Dorothy McInturf Powers
OCC Alumna of the Year
(from the Daily Clarion, Princeton, IN., Wednesday, May 30, 1973)

During the annual banquet meeting of the Oakland City College alumni association to be held in the memorial gymnasium on the campus, Saturday evening, May 26, 1973, at 6:00 PM, Mrs. Dorothy McInturf Powers, '53, a music teacher par excellence from South Bend, was named "alumna of the year." This comes just 20 years after her graduation from OCC.

The Alumni Board annually screens top alumni recommended to them and endeavors to arrive at a unanimous decision on who should be given the award. Several outstanding people were suggested, but Mrs.Powers, suggested by her former music teacher, OCC's Dr. Neva Barnard (retired) won the decision. Mrs. Powers has visited the campus several times to provide or help in the musical activities of the occasion.

She received the first Silver Anniversary Award given by Dr. Barnard in 1953 for outstanding work in music. In 1968, she instigated the "Neva Rankin Barnard Scholarship in Music," which has already provided three worthy students with music scholarships.

Her students have consistently won firsts at state solo and ensemble contests, and she has had to move special programs to larger auditoriums in order to satisfy public demand. Her students have performed to packed houses at all seasons, and have successfully performed on TV as well.

Mrs. Powers earned her Master's Degree in February 1969, and has been active in state and national organizations including the Indiana Music Education Association and the ISTA.

Instead of the usual address given by the award winner, Mrs. Powers brought a large group of current and past students to provide a program of music for the assembled alumni and friends of the College.