PASADENA, Calif.-David Levy, director of the financial aid office at the California Institute of Technology, has been named winner of the Exemplar Award by the Western Regional Assembly of the College Board. He will be recognized during the College Board's Western Regional Conference in San Diego on Sunday, February 27.
According to the College Board, Levy, a resident of La Crescenta, is acknowledged as "a remarkably dedicated financial aid expert," and is known for his frequent travels to offer advice on financial planning to families of prospective students.
Steve Williams, college counselor at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, says, "David is the most excited person about financial aid that I've ever met!" Similarly, Despina Costopoulos, coordinator of California Cash for College, part of the California Student Aid Commission, says that "Levy's dedication and commitment to providing students and families with expert financial aid assistance is like a force of nature-- holding workshop after workshop, developing presentations, and always being there for colleagues and students alike."
Erica O'Neal, assistant vice president for student affairs at Caltech, points out Levy's professional competence, boundless enthusiasm for his work, and dry wit as only three impressive characteristics on a lengthy list that make the Caltech community enjoy working with Levy and pleased to see the College Board honor him with this award.
The Exemplar Award was created in 1982 by the board of trustees for the College Board. The purpose of the award is to acknowledge outstanding professional achievement. Recipients are chosen "for exemplary contributions which enhance the aims and professional activities of concern to the College Board, primarily within the Western Region. Contributions to students directly, over an extended period of time, beyond one's work assignment, are especially significant. And, contributions in support of professional colleagues is a second major criterion."
Founded in 1891, Caltech has an enrollment of some 2,000 students and a faculty of about 280 professorial members, 65 research members, and some 560 postdoctoral scholars. The Institute has more than 21,000 alumni. Caltech employs a staff of more than 2,600 on campus and 5,100 at JPL. Over the years, 31 Nobel Prizes and four Crafoord Prizes have been awarded to faculty members and alumni. Forty-seven Caltech faculty members and alumni have received the National Medal of Science; and nine alumni (two of whom are also trustees, and one who is also a faculty member), two additional trustees, and one faculty member have won the National Medal of Technology. Since 1958, 14 faculty members have received the annual California Scientist of the Year award. On the Caltech faculty there are 77 fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and on the faculty and Board of Trustees, 70 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 6 members of the Institute of Medicine, and 43 members of the National Academy of Engineering.
