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Jeff Ceccarelli, NV Energy Corporate Vice President, Service Delivery and Operations and President of Sierra Pacific Power will be honored with the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Engineering's James G. Scrugham Medal on Oct. 17.

A native of Sparks, Ceccarelli joined Sierra Pacific Power in 1972 as a student engineer while attending the University of Nevada, Reno, and became an associate engineer in the utility's civil engineering department in 1976 after earning a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. During his 36 years with the company he's held management positions in civil engineering, construction management and customer service. He was named president of Sierra Pacific Power in 2000, and in2005 began managing Service Delivery and Operations statewide.

Ceccarelli recently led a successful collaborative initiative to establish a renewable energy minor within the College of Engineering.

Ceccarelli is a member of various professional utility associations, as well as the National Society of Professional Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He serves on the University of Nevada, Reno, Engineering Advisory Board and on the boards of the Northern Nevada Network, the Reno-Tahoe Open and the Education Foundation Board.

The Scrugham award was created by the university in 2006 and named after James G. Scrugham, who was the first dean of the College of Engineering. Besides serving as Nevada's governor from 1923 to 1927, Scrugham represented Nevada in the House and the U.S. Senate. He was also the editor and publisher of the Nevada State Journal for four years. The award recognizes outstanding achievement by College of Engineering alumni.

Besides Ceccarelli, Bernard Kwok and Gene Testolin, both University of Nevada, College of Engineering graduates, will also receive 2008 honors.

Headquartered in Nevada, Sierra Pacific Resources is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries are Nevada Power Company, now doing business as NV Energy, the electric utility for most of southern Nevada, and Sierra Pacific Power Company, now doing business as NV Energy, the electric utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California. NV Energy also distributes natural gas in the Reno-Sparks area of northern Nevada.