Alumni Awards

Donna (Payne) VanLiere has been selected as the Alumna of the Year.

Donna graduated from then-Cedarville College in 1989 with a degree in communication, with emphasis in broadcasting and theatre. She thought of the first line for a novel while at Cedarville and realized then that she could see scenes and envision a plot line. After graduation, God called her to write novels with eternal significance.

Her first novel, The Christmas Shoes, became a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and was later turned into the highest-rated TV movie of the year for CBS. It was followed by more novels and six additional television movies for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark. She was asked to write the biography of Rick Husband, Commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and a personal memoir called Finding Grace.

More recently, Donna felt an urgency to write a three-part series of books that were three-fourths novel and one-fourth biblical teaching about the End Times. Jesus told us to "Look up" because "our redemption is near,” and Donna wants to encourage her readers to be a looking up people. This led to a limited series podcast called “Things are Looking Up.” She will release a new nonfiction book in March called Looking for God: A Search for Real Love in an Unreal World, for people who know that deep down they are searching for something to fill the void.

Donna has won a Retailer's Choice Award for Fiction, a Dove Award, a Silver Angel Award, two Audie Awards for best inspirational fiction, has been a nominee for a Gold Medallion Book of the Year and is an inductee in the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges Hall of Excellence.

Along with her writing, Donna has an active speaking ministry, whether for book conferences or women's events. She has spoken with Women of Faith, Extraordinary Women, Among Friends Conference, and the prestigious Patricia Adams Lecture Series at Heidelberg University. 

Donna is thankful for her Cedarville education. Between theater and broadcasting, she learned not only how to talk in front of people but how to take a piece of work and edit it, which is crucial for a writer. Cedarville also prepared her to be set apart by integrity, character, humility, and work ethic. Theater and forensics taught her to always be ready, show up prepared, and know your role.

Donna met her husband, Troy, on the first day at Cedarville in one of my broadcasting classes, and they have been married for 33 years. They have three children: Two daughters from China, Gracie and Kate, and son David from Guatemala. They do not look much alike, but God grafted them together as family and they are a reflection of Him!

Meredith (Wood) Docena has been selected as the Young Alumna of the Year.

Meredith graduated from Cedarville University in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work. She was blessed to participate on short-term missions trips to the Philippines all four years she was a student, but it was one trip in particular that changed the trajectory of her life and ministry.

During the summer before her sophomore year while in the Philippines, she encountered three street boys in tattered clothing and no shoes, hungry and begging for food. She watched as each ate three plates of food and was heartbroken as they went back to the streets. It was then that God began stirring in her heart to open a home for neglected children in the Philippines. 

After returning to campus, she followed God’s leading and stepped out in faith to begin the work of founding Obed's House Ministries in General Santos City, Philippines. She was encouraged by friends and family to share her story, and then the Holy Spirit worked, bringing in the funds she needed. Construction began in 2014, and Obed’s House officially opened in July 2015 with Meredith as its Executive Director. The focus of the ministry is "to teach and raise the neglected, street and abandoned children of General Santos City to truly love and serve our Savior Jesus Christ," and its mission is to "fulfill the great commission by providing a loving family atmosphere for neglected children." Since its opening, Obed’s has had the opportunity to care for over 60 children.

Meredith credits her Cedarville coursework in both psychology and social work for preparing her for her work with abandoned and neglected children, and she is especially thankful that her education was built on a biblical worldview.

Meredith’s husband, Avery, serves alongside her at Obed’s House, and they have two daughters, Mia and Tegan.

For her obedience to God’s calling and sacrificial work sharing the love of Christ with abandoned and neglected children in General Santos City, Philippines.