MPA alumnus Larry Kocot, ’82, ’86, is a recipient of this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor bestowed by the UMass Amherst Alumni Association on alumni, faculty and friends. Kocot, Deputy Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, will be honored at a private awards ceremony held at the Massachusetts State House in Boston on April 13, 2011.
Later that day, a reception at Beacon Hill’s Hampshire House will also be held in Kocot’s honor. Kocot was nominated for the award by Professor of Economics and CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett. The nomination was supported by Professor Emeritus of Political Science George T. Sulzner, who served as Kocot’s undergraduate advisor and recruited him into the Masters in Public Administration program. Additional information about Kocot and his long career of public service is available here.
Of the other five distinctions, the Distinguished Alumni Award specifically honors alumni with national and/or international distinction who have translated their UMass Amherst experience into distinguished achievement in the public, business or professional realms, and have shown service to UMass Amherst in the financial, volunteer, or advocacy sectors.