Eiko Johnson ’65 and Richard Cardin ’62 were awarded the first College of Arts and Sciences Board of Advisors Alumni Awards. The ceremony was held on April 21st, and was the first of what is to be an annual awards ceremony.

Cardin was an English major from Willimantic, Conn., who went on to be a successful businessman, earning high-level managerial positions at the United Parcel Service (UPS). He has a strong belief in humanities and what they have to offer.

“I’m very much a humanities aficionado,” Cardin explained. “You get core values early in your career, in school, and you can build on core values because you can learn a lot of skills on top of them.”

All the way from Tokyo, Japan, Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and went on to become one of the highest-ranking women managers at Hewlett Packard Corporation. She said she had a lot of language barriers to beat, but described the faculty and students who supported her in her career at UHart and employment right out of college.

“I didn’t even finish graduate level schooling before I jumped into those positions,” Johnson said. “I never really had any kind of issue because I felt very comfortable and I think that may be because of all the exposure the university has given me.”

The dean of A&S, Katherine Black, and President Walter Harrison were also at the event in addition to many members of the University’s Board of Regents. Harrison explained how honored he was to award the two alumni with this award and how they truly used the University to form a successful career path.

“Two people, two different backgrounds, both from the college of arts and sciences, and both who fashioned a career, not specifically from what they studied here, but in what they studied here formed their career,” Harrison said.