The Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Alumni Award Gala honors University of New Orleans alumni who have distinguished themselves in their field to reflect honor upon UNO, who provide service to their communities and the University; who are recognized for outstanding accomplishments and are a credit to the University of New Orleans. The gala also services as a primary fundraiser for the University of New Orleans Alumni Association.

Attendees at the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Gala

Distinguished Alumni Gala Auction Tables

President John Nicklow at the Distinguished Alumni Gala

A view from above at the Distinguished Alumni Gala

PAST HONOREES SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION sponsor/buy tickets

2023 Gala Information

Thursday, November 9, 2023 | 7 - 10 p.m.

The National WWII Museum: Boeing Freedom Pavilion | 1043 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

The UNO Alumni Association cordially invites you to our 2023 Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Alumni Gala. Help us celebrate our 2023 Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Alumna/us and Norma Jane Sabiston Young Alumna/us of the year plus honorees from each college. You won't want to miss it!

Honorees

Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Alumna of the Year

Sabrina D. Farmer, '95 Sabrina Farmer
Vice President of Engineering
Google

Sabrina is Vice President of Engineering at Google, responsible for the resilience and performance of Google's largest Consumer and Enterprise products (Ads, Search, Gmail, Android, Maps, Youtube, etc.), as well as the various product infrastructure systems (Authentication, Abuse, Data Analytics). Sabrina joined Google in 2005 and has nearly 30 years of experience in production engineering. She is the founder of a global conference with Usenix focused on Site Reliability Engineering and contributed to two books on the topic. She earned a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of New Orleans and founded the “Scholarship for Women in Computer Science” a year after graduation. She currently supports 3 scholarships supporting students in the Computer Science department.

Norma Jane Sabiston Distinguished Young Alumna of the Year

Avril M. Habetz, '05
Managing Partner/CEO
Northwestern Mutual of Louisiana & Mississippi

Avril is a highly accomplished business professional and the newly appointed Managing Partner/CEO for Northwestern Mutual of Louisiana & Mississippi. With more than fifteen years of experience in the financial industry, she holds a range of qualifications, including an MBA, CLF®, CLU®, LUTCF®, and ChFC®.

Avril has had a unique career path, starting as an assistant to the Managing Partner and now leading a well-established team of financial professionals in Louisiana and Mississippi. She is passionate about the development of distinguished financial professionals who positively impact the lives of their clients and communities through financial planning and risk management.