Congratulations to Brown’s 2012 Alumni Award Recipients

November 6, 2012

Congratulations to Brown's 2012 Alumni Award recipients for exceptional service and contribution to society: Diana Wells '88, president of Ashoka, and Deacon Patrick Moynihan '87, president of The Haitian Project.

William Rogers Award
The highest honor bestowed upon a Brown graduate who exemplifies the University's mission to prepare alumni for lives of “usefulness and reputation”

2012 Recipient:
Diana E. Wells '88

Diana Wells’ junior year in India, during which she came to believe in the value of local solutions to complex problems, literally changed her life. After graduation, she joined Ashoka, a nonprofit organization that supports social entrepreneurs around the world, where she created one of the organization’s central programs: systematic support and community for the social entrepreneurs selected as Ashoka Fellows. Diana took a leave to pursue a Ph.D., then returned to Ashoka to continue growing its mission. She led the development of a worldwide discovery and selection program for naming Ashoka Fellows and oversaw the organization’s geographic expansion into more than 70 countries. She also implemented a widely respected tool for measuring the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship, one of the first standard tools to do so. Dr. Wells was named president of Ashoka in 2005.

In 2008, Dr. Wells was a winner of the first annual Women to Watch Award. She has taught at Georgetown University and has edited two compilations on social movements in the United States. She earned her PhD from New York University (2000), where she was both a Fulbright and a Woodrow Wilson scholar. 

John Hope Award for Public Service
For an alumna or alumnus who has made a significant impact in his/her community or society, and who demonstrates an unwavering commitment to public service either as a professional or a volunteer

2012 Recipient:
Deacon Patrick J. Moynihan '87

In 1996, Deacon Patrick Moynihan ’87 left his career as a commodities trader at Louis Dreyfus Corp (LDC) to become the president of The Haitian Project and head of its tuition-free Catholic boarding school, Louverture Cleary School, in Haiti, where he and his family have lived and worked for most of the last 16 years. Under his leadership, The Haitian Project has become a national non-profit with volunteer activity and support from seven dioceses. Louverture Cleary has grown from 65 students to over 360 while maintaining a pass rate for the baccalaureate in excess of 98%. Guided by the Catholic missionary principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, Deacon Moynihan is committed to building the education and institutions of Haiti from within by educating leaders who are dedicated to service and to rebuilding their country. Deacon Moynihan has participated on a panel for the USCCB secretariat on social ministry dealing with Haiti/Cuba, and he has written a testimony on behalf of the Haitian community for a hearing of the United States Congress. He is also a nationally recognized speaker on the subjects of transformational development and the ineffectiveness of both the aid industry and large international non-governmental organizations. 

In addition to his work for The Haitian Project, Deacon Moynihan is a successful consultant on non-profit organization and strategies. He holds a graduate degree in religious studies from Providence College, which also awarded him an honorary doctorate in humanitarian service. He was recently awarded the Pierre Toussaint Medallion by the Archdiocese of New York for advancing the cause of educational opportunity, social justice, and the Gospel.