On Feb. 26 the Brandeis Alumni & Friends Network announced that Rabbi Eric Yoffie '69, Prof. Eve Marder '69 (BIOL) and Wakako Hironaka M.A. '64, Honorary '87 are the recipients of this year's Alumni Achievement Award. The award, which is the highest honor reserved for alumni, is given by the Brandeis Alumni Association to alumni who have significantly impacted their fields of work. The three join the list of winners including Robert J. Zimmer '68, Bonnie Berger '83 and Jon Landau '68, who won last year's award. University President Frederick Lawrence will formally present the three with the award at the 2014 alumni reunion on June 7.

Hironaka is a prominent political leader in Japan. She served in the Japanese House of Councilors, which, along with the House of Representatives, forms the Japanese Diet, Japan's legislative body, from 1986 to 2010. She has also served as vice chair of the Democratic Party of Japan, state minister and director-general of the Environmental Agency in Japan.
 After benefiting from the Wien International Scholarship Program, which funds the studies of international students with significant financial need and academic achievement during their first years, Hironaka served on the Brandeis Board of Trustees from 1992 to 1997. Due to travel, Hironaka was unavailable to comment by press time.

Yoffie, who was the president of the Union for Reform Judaism from 1996 to 2012, now lectures about Jewish, religious and Israel-related issues at universities, synagogues and Jewish organizations. He writes for the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz about Judaism and Israel and for the Huffington Post about religion in America. Yoffie wrote in an email to the Justice that he "was a bit surprised, but of course delighted and honored" when he received a letter from Lawrence informing him that he had received the award.

This will only be Yoffie's second reunion, since he has had to miss past dates due to conflicts with the Union for Reform Judaism's national conference. "I will enjoy receiving the award, but reconnecting with classmates that I have seen rarely or not at all in the almost 50 years since I entered Brandeis is what I am looking forward to the most," Yoffie wrote.

Yoffie was president of the student council during the infamous student occupation of Brandeis' Ford Hall in January 1969 and spoke at then-University President Morris Abram's inauguration, but wrote that his most memorable moment from his time at Brandeis is meeting his wife, Amy. Yoffie also mentioned other highlights of his Brandeis experience.

"Being a Brandeis alumnus means many things to me: At Brandeis, there was a certain intensity about politics and social justice that influenced me throughout my life," Yoffie wrote. "In addition, Brandeis was the place where I was inspired by great teachers of Judaism and Jewish history."

Marder is currently the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis and was appointed to President Barack Obama's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative in April 2013. Marder wrote in an email to the Justice that she became interested in neurology during her junior year at Brandeis, when she took a course in abnormal psychology. "I ended up doing a research paper on inhibition in the nervous system and its potential relevance to schizophrenia. It was the reading I did for that course that made me decide I wanted to be a neuroscientist," Marder wrote.

Marder, who also served as president of the Society for Neuroscience in 2008, wrote that during her time as an undergraduate, she did not anticipate someday teaching at Brandeis. "The idea never crossed my mind," Marder wrote. Marder also met her husband at Brandeis, and wrote that she is looking forward to "seeing old friends and classmates" at the reunion. Her advice for current students is to "follow the dreams that come from unexpected moments."

-Ilana Kruger