Blank, Grasz to receive Alumni Distinguished Service awards

The Nebraska Alumni Association will recognize two Distinguished Service Award winners May 7 during University of Nebraska-Lincoln commencement exercises.

Distinguished Service Awards honor individuals with exemplary records of service to the Alumni Association and the university. This year's recipients are Don Blank (D.D.S. 1960) of McCook and Lynne Morian Grasz (B.S. 1966) of New York City.

Blank is a dentist in McCook and a long-time public servant. He recently completed his third term on the NU Board of Regents, including four years as chair. Blank has been president of the Nebraska Jaycees, a city councilman and mayor of McCook, and president of the McCook Rotary Club, the McCook Community Theater, the Nebraska League of Cities and the Southwest Nebraska Dental Association. He has been inducted into the Nebraska Jaycee Hall of Fame and the Nebraska Dental Association Hall of Fame and holds a Lifetime Achievement Award from the McCook Barbershop chapter.

Grasz is president and CEO of Grasz Communications in New York City. She just completed a term as chair of the Alumni Association's Cather Circle and has been active with the group's executive, financial, program, recognition and marketing committees. Grasz, a 1981 Masters Week participant at UNL and Outstanding Advertising Alum in 2001, has done a number of projects with the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications. She is a former president of the New York City chapter of American Women in Radio and TV, and a member of the National Advertising Board and the National Broadcasting Society.

CONTACT: Marti Paquette, Nebraska Alumni Association, (402) 472-4250