2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards: Meet the Honorees
Leaders in the arts, law enforcement on the global stage, and philanthropy across dozens of countries. A World War II vet with decades of service to SMC, an educator who goes above and beyond, and an honorary alumna committed to Saint Mary’s mission.
Saint Mary’s College proudly honors the recipients of the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards. These six alumni, professors, and community members have earned this prestigious recognition through exemplified excellence in their respective fields and made significant contributions to society and our College.
The awardees include four graduates, a faculty member, and an honorary alumna:
- Lisa Congdon ’90, Alumna of the Year
- Robert Clifford ’81, Global Gael Award
- Somachi Chris-Asoluka ’11, Signum Fidei Award
- Neil Sweeney ’50, Golden Gael Award
- Monica Fitzgerald, Saint John Baptist De La Salle Award
- Marilyn Bohl, Honorary Alumna
The Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 15, offering a special opportunity to honor the outstanding achievements of this year’s honorees. Members of the Saint Mary’s community, alumni, and friends are invited to join in celebrating their inspiring contributions and lasting impact. for all who wish to attend this memorable event, which promises to highlight the values and spirit that define Saint Mary’s College.
Lisa Congdon ’90
Alumna of the Year
Lisa Congdon '90 is an internationally known, award-winning fine artist, illustrator, and author. She is best known for her colorful graphic style and her exploration of themes of joy, liberation, and inclusion. She makes art for clients around the globe, including The Library of Congress, Target, The US Postal Service, Wired Magazine, Amazon, Google, Smith Optics, Warby Parker, Method, Comme des Garcons, Peet's Coffee, REI, and MoMa, among many others. She exhibits internationally, including solo shows at Saint Mary's College Museum of Art (California), Chefas Projects (Oregon), and Paradigm Gallery (Philadelphia), along with group shows at Hashimoto Contemporary in Los Angeles, Museum of Design Atlanta, and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
She is the author of ten books, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist and Find your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic. She and her team run a thriving retail business, where they sell her work, both online and in a storefront in Portland. Lisa is self-taught and didn’t achieve momentum in her career until she was nearly 40 years old. Despite her nontraditional path, Lisa has achieved recognition, not just as an artist, but as a leader in the industry for her work in social justice, mentoring and teaching. In March of 2021 she was named “One of the 50 Most Inspiring People and Companies According to Industry Creatives” published by AdWeek. When she's not making art, you can find her racing her bike around Oregon. She lives and works in Portland.
The Alumna of the Year Award recognizes an alumna/us who has made a significant contribution to their professional field or has demonstrated consistent service to the College, exemplifying the spirit and dedication of the Saint Mary's College graduate.
Robert Clifford ’81
Global Gael Award
Robert Clifford '81 is a distinguished law enforcement and intelligence executive whose career spans four decades, including nearly 25 years with the FBI. Rising to the rank of Senior Executive, Robert specialized in counterterrorism, counterespionage, nuclear proliferation, civil rights, and transnational organized crime. He held critical roles such as FBI On-Scene Commander in Iraq, where he integrated FBI resources with US military and intelligence operations. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the FBI Director’s Award for Counterterrorism and the Service to America Medal. In 2004, Clifford received the Service to America Medal and was named Federal Employee of the Year. A US Navy veteran, Robert served as a Surface Warfare Officer and later as a Naval Intelligence Officer, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Recently, Clifford’s consulting career has included large-scale international missions in Somalia and Ukraine as part of the US Department of Justice’s efforts to strengthen judicial systems and counter global threats. These missions, among the most complex in the world, required managing multimillion-dollar budgets and international teams. Many of Clifford’s declassified and adjudicated investigations are widely recognized for their significance, impact, and precedent-setting nature involving counterterrorism operations, extraterritorial jurisdiction, terrorism prosecutions, and global intelligence coordination.
The Gobal Gael Award is presented to a Saint Mary's College alumnus/a who has demonstrated exemplary dedication to the international community–either through their professional work and/or service abroad–in the spirit of our Catholic and Lasallian traditions.
Somachi Chris-Asoluka ’11
Signum Fidei Award
Somachi Chris-Asoluka '11 is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs across all 54 African countries. The Foundation has disbursed over $100 million in direct funding to more than 21,000 young African women and men and granted over 2.5 million young Africans with access to training programs on its digital hub. Under her leadership, the Foundation is increasingly sharing its unique ability to identify, train, mentor, and fund young entrepreneurs across Africa, scaled through partnerships with global institutions including the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, the US government, and Google, among others.
She is a Board Director of WINGS, a global network of over 190 philanthropy development and support organizations in more than 50 countries, committed to ensuring philanthropy reaches its fullest potential as a catalyst for social progress. Chris-Asoluka sits on the Advisory Board of the Michigan State University Alliance for African Partnership, is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the National Economics Honor Society. She was appointed to the Nigerian Presidential High-Level Advisory Council on Support to Women and Girls by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Signum Fidei Award, meaning “sign of faith,” recognizes the alumna/us for outstanding participation in the goals of higher education, in the spirit of the founder of the Christian Brothers, patron of all teachers, Saint John Baptist De La Salle.
Neil Sweeney ’50
Golden Gael Award
Neil Sweeney’s connection to Saint Mary’s began during WWII when the College hosted the Naval Pre-Flight Academy. After serving in the war, he returned to graduate in 1950 and embarked on a remarkable career in public education, establishing strong public schools in the Bay Area. Sweeney's contributions began as a teacher and coach at Amador Valley High School and continued as an administrator, ultimately serving as Deputy Superintendent. He was instrumental in opening Foothill High School and served as its first principal.
Sweeney and his wife, Beverly, raised eight children, six of whom attended Saint Mary’s, along with other grandchildren and family members. A lifelong supporter of and volunteer with the College, he has served on the Alumni Board, Athletics Hall of Fame committee, and as a professor in the Kalmanovitz School of Education. He and Beverly have been generous donors for over 50 years, supporting scholarships and athletics. Sweeney and his classmates established a scholarship for the Class of 1950 and contributes to athletics and CILSA as a President’s Circle member. For their 60th wedding anniversary, his children established a Sweeney Family Endowed Scholarship to which the family still contributes.
Awarded to a member of the Saint Mary’s community who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to the College through loyalty, connection, and philanthropy. Recognizes dedication to promote and advance the mission, support the efforts of advancement and access to education, and embody the spirit of our founder, Saint John Baptist De La Salle.
Monica Fitzgerald
Saint John Baptist De La Salle Award
Monica Fitzgerald is currently the Associate Dean in the Kalmanovitz School of Education. She started her Saint Mary's career teaching a class in the history department while a professor was on sabbatical. She fell in love with the College and stalked the job boards to land a tenure track position in the Liberal and Civic Studies Program. She helped create the Justice, Community, and Leadership Program and collaborated in the design of undergraduate pathways for teacher credentialing. She has served as Senate Chair, the Director of Faculty Development, and chair of several departments.
She earned her BA from UC Berkeley in Political Science, an MA in History from California State East Bay, and her PhD in American History from UC Davis. In 2020, Cambridge University Press published her book, Puritans Behaving Badly: Gender, Punishment and Religion in Early America. Her 2011 article on the construction of gender in early New England, “Drunkards, Fornicators, and the Great Hen Squabble: Censuring Practices and the Gendering of Puritanism,” won the Coordinating Council for Women in History Nupur Chaudhuri First Article Prize for the American Historical Association. She has two children and lives in Walnut Creek with her partner, Frank. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, yoga, running, and playing with her dog Bruce. Growing up in Southern California, she remains loyal to the Dodgers forever and ever.
The Saint John Baptist De La Salle award is presented to a member of the faculty or staff who has, over a period of years, demonstrated a personal commitment to the students of Saint Mary's College above and beyond their employee responsibilities.
Marilyn Bohl
Honorary Alumna
Marilyn Bohl is a faithful believer in and supporter of higher education and collegiate athletics, supporting Saint Mary’s capital projects and student-athletes. Bohl has made a $1 million commitment to Gael Athletics, including $250,000 specifically towards the Br. Ronald Gallagher Stadium for baseball. The Player Development Center along the third base line bears her name. The gift also created The Marilyn J. Bohl Athletic Excellence Fund to provide support for strategic initiatives for the Athletics Department. In addition to supporting Gael Athletics, Bohl has funded capital projects at Long Beach State and University of Northern Iowa.
Bohl achieved a successful career in the computer industry, including 35 years managing large innovative software development projects. She also authored college textbooks about computing that have been widely used in universities nationwide and internationally. In the early 1980s, when IBM first released its desktop personal computers, Bohl partnered with the Dean of the Business School and IBM to establish two rooms with PCs for student use—ahead of most, if not all, schools in the area. “Education opens the door to opportunity”—an observation Bohl makes frequently—one she believes, lives, and applies as a guide in focusing her time, talents, attention, and resources.
The Honorary Alumna award recognizes outstanding service and dedication to the mission of Saint Mary's College.
Join us in celebrating this class of outstanding individuals on Saturday, February 15 at . Then, attend the men's basketball game where the honorees will be recognized on the basketball court.
