After graduating from Seton Hill, Christine Frederick Janove worked in New York City for the Izod-Lacoste clothing company; upholstery and fabric companies; in the art department of Simplicity Pattern Company; and a banner company. While bringing up her two daughters, she catered weekly take-out dinners for friends and neighbors from her Brooklyn home for 10 years. She worked at The City Quilter, a retail fabric shop in Manhattan, and taught classes to more than 1,000 beginning quilters until the shop closed in 2016. 

Christine continued her legacy of quilting and teaching beyond the store, sharing her knowledge with young homeschoolers, senior citizens, and pregnant teenagers. She set up a quilting program with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. As a founding member of the Brooklyn Quilters Guild, she has held many roles within the organization and contributes to the Guild’s charity work projects. She has also served on many committees at her church, the Oratory of Saint Boniface. 

Though Christine began as a traditional quilter, her art quilts have gained a national audience. She showed her work locally for 30 years, and recently her quilts have been juried into national quilt shows, including an invitation to show at the 2022 International Quilt Festival in Houston. Several have been shown and sold in galleries in New York City and Boston. Career opportunities brought Christine to New York after graduation, but the culture and her love for the theater made her stay. She has been happily married to her husband, an actor, since 1979. The pair volunteer with two local theater companies and enjoy attending shows in the city.

The Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award is one of the highest honors given to a Seton Hill graduate. Since establishing the award in 1987, Seton Hill has honored more than 300 Setonians as distinguished alumni. The award recognizes leadership in education, business, science and technology, the arts, volunteerism and philanthropy.