Awards - MHEC

MHEC annually recognizes exemplary leadership and service to the Compact.

Applications are open for the 2025 Phillip Sirotkin Award and the Outstanding Service Awards. Nominations are due by Monday, September 29.

The Phillip L. Sirotkin Award

Dr. Phillip L. Sirotkin (1923‐2007) was the founding father and senior adviser of the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC). His skill at developing collaborative arrangements among state governments and higher education institutions was tapped to help create and establish a higher education compact among 12 states in the Midwest, the only section of the country that did not have a regional agreement at that time. After working with state officials to found MHEC in the 1990s, Sirotkin served several years as a senior adviser to the commission.

Sirotkin also served as the longtime executive director of MHEC’s sister compact, the Boulder‐based Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). He guided WICHE from 1976 to 1989, during which time the 15‐state higher education organization created and extended cost‐effective educational programs and opportunities that benefit students and public and private colleges and universities throughout the West. Born in Illinois, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University (MI) in 1945, and his master’s degree and doctorate in political science and constitutional law from the University of Chicago between 1947 and 1951.

Phillip L. Sirotkin Award Criteria

Exemplary leadership service to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact
Passion for postsecondary education
Innovation and creation of ideas that advance collaboration and cooperation in education
Creation of MHEC programs and services
Years of service to MHEC
Securing participation in MHEC programs and services
Building regional partnerships for effective and efficient access to, and quality of higher education in the states and in the Midwest
Promoting and identifying opportunities to increase visibility for MHEC within states, regionally and nationally

Phillip L. Sirotkin Award Recipients

2024 – Mr. Robert J. Trembath, MHEC Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel
2023 – Mr. Larry Tidemann (SD), MHEC Commissioner and Treasurer
2022 – Dr. David Eisler (MI), MHEC Commissioner and Past Chair
2021 – Rep. Barbara Ballard (KS), MHEC Commissioner and Chair, MHEC Governance Committee
2020 – Dr. Ken Sauer (IN), MHEC Commissioner and Past Chair
2019 – Dr. Stephanie Davidson (OH), MHEC Commissioner
2018 – Mr. Larry A. Isaak (MN), MHEC President (2003-2018)
2017 – Dr. Rolf Wegenke (WI), MHEC Commissioner
2016 – Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (WI), MHEC Commissioner and past MHEC Chair
2014 – Mr. Robert N. Downer (IA), MHEC Commissioner and past MHEC Chair
2013 – Dr. Randolph Ferlic (NE), MHEC Commissioner and past MHEC Chair
2012 – Dr. Gerald Brouder (MO), former MHEC Commissioner
2011 – Dr. William Napier (OH), MHEC Commissioner and past MHEC Chair
2010 – Rep. Lyndon Carlson (MN), MHEC Commissioner, Commissioner Alternate, and Past MHEC Chair
2009 – Sen. Lana Oleen (KS), Past MHEC Chair and Interim MHEC President
2007 – Dr. David Murphy (MN), MHEC President Emeritus
2001 – Dr. William Sederburg (MI), First Chair of the MHEC Commission
1999 – Dr. Phillip Sirotkin (CO), MHEC Founding Father and Senior Advisor

Outstanding Service Award Criteria

Years of service to MHEC
Creation of MHEC programs and services
Securing participation in MHEC programs and services
Strong commitment to the MHEC principles
Increasing MHEC visibility in private industry
Promotion of public/private partnerships for the betterment of higher education
Exemplary leadership service to the Midwestern Higher Education Compact
Setting an example as a mentor for other volunteers
Innovation and creation of ideas that advance collaboration and cooperation in education

Outstanding Service Award Recipients

2024 – Dr. Morna Foy, Former President, Wisconsin Technical College System; and Mr. Dirk Huggett, Assistant CIO for Administration, North Dakota University System
2023 – Mr. Aric Kirkland, Director of Desktop and Classroom Technology, Eastern Michigan University; and Dr. Kathleen Fimple, Academic Programs Officer, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education
2022 – Joseph Rayzor, Director of Risk Management, University of Northern Iowa; and Jared Shank, Director of Military and Apprenticeship Initiatives and Special Projects at the Ohio Articulation and Transfer Network, Ohio Department of Higher Education
2021 – Shellie Haut, Executive Director/Licensure, Regulatory Services & Human Capital, Central Michigan University; and Tracy Korsmo, Enterprise Architect for the SLDS and BI Program Manager, North Dakota Information Technology
2020 – Diana Malott, Director, Watkins Health Services at The University of Kansas; Tanya Spilovoy, Director, Open Policy for WCET; and Betsy Talbot, Manager of the Private Institution Registration and Licensing for the Minnesota Office of Higher Education
2019 – Gretchen Bartelson, Dean of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Northwest Iowa Community College, and Tari Lambert, Director, Transfer Indiana Central Office, Indiana Commission for Higher Education
2018 – Pam Schutt, MHEC Director of State Relations – since retired, March 2018
2017 – Sue Maes, Emeritus Dean for Continuing Education at the K-State Global Campus for Kansas State University
2016 – Patricia “PJ” Kale, Executive Director of Risk Management, University of Illinois
2015– Carla Ahrens, Risk Manager, State of Missouri; and Greg Clayton, Director of Benefits and Risk Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
2014 – Ruth Ginzberg, Sr. I.T. Procurement Specialist, University of Wisconsin System
2013 – John Dunning, CIO, Wayne State College (NE) & MHEC Technologies Committee Chair
2012 – Ken Sauer, Senior Associate Commissioner for Research and Academic Affairs, Indiana Commission for Higher Education
2011 – Grant Crawford, CIO and consultant, MHEC; MHEC Technologies Committee and CIO, North Dakota University System
2009 – Dennis Linster, CIO, Wayne State College (NE) – since retired 2010