April 9, 2014 – The University of Utah Alumni Association and the Young Alumni Board will host the annual Spring Awards Banquet tonight at Rice-Eccles Stadium, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The evening is dedicated to honoring scientist Ryan Watts and U program administrator Carrie Labrum Radmall.

The Alumni Association will award $500,000 in scholarships to incoming and continuing students for academic year 2014-15. Thirteen outstanding seniors from each college will also be recognized at the banquet.

Watts BS’00 (as well as a doctorate from Stanford University) is receiving this year’s Par Excellence Award, given to a former student who attended the University of Utah within the last 15 years. The award recognizes outstanding professional achievements and service to the community and the U. Watts is a senior scientist at Genentech, in San Francisco, and director of its Department of Neuroscience. Genentech’s first serious foray into Alzheimer’s disease drug development began in 2006 under Watts’ leadership. He leads 10 labs focused on developing therapies for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, ALS, and other neurological disorders, as well as pain.

Radmall BS’02, who oversees doctoral academic program advising for the U College of Nursing, will receive this year’s Philip and Miriam Perlman Award for Excellence in Student Counseling. Radmall has been with the College of Nursing since 2004 and was previously its director of student services, organizing recruitment and orientation activities and creating a student data tracking system. She also worked with the dean to evaluate the college’s undergraduate admissions process, resulting in a more consistent process. She now does marketing and recruitment work for all of the nursing programs, as well as assisting 68 doctoral students and 29 doctoral faculty.