Each year, the Shenandoah University Alumni Association honors five deserving alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Awards. To be selected, alumni must make significant achievements in their chosen profession; contribute to the betterment of their community, state, nation, or the world; or demonstrate ongoing dedication to the university.
These award recipients, along with the 2020 recipients, will be honored at the Alumni Awards Ceremony on Friday, Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m. during Homecoming & Family Weekend 2021. Congratulations to this year’s 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients! They are:
Dr. Trey Kunz ’14
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for Young Career Achievement
Kunz is an athletic trainer and physical therapist for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and the owner of Kunz Rehab and Performance Training (KRPT). KRPT offers rehabilitation and performance training consulting for professional, collegiate, and youth athletes and teams. In 2018 through KRPT, he provided rehab and performance training for adidas Nations Basketball during the 2018 EuroLeague Final Four. Kunz also traveled with and served as the physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach for a top-10 ranked tennis player during the 2017-18 tour season. Prior to his current positions, he was the rehabilitation director and assistant athletic trainer for the football program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and a performance physical therapist and coach at EXOS in Frisco, Texas. Kunz is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association, National Athletic Trainers’ Association and National Strength and Conditioning Association. He received his Master of Science in athletic training and Doctor of Physical Therapy degrees in 2014.
Brett R. DeVore ’98
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to the Community
DeVore is the owner of Kiddos’ Clubhouse, a private therapy clinic in Alpharetta, Georgia, that has been in business for more than 15 years. Kiddos’ Clubhouse provides occupational, physical and speech therapy to children with special needs. He has also built relationships with a handful of private schools in the area where he provides occupational and speech therapy. Outside of work, DeVore volunteers his time with Boy Scouts of America, and is an Eagle Scout. He helped form a new troop in his local area, and is the district chair for the largest Boy Scout district in the Atlanta Area Council. DeVore also served as a director for one of eight national pilot courses for new teaching material in a course called Wood Badge. In December 2018, he participated in an international community service project of a fellow Eagle Scout to help build therapy and sensory rooms for The Ark, a home for children with special needs in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. DeVore gave input on what equipment to use, how the equipment should be installed, and the safe use of the equipment. Once the plan was finalized, he went to Sri Lanka to help execute the building of the equipment, and to give teachers at the school some ideas on how to use the items with the children. DeVore received his Master of Science degree in occupational therapy in 1998.
Dr. Jennifer Green-Flint ’09, ’15
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to the University
Green-Flint is assistant dean of Shenandoah Conservatory and executive director of Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy. She is also an adjunct professor for Shenandoah Conservatory, as well as the Division of Education & Leadership. Green-Flint has worked for Shenandoah University for 15 years.
In her position as assistant dean, she provides senior leadership to increase student opportunities and faculty enterprise. This includes contributing creative strategic direction for major initiatives, team-leading the emergency response to COVID-19, managing operations, serving on school and institutional-level committees, planning and accompanying large group student travel and presenting and teaching nationally and internationally. In her position as executive director of the Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy, she provides leadership for faculty and staff of 40+ and a student body of 1,000, in addition to industry service. She is deeply invested in mentoring student leadership in arts and non-profit arenas and loves to guide young Shenandoah University professionals as they grow their career.
Recent recognition of her service includes the 2019- 2022 prestigious National Arts Strategies Fellowship and in 2020 Shenandoah’s James R. and Mary B. Wilkins Appreciation Award. Green-Flint earned her Master of Science degree in arts management in 2009 and her Doctor of Professional Studies degree in organizational leadership in 2015.
Jeremy Scott Blaustein ’06
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for Professional Achievement
Blaustein has been working professionally in the theatre for 22 years. He is currently the producing artistic director for Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre where he is responsible for creative oversight, fundraising, community outreach, marketing, budgeting and advertising. Prior to joining Shenandoah, Blaustein produced 17 Broadway shows, five off-Broadway productions, two West End shows and one national tour. He has worked with such notable actors as Angela Lansbury, Will Ferrell, Al Pacino, Patrick Stewart, Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, John Lithgow and Phylicia Rashad. Blaustein has been personally nominated for two Drama Desk Awards and one Outer Critics’ Circle Award. His productions have garnered a total of seven Tony Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, seven Outer Critics’ Circle Awards, seven Theatre World Awards, two Olivier Awards, one Pulitzer Prize and one Grammy nomination. As an actor, he has been nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards (Washington, DC). His directing work has been seen all over the world, including New York, London, and Winchester, Virginia. In addition to his work in theatre, Blaustein is also a published humorist and historian. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music theatre in 2006.
Robert J. Spiers, Jr. ’69
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement
Spiers has dedicated his life to music. From 1963-66 he served with the U.S. Continental Army Band of Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he was assistant first hornist. In 1964, the band had the honor of serving as the funeral band for Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Spiers was valedictorian of the Shenandoah Conservatory class of 1969 and received his Master of Music degree in 1970 from West Virginia University. In 1970, Spiers began his career in music education. He taught music education to public school students in Roanoke, Henrico and Hanover counties in Virginia. On March 23, 2000, the State Department of Education and the State School Board honored Spiers with the Distinguished Music Educator’s Award for his 30 years of teaching music to students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This marked the first time this award was presented to a music educator. Spiers received a Bachelor of Music Education degree with emphasis in French horn and a minor in organ in 1969.
(If you would like to nominate a Shenandoah University alumna or alumnus for a 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award, visit https://bit.ly/3bN9YiK)