James Taylor ’57, M.D., who worked with homeless patients for 11 years after leaving private primary care practice, has earned the 2015 Massachusetts Medical Society’s Senior Volunteer Physician of the Year Award for his work at Duffy Health Center in Hyannis. Taylor practiced in Geneva, New York, before moving in 2000 to North Eastham on Cape Cod.

Denis O’Neill ’70, author of Whiplash: When the Vietnam War Rolled a Hand Grenade into the Animal House (excerpted in the Nov/Dec 2013 issue of DAM), was named a finalist for a  Northeast USA Regional Excellence Book Award. The awards honor books that take readers into the “heart” of a place. 

Phil Langley ’59 has been elected to his fourth consecutive term as president of the Columbus, Ohio-based U.S. Trotting Association, the national registry for Standardbred horses. He oversees the 25,000-member nonprofit and its efforts to license participants and formulate rules in the sport of harness racing.

Dylan Gray ’91 has earned two Indian Documentary Producers Association Awards for Excellence—a gold for direction and a silver for script—for his film, Fire in the Blood, which reveals the devastating effects among people in Africa and Asia who cannot access affordable antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. Gray’s film also won honors at the 2014 Montreal International Black Film Festival, the International Film Festival of Kashmir and the 2014 White Sands International Film Festival in New Mexico.

Susan (Weiss) Spencer ’81 has been named Reporter of the Year by the New England Newspaper & Press Association for her work as a reporter with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts. She also earned individual first-place honors for stories on a jurisdictional dispute between local and state police (general news); a contractor who left a trail of broken promises at various school construction projects (investigative reporting); and a prescription painkiller abuse crisis (health reporting).

Kabir Sehgal ’05 earned a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for The Offense of the Drum, by Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. He served as the album’s executive producer and wrote the liner notes.

Barry Guitar ’64, a leading researcher in the area of stuttering and a professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Vermont, has earned the 2015 George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award by the UVM alumni association. Guitar teaches and supervises clinical work in stuttering, and his research focuses on treatment for preschool children who stutter.

Geologist David Abbott ’69 has earned the 2015 Ben H. Parker Memorial Medal from the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) for his long record of distinguished and outstanding service to the profession. A consulting geologist in the Denver area, he has also written the “Professional Ethics & Practices” column in AIPG’s The Professional Geologist magazine since 1995.

Architect Scott Simons ’76 has been named one of “50 People Shaping Our State” by Maine magazine. His Portland-based firm has completed several hundred projects during the past 19 years, most notably the Portland Public Library and the Casco Bay Ferry Terminal. Simons is the founder of the Portland Society for Architecture. 

Jim Goldman ’80, the former president and CEO of Godiva Chocolatier, has been elected to the Save the Children board of trustees. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based humanitarian and relief organization cited Goldman’s experience overseeing global business operations in emerging markets as part of the reason he was selected.

Niegel Smith ’02 has been named artistic director of the Flea Theater in N.Y.C. Smith, an artist-in-residence at Second Stage Theater, was the associate director of the Tony Award-winning musical Fela! and the Broadway and off-Broadway productions of the musical Caroline, or Change.

Mike Houston ’94 is on the team that earned a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design for the PBS show, The Mind of a Chef. He was honored for his work on character design.

Jeneen DiBenedetto Graham ’96, who earned her Ed.D. from the University of California, Irvine, was honored with a distinguished alumni award from the school for achievement in her field. She is the academic dean at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, California.