Neil Callahan, senior vice president for investments at Wachovia in Colchester, was named Alumnus of the Year for Saint Michael's College at ceremonies held during Reunion June 7. Callahan, a 1978 graduate of Saint Michael's, was described as "a person of commitment, loyalty, dedication and rare personal example."
A journalism major at Saint Michael's, Callahan spent his first post-graduation years as a journalist for daily papers in Wyoming, Connecticut and Vermont. He changed careers in 1988 and started with Merrill Lynch before moving to Wachovia.
A dedicated public servant, Callahan has chaired the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival, coached baseball and volunteered with the cub scouts. He has been a youth mentor and board member of the Selma (Alabama) Youth Development Center, and he and his family have hosted and coordinated summer programs for youngsters from Selma in Burlington for several summers. His work in Selma was in conjunction with the missions of the priests in the Society of St. Edmund, the order of priests that founded Saint Michael's College.
Callahan pursued his photojournalism passion as an avocation which resulted in a photo exhibit of the children of Selma, which has been displayed in the Burlington area. Another of his photo exhibits, which received wide attention, was composed of images taken at the many concerts he has attended, including Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan and other famous artists.
Callahan has been equally passionate about his involvement with Saint Michael's, serving on the Saint Michael's Alumni Board of Directors, with terms as vice present and then president of the Alumni Association. As past President of the Alumni Board, Callahan served on the College's Board of Trustees.
Neil Callahan lives in South Burlington with his wife Marianne and sons John and Thomas.
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 366 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last seven years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report rankings.