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| Awards Honor Distinguished Alumni in October It may have been Friday the 13th (of October), but that night 13 was a lucky number, as the College’s Alumni Society honored as many distinguished graduates in a ceremony held at the Michigan League. The Alumni Society Medal, the College’s highest honor, went to Bill Joy, a founder of Sun Microsystems; veteran volunteer Goff Smith was named recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Merit awards, which are chosen by the individual Engineering departments, were presented to 11 alumni who have made significant contributions to academia and business.
Medal Recipient Bill Joy (BSE CO ’75) Chief Scientist Sun Microsystems Called “the Edison of the Internet” by Fortune magazine, Bill Joy was a co-founder of Sun Microsystems in 1982 and has since spearheaded its technical programs, designing Sun’s Network File System and co-designing its SPARC microprocessor architecture. In the mid-1990s, Joy supervised the development of the company’s Java programming language and platform. He later initiated the Jini project, a revolutionary interconnection technology for network computers. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Joy has received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award for Innovation in 1999 and the PC Magazine 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Service Award Recipient Goff Smith (BSE BA ’38, MBA ’39) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, retired Amsted Industries Goff Smith has served his College and University with distinction for over 60 years. As president of the Class of ’38E, he was instrumental in creating the 1938E Award, bestowed annually to an outstanding junior faculty member. He has also been a tireless fundraiser for the University, serving as the Chicago-area chair for the Engineering Capital Campaign in the 1970s. He was a long-time member of the University’s Development Council Board of Directors, and chaired the Corporations and Foundations Operating Committee in 1981. Because of his ties to the U-M Business School, he served on its Development Advisory Board. Smith also established the College of Engineering flagship lecture series, and funded an endowed co-directorship for the Tauber Manufacturing Institute.
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