SU’s Judy O’Rourke receives award from Pan Am Flight 103 victims’ group

SU’s Judy O’Rourke receives award from Pan Am Flight 103 victims’ groupJanuary 24, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Judy O’Rourke of Syracuse, director of Syracuse University’s Office of Undergraduate Studies, recently received the Keeping the Spirit Alive Award from the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 (VPAF 103). Her honor marks the first time the group has given the award.

The award was developed to recognize the “person or persons who, over a long period of time, have succeeded in keeping the government and public aware of the important lessons learned from this terrorist action.”

“With all the work Judy has done to promote the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 at Syracuse University, it was natural for our selection committee to choose her as the first recipient of this award,” says Glenn Johnson, chair of VPAF 103’s board of directors. VPAF 103 holds its fall board meeting at SU.

O’Rourke is SU’s primary liaison with the families of the 35 SU students who were lost in the tragedy on Dec. 21, 1988, and VPAF 103, and coordinates the University’s Remembrance Scholarship selection process and activities.

The Victims of Pan Am 103 is composed of family members and friends of those whose lives were ended when a terrorist bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. The group is committed to seeking the truth about this tragedy and keeping the memory of their loved ones alive.