Hillsdale College Honors Long-Time Professor with Honorary Alumni Award
Annual Alumni Awards honor Conner and other notable Hillsdale graduates
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Hillsdale, Mich. – On Friday, September 20, Hillsdale College hosted its 68th annual Alumni Awards Banquet to recognize alumni for their professional achievements, with a special recognition of Professor Thomas Conner, the William P. Harris Chair in Military History. Conner received an Honorary Alumnus Award in honor of his 36 years on the Hillsdale College faculty.
Conner joined Hillsdale College in 1983 after receiving his doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina. Throughout his time at the College, Conner has served as director of admissions, dean of the faculty, History Department chair, and dean of Social Sciences. He now teaches history full time and holds the William P. Harris Chair in Military History. Conner teaches a course on the World Wars and leads student tours of European battlefields and memorials. In fall 2018, Conner released his book, War and Remembrance: The Story of the American Battle Monuments Commission. The book examines the often-overlooked history of the American Battle Monuments Commission. Conner will retire from teaching at the end of the 2020 school year, concluding a more than three-decade career at Hillsdale College.
The Alumni Awards are presented annually during Homecoming to honor distinguished alumni. This year, in addition to Conner’s Honorary Alumnus Award, the Alumni Office recognized Kate Bachelder Odell, ’13 and Megan Lacy Owen, ’07 with Young Alumna Awards and Tom Shafer, ’81 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Odell graduated from the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism at Hillsdale College in 2013 with a degree in political economy. Following graduation, she joined the Wall Street Journal as a Bartley Fellow and is now an editorial writer.
Lacy is an attorney and former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Previously, Lacy served as the senior advisor to Brent McIntosh, general counsel of the Department of the Treasury, where she was part of the legislative team that worked on Kavanaugh’s nomination. She has also served as a clerk for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlian on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was part of the counsel to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. Lacy graduated from Hillsdale College in 2007 with a degree in history and French.
Tom Shafer is the CEO and president of Chemical Bank and the president and COO of TCF National Bank. Previously, Shafer served as the chief operating officer of Talmer Bancorp Inc. and the vice chairman of Talmer Bank & Trust. He graduated from Hillsdale College in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Banking.