Linda Horton of Germantown, Md., to be honored by Grove City College

GROVE CITY, PA (09/15/2011)(readMedia)-- The 2011 Grove City College Jack Kennedy Memorial Alumni Achievement and Distinguished Service Awards will be presented during Homecoming weekend at a 5:30 p.m. reception and dinner on Friday, Sept. 23 in the Carnegie Alumni Center. The College will recognize four recipients, including Linda (Schiestle '76) Horton of Germantown, Md.

The achievement awards were established in 1964 by the Grove City College Alumni Association to recognize alumni who have made significant contributions to their fields and to society. The awards were later named in honor and memory of longtime Accounting Professor, Alumni Secretary and Placement Officer Jack Kennedy '37. The program has recognized 170 alumni.

Horton serves as director for the Materials Sciences and Engineering Division in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES) of the Department of Energy (DOE). Prior to joining DOE, she was the director for the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the five BES national user facilities for nanoscale science research. She was the first director of the CNMS, home to an interdisciplinary nanoscience research program that hosts nearly 400 users annually. In addition, she was project director for the CNMS facility construction.

Prior to leading the CNMS, Horton was program director for the ORNL BES Materials and Engineering Physics program. During her career at ORNL, she held many management roles and her personal research emphasized applications of electron microscopy to materials science problems. Horton has also served on several committees and boards.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in materials science and resides with her husband Joe in Germantown, Md. They have three children pursing graduate degrees.

This release is available for download at www.gcc.edu/news, where subscribers can also sign up for RSS feeds. Media may contact Michael Baker at mnbaker@gcc.edu or (724) 450-4002 for further details. This e-mail address and phone number should not be used in print.

Founded in 1876, Grove City College stands on its founding ideals of faith and freedom, made possible by an unwavering commitment to Christian principles and rigorous academics at a price within the reach of families with modest means. The College, located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pa., has an enrollment of 2,500 students and teaches the liberal arts, sciences and engineering. It is an advocate of the free market economic system and accepts no federal funding. Tuition is about half the national average for private colleges. Grove City College has been named the Top Value in Private Liberal-Arts Schools by Consumers Digest Magazine. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has named the College one of 50 All-American Colleges, ranking it high for increasing students' civic literacy. Grove City College has been named a Best Value and one of the best colleges in America by Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. The Young America's Foundation calls Grove City College one of the Top Conservative Schools in the country.