Renee L. Worke, a Minnesota Court of Appeals judge, received the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from Minnesota State University, Mankato last week.
Worke, of Owatonna, Minn., is one of 12 alumni who were named 2010 award winners. She was honored at an April 23 dinner and ceremony hosted by the Minnesota State Mankato Alumni Association.
The Alumni Achievement Award goes to graduates who have achieved high rank or honor in their professions, have made a major impact on their communities, and have accumulated accomplishments throughout their careers.
One of five children of a single mother on public assistance, Worke didn’t believe college was an option for her. But she was accepted into a government-supported work program in high school and began working for the Waseca County Sheriff’s Department, and college seemed like a real possibility. In 1976 she enrolled in then-Mankato State to pursue a law enforcement degree.
As a senior she saw a posting for the LSAT exam and signed up. After graduating she enrolled in William Mitchell College, earning a juris doctorate.
Worke clerked for a district court judge before joining the law firm Rietz, Rietz, Rietz (later, Rietz, Rietz, Rietz and Worke). She was contracted as a public defender or administrative law judge, and when a judicial vacancy opened in 1996, Gov. Arnie Carlson appointed her to the bench. In 2005 she was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
A passionate advocate for women and children, she was lead judge for the Children’s Justice Initiative, and works with women in prison through the National Women Judges Association. She has been a youth coach for Destination Imagination for more than a decade, and has received the Anne Bancroft Woman Leadership award and the Owatonna Woman of Achievement Award.
Those who want more information about the Minnesota State Mankato awards may go to www.mnsu.edu/alumni/daa/.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,950 students, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system, which comprises 32 institutions across the state.
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