Celebrating our golden award winners
The 50th anniversary of one’s graduation offers a wonderful opportunity to look back on a lifetime of achievement, of successes attained and relationships built. This special time also offers a moment of reflection for the Emeritus Club of Tulane University, managed by the Office of Alumni Relations, a time when we can celebrate those very special alumni who have, in the half century since their graduation, always held their alma mater close to their hearts in word and deed.
Each year, all members of the university-wide 50-year class are honored by being automatically inducted as members of the Emeritus Club. The Emeritus Club of Tulane strives to keep members of 50-year-and-earlier classes, and emeritus faculty, in touch and connected with each other and with the university. The club also uses this occasion to recognize exceptional members of the emeritus class with their lifetime achievement award.
This year, the Emeritus Club has chosen to honor two outstanding graduates — David F. Edwards (A&S ’71, L *72) and Ulla Ule, MD (NC ’70, M *73, R *76, F *81, B *91) — both of whom have demonstrated an unflagging devotion to Tulane as well as exemplified in their personal and professional lives everything a Tulanian should be. David Edwards is a member of the Class of 1970 but did a combined degree program.
“As Tulane University continues to thrive, it is important to take a moment to recognize those remarkable Tulanians who have positively influenced our institution through their lifelong generosity and service. David Edwards and Ulla Ule have each played a key role in Tulane becoming the leading institution it is today,” says Lori Hurvitz, associate vice president for alumni relations.
When you look at the landscape of Tulane, it is hard to find an aspect of the university that has not benefitted from David Edwards’ considerable wisdom. Over the years, he has served on the President’s Council, the School of Medicine Board of Governors, the Bea Field Alumni House Committee, the Committee of 170th Donors, and the Green Wave Club. And he shows no sign of stopping in terms of his dedicated service to his beloved Tulane. Today, he continues to serve as a member of the Board of Tulane, the National Campaign Council for Louisiana and the Public Health Dean’s Council. He has also served as a chair of his 50th Reunion this year.
Edwards’ dedication to Tulane is matched by his personal achievements and remarkable philanthropy. Edwards is a partner of Jones Walker, LLP’s tax and estates practice group in New Orleans. He has formerly served as the state chair of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel. As a trustee of the Collins C. Diboll Foundation, he has facilitated transformative grants to Louisiana nonprofits in the areas of higher education, human services and youth.
Dr. Ulla Ule’s devotion to Tulane is equally profound. Dr. Ule earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Newcomb College in 1970, and later earned her MD and completed her residency and fellowship from the Tulane University School of Medicine. She then went on to earn her executive MBA from the A. B. Freeman School of Business.
A current member of the School of Medicine Board of Governors and the Tulane Medical Alumni Association Board of Directors, Ule is also a former member of the Tulane Cancer Center Advisory Board and the Medicine Dean’s Council and chair of her 45th Reunion.
In her work as a hematologist/oncologist at Christus Health in Alexandria, Louisiana, Dr. Ule has made a positive impact on the lives of countless patients and their families. Along with her husband, Dr. James Knoepp (M *71, I *72, R *80), Ule established the Louis F. Knoepp, Sr., MD Fund to support residents in the Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Surgery.
Through their professional and philanthropic achievements as well as through their remarkable devotion, David Edwards and Ulla Ule both stand as embodiments of Tulane’s motto, “Not for Oneself but for One’s Own.”
