The Minot State University Alumni Association will honor four individuals with the Golden Award and one with the Young Alumni Achievement Award at the 55th annual dinner on Thursday, Sept. 14.

The honorees include Mark Lehner; Suzanne (Schriefer) Neufang, 1985; Darryl Smette, 1969; and Michael Toy, 1991. The Young Alumni Achievement Award winner is Stephanie Little, 2014.

The Golden Awards are the highest award bestowed by the Minot State University Alumni Association. Selections are based on outstanding service to the University or alumni association and distinguished leadership in the recipient’s career or community. The Young Alumni Achievement Award recipient is between the ages of 21 and 39.

Lehner, a Minot native who lives in Milton, Massachusetts, is the director and president of Ancient Egypt Research Associates, Inc. (AERA), an American nonprofit organization and a nongovernment organization registered with the Egyptian government. He is a world-renowned Egyptologist with more than 40 years of experience excavating in Egypt.

He attended Minot State from 1968-70 before earning a bachelor’s degree from American University in Cairo and his doctoral degree at Yale University in 1991.

During his extensive archaeological work, Lehner mapped the Great Sphinx and Giza plateau and discovered the Lost City of the Giza Pyramids. AERA sponsors annual excavations of the pyramid builders’ settlements near the Sphinx and Pyramids with an interdisciplinary and international team of archaeologists, surveyors, geochronologists, botanists and faunal specialists who focus on the everyday lives of ancient Egyptians.

Neufang, from Golden Valley, splits her time between New York City and Hanover, Germany, and is the CEO of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

She was named to lead GBTA in February 2021, overseeing the industry trade association’s mission to deliver programs related to community, learning and advocacy. Neufang has led teams and divisions within the travel industry for the past 20 years — before GBTA, at Germany-based HRS, and prior to that, for Texas-based Sabre and Travelocity. In addition, she’s led efforts in product, marketing, e-commerce and public affairs at U.S. telecom giant Verizon (formerly GTE), where she worked for nearly a decade before she joined the travel industry. She got her career start in broadcasting, first at Minot’s KMOT-TV and then at Hawaii Public Television.

Smette, a Newburg native who currently resides in Edmond, Oklahoma, retired just shy of 30 years with Devon Energy Corporation, serving as executive vice president of marketing, midstream, supply chain and planning, and evaluation.

He earned his art degree with a minor in history from Minot State and obtained a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Wichita State University in 1975. Smette’s career started in the Newburg office of Amerada Petroleum, leading him to a career in business and, more specifically, the oil and gas industry.

Toy, originally from Williston and living in Fargo, is the chief operating and strategy officer at First International Bank & Trust.

Toy has been with First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) since 2007. He is responsible for directing a range of departments, including human resources, organizational development, information technology and corporate operations. His span of control extends to digital, data and development, mortgage, cards and retail. He also oversees Kotapay, a division of FIBT that specializes in processing electronic transactions, servicing more than 100,000 companies.

He serves on the FIBT Board of Directors, chairs the bank’s Strategic Planning and Oversight Committee and is a member of several other internal committees.

Little, from Bismarck, is an assistant professor of social work for Minot State at MSU’s Bismarck location. Little never anticipated higher education as her future. After a tumultuous upbringing, she ultimately dropped out of high school. She started as a social work student at Minot State and has subsequently returned as a social work faculty, dedicating her life to community service, academia, social justice and systems advocacy.

Little is a doctoral student at the University of South Dakota in a customized doctorate in Health Sciences and Master of Public Health degree program. Her dissertation focuses on the social work implications of organ allocation and ethics.