The Bowling Green State University Alumni Association honored 18 accomplished graduates during a spring
banquet. The accomplished graduates represent each of the university’s seven colleges and are recognized
for outstanding contributions to their profession and involvement in the community.
Nine award recipients were from Ohio, including Bowling Green residents Melanie Stretchbery (College of
Health and Human Services) and Martin Porter (College of Musical Arts).
Stretchbery is superintendent of the Wood County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities (MRDD), where she has worked in various capacities since starting there as a support
services supervisor and social worker in 1983. Her 27-year career in social services and administration
began at the Ohio Department of MRDD, which she joined after receiving a bachelor’s degree in social
work form BGSU in 1981.
Her experience also includes work as a field instructor and adjunct instructor for social work
methodology and policy, as well as a social work consultant at the Tiffin Developmental Center. Since
1998, she has also served as a national program surveyor for CARF – The Rehabilitation Accreditation
Commission.
Stretchbery has been appointed to and is active on several regional boards and committees including the
College of Health and Human Services Advocate Board at BGSU, the Wood County Family and Children First
Council, the Northwest Ohio Developmental Center Community Advisory Council, the Behavior Support
Advisory Committee for the state of Ohio, and the Wood County Jobs and Family Services Planning
Committee. She is president of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Resource Center, a behavioral
health care agency serving children and families in Northwest Ohio.
Porter is the founding director of the Toledo School for the Arts (TSA). He earned a bachelor of music
education degree form Wittenberg University and a master of music in trumpet performance from BGSU in
1981.
Porter served as a music educator at Southeastern Local Schools prior to graduate studies at BGSU. He was
director of public events for the BGSU College of Musical Arts and executive director of the Lima Area
Arts Council before coming to TSA. He performs with various artists including the Tower Brass Quintet,
the Northwood Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, and the Four Tops.
In 2007, TSA was identified as one of the leading charter schools in the nation and was featured in the
U.S. Department of Education publication Innovations in Education. TSA was also named the 2007
Outstanding Charter School of the Year by the national Center for Education Reform and was awarded the
2007 Ohio State Superintendent’s School of Promise designation.
In 2008, TSA was named a National Blue Ribbon School and an EPIC Silver-Gain High School, one of four in
the nation. The school was also a third-time national finalist for the Grammy Signature Schools Award
and was named a Bronze Medalist in U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 Best High Schools Search,
placing TSA in the top 6 percent of schools nationwide.