Light on the Hill Award recipient selected

Nick Birnback (LA '92) will be this year's recipient for TCU Senate's annual Light on the Hill Award.

Birnback has worked for many years with the United Nations, and has worked in countries from Ethiopia to East Timor.

Birnback accepted the nomination this week, (TCU) President Chike Aguh said, but is still waiting for permission from the United Nations to accept the award.

Upon graduating from Tufts with a B.A. in International Relations, Birnback received his Masters degree from Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He subsequently served as an officer with the United Nations (U.N.) peace missions centered in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Among other positions held with the United Nations, Birnback served as external relations officer at the Electoral Assistance Division (EAD) at the U.N. Headquarters, acting spokesman and officer-in-charge with the U.N. mission in East Timor and press officer with the United Nations in Liberia, according to the EPIIC website.

Birnback is currently a political officer with the Asia/Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations' Office at U.N. Headquarters.

"Nick Birnback was chosen for this award because of his exemplary service in the United Nations and his continued devotion to the University," Aguh said. "He is the ultimate embodiment of the global citizenship that Tufts values."

According to Aguh, The Light on the Hill Award is given each year to a Tufts alum "that has done great service to Tufts and made exemplary achievement in the world."

A tradition started at Tufts in the early 1990s, the Light on the Hill Award is the highest honor the student body bestows upon an alumnus or alumna each year. Director of Alumni Relations Tim Brooks said that "[the award] was and continues to be an entirely student-run program."

Although Alumni Relations has been asked by the TCU Senate to recommend alumni for the award in the past, Brooks said that was not the case this year.

It is not yet clear when Birnback will be on campus to receive the award. Aguh said the ceremony will be held either at the end of this year or during next year's fall term.

Past recipients have included the current governor of New Mexico and four-time Nobel

Peace Prize nominee Bill Richardson (LA '70), "Simpsons" character voice and actor Hank Azaria (LA '87), U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame member Rick Hauck (LA '62) and five-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and writer Rob Burnett (LA '84).