GENE WALDEN, LEFT, WITH DONNA MCHUGH AND BARRY ADAMS
	DAVID MOBLEY, LEFT, WITH JOE NOSARI (PHOTOS: BILL LAX/FSU PHOTO LAB)

FSU's chief special events planner, along with a finance professor known for his leadership, have recently been honored by the FSU Alumni Association.

The association has bestowed prestigious Circle of Gold awards on Donna McHugh, assistant vice president for community relations at FSU, and E. Joe Nosari, associate dean and professor of finance for the College of Business.

McHugh's responsibilities include the university's major special events, and she is known for her expertise and innovation in protocol, planning and presentation. She has been called the "godmother" of the annual Seven Days of Opening Nights arts festival, which has just completed its eighth season.

In presenting McHugh's award, Immediate Past Alumni Association Chair Gene Walden described her as being "omnipresent" and having superb "creative instinct, dogged determination, analytical mindset, style and savvy." McHugh was specifically acknowledged for her role in founding Seven Days of Opening Nights, as well as for her vision of the new "Legacy Walk" that opened in 2004. In addition to working on campus beautification, she is also a driving force in the historic preservation Heritage Protocol project.

Alumni Association Chair David Mobley, a business school graduate himself, presented Nosari with his Circle of Gold. "We could write a good instructional journal on how he has molded individuals into successful business people. For numerous fellow faculty members he has been a source of strength."

And, continued Mobley, "he has given this University's students, alumni and faculty his elements of leadership, perseverance, patience, intensity, entrepreneurship, persistence and friendship."

McHugh began her affiliation with Florida State in 1976 when she began work at WFSU-TV as assistant development director.

Nosari arrived on campus in 1970 from the University of Kentucky and has been a teacher and mentor to hundreds of students who studied finance at FSU. As associate dean he has twice served as the interim dean of the college, including his most recent stint that was completed when a new dean was named early in 2006.

The Circle of Gold was established by the FSU Alumni Association in 1993 to reward, honor, and recognize alumni and friends for their loyalty, commitment and service. The intent of the award is to also establish the legacies of the recipients as "true Seminoles who care deeply about this institution, its reputation and those it serves." Up to 12 awards can be presented each year. To date, 140 individuals have received the honor.