• Registered Nurse Mary Ellen Driver, of Elizabeth Township, who has taught full time at Community College of Allegheny County since 1975, has earned the Certified Nurse Educator designation after completing a rigorous examination developed and administered by the National League for Nursing.

She is based at South Campus in West Mifflin, and currently serves as a collegewide acting associate dean of nursing.

• Former Munhall resident Joe Dorko has been named chief executive officer of Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Since 1999, he was chief operating officer for Lutheran.

Mr. Dorko has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, including formerly working as a staff pharmacist at South Hills Health System and McKeesport Hospital.

He is a 1975 graduate of Steel Valley High School, and the son of Joe and Millie Dorko, also of Munhall.

He currently lives in Fort Wayne with his wife, Beverly, and their three children.

• Jack Piatt, the developer of Piatt Place in Downtown Pittsburgh, was honored with Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh's most coveted honor, the Person of Vision Award, on May 7 at the Westin Convention Center Hotel.

He is one of the area's leading industrialists and is directly responsible for the success of his company, Millcraft Industries, a leader in industrial fabrication and the manufacturing of steel-related products. He also created Southpointe, a 600 acre mixed-use park off I- 79 in Canonsburg. However, it was his entree in the real estate development arena in downtown Pittsburgh that earned him the award, which is annually given to a leader whose vision brings energy and vibrancy to our region.

Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh is located in Homestead.

Mr. Piatt is a resident of Washington, Pa.

• Registered Nurse Barbara Julian Mills, was recently honored with the Air Force Nursing Leadership Award for 2008 by California University of Pennsylvania.

The award is given to the graduating senior nursing student who shows guidance throughout the academic program, provides the most leadership, and has the greatest impact on the class.

Ms. Mills was selected by both her peers and nursing instructors in the university's nursing program, and was presented her award at the senior luncheon at the main university campus.

Currently she is a staff nurse at UPMC McKeesport, and president-elect of the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Chapter No. 111.

She graduated with high honors in May, earning a bachelor's degree in nursing, and plans to enter the master's program in nursing education next month at Waynesburg University.

• Audrey Aubrecht, a South Allegheny School District teacher, won the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania's 2008 Betty Abbott Excellence in Teaching Award.

The annual award is presented to a classroom teacher whose commitment to environmental education inspires students to become responsible stewards of the environment, and who exemplifies the society's environmental education and conservation mission.

She received the award during a recent awards banquet.