Two lifelong area residents and community supporters will receive awards during Indiana University South Bend commencement ceremonies at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 11. The ceremony will be at the Joyce Center, University of Notre Dame.

Jeffrey V. Gibney, executive director of South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF) will receive the honorary degree, and Charles Niemier, senior vice president of international operations of Biomet Orthopedics, Inc., Warsaw, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award.

This is the fifth year for IU South Bend commencement ceremonies at the Joyce Center. Approximately 800 of the 1,000 graduates will participate in the ceremony, according to the Alumni Affairs office.

Newly installed IU President Adam Herbert will participate in the ceremony.

Gibney started his college career at Bloomington and returned to his hometown, South Bend, and completed his studies at IU South Bend. He received his sociology degree in 1971.

His involvement with the foundation began on the ground floor. Gibney became the first client of SBHF to secure a loan to rehabilitate a long abandoned house on West Washington Street. Later he was a member of the board and then he was named executive director in 1977. He has retained the job and watched the organization grow to 25 full time and nine part-time employees.

The foundation is nationally known as one of the preeminent preservation groups in the country. He has worked hand in hand with the neighborhoods, businesses and the city to renovate and rehabilitate.

SBHF has been involved in more than $40 million in development projects since 1976. The foundation has looked beyond the West Washington/Chapin Street area to Western Avenue, the Southeast Side and the Northeast Neighborhood.

The SBHF work has been recognized with financial support by the Lilly Endowment, the Kresge Foundation, the Mott Foundation, the Jesse Ball Dupont Foundation and Neighborhood.

In 2002, the foundation won two significant awards, the Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Howland Award from the National League of Cities. SBHF was recognized by both organizations for outstanding vision and achievement in serving South Bend’s inner city neighborhoods.

Gibney said the honorary degree is special to him because it “recognizes South Bend Heritage as a whole for what it has done for the community. I am appreciative and humbled.”

Niemier is a long time resident of Kosciusko County. He received his undergraduate from Valparaiso University and started his accounting career at Coopers and Lybrand. He joined Biomet in 1981 and received his master’s degree in business administration at IU South Bend in 1983. Since he joined the company in 1981 as corporate controller, Niemier has advanced through the ranks, earning his current title in 1990.

Niemier has remained active with the university by serving as a member of the Business and Economics Advisory Board at IU South Bend. He is involved with Warsaw community organizations such as the YMCA, United Way, Cancer Care Fund, American Cancer Society and Kosciusko 21st Century Foundation that supports community health.

He has previously been named the Indiana International Business Person of the Year and Indiana University South Bend Distinguished Alumnus for the School of Business and Economics.