Ali Stroker, John Patrick Shanley to Receive 2017 NYU Alumni Awards

Ali Stroker (who appears in the upcoming ABC drama Ten Days In the Valley which premieres in a few months & stars Emmy Award-winner Kyra Sedgwick) will be honored on Friday, April 21 at Gotham Hall in New York City by her alma mater New York University at the NYU Alumni Association's Annual Awards Luncheon, where she will be celebrated alongside two other distinguished alumni: Academy Award, Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize Award-winner John Patrick Shanley (STEINHARDT '77, HON '09) and attorney Martin Lipton (LAW '55). Stroker will receive the Distinguished Young Alumna Award.

"These honorees are visionaries in their fields, leaders in their communities, and tremendous representatives of the University. We are extremely proud of all they have accomplished," said Heather Cannady (CAS '04), President, NYUAA. Each year, the NYUAA invites alumni to celebrate distinguished members of the University who demonstrate extraordinary achievement and service to their professional, vocational, social, and cultural endeavors. This year, the NYUAA is pleased to honor the following alumni for their outstanding contributions to their respective fields and society:

Ali Stroker (TSOA '09) In 2015, Ali Stroker made her Broadway debut in the critically acclaimed & Tony Award-nominated revival of Spring Awakening, also performing with the cast of the show last year on The Tony Awards telecast. An advocate for people with different abilities, Stroker was the first-ever performer in a wheelchair to appear in a Broadway show (and also The Tony Awards); she also guest-starred on Season 4 of the Emmy Award-winning FOX show Glee and appeared as a finalist on the TV reality show competition The Glee Project. A graduate of New York University, Ali was also the first person in a wheelchair to graduate from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts' prestigious Drama Program. Stroker has had solo performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and New York's Town Hall, in addition to concert performances at Lincoln Center and Feinstein's/54 Below in NYC. Last fall, Ali performed on Broadway at the Nothing Like a Dame Benefit for The Actors Fund where she shared the stage with Tony Award-winners Bebe Neuwirth, Christine Ebersole, Donna Murphy, LaChanze, Tonya Pinkins, Karen Ziemba & Phyllis Newman. For more information on Ali:, go to www.AliStroker.com.

John Patrick Shanley (STEINHARDT '77, HON '09) graduated as valedictorian with a degree in educational theatre. Shanley is a Pulitzer Prize-, Academy Award-, and Tony Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and theatre and film director. He has 23 plays and nine films to his credit, including his award-winning play Doubt: A Parable and its film adaptation, and Academy Award-winning film, Moonstruck. His theatrical work is performed extensively across the United States and around the world. Shanley will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Martin Lipton (LAW '55) is a founding partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and specializes in advising major corporations on mergers and acquisitions and matters affecting corporate policy and strategy. Throughout his illustrious career, Lipton has been instrumental in the continued growth of NYU and has used his talents to navigate New York City through a financial crisis, act as special counsel to the Department of Energy, help initiate NYU Law School's faculty research program, and contribute to leading law journals. He served as Chairman of the NYU School of Law Board of Trustees from 1988-1998, and as Chairman of the NYU Board of Trustees from 1998-2015. Lipton will receive the Eugene J. Keogh Award for Distinguished Public Service.

The Awards Luncheon will take place on Friday, April 21, 2017, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. at Gotham Hall in New York City. For more information or to register for this event visit nyualumni.com/awards.

The NYU Alumni Association (NYUAA) is the umbrella organization for all University alumni from every NYU school. With a network of more than 470,000 NYU alumni worldwide, the mission of the NYUAA is to build and sustain a lifelong relationship between the University and its alumni through communication, programs, services, volunteering, and opportunities for lifelong learning.