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FARGO, N.D. - Longtime administrator Prakash Mathew and recently retired women's athletic director Lynn Dorn were among the award winners announced during the inaugural North Dakota State University athletics Green and Gold Gala held Monday, April 27, at the Fargo Theatre. Mathew received the Bison Impact Award and Dorn the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mathew, who was NDSU's interim AD from July to October 2014, served as the Vice President for Student Affairs at North Dakota State University from 2006-2014. He retired after 38 years of service in student affairs and currently serves as Vice President Emeritus for Student Affairs. Mathew played a key role in bringing student issues and concerns to the forefront. Throughout his career and even into retirement, students remain the central focus of his work.

Mathew played an active role in Bison athletics by serving as the chair of the NCAA transition to Division I certification process in 2006. During this three-year process, he attended all the NCAA compliance meetings held across the country. Mathew was also a member of the athletic director search committee in 2001. He has a long history of working with the athletic department in providing support services and assistance to student-athletes and coaches by providing on-campus housing, dining services, assistance with admissions and registration as well as the Academic Collegiate Enhancement (ACE) tutoring program.

Since 1976, Mathew has held positions at NDSU and Mankato State University (1990-1994). His positions included graduate assistant, Hall Director, Director of Residence Life, Associate Dean, Dean of Student Life, and Vice President for Student Affairs. Mathew has received numerous awards from national, regional, and local organizations. These awards include the NDSU Blue Key Doctor of Service Award in 1996, the Bill Sweet Distinguished Service Award in 2000, the NASPA "Pillar of the Profession" in 2009, and the NASPA Region IV West Distinguished Service Award in 2009. Among his many special interests, Mathew has made numerous presentations in the areas of leadership, servant leadership, organizational change, and planning processes.

In Dorn's tenure as the director of women's athletics, NDSU's women's teams have won seven national titles, 62 North Central Conference titles, 36 Summit League championships and nine conference all-sports trophies, including the Summit League Dr. Helen Smiley Women's All-Sports Award four straight years. Three student-athletes have been named the Honda Broderick Division II Most Outstanding Female Athlete, five received the NCC's Stan Marshall Award, and there have been 138 All-Americans in six sports since 1981.Thirty-five women have been selected for 54 CoSIDA Academic All-America® awards and 18 have earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

Dorn was named one of the five most influential people in Division II athletics by College Sports magazine in 1995, one of seven administrators of the year in 2002 by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators, and Women's Basketball Coaches Association Administrator of the Year in 1997.

Men's basketball standout Lawrence Alexander and women's track and field and cross country All-American Erin Teschuk were selected as the NDSU's Male and Female Athletes of the Year.

Alexander was named The Summit League's Player of the Year and Tournament MVP in 2014-15, as well as earning NABC first-team All-District and AP honorable mention All-America honors. He ranked fifth in the nation in minutes per game (38.5) and eighth nationally in three-point percentage (44.1 percent) for the season. Alexander set new NDSU career records for minutes played (4,631), games started (131) and wins (90). He finished his Bison career ranked fourth in school history with 1,755 points.

Teschuk was NDSU's first NCAA Championships qualifier in cross country after claiming the Summit League individual title. She was a two-time Summit League Female Athlete of the Month. Teschuk was a two-time first-team NCAA All-American in indoor track and field, placing fifth in the mile and seventh in 3,000 meters in races just two hours apart. She was selected the Summit League Athlete of the Year in both cross country and indoor track and field. Teschuk earned Summit League all-academic honors during both seasons. This outdoor season, Teschuk currently ranks second in the 3,000m steeplechase and is in the top 30 in both the 1500m (15th) and 800m (26th).

Selected as Male and the Female Rookies of the Year were football wide receiver R.J. Urzendowski and women's basketball guard Taylor Thunstedt.

Urzendowski compiled the most receiving yards by a freshman wide receiver at NDSU since Marques Johnson in 2002. He made 32 catches for 626 yards and five touchdowns and was NDSU's leading receiver in the playoffs with 12 catches for 271 yards and three TDs. Urzendowski caught the game-winning 12-yard touchdown with 54 seconds left in the 27-24 second round playoff win over South Dakota State. He also made key receptions of 32, 13 and 33 yards on a six-play, 78-yard game-winning drive in the 29-27 win over Illinois State in the FCS championship. Urzendowski had catches in 12 of 16 games played and nine starts.

Thunstedt was selected to The Summit League All-Newcomer Team after averaging 8.6 points and two assists per game. She led the Bison in three-point field-goal percentage during the 2014-15 season, making 55-of-139 attempts for 40 percent. Thunstedt ranks second in NDSU career three-point field-goal percentage at 39.6 percent.

Recipients of the Bison Pride award were women's track and field and cross country runner Maddie Van Beek and football linebacker Esley Thorton.

Van Beek is a distance runner on the Bison track and field team from Perham, Minn. She has won two Summit League Indoor Championship MVP honors, as well as being named the league's indoor track athlete of the year last season. This outdoor season, Van Beek currently ranks among the top 30 in the NCAA in the 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m. In her time at NDSU, the Bison women have won 12 Summit League team championships between cross country and track.

Thorton started all 16 games at linebacker for the Bison and made 73 tackles with 3.0 sacks, 7.0 tackles for loss, four quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and one recovery. He made the game-winning interception in NDSU's win over Illinois State in the FCS championship game.

The NDSU wrestling and women's basketball teams took home the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's (SAAC) Team Service Awards for their involvement in community service projects throughout Fargo-Moorhead.

NDSU Associate Director of Athletic Academics Kelli Layman won the Student-Athlete Choice Award.

Several academic awards were also presented at the gala, including the Bison Academic Performance Award, Bison Academic Achievement Award, Bison Academic Excellence Award, Bison Most Valuable Scholar-Athletes Award, National Consortium for Academics and Sports Student-Athlete Day Award, Thundering Herd Male and Female Team Academic Awards, Presidential Most Improved Team Academic Award and Presidential Team Academic Award.

Bison Academic Performance Award
Gaby Arnquist, WSOC; Daniel Asa, MTF; Quinn Baumann, MTF; Colin Baumgard, BSB; Jaelin Beachy, WTF; Sierra Bonham, WSOC; Hannah Breske, WBB; Brady Brockel, MTF; Christina Bruenjes, WTF; Bill Carlson, MGOLF; Zach Checkal, MBB; Marcus Collins, FB; Josh Colville, FB; JT Core, BSB; Maggie Crippen, WGOLF; Molly DeSpiegler, WTF; Spencer Eliason, MBB; Ryan Enerson, MTF; Brian Ferry, MTF; Megan Feyereisen, WTF; Paul Funk, BSB; Cheyenne Garcia, SB; James Gates, FB; Pierre Gee-Tucker, FB; Lauren Gietzen, WTF; Kyle Gliva, WR; Amanda Grable, SB; Matt Gray, WR; Gabby Grommesh, WTF; Nigel Hageness, MTF; Alex Hahn, FB; Mike Hardie, FB; Colten Heagle, FB; Jon Hechtner, BSB; Dalton Herding, MTF; Trisa Hutchinson, WGOLF; Brian Ishola, MBB; Hannah Jessen, VB; Jacquelyn Johnson, WGOLF; Adam Keller, FB; Melissa Kitching, WTF; Evan Knutson, WR; Matt Kourouma, MBB; Brock Larson, MTF; Luke Lind, BSB; Sierra Link, WTF; Joe Louiselle, MTF; Dan Marlette, FB; Kurt Mattox, FB; Jayse McLean, BSB; Greg Menard, FB; Krista Menke, SB; Kara Meslow, WGOLF; Bryce Messner, FB; Lauren Miller, WSOC; Paul Miller, MBB; Emily Minnick, VB; Emily Miron, VB; Nate Moody, FB; Matti Mortimore, MTF; Autumn Muckenhirn, WSOC; Andrew Nack, FB; Alex Neumiller, MTF; Ben Neyers, MTF; Erik Olson, FB; Tyler Parker, MTF; Eric Perkins, FB; Ben Petersen, BSB; Brianna Rasmusson, VB; Alyssa Reina, SB; Anna Reinholz, WSOC; Sierra Rosenau, WTF; Natalie Roth, WGOLF; Nate Rykerd, WR; Rose Jackson, WTF; Steph Jacobson, WSOC; Matt Jennings, MTF; Nick Salentine, BSB; Morgan Samec, VB; Dan Sargeant, FB; Brian Schaetz, FB; Emma Schalow, WTF; Connor Schlotfeldt, WR; Adam Schueller, FB; Jacquelyn Sertic, SB; Miranda Simon, WTF; Andrew Smith, FB; Brittany Stangl, WTF; Easton Stick, FB; Jackie Stifter, SB; Steffan Stroh, MTF; Jeron Terres, BSB; Jordyn Thornton, MTF; Sam Verbeke, WSOC; Tristyn Walczak, WSOC; Derek Warner, MXC; Cassie Wurm, WGOLF; Brooke Yaggie, WBB; Hayden Zillmer, WR.

Bison Academic Achievement Award
Grady Anderson, MTF; Lexy Boschee, WTF; Alisa Brown, WBB; John Curley, MXC; Ann Govig, WTF; Deidre Hahn, WTF; Ashley Heinze, WTF; Chris Kading, MBB; Liz Keena, WBB; Lizzie Lukas, WSOC; Emily Milligan, VB; Colin Paarmann, MTF; Matt Plank, FB; Alex Renner, MTF; Erin Teschuk, WTF; Katelyn Weimerskirch, WTF; Dexter Werner, MBB; Andy Wicklund, BSB; Amy Yang, WSOC.

Bison Academic Excellence Award
Amy Andrushko, WTF; Jerome Begin, MTF; Anna Benke, WTF; Sydney Bork, WTF; Lauren Cammack, VB; Kyle Emanuel, FB; Natalie Fenske, WSOC; Mitch Friedman, WR; Jenny Guibert, WTF; Jake Herdine, MGOLF; Jesse Hinz, FB; Ali Hitt, WTF; A.J. Jacobson, MBB; Courtney Johnson, SB; Brett Kelly, MTF; Anisha Kinnarath, WSOC; Emma Kusick, WGOLF; Allie Lahren, WTF; Morgan Milbrath, WTF; Chase Morlock, FB; Daniel Polansky, FB; Clay Ream, WR; Alex Schmid, WGOLF; Miki Stephenson, WBB; Katie Thun, SB; Parker Trewin, BSB; Zach Vraa, FB; Jonah Warwick, MTF.

Bison Most Valuable Scholar-Athletes
Francis Landman, MXC; Esley Thorton, FB; Carson Wentz, FB; Ursinio Puga, MGOLF; Sarah Storandt, WGOLF; Beau Kashmark, MTF; Abbi Aspengren, WTF; Emily Lesser, WTF; Maddie Van Beek, WTF; Amber Peterson, WTF; Amber Riopelle, WTF; Brecca Wahlund, WTF

National Consortium for Academics and Sports Student-Athlete Day Award
David Ernst, BSB; Jenni Fassbender, VB; Trisa Hutchinson, WGOLF; Jonah Warwick, MTF; Liz Keena, WBB; Jackie Stifter, SB; Esley Thorton, FB; Emily Lesser, WTF; Clay Ream, WR; Dexter Werner, MBB; Bill Carlson, MGOLF; Tristyn Walczak, WSOC.

Thundering Herd Female Team Academic Award
Women's Golf

Thundering Herd Male Team Academic Award
Men's Golf

Presidential Most Improved Team Academic Award
Men's Basketball

Presidential Academic Team Award
Women's Golf