This year’s alumni of the year awards will go to Greg Feasel (’81), the chief operating officer of the Colorado Rockies, and April Ward (’06) Farris, a justice on the Fifteenth Court of Appeals.

The Alumnus of the Year award is to honor lifetime achievement from ACU alumni, said Craig Fisher, director of alumni relations. Recipients are chosen by the Alumni Advisory Board from nominations made by family and friends of alumni. 

“The candidates for these awards each year are people that are out there,” Fisher said, “They’ve been working. They’ve done a lot through their career. They’ve done a lot in civic organizations and volunteering and on boards and made efforts through church, just making a big difference where they are.”

Feasel graduated in 1981 and was chosen as the alumnus of the year for his 30 years of work at the Colorado Rockies, Fisher said.

“For us to have an ACU alum that is running a major sports organization is quite a feat, ” Fisher said. “He’s a picture for us of just what a Christian business leader can be doing, and a man of God and somebody that loves this place.”

The Young Alumna of the Year award is similar to the other, except the recipient must be under 40 years of age.

Farris graduated from ACU in 2006 and continued her education at Harvard Law School. She was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in September and has previously served on the First Court of Appeals in Houston. She graduated with a degree in advertising and public relations and served on the staff of The Optimist as a student.

“When I went to ACU, the motto was ‘Change the World,’” Farris said, “and then my first dinner at Harvard, the dean, who was Elena Kagan said, ‘If you if you want to change the world, you’ve come to the right place.’ And so I just love the fact that ACU was already focused on building a student body that was equipped to make a difference in the world.”

Both recipients will be recognized at the alumni luncheon on March 30, the weekend of Sing Song.

“It sets a marker for us to stop and to focus on the goodness of what’s happening through the people that have come through this university,” Fisher said. “I think it gives our students and it gives our community and our alumni base reasons to celebrate.”