GROVE CITY, Pa. – The 2010 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 Oct. 8 in the Carnegie Alumni Center. The recipients of the Alumni Achievement Awards are Maj. Gen. Robert C. Kane ’79, Donald A. Shockey ’63 and James P. Van Eerden ’85, with Stanley M. Johnson ’60 receiving the Distinguished Service Award.

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 Director of Alumni Relations and Career Services Jack Kennedy ’37. The program has recognized 166 alumni.

Maj. Gen. Robert C. Kane ’79 is commander of the Spaatz Center for Officer Education at the Air War College, located at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Kane entered the Air Force in 1980 after receiving his commission through the ROTC program at Grove City College. Kane has served in Turkey, Korea, Germany and Iraq in a wide variety of operational and staff assignments. As commander of the 86th Airlift Wing and Kaiserslautern Military Community, he was instrumental in leading the Ramstein community to win the 2006 Commander in Chief Annual Award for Installation Excellence.

Prior to his current assignment, he was the commanding general of the Coalition Air Force Transition Team in Baghdad, Iraq, responsible for coalition efforts to rebuild the Iraqi air force. Kane has earned several awards and medals and has two children with his wife, Katy.

Donald A. Shockey ’63 is director of SRI International’s Center for Fracture Physics, an internationally recognized expert in fracture of materials and structures. In his 39 years at SRI he has directed more than 350 research projects for government and industry. His current efforts include developing new transparent materials and structural designs for a variety of products.

Shockey has published more than 150 technical articles, holds several patents and serves on the NASA panel of Materials Experts and on a National Academy of Sciences committee. He is an Institute Fellow, a Fellow of ASM International, the Year 2000 recipient of the John S. Rinehart award for pioneering work in the field of dynamic fracture and the 2006 recipient of the Murray Medal for excellence in experimental mechanics. Shockey and his wife, Jan, have four children and seven grandchildren.

James P. Van Eerden ’85 is a co-founder and managing director of The Helixx Group, a merchant bank for high-impact entrepreneurs that is based in Indianapolis, Ind. His commentary involving media and non-profit work has appeared in USA TODAY and other publications. Van Eerden first became involved in film investing with the Academy Award-nominated short film, “MOST” (2004). He has since served in executive producer roles for several award-winning feature films. He is currently in production on a documentary called “In God We Still Trust” and is chief editor of Life(n) Media.

Van Eerden co-founded MISSION Products, the world’s leading athlete-engineering skincare company, with Mia Hamm, Steve Nash, Serena Williams and others. He has served as board chairman for The H2O Africa Foundation, a large-scale water charity campaign, and is a founding board director for BDA Foundation (a non-profit effort to advance biotechnology for sustainable development in Africa). He served as a member of the Board of Governors for Opportunity International, the world's largest faith-based micro-lending agency, and for Wilberforce Forum (Chuck Colson's worldview ministry) – for whom he originated Colson’s nationwide “Centurions Fellowship.” He and his wife Rachel have 11 children and live on a family homestead near Greensboro, N.C.

Receiving the Distinguished Service Award, Stanley M. Johnson ’60 had a 37-year career in information technology management, primarily as chief information officer for the Port of Los Angeles, the nation’s leading port authority. In retirement, his pro bono involvements include directorship positions with IS Associates Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the Westside Center for Independent Living, which assists the severely disabled.

Johnson has been involved with the College in numerous capacities. Since the 1970s, he and his wife, Karen, have hosted the alumni events in the Los Angeles area, he was a member of the Alumni Council including Council president in 1994 and 1995 and he has been a member of the College’s Board of Trustees since 1995. Johnson was awarded the Jack Kennedy Alumni Achievement Award in 1999 for his career in information technology and had intimate involvement in creating the College’s Laptop Computer Initiative and Office of International Education.