Dawn Elena Pleas, vice president of special projects and planning at Southwestern College, will be inducted into the North Central College Hall of Fame as a 2025 Outstanding Alumni. The event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 2.

Pleas, a 1991 graduate of North Central College in Naperville, Ill., is embarking on her 32nd year at Southwestern College.

“I am proud of this honor because my mother (Sylvia Pleas) also received her bachelor’s degree at NCC in 1977 before earning her master and doctoral degrees at Garrett Evangelical Seminary at Northwestern University,” Pleas says. “This award is totally about my work at Southwestern College. After graduating from North Central in 1991, I worked at Open Door Community House in Columbus, Ga., for three years before Carl Martin and Steve Wilke recruited me to SC.  I am so proud to be a Southwestern College Moundbuilder.”