William C. “Bill” Gaventa Jr. ’69 is director of community and congregational supports at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities in New Brunswick, N.J. He is also associate professor of pediatrics at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

An American Studies major at Stetson, Gaventa also earned a Master of Arts in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Deeply committed to public service, he is involved in community supports, training for community services staff and workforce development, initiatives in cultural competence, and in aging and end of life issues. He also supervises a program in Clinical Pastoral Education and coordinates a training and technical assistance team for the New Jersey Self Directed Supports Projects. He has served as a consultant on disabilities to the National Council of Churches.

He is editor of the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health and of a newsletter for the Religion and Spirituality Division of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). He also writes a column for Insight, the national newsletter of ArcUSA. He recently served as editor of Autism and Faith: A Journey into Community, a guide for including people with autism in faith communities.

His many volunteer activities include service as executive secretary of the Religion and Spirituality Division of the AAIDD since 1985. He has received both the Service Award and Presidential Award from AAIDD and, in 2008, the COMISS Medal from the Congress on Ministries in Specialized Settings and a Unitas Outstanding Alumni Award from Union Theological Seminary.

Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller ’61 is president and chief executive officer of The National World War II Museum, a New Orleans-based institution designated by Congress as the country’s official museum for commemoration of the World War II experience.

Mueller helped transform the museum from a concept to reality, first as chairman of the museum foundation’s Board of Directors and now as president and CEO of the museum. Severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the museum has recovered significantly under his management. A major $300 million expansion is now planned.

Mueller retired from a 34-year career as a professor of European History at the University of New Orleans (UNO) in 2002. He launched the university’s first overseas programs in Germany and Austria in the 1970s, before becoming the university’s director for international education. He served as founding dean of UNO’s Metropolitan College, and then as vice-chancellor of extension and president of the university’s Research and Technology Park. 

More than 8,000 students have studied abroad through the programs Mueller established. He formed a Friendship Treaty between the University of New Orleans and the University of Innsbruck that led to student and faculty exchanges, publication of more than 40 books, and a $1 million gift to the UNO from the Austrian government to establish a Chair in Austrian Studies. For his contributions to international education, he has received two of Austria’s highest awards, the Great Silver Cross of Honor and the Cross of Honor First Class.

Mueller earned a bachelor’s degree in History at Stetson, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has done postgraduate work at Yale, Harvard and several European universities.