{"id":428,"date":"2008-05-09T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T20:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/bsutoday\/2008\/05\/09\/dr-alex-cirillo-jr-to-receive-2008-distinguished-minnesotan-award\/"},"modified":"2021-11-01T15:55:03","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T20:55:03","slug":"dr-alex-cirillo-jr-to-receive-2008-distinguished-minnesotan-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/2008\/05\/09\/dr-alex-cirillo-jr-to-receive-2008-distinguished-minnesotan-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Alex Cirillo, Jr., to receive 2008 Distinguished Minnesotan Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEMIDJI, Minn.<\/strong> – Dr. Alex Cirillo, Jr., will be recognized as the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished Minnesotan Award during commencement ceremonies Friday, May 16, at 91心頭利.<\/p>\n

First presented by Bemidji State in 1981, the Distinguished Minnesotan Award acknowledges the contributions of current or former residents of the state who have performed exemplary service to the people of Minnesota or the United States.<\/p>\n

Cirillo joined 3M as a senior physicist in the company’s Central Research Laboratories in 1979. Four years later he was leading 3M’s first laboratory in filtration products, and later directed the company’s commercial graphics division. He also served as the research and development executive for the company’s health care markets. In that role, Cirillo was responsible for several 3M Technology Centers and the 3M Bioanalytical Technologies Project, a business venture targeting products for genomic applications. In 2000, he was named president and general manager of 3M-Canada.<\/p>\n

Today, based in St. Paul, Minn., as 3M’s vice president for community affairs and vice president of the 3M Foundation, Cirillo is extending 3M’s innovation to address community needs, prepare students for the 21st century workforce and sustain the environment. In 2007, 3M allocated more than $42.5 million in grants and product donations, with about 40 percent of the funds targeting educational initiatives.<\/p>\n

Cirillo also has worked extensively as a consultant with a variety of businesses and organizations across the nation. He was recently selected co-chair of “Destination 2025,” a strategic planning project being undertaken by the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota. When completed, this project will help Minnesota’s bioscience industries plan for long-term competitiveness in critical markets such as medical devices, renewable energy and biomaterials.<\/p>\n

Cirillo has extensive mentoring experience and spent several years with Menttium 100, a program that partners top-level corporate executives with emerging mid-level female employees to help prepare them for leadership roles in corporate America.<\/p>\n

A native of Utica, N.Y., Cirillo earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and master’s and doctorate degrees in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He was a post-doctoral student at the Centre Nationale de Recherche Scientifique Laboratory in Orleans, France.<\/p>\n

In addition to his 3M experience, Cirillo spent five years in religious life as a teaching Brother and six years in the U.S. Army Reserves. He has taught science and mathematics at various levels from elementary school to college. He is an avid guitar player and singer. He and his wife, Judy, have four children and eight grandchildren.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Distinguished Minnesotan Award or on commencement ceremonies at 91心頭利, please contact the Records Office, located in Deputy Hall on the Bemidji State campus, at (218) 755-2020.<\/p>\n

A complete list of the 29 persons who have been recognized as Distinguished Minnesotans in the 28-year history of the award can be found below.<\/p>\n

Recipients of Distinguished Minnesotan Award
\n<\/strong>1981\tSigurd Olson, naturalist and author
\n1982\tKarl Kassulke, athlete and handicap advocate
\n1983\tJanet Dearholt Esty, businesswoman and entrepreneur
\n1984\tFrederick F. Manfred, author
\n1985\tDr. John Najarian, transplant surgeon
\n1986\tDr. Harlan Cleveland, political scientist
\n1987\tMuriel Buck Humphrey Brown, advocate for the disadvantaged
\n1988\tElmer L. Andersen, businessman and former governor
\n1989\tCurtis L. Carlson, businessman and philanthropist
\n1990\tWilliam S. Marvin, businessman and community leader
\n1991\tMeridel LeSueur, writer and social activist
\n1992\tVeda Ponikvar, newspaper publisher
\n1993\tNellie Stone Johnson, political and social activist
\n1994\tCheryl Dickson, leader in humanities programming
\n1995\tWilliam H. Kling, innovator in public radio
\n1996\tJerry Willet, businessman and former state senator
\n1997\tAnn Bancroft, explorer of the North Pole and South Pole
\n1998\tBob Bergland, congressman and former U.S. secretary of agriculture
\n1999\tCoya Knutson, congresswoman
\n2000\tJon Hassler, author and educator
\n2001\tLibby Larsen, composer
\n2002\tRosalie Wahl, Minnesota Supreme Court justice
\n2003\tEdgar Heteen, entrepreneur and snowmobile pioneer
\n2004\tHerb Brooks, men’s ice hockey coach
\n2005\tGerald Vizenor, author and educator
\n2006\tKathleen Blatz, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
\n2007\tPaul Wellstone, U.S. Senator & Shiela Wellstone, advocate against domestic abuse
\n2008\tDr. Alex Cirillo, Jr., vice president for community affairs, 3M<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEMIDJI, Minn. – Dr. Alex Cirillo, Jr., will be recognized as the recipient of the 2008 Distinguished Minnesotan Award during commencement ceremonies Friday, May 16, at 91心頭利. First presented by Bemidji State in 1981, the Distinguished Minnesotan Award acknowledges the contributions of current or former residents of the state who have performed exemplary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-updates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44441,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/44441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}