The Wartburg College Alumni Board presented ReShonda Young, Susan Vallem and Frederick Burrack with Alumni Citations Sunday, Oct. 16, during the college’s annual homecoming celebration.

Young, a 1997 graduate, began building her net worth buying, selling and renting real estate. Today she owns Popcorn Heaven, a boutique popcorn shop in Waterloo, and serves as the operations manager at Alpha Express, a family business. She also is an advocate for small business owners seeking to provide health insurance for their employees and women seeking equal pay for equal work.

A 1966 graduate, Vallem served as the Tomson Distinguished Professor of Social Work at Wartburg where she also helped develop the Slife Institute for Social Work Consultation, Research & Training. Vallem also nurtured a partnership with Retrieving Freedom Inc. that led to a for-credit course that allowed students to help train the service dogs.

Burrack, a 1981 graduate, is a professor of music at Kansas State University where he also oversees the graduate studies for the music program and is director of the Office of Assessment. His research in teacher preparation and assessment has been widely published.

Nominees for the annual award are reviewed based on their personal and professional application of the college’s mission statement pillars: leadership, service, faith and learning.