Newsletter Article

Timeless Awards - Psychology Alumni Recognition

Timeless Awards

During the UW’s 150th Anniversary year, the College of Arts & Sciences honored 150 distinguished living alumni for their accomplishments and contributions. The Timeless Awards celebrates leaders of the past, present and future—with seven of those awardees coming from our very own Psychology Department. Congratulations to our exceptional graduates!

Present Timeless Award Recipients:

Dean Allen, ’76, ‘77

As CEO of McKinstry Co., Dean Allen helped significantly enhance the construction industry’s then-prevailing silo approach. Allen corralled previously scattered pieces of the design and build process, transforming the firm from a mechanical contractor to a comprehensive mechanical and electrical engineering, design, real estate, and construction business with over 2,000 employees. Allen serves on the boards of many organizations, including Seattle Biomedical Research Institute and Washington STEM.

Geraldine Dawson, ’74, ‘77

Geraldine Dawson is chief science officer of Autism Speaks and a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through her research, she discovered that autism symptoms could be recognized during infancy and developed an intervention for infants and toddlers with autism. Dawson was previously a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the UW and founding director of the UW Autism Center.

Robert Golden, ’79, ‘84

Robert Golden took an idea he helped develop as a researcher and engineer working in the UW Medical Center Department of Radiology and successfully transferred it to private business. Golden co-founded Lucent Medical Systems on a core technology that enables locating small magnets placed onto medical devices inside a patient. One such device—to track the tip of a catheter placed into a large vein leading to the heart—is used in about one million patients per year.

Future Timeless Award Recipient:

Denise Dy, ‘12

Denise Dy, an All-American tennis player (with dual US-Philippines citizenship) is credited with helping revive the Husky women’s tennis program. Ranked fourth in the nation in 2011, Dy earned her first ITA All-American honor as a UW sophomore, earning the honor in both singles and doubles the following year. Noting that tennis is “a very mental game…like any sport,” Dy has an interest in sports psychology.

Past Timeless Award Recipients:

Linda Buck, ‘95

Michael Posner, ’57, ‘59

Sharon Ramey, ‘74

To learn more about the Timeless Awards and to read about our past recipients, visit the College of Arts & Sciences’ Timeless Awards Website