alumni award is named for Tom and Charlene Nutting in recognition of their more than a decade of service to the Glenwood Alumni Association, and Dollars for Scholars.