The prestigious annual award recognizes a select group of extraordinary alumni.
Eight outstanding individuals were lauded with Baldwin Wallace University's highest alumni honor — the Alumni Merit Award — which recognizes exceptional accomplishments and dedicated service to profession, community and alma mater.
The 2025 awards were presented during an event on Thursday, May 15. The following alumni received the award.
Budge earned her BA in pre-physical therapy with a minor in biology from BW in 2008. She later earned her doctorate in physical therapy from The Ohio State University with a research emphasis on the biomechanics of ACL and lower extremity athletic injury.
She is the founder and president of Stability Enhancement Systems (SES), a nationally recognized elite sports biomechanics performance company based out of Columbus, Ohio. SES is dedicated to reducing injury risk through targeted personalized interventions and maximizing athlete performance potential.
A leading authority on injury risk evaluation methodologies and injury mitigation programming in competitive sports, Budge has received national grant funding for her work in ACL injury-related research and has made multiple contributions to the field as a published author. Her approach to athlete movement analysis and programming has gained national recognition as one of the most successful injury prevention systems. She presents nationally on athlete injury risk profiling and reduction and lectures at the collegiate and graduate levels.
Each year, Budge provides rehabilitation services to the underserved in Mexico. For BW, she has presented to student-athletes at the Center for Innovation and Growth's Innovation Summit and annually supports and mentors the women's basketball team.
Einhouse earned a BA in business administration from BW in 1989. He is a licensed Ohio real estate salesperson with more than 40 years of experience in real estate development and historic theater restoration, primarily focused on Cleveland's Playhouse Square. Since 1980, he's played a central role in the restoration of five historic theaters that laid the foundation for the world's largest theater restoration project. Today, that project has grown into the 11 performance spaces that comprise Playhouse Square, the largest performing arts center outside New York City.
Einhouse's projects included the Allen Theatre complex, Idea Center, Hanna Theatre, E. 14th Street Streetscape and the redevelopment of several significant buildings, including 1305 and 1317 Euclid and the Middough Building. He also had a hand in the creation of the Playhouse Square Chandelier and other streetscape amenities.
In the early 1990s, Einhouse helped form what would become the Playhouse Square District Development Corporation (PDDC), the first Business Improvement District (BID) in Cleveland. He served as executive vice president of the PDDC, which later became part of the downtown-wide BID. A passionate advocate for historic preservation, Einhouse is an honorary life trustee of the Cleveland Restoration Society, a trustee of the Foundry and a past board chair of the Downtown Cleveland Improvement Corporation. He also held leadership roles as president of the Cleveland Restoration Society and the League of Historic American Theatres.
Einhouse has also contributed 21 years of community service through leadership roles on the Lakewood Board of Education, Lakewood Planning Commission and Lakewood Board of Zoning Appeals. His wife, Cindy, has served as executive director of the Beck Center since 2007, and together, they support the arts. Now semi-retired, Einhouse continues to be involved in civic and cultural organizations as well as provide guest lectures for BW arts management students.
Korwin serves as the executive vice president of science and innovation at State Industrial Products in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, where she oversees Research and Development, Product Management, Quality, Microbiology and Packaging and Equipment Engineering. Under Korwin's leadership, State has been recognized with four "EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year" awards from 2017-2024 for pioneering safer chemistries in the cleaning space. She also received recognition from Crain's Cleveland Business as a "2020 Annual Woman of Note" for the development of disinfecting products in rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For several decades, Korwin has also served on numerous boards and committees for groups such as the ISSA Trade Association and The Household and Commercial Products Association, where she served as treasurer and chair of the board. She was also appointed to an expert scientific advisory panel to the EPA on safety solvents.
Korwin earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in both biology and chemistry from BW in 1995. She went on to earn a Master of Science in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Kent State University. Her postdoc research centered on polymer science. Korwin credits her love of science to the passion exuded by her late father, Patrick Spooner, a high school chemistry and biology teacher, as well as to Dr. Jim McCargar, the founding dean of science and engineering at BW, who was her very first chemistry professor in college.
Korwin and husband Dr. Douglas Korwin, also a scientist, have two children, Nathan and Alexis.
Lauria earned her BA in sociology from BW as a continuing education student. She was hired by the Berea City Schools in 1972 to begin a student volunteer program, later named the Responsive Student Volunteer Program (RSVP). Over the next 24 years, she recruited thousands of students to provide volunteer tutoring services for the entire school system and a wide array of other volunteer services throughout the surrounding community.
During her tenure, Lauria became the local liaison for the American Field Service (AFS), an international cultural exchange program, recruiting and working with Berea High students who wanted to study abroad and helping to find families to host international students while they attended Berea High. Lauria's success in running, promoting and educating students about the Red Cross Bloodmobile at Berea High earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award from Greater Cleveland Red Cross Blood Services. After she retired, the Berea Schools inducted her into its Hall of Fame.
Lauria's support for education extended to BW through philanthropic activities with her late husband, Anthony "Tony" Lauria, an emeriti faculty member. Together, the couple established five scholarships benefiting numerous BW students. Most recently, The Lauria STEM Prize was created to recognize an outstanding student in STEM-related disciplines. In addition, the annual Lauria Concerto Competition offers recognition and performance opportunities to outstanding musicians in the Conservatory of Performing Arts.
Beyond philanthropy, the Laurias came back to support BW in person often, including many years driving their antique cars to transport BW royalty in the annual Homecoming parade.
Laycock earned a Bachelor of Music Education from BW in 1977. He went on to receive his Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Music Education from Case Western Reserve University. Laycock taught string and wind music for Parma City Schools for 36 years and served as music department chairman for the Valley Forge Cluster.
Laycock is in his 47th year conducting the Parma Symphony Orchestra and served as conductor of the University Circle Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 1994. He has also been a guest conductor of The Cleveland Philharmonic and performed as a double bassist with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, The Cleveland Ballet and the Cleveland Opera orchestras. In addition to his extensive teaching and performing career, he has been music director for numerous musical theatre productions at Cuyahoga Community College Western Campus.
Notably, he conducted the Baldwin Wallace University Youth Orchestra Program from 1978-2016, making significant contributions to the music community at BW. His longstanding involvement with BW students and the Youth Orchestra Program helped shape the musical education of countless young musicians over the years.
In 2007, Laycock was honored as the Outstanding Secondary Arts Educator in Northeast Ohio, and in 2017, he received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was recently featured in a segment on Good Morning America highlighting a promising new treatment for Parkinson's Awareness Month.
Winkelfoos earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Communication Studies from BW before obtaining a master's degree in higher education administration and student personnel from Kent State University.
A former NCAA Division III student-athlete, her enduring passion and joy for sports have shaped a nearly 20-year career at Oberlin College, where she has held various leadership roles within the athletics department. Currently, she serves on the president's leadership team as the associate vice president for athletics.
Winkelfoos is an active member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the National Association of Athletic Development Directors, the National Association of Division III Athletics Administrators and Women Leaders in Sports.
Recognized as a dynamic fundraiser and a compassionately competitive leader, Winkelfoos was named the 2015 Women Leaders in College Sports Division III Administrator of the Year and the 2018 Under Armour AD of the Year. A respected industry influencer, she frequently speaks at conferences, contributes to various committees and is regarded for her impact in collegiate athletics.
At Baldwin Wallace, Natalie was inducted into the BW Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018 for basketball and served as president of the Brown & Gold Club from 2019-2020. She is also a member of both the Bucyrus High School Hall of Fame and the Crawford County Sports Hall of Fame.
