The 2024 Bell Tower of Fame Award winner has been announced.

Bell Tower of Fame Committee Chair Carole Custer says Susan (Susie) Kundrat is this year’s Tower of Fame Awardee and she will be formally recognized at the Bell Tower Festival Opening Ceremonies on Friday at 6:30pm on the south plaza of the Greene County Courthouse grounds.  

The 1984 Jefferson High School graduate and Jeffette of the Year, Kundrat went on to get an associates degree from Waldorf University, where she was also inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame for being a three-sport, first-time all-region athlete in basketball, softball and volleyball. She then earned a bachelor’s degree in dietetics from Minnesota State University-Mankato and was named an Honor Athlete. Kundrat completed a dietetic internship at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and earned a masters degree in nutrition from Iowa State University. 

Kundrat is the author of “Eat, Move, Groove: Unlock the Simple Steps to Lifelong Nutrition, Fitness & Wellness,” and “101 Sports Nutrition Tips” and was the founder of EAT MOVE GROOVE program. She worked was the sports dietitian for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign athletic teams, the manager of SportWell Center, outreach dietitian with Functional Foods for Health program, and was a sports dietitian consultant with the Milwaukee Bucks, US speedskating, along with Northwestern and Bradley Universities, and the University of Evansville athletic programs. Kundrat is a clinical professor emeritus at Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and is an adjunct lecturer with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Food Science and Human Nutrition Department and Walla Walla Community College. She was also the co-founder of RK Team Nutrition that trains nutrition experts across the country on optimal sports nutrition education programming for athletes of all ages.

The Bell Tower of Fame Award is to honor a person who has lived in Greene County at some point in their lives, and whose personal or professional accomplishments internationally, nationally or statewide, bring great pride to Greene County. A reception for Kundrat will be held in the courthouse rotunda after the award presentation on Friday until 8:15pm. Kundrat will also serve as the grand marshall in the Saturday parade.