Alumni Association Awards Program

The Heinz College Alumni Association Board (HCAAB) believes that it is important to recognize the outstanding contributions that our alumni make to their chosen professions and in service to Heinz College. To that end, the HCAAB initiated the Heinz College Alumni Awards in 2012 to recognize outstanding alumni with four awards: Distinguished Alumni, Outstanding Recent Alumni, and Alumni Meritorious Service, and the Dean's Recognition Award.

2025 Alumni Association Award Honorees

Distinguished Alumni Award

Denele Hughson (MSPPM 2013)

Denele is the Executive Director of Grow Pittsburgh, an organization focused on improving food security and supporting food growing initiatives both locally and nationally. She has a deep passion for food justice and has played a key role in advocating for better food policies. Denele currently serves on several influential committees, including the Pennsylvania Food Policy Council Advisory Committee and the Allegheny County Food Justice Committee. She is co-chair of the PA Urban Agriculture Working Group and is interim co-chair for the Allegheny County Food Justice Committee. Previously, Denele served as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for PA Certified Organics.

A Pittsburgh native, Denele holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated in 2008. She served as an AmeriCorps KEYS volunteer and spent several years working with nonprofits across Pittsburgh. Denele earned an M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, where she completed internships with the Smithsonian Institution and the Pittsburgh Public School District.

At Grow Pittsburgh, Denele leads efforts that teach individuals how to grow food, increase access to healthy produce, build community gardens throughout Allegheny County, and advance the right to farm throughout the Commonwealth. She is committed to improving the social, economic, and environmental health of the Greater Pittsburgh area by focusing on sustainable food systems and equity.

Outstanding Recent Alumni Award

Lava Hong (MEIM 2021)

Lava Hong is a Clio, Golden Trailer, and Global Entertainment Award–nominated music supervisor whose career spans Hollywood, gaming, and global entertainment. She recently joined Premiere Music Group and Riot Games, where she oversees music supervision and creative strategy for high-profile international gaming and interactive projects.

Previously at Trailer Park Group, Lava advanced from coordinator to music supervisor within four years, facilitating music supervision and licensing for campaigns including Oppenheimer, Wicked, Wednesday, Mufasa, Furiosa, Stranger Things, and 3 Body Problem. Through its subsidiary Dark Burn, Lava also contributed to immersive projects with clients such as Meta, Marvel, Disney, Epic Games, and Blizzard, extending her expertise across film, streaming, and interactive media.

In parallel, Lava has established herself as a bilingual artist and composer. Her work in Mandarin and English blends indie, alternative, and cinematic EDM-pop, earning more than one million streams worldwide. Her Monstercat collaboration "Forget About Us" with No Mana and Nuphory surpassed 100,000 streams in its first month, while her vocals featured in Angel Studio's The Shift trailer earned her a Golden Trailer Award nomination in 2024.

A dedicated mentor and industry advocate, Lava has coached more than 20 emerging professionals in sync and licensing and has spoken on more than 30 panels and workshops. She is committed to championing underrepresented voices and continues to expand the role of music as a global storytelling force.

Meritorious Service Award

Alan Eaton (MSPPM 2009)

Alan Eaton is a management-coned Foreign Service Officer working at the U.S. Department of State. He has performed a variety of roles in embassies abroad, including as a general services officer handling embassy logistics in Port Louis, Mauritius, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, and as a consular officer in Chengdu, China, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Alan and his spouse, Timothy, are currently learning Ukrainian for their next assignment in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alan has been a part of many departments and led evacuation efforts of Americans around the globe. In February 2020, Alan and his husband joined the Consular fly-away team to go into the closed city of Wuhan, China, to help evacuate more than 800 Americans and 39 Canadians at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. In 2021, after the fall of Kabul, Alan joined the Afghanistan fly away team to go into Hamid Karzai International Airport in the massive evacuation that helped more than 124,000 people leave Afghanistan. In 2023, after conflict broke out in Sudan, he joined evacuation efforts by crossing the Red Sea via military frigate to Port Sudan and assisting Americans and locally employed staff and family cross to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Later in 2024 Alan's assigned post of Porto Alegre, Brazil, was hit with catastrophic flooding; Alan helped lead the logistics of American personnel (including himself and his husband) to be evacuated via land convoy to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Alan was active in the DC Carnegie Mellon alumni chapter until he joined the Foreign Service and started serving overseas. While overseas, Alan contributed to CMU and Heinz College through the virtual mentorship program, assisting those with interest in government, foreign affairs, and the Foreign Service.

Alan received a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon in Ethics, History and Public Policy and then a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Heinz College. Alan twice received the award for heroism from the Department of State for his role in the Wuhan Evacuation and then the Kabul Evacuations.