Pitzer’s 2026 Alumni Award Recipients

Pitzer College alumni graduate with the passion and the tools to make positive change in the world. Their lives become activation centers for social responsibility and community engagement. 

On an annual basis, Pitzer’s Alumni Association honors standout alumni who embody the values of the college and campus community. This year’s recipients — Meena Duguay ’93, Laila Alvarez ’18 and Sylvie Wilson ’21 — have devoted themselves to supporting underserved communities of various backgrounds.

Join us to celebrate our awardees on May 2 at 5:15 p.m. at the Alumni Awards & Dinner in the McConnell Center Founders Room.

Distinguished Alumni Award

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes an alum who boldly puts the spirit of a Pitzer education into action.

Meena Duguay ’93 graduated from Pitzer with a bachelor’s degree in theatre and studied theatre in London. A veteran educator of 25 years, she teaches 12th-grade English and journalism for California Online Public Schools and is a homeroom teacher for English Language Learners. Duguay holds a master’s degree in education from the University of La Verne.

Now in her third year on the Pitzer College Alumni Board, Duguay is serving her second year as co-chair of the Inclusion and Justice Committee and is a member of the Executive Board. She joined the Board to bridge the gap between current students and alumni by creating opportunities for mentorship, professional connections, and support in navigating the post-college transition. Duguay’s work is driven by equity, inclusion, and building stronger student-alumni relationships.

Beyond her work in the classroom, Duguay has spent the last 14 years as the assistant director of the Ontario-Montclair School District’s annual K–8 musical production. Her dedication to theatre is rooted in the belief that creative expression is a fundamental tool for student empowerment and growth. Duguay also served as a host for several episodes of Learn With Me, a bilingual children’s television series produced by local PBS affiliate KCVR.

Whether she is directing on stage, teaching in a classroom or advocating in the community, Duguay remains dedicated to expanding opportunities for students.

Duguay and the Inclusion and Justice Committee are partnering with Pitzer’s Community Engagement Center to host “The Spirit of Pitzer: A Showcase of Student, Faculty & Community Collaborations” for this year’s Alumni Weekend.

GOLD Alumni Achievement Award

The GOLD (Graduate of the Last Decade) Alumni Achievement Award recognizes an alum who relentlessly applies Pitzer’s unique educational experience to their professional life.

Laila Zamudio Alvarez ’18, a first‑generation college graduate, earned her bachelor’s degree in human biology from Pitzer College. While at Pitzer, she organized with day laborers at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, interned with the ACLU Jails Project, served as a UCLA Dream Summer Fellow and was selected as a John Lewis Fellow in Atlanta. 

It was at Pitzer that Alvarez first learned to understand social issues through the lens of historical movements, an interdisciplinary foundation that empowered her commitment to immigrant justice. These experiences shaped her understanding of community power and collective liberation.

With the support and encouragement of mentors she met at Pitzer, Alvarez applied to law school and earned her Juris Doctorate from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2025. Since graduating, she has dedicated her legal career to serving asylum seekers and immigrant children. 

Motivated by her own undocumented experience, Alvarez works at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, where she advocates for the best interests of unaccompanied children in federal custody, including those separated from their families and facing removal proceedings. She brings her lived experience, legal training and deep commitment to justice to fight for the dignity and safety of those navigating the immigration system.

Pitzer Award for Alumni Service

The Pitzer Award for Alumni Service honors alumni who have made an impact on the life of the college or community through service, leadership and dedication. This year marks the inaugural year of this award.

Sylvie Wilson ’21 studied neuroscience at Pitzer and later earned a master's degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

At Pitzer, Wilson immersed herself in understanding biological outcomes resulting from a variety of environmental exposures and hormonal influences. She sought to study the intersection between sexual health, population, maternal health and neuroendocrinology, specifically in the context of reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. 

At Hopkins, she continued this work by focusing her education and research on sexual and reproductive health. She conducted research on abortion; barriers and facilitators to scaling up Black midwifery practices; and the impact of vacant lot restoration on the health of adolescents in Baltimore. 

Wilson currently serves as co-principal investigator of the study “Impact of feminine hygiene products on Black women’s body burden of breast cancer-related chemicals,” awarded to the California Black Health Network and Sequoia Foundation. 

Wilson also led The Gemma Project’s gender-responsive group programming for women who are incarcerated in Contra Costa, California. She now oversees operations for the organization to provide and promote the national creation of gender-responsive reentry programming that serves incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women with integrity and compassion.