2024 CSB Reunion Awards
The CSB Alumnae Board, on behalf of College of Saint Benedict, presents Reunion Awards to outstanding alumnae from reunion years whose daily lives reflect and honor the Benedictine tradition and mission of our alma mater. Nominations are accepted each year. For more information regarding the nomination process, please contact the Alumnae Relations Office.
Janene Jensen Riedeman ’89
Benedictine Service Award honors an alumna who has made a significant impact on those around her for her continued commitment and contributions to community service and social justice at a regional, national or international level. Also demonstrates a commitment to the Benedictine spirit of giving hospitality, love of others, listening and social stewardship.
Alumna Profile: “Volunteers are such a community of their own. Like a community within a community,” says Janene Jensen Riedeman ’89, director of volunteer services at St. Cloud Hospital and this year’s Benedictine Service Award winner. “They have such an impact, because they’re all over the building at St. Cloud Hospital. And they are proactively helping people.
Ann Wingert Williams ’84
Distinguished Alumna Award honors an alumna who has distinguished herself for outstanding achievements in her chosen profession and has made a lasting contribution in her field as a role model and leader for all alumnae.
Alumna Profile: On a summer day in the late ’70s, God intervened. It was registration day for incoming first-year Bennies and this year’s Distinguished Alumna Award winner, Ann Wingert Williams ’84, was dutifully enrolling in classes to begin her “business” major. That’s when Sister Firmin Escher walked in and called out, “Are there any music majors here?”
Anika Chowdhury ’14
Decade Award honors an alumna who is recognized by her peers as a great role model and leader for younger alumnae because her outstanding career achievements, representing global consciousness and community involvement in her chosen profession.
Alumna Profile: Growing up in Bangladesh, Anika Chowdhury never pictured herself going to college in Central Minnesota. “My friends were off to big cities,” she recalls. But her older brother Abdel had chosen the accounting program at Saint John’s, and her family was reluctant to let 18-year-old Anika jet off to the other side of the Earth completely on her own. So Saint Ben’s was sort of chosen for her.
Sigrid Hutcheson ’59
Sister Emmanuel Renner Award honors an alumna for her service to the College of Saint Benedict and recognizes her contributions as a leader, steward and volunteer to her alma mater.
Alumna Profile: If Saint Ben’s was a movie, Sigrid Hutcheson ’59 would star in it, direct it, produce it and sell you popcorn at intermission. In nearly 70 years of connection to this community, she has been a student, a monastic, a faculty member, an academic innovator, an Alumnae Board member, an advisor, a volunteer and a generous benefactor.