Beth Maxson Monnin '83
Alumni Achievement Award
Beth Monnin has worked in the collegiate licensing industry for over 16 years and currently serves as Regional Vice President for Learfield’s division of Collegiate Licensing Company. For the past six years, she has led the establishment of CLC’s Greek licensing division, growing this area of the company to 14 national clients.
Beth has been a dedicated volunteer for her sorority, Phi Mu, since graduating from Hanover College. She has served two separate terms on the organization’s governing board, including as National President from 2014 to 2018. Under that role, she also served as Chairman of the Board of the Phi Mu Foundation. Beth currently holds the position of National Ritual Coordinator and was honored at the 2024 biennial convention with the Outstanding Alumna Achievement Award for Contribution to Phi Mu.
In the early 2000s, Beth served on the Greek Task Force for Hanover College and volunteered in various advisory roles for the Rho Chapter.
She is married to Dr. Jeffry Monnin and is the proud mother of four adult children. Her youngest, Ethan Monnin, a 2020 graduate of Hanover College, was a four-year member of the Hanover track team and a school record holder in the pole vault.
Lee Annis '78
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
For more than four decades, J. Lee Annis Jr. has been shaping minds and inspiring students as a professor of history and political science at Montgomery College. Throughout his tenure, he has taught on all three of the college’s campuses and served as chair of the main campus’s history department from 2011 to 2018.
Annis has earned recognition for both his scholarship and service. Over the past two years, he received honors from Montgomery College and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. In 2009, he was also recognized for outstanding service by the college’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
A published author, Annis has contributed notable works to the field of political history. His publications include Howard Baker: Conciliator in an Age of Crisis and Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi. He also contributed William H. ‘Bill’ Frist, M.D.The Doctor as Leader to the volume Leadership in the U.S. Senate: Herding Cats in the Modern Era. His current project—a comprehensive history of Hanover College—is slated for release during the College’s 2027 bicentennial celebration.
Outside the classroom, Annis has been actively involved in public service, holding leadership roles with the Maryland and Montgomery County Young Republicans, the Montgomery County Redistricting Commission, and the Commission on the Public Financing of Elections.
A 1978 Hanover graduate, Annis earned both his master’s degree and doctorate from Ball State University. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.
KARL PLANK '74
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Plank is a renowned scholar of religion and poet who taught at Davidson College for over four decades, from 1982 until his retirement in 2023. He concluded his tenure as the J.W. Cannon Professor Emeritus of Religion. During his distinguished career, he was honored with several of Davidson’s highest accolades, including the Hunter Hamilton Teaching Award, the Thomas Jefferson Award, and the Boswell Family Fellowship.
An accomplished author, Dr. Plank has published several influential books, including Paul and the Irony of Affliction, Mother of the Wire Fence: Inside and Outside the Holocaust, and The Fact of the Cage: Reading and Redemption in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. His scholarly work extends to notable figures such as Thomas Merton, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Hannah Arendt. His literary writing has earned the Thomas Carter Prize and nominations for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Anthology.
A 1974 graduate of Hanover College, Plank majored in theological studies and music. He later earned both his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Plank resides in Cornelius, North Carolina.
EDWIN NARTEY '15
DISTINGUISHED YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
At the forefront of cloud infrastructure innovation, Edwin Nartey is an engineering manager at Google, where he drives key initiatives within the company’s storage organization for Google Cloud. Beyond his technical leadership, Edwin is deeply committed to advancing equity and access. He serves as a strategic advisor for Seeds of Fortune, a nonprofit empowering underserved communities to build generational wealth, and volunteers as a career coach with Management Leadership for Tomorrow, supporting rising leaders of color.
Before joining Google, Edwin spent six years with Goldman Sachs, holding various roles in analytics and strategy. He notably led data strategy for Marquee, the firm’s flagship digital platform for institutional and corporate clients.
A proud Hanover College graduate, Edwin earned his degree in computer science and business in 2015. From 2020 to 2024, he served on Hanover’s Board of Trustees, where his work centered on student life, enrollment, and academic affairs.
He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, where he continues to lead, mentor, and advocate for meaningful change.