Ann Acers-Warn, MD, MBA Honored by Cameron University
Cameron University honors alumni, faculty
Lawton Constitution, The (OK) – Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Cameron University Alumni Association has announced the winners of its 2013 Distinguished Alumni, Outstanding Young Alumni and Faculty Hall of Fame awards, which will be presented during homecoming festivities in February.
Norman A. Lamb, Enid, and Dr . Ann Warn , Lawton, will receive Distinguished Alumni Awards; Kristi Lynn, Dallas, Texas, and Dr . Steve Miller, Lawton, have been named Outstanding Young Alumni; and Gary Buckley and Teresa Lubrano have been selected for induction into the Cameron University Faculty Hall of Fame.
The Distinguished Alumni Award and the Outstanding Young Alumni Award are presented to former Cameron students who have made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments have brought credit to Cameron by distinguishing themselves in their careers and/or in service to their communities and/or through continued support of Cameron University.
The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to Cameron alumni who are 40 years of age or older.
The Outstanding Young Alumni Award is presented to Cameron alumni who are 39 years of age or younger. The Faculty Hall of Fame Award emphasizes teaching effectiveness, positive impact on students’ lives and involvement at Cameron outside of the classroom and in the community.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Norman A. Lamb, Class of
1955
Lamb has enjoyed a life of service – as a member of the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, as a member of the Oklahoma State Senate, and through gubernatorial appointment as Oklahoma Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Lamb graduated from Cameron Junior College in 1955 and earned a Bachelor of Science in math and education from the University of Oklahoma, where he also graduated from law school. He served as chief prosecutor and assistant district attorney for Garfield County from 1967 to 1970, when he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate. In 1995, he was appointed by Governor Frank Keating to the post of Secretary of Veterans Affairs and was retained in that post by Governor Brad Henry through 2011.
Lamb served in the Army, retiring after 33 years of active and reserve duty as a colonel. He also served as West Point Recruiting Liaison to Oklahoma from 1986 to 1990.
Lamb is a long-time member of the Enid Lions Club and the Enid Chamber of Commerce. He and his wife, Belva, have three children: Kim Akers, Fawn Ingmire,and Todd Lamb, lieutenant governor of Oklahoma.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Dr. Ann Warn, Class of 2001
In the midst of her successful ophthalmology practice, Warn enrolled at Cameron University to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree. She has been a comprehensive ophthalmologist at the Dean A. McGee Eye Institute since 1994 and is a clinical associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Oklahoma.
She currently serves as vice chair for the Academy Council of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and has served that organization in numerous capacities. She is the recipient of the Academy Achievement and Secretariat Awards. She has held various offices for the Oklahoma Academy of Ophthalmology, including two years as president.
A member of President’s Partners, she is vice president-elect of the Cameron University Foundation and is a member of the board of directors of the Southwest Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition. Past leadership positions include Leadership Oklahoma, Marie Detty Foundation and the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.
Warn lives in Lawton with her husband, dentist Dr . Brett Warn . They have two children, Brittany and Pierce.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Kristi Lynn, Class of 2006
Lynn is rapidly making a name for herself in the world of cancer research. Currently a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, she is a summa cum laude graduate of Cameron, earning a bachelor of science degree in biology.
Lynn was active in Biology Club and the Beta Beta Beta Biology Honor Society and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi. She was selected for two competitive internships while completing her undergraduate degree. During an internship at Halliburton Energy Services in Duncan, her work led to the development of a patent.
She was accepted into the doctorate program of the prestigious University of Texas Southwestern School of Biomedical Sciences in Dallas. She was the recipient of a Cancer Biology Training Grant Fellowship and received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, which helped support her research for three years. She received her doctorate in cancer biology in 2011.
Lynn’s research is already yielding new ideas about how to better treat breast cancer, and she is poised to contribute significantly in her chosen field of medical research.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Dr . Steve Miller,
Class of 1995
Miller has a passion for helping others. The 1995 Cameron graduate still finds time in his busy schedule to speak to Cameron classes and lend a hand with the Department of Physical Sciences Nanoexplorers Science Academy.
He and his wife Erin have established the Raymond “Red” Miller Scholarship in Chemistry in honor of his grandfather, Raymond “Red” Miller, one of Cameron’s most celebrated coaches. The endowed scholarship will help Cameron chemistry students pursue their studies as they explore potential careers in the medical field.
After receiving a bachelor of science degree in chemistry at Cameron, Miller attended the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, earning his M.D. in 1999. He served his internship and residency at the University of Texas – Houston Medical School and logged a postdoctoral fellowship in the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He completed his residency at the Baylor College of Medicine’s Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery before signing on as Staff Surgeon at the Cardiovascular Center of Southwest Oklahoma.
Miller is passionate in his advocacy of maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle and often shares his expertise with community groups throughout Southwest Oklahoma.
Faculty Hall of Fame
Gary Buckley, professor of physical science
Buckley is in his 29th year of service to Cameron University. In that time, he has served as a faculty member, department chair, dean, and vice president, yet his passion for teaching and research keeps him in the classroom and the laboratory.
He has also played a significant role in three Higher Learning Commission accreditation visits and served on Cameron University President Cindy Ross’ first Planning Task Force, which subsequently developed Plan 2008.
Of his approach to teaching, he says, “Each semester is a new one to me. I get rid of any notes I have had from the previous semester and pretend to be starting over completely with the new group, using lessons I have learned from the past about effective approaches.”
His desire to stay abreast of new technology extends to his research, which currently pertains to approaches to improving technology use throughout the chemistry and physics curricula using handheld data acquisition devices.
Faculty Hall of Fame
Teresa Lubrano, professor of English and foreign languages
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Lubrano joined the Cameron faculty in 1987. She teaches Spanish and Italian courses and serves as the faculty advisor for Cameron’s Delta Rho chapter of Phi Sigma Iota. As Delta Rho’s chapter advisor, Lubrano stresses service to the community through canned food drives. She was honored as Phi Sigma Iota Teacher of the Year in 1993.
In 2008, Lubrano received the Hackler Award for Teaching Excellence, Cameron’s most prestigious faculty honor and the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Chi Eta Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi.
Lubrano is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Delta Kappa Honor Society, Kappa Gamma Epsilon, Sigma Tau Delta, the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages, and the American Association of Teachers of Italian. She is a lifetime member of Phi Sigma Iota and the Oklahoma Foreign Language Teachers Association.
Since 1998, she has been a member of the State of Oklahoma Transfer Curriculum Committee for World Languages. She has served as the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command/Cameron University Cultural and Foreign Language Program Resource Person for Italian Culture and Language since 2009.