The 2009 Distinguished Alumna Award is given based on a graduate’s professional achievement; service in home, church, and community; and commitment to GPS. This year’s honoree is Corinne Anderson Adams ’69, a professional artist/photographer in Atlanta, Ga., where she is the co-founder of Atlanta Celebrates Photography, the city’s annual month-long photography festival. A graduate of UNC/Chapel Hill, Adams’ photography has been exhibited in galleries from San Diego to Savannah. Her art is featured in the Atrium Gallery at Atlanta’s International Airport, in Ritz-Carlton and Westin hotels across the U.S., and in numerous museums and corporate collections. A past board member of Atlanta Photography Group and a member of Women in Focus, a photography collective, Adams has twice served as chair of the GPS National Alumnae Advisory Council. She and her family travel regularly on global mission trips, most recently as volunteers in Nicaragua.

Three alumnae are the recipients of the 2009 Margaret Rawlings Lupton Award of Excellence. Women chosen for this honor have made a significant impact in their communities in professional and/or voluntary activities.

Donna Cardin Dalton ’79 is a community leader in Nashville, Tennessee. A graduate of Transylvania University (BA) and Belmont University (MA), Donna has been a member of several Boards of Directors, including Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, CABLE, a networking group of professional women; the Salvation Army, the YMCA and the YWCA. Her community involvement has extended to United Way, the Chamber of Commerce, and Junior Achievement.Dalton is a past president of the Nashville Junior League and currently a board member of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

Linda Duvoisin ’84 is an independent documentary filmmaker, producer, and writer. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Duvoisin has worked at Discovery Networks, National Geographic, and PBS, among others. Her independently produced film, you don’t know what i got, debuted at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and won the Audience Award. She has also received several major industry peer awards, including a regional Emmy nomination for her one-hour special, The Road to Riverbend, produced for WTCI. In 2008, she was awarded an Individual Artist Grant for filmmaking by the Tennessee Arts Commission. Duvoisin and her husband, fellow filmmaker Dave Porfiri, relocated to Chattanooga in 2005 and established their film and television production company, Mindflow Media.

Dr. Lily Wang ’89, the valedictorian of her GPS class and a Presidential Scholar, graduated from Princeton and completed her doctorate in acoustics at Penn State University. The Vranek Distinguished Scholar at the University of Nebraska’s Peter Kiewit Institute, she has received two awards from the Acoustical Society of America and is the recipient of an Excellence in Graduate Education Award at Nebraska. She consults on projects that have ranged from the design of church sanctuaries to music rehearsal rooms and audio recording studios. Secondary school classrooms are her laboratory for measuring qualities that help or hinder sound intelligibility, and her research has significant implications for construction materials and architectural design in creating learning spaces.

Debbie Bohner Young ’79 was inducted into the GPS Athletic Hall of Fame during Friday’s Alumnae Weekend Luncheon. Young enrolled at GPS for her sophomore year and quickly made her mark in the athletic program. She played point guard in basketball, served as an outside hitter in volleyball, and competed in the discus, 400, mile relay, and long jump in track. This three-sport athlete was recognized for her talent and leadership abilities by being voted captain of all three sports in her senior year. She was the recipient of two of the school’s major athletic awards: the Laura Holt Award and the Peggy Thomas 100% Award. At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she continued her love of volleyball on a USVBA team. Currently the Director of Admissions at GPS, she has been a PE instructor, head coach of the varsity volleyball team and varsity track assistant at her alma mater.