fall 2003 - Austin Peay State University
fall 2003 - Austin Peay State University
fall 2003 - Austin Peay State University
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The Publication for Alumni and Friends of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong><br />
Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
inside:<br />
Alumnus’ gift<br />
kick starts<br />
capital campaign<br />
Playing ball with<br />
the big guys
Table of Contents<br />
Features<br />
Page 2<br />
Playing ball with the big guys<br />
He was the right man in the right place at the right time. And not by accident.<br />
Ronnie Carter (’88) leaves little to fate. Since high school, he has<br />
charted his own course—one that has taken him from America’s heartland<br />
through the Marine Corps and Harvard’s ivy-covered halls to the pulse-point of<br />
America’s slowly healing heart. By the time of 9/11, he had readied himself to<br />
assume a leading role in homeland security and to help ensure such a tragedy<br />
never occurs again on our country’s soil.<br />
Page 6<br />
Donor gift kick starts<br />
capital campaign<br />
Changing Minds. Changing Lives—<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s first-ever capital campaign—<br />
proved to be an exciting challenge with its original goal of $15 million and<br />
interim goal of $7.5 million by September <strong>2003</strong>. On May 3, <strong>2003</strong>, when the<br />
public phase of the campaign was announced, the “thermometer” indicated the<br />
gifts were rising. More than $10 million already was committed. It was enough<br />
to make the dapper Gov swing his cane and cut a rug!<br />
Page 8<br />
From beakers to beacon<br />
At this point in his professional life, Howard W. Roddy (’71), Chattanooga, is<br />
in the driver’s seat. An administrator of a forward-looking, proactive healthcare<br />
initiative, Healthy Community, Roddy has steered a straight course<br />
toward success, using the principles of servant-leadership as his compass.<br />
Thanks to his belief in these principles, he’s enjoyed great happiness and personal<br />
fulfillment along the way.<br />
Page 12<br />
From Tennessee to Texas<br />
Love does work in mysterious ways! When Jolyn Pope (‘99)—fresh out of law<br />
school--was hired as an attorney by Exxon Mobile Corp., Houston, one of her<br />
first acts was to reach back and begin helping others. How? By establishing a<br />
scholarship at APSU in memory of her late grandfather, whom she loved<br />
deeply and who, while living, ensured that his precious granddaughter would<br />
have the means to achieve her highest educational goals. As she reflects on<br />
her upcoming wedding, she realizes her future husband has many of the traits<br />
she admired in her grandfather.<br />
Departments<br />
Making APSU Headlines...........6<br />
Alumni News..............................14<br />
Sports ..........................................22<br />
Class Notes.................................26<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Special Sections<br />
Outstanding Alumni ...................10<br />
Homecoming Calendar................16<br />
Feedback.......................................25<br />
Honor Roll of Donors ............insert<br />
Readership Survey.................insert<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Reader’s Guide<br />
“<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>” is published bi-annually—<strong>fall</strong> and<br />
spring—by the Office of Public Relations and<br />
Marketing. Press run for this issue is 25,000.<br />
Dennie B. Burke Editor<br />
Bill Persinger (’91) Art Direction, Design &<br />
Photo Editor<br />
Charlotte Carlin Design and Layout<br />
Debbie Denton Writer<br />
Shelia Boone Alumni News and Events<br />
Sharon Silva Donor List<br />
Brad Kirtley Sports Information<br />
Ben Kimbrough (‘51) and<br />
his wife, Margaret,<br />
Clarksville, gave APSU’s<br />
first capital campaign a<br />
significant jump-start<br />
with a pledge of $2 million<br />
from their estate and<br />
an gift of $150,000 during<br />
the campaign. “Giving<br />
back to <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> is<br />
one way Margaret and I<br />
give back to the community<br />
that has given us so<br />
much,” Kimbrough says.<br />
Laquita Maxwell Web Designer for Online Version<br />
How to change your address<br />
or receive the magazine<br />
Fill out and mail the form on page 26 or<br />
contact Alumni and Annual Giving in one of<br />
the following ways:<br />
Post us: Alumni and Annual Giving<br />
P.O. Box 4676<br />
Clarksville, TN 37044<br />
Zap us: alumni@apsu.edu<br />
Phone us: 931-221-7979<br />
Fax us: 931-221-6292<br />
How to contact or submit<br />
letters to the editor<br />
Fill out and mail the form on page 26 or<br />
contact the Public Relations and Marketing<br />
Office in one of the following ways:<br />
Post us: Public Relations/Marketing<br />
P.O. Box 4567<br />
Clarksville, TN 37044<br />
Zap us: burked@apsu.edu<br />
Phone us: 931-221-7459<br />
Fax us: 931-221-6123<br />
Let us hear from you!<br />
Your opinions and suggestions are encouraged<br />
and appreciated.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong> is one of 46 institutions in<br />
the Tennessee Board of Regents system, the sixth largest<br />
system of higher education in the nation. The Tennessee<br />
Board of Regents is the governing board for this system,<br />
which On is composed the Cover: of six universities, 13 two-year colleges<br />
and 26 Tennessee technology centers. The TBR system<br />
enrolls more than 80 percent of all Tennessee students<br />
attending public institutions of higher education.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong> is an equal opportunity<br />
employer committed to the education of a non-racially<br />
identifiable student body.<br />
AP-039/08-03/25M/McQuiddy Printing/Nashville, TN
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
From the Director<br />
Welcome to the Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
edition of “<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>.”<br />
There’s certainly been lots of<br />
excitement since the last issue.<br />
APSU alumni were out in<br />
full force last spring to cheer<br />
on our men’s and women’s basketball<br />
teams during tournament action, with<br />
alumni receptions in Nashville for the OVC<br />
Tourney and in Boulder, Colo., and Birmingham,<br />
Ala., for the NCAA games.<br />
Thrilled to be back on campus, the class of<br />
1953 returned in April to celebrate its 50-year<br />
reunion.<br />
Then we were “on the road again” to<br />
Florida, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Texas for<br />
alumni events and visits. It was fun meeting<br />
alumni in these areas and promoting “<strong>Peay</strong><br />
Pride,” and we were warmly welcomed. Some<br />
alums were surprised to see us so far from<br />
home, but they were eager to meet other alums<br />
in their area and hear the latest news from<br />
campus.<br />
Through these travels, we laid the groundwork<br />
for new alumni chapters—two in Florida,<br />
two in Texas and one in the Washington, D.C.<br />
area. Stay tuned for more information on this!<br />
My summer was spent preparing for <strong>fall</strong><br />
events, pre-game tailgate parties, golf tournaments,<br />
Greek alumni event, “Round Up,” a new<br />
career-mentoring seminar, Phonathon and<br />
Homecoming, just to name a few!<br />
Speaking of Homecoming, this year is going<br />
to be tremendous as we pay tribute to our<br />
country, our armed forces and our alma mater.<br />
Blanche Wilson, director of student life and<br />
leadership, and I, as co-chairs of the Campus<br />
Homecoming Committee, merged student and<br />
alumni calendars into one list of events.<br />
Jay (’89) and Gena (’94) Albertia are<br />
Homecoming co-chairs for the National Alumni<br />
Association. The featured reunion group is<br />
from the College of Arts and Letters. Contact<br />
your fellow classmates, get a group together<br />
and make plans to be on campus Oct. 31-Nov. 1<br />
for Homecoming!<br />
Even if you’re unable to attend<br />
Homecoming, let us hear from you. It’s all<br />
about staying connected to this wonderful<br />
<strong>University</strong>.<br />
<strong>Peay</strong> Pride. Feel it. Share it.<br />
Shelia Boone (’71)<br />
Director<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving<br />
National Alumni Association<br />
Executive Officers & Board of Directors<br />
Executive Officers<br />
President<br />
Kevin Hackney (’89)<br />
District V Greater Nashville (hackneyk@comcast.net)<br />
President Elect<br />
Bob Hogan (’78)<br />
District X Robertson County (TheHoganCompany@att.net)<br />
Vice President<br />
Angela Neal (’98)<br />
District XI New York (presidentangela@yahoo.com)<br />
Past President<br />
Peter Minetos (’89)<br />
District XII Greater Atlanta (Pminetos@DCSAtlanta.com)<br />
Faculty Adviser<br />
Lawrence Baggett (’63)<br />
Montgomery County (baggettl@apsu.edu)<br />
Executive Director<br />
Shelia Boone (’71) (boones@apsu.edu)<br />
Directors<br />
District I . . . . . . .Dr. Robert Patton (’57, ’59) (rep.bob.patton@legislature.state.tn.us) . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District II . . . . . .Gary (’73, ’80) (sheppy82@aol.com) and<br />
Linda Fulton (’70) Shephard (linda4887@aol.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District III . . . . .Tony Marable (’81) (tmarable@tntech.edu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District IV . . . . . .Fredrick Yarbrough (’70) (FTVP25@aol.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District V . . . . . .Kevin Hackney (’89) and Brandt Scott (’89) (brandt.scott@thehartford.com) . . .2004<br />
District VI . . . . . .(Nomination Pending) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District VII . . . . .Mark Hartley (’87) (hartleydad@yahoo.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District VIII . . . . .Bob Holeman (’78) (B_holeman@msn.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District IX . . . . . .Cynthia Norwood (’92) (cynthianorwood@hotmail.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District X . . . . . .Nelson Boehms (’86) (nboehms@earthlink.net) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District XI . . . . . .Angela Neal (’98) (presidentangela@yahoo.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District XII . . . . .Jim Roe (’65) (jroe@lmit.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District XIII . . . . .Ginny Gray Davis (’87) (ginnyg@fuse.net) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
District XIV . . . . .Dr. Dale Kincheloe (’66) (drkinch@aol.com) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .<strong>2003</strong><br />
District XV . . . . . .Ellen Crawford (’84) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
Student Rep. . . . .Gavin Roark, SGA President (sgapres@apsu.edu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2004<br />
Chapter Presidents<br />
African American . . . . . . . . . .Vacant<br />
Tri-Counties of Kentucky . . . . .Patsy Brandon (’69, ’74) (pbrandon@hesenergy.net)<br />
(Todd, Trigg & Christian counties)<br />
Greater Atlanta . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Minetos (’89) (Pminetos@DCSAtlanta.com)<br />
Montgomery County . . . . . . . . .Garnett (’83) and Nancy (’80) Ladd (ngladd@clarksville.net)<br />
Greater Nashville . . . . . . . . . . .Vonda Fields (’91) (vonda.f.fields@cummins.com)<br />
Tri-Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lee Ellen Ferguson-Fish (’89) (leefishgop@peoplepc.com)<br />
Greater Memphis . . . . . . . . . .Jeff Schneider (’96) (schneider-j@mindspring.com)<br />
Trane Support Group . . . . . . . .David Jackson (’75) (david.jackson@trane.com)<br />
Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nomination Pending<br />
Nursing Alumni . . . . . . . . . . . .Doris Davenport (’91) (davenportd@apsu.edu)<br />
Greater Carolinas . . . . . . . . . . .Mark S. Webber (’86) (Mark_Webber@hp.com)<br />
Greater Birmingham . . . . . . . . .Sam Samsil (’67) (samsil@bellsouth.net)<br />
Robertson County . . . . . . . . . .Bob Hogan (’78) (TheHoganCompany@att.net)<br />
Huntsville (Ala.) . . . . . . . . . . .Wayne Taylor (’66)<br />
Cheatham County . . . . . . . . . .Kevin Latham (’87) (klatham@qore.net)<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
1
2<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Nancy Washington (’99) is assistant general counsel with the Tennessee Board of Regents in Nashville.<br />
Ph<br />
Gr
Playing ball with<br />
the big guys<br />
By: DENNIE B. BURKE<br />
Executive Director<br />
Public Relations and Marketing<br />
“I want your toughest job,”<br />
Ronnie Carter (’88) told the liaison<br />
during an interview in the White<br />
House Office of Personnel Management<br />
following the inauguration of<br />
President George W. Bush.<br />
Later, after Carter became a<br />
founding member of the<br />
Transportation Security<br />
Administration (TSA), the chief of<br />
staff told him, “I had no interest in<br />
interviewing you. But when I was<br />
told you asked for our toughest<br />
job, I said, ‘That’s the man I’ll<br />
make a place for.’” With assurance<br />
of a plum job in the U.S.<br />
Department of Transportation,<br />
Carter flew back to Nashville. His<br />
dream of serving in the federal<br />
government was within weeks of<br />
being a reality.<br />
Then came 9/11— and the rest,<br />
as they say, is history.<br />
By all indicators, Ronnie Carter should<br />
have been a musician, part of country<br />
music’s inner circle of pickers and singers.<br />
His father, Fred Carter, was once the top<br />
session instrumentalist in Nashville, playing<br />
guitar, mandolin and violin. Deana Carter,<br />
his sister, is a country-music star, perhaps<br />
best known for her hit single, “Strawberry<br />
Wine.” His brother, Jeff, is a picker and an<br />
up-and-coming songwriter.<br />
But while his father and siblings<br />
answered the call of country music, Ronnie<br />
Carter heard a different siren song—one of<br />
learning and leadership, of politics and<br />
power. His aspirations sprouted like errant<br />
weeds in a thick patch of musical talent.<br />
The sounds of the guitar are the background<br />
music of Carter’s childhood. “I grew<br />
up with musicians in our house all the time,”<br />
he says. “I’d wake at night and hear Dad<br />
playing with people like Kris Kristofferson<br />
or Paul Simon. It just seemed natural to me.<br />
“Dad played all the time. While we<br />
watched cartoons or sat and talked on the<br />
porch. His guitar strokes were part of the<br />
conversation.”<br />
Carter played the French horn in the<br />
Goodlettsville (Tenn.) High School Band<br />
and attended band camps at APSU. These<br />
visits were pivotal in his college choice. “I<br />
knew I was going to come to <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>,”<br />
he says. “I felt comfortable here.”<br />
With his good grades and extracurricular<br />
activities, Carter would have been welcomed<br />
at any university. But even in high school,<br />
his scrutiny and assessment of colleges<br />
revealed maturity beyond his years. At band<br />
camp, he noted the close relationship<br />
between APSU students and faculty, and he<br />
realized how much such relationships would<br />
mean to him as a student.<br />
Despite mental observations about his<br />
“fit” at APSU, Carter’s college enrollment<br />
was not a given. He faced barriers. The most<br />
daunting: his father’s expectations. Although<br />
difficult to do, he had to rebel against the<br />
man he most respected. Fred Carter was of<br />
the old school, which held that after high<br />
school a young man should choose a craft<br />
and get busy mastering it. “I had to fight<br />
Dad,” Carter says, “but I was determined to<br />
go to school, come hell or high water.”<br />
Carter also lacked the financial means to<br />
attend college. To fund his college expenses,<br />
he got a job at Opryland Hotel, working<br />
there throughout his years at APSU. His senior<br />
year, he was recruited for management<br />
by Opryland officials. He tried it—but<br />
became frustrated with the seemingly rigid<br />
career-progression structure already firmly<br />
in place. Opryland administrators tied<br />
advancement to age or years served in specific<br />
areas, whereas Carter believed new<br />
ideas, hard work and initiative were more<br />
important. He was ready to assume more<br />
responsibility than was permitted.<br />
He knew he wanted a job in a quality<br />
organization, he wanted a challenge and he<br />
wanted more responsibility. The U.S.<br />
Marine Corps filled the bill. So he signed on<br />
and shipped off to Quantico, Va., to begin<br />
officer training. “It wasn’t easy, but it was<br />
wonderful,” he says. “I like doing difficult<br />
things; I like being pushed. I push myself—I<br />
always did.”<br />
He’s now a major in the USMC<br />
continued on next page<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Graphics: Charlotte Carlin<br />
Way to Go!<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
3
Reserves, serving in the War Fighting<br />
Command/Joint Operations Center at<br />
Quantico. What derailed him from a career in<br />
the Marines? His openness to opportunity,<br />
desire for new challenges and the intrigue of<br />
Ivy League universities. Carter always<br />
recalled Dr. Tom Dixon, APSU history professor,<br />
telling about an <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> graduate<br />
who went on to Harvard and did well there.<br />
“I always wondered if I could compete there,<br />
too,” he says.<br />
On a career path in the Marine Corps,<br />
Carter was eager to further the interests of<br />
the USMC at the most senior levels. To aid<br />
the Corps, he felt he must position himself at<br />
the national-policy level, and a master’s<br />
degree from Harvard would further advance<br />
his value to the Corps.<br />
A take-charge person, he admits he got<br />
the cart before the horse. “I applied to<br />
Harvard before I petitioned the Marine Corps<br />
to send me. Once I was accepted, the Corps<br />
asked me to wait a year, but I didn’t want to<br />
wait, so I attended on my own.”<br />
That meant he had to shoulder the cost of<br />
Carter’s college<br />
enrollment was<br />
not a given. He<br />
faced barriers.<br />
The most daunting:<br />
his father’s<br />
expectations.<br />
his Harvard education—with no guarantees<br />
for the future. Again, he took a leap of<br />
faith—and landed on his feet. He entered the<br />
prestigious Kennedy School of Government<br />
where he earned a master’s degree in public<br />
administration in 1996.<br />
Even then Carter was an avowed<br />
Southern conservative, so he felt exhilarated<br />
about his move to the Northeast and an Ivy<br />
League university that was an incubator for<br />
the political farleft.<br />
“I walked<br />
into the teeth of<br />
the liberal establishment<br />
to see if<br />
I could hold my<br />
own.”<br />
He could. And<br />
along the way, he<br />
became friends<br />
with several of<br />
today’s renowned<br />
public figures,<br />
including classmate<br />
and fellow<br />
conservative Bill<br />
O’Reilly, who,<br />
like Carter, had<br />
interrupted a<br />
career to return to<br />
college and earn<br />
a master’s degree<br />
in public policy.<br />
Now the host<br />
of “The O’Reilly Factor,” Fox News’ toprated<br />
talk show, O’Reilly was already a TV<br />
personality when he enrolled at Harvard,<br />
having earned his stripes as a print and<br />
broadcast reporter, including a stint with the<br />
popular news magazine show, “Inside<br />
Edition.”<br />
Carter defends O’Reilly’s cockiness as<br />
part of a show-biz persona. “Bill might have<br />
been a television celebrity already, but at the<br />
‘K School,’ he didn’t have a bully pulpit,”<br />
What Harvard offered O’Reilly was a<br />
unique forum in which to match wits with<br />
people whose IQs were in the stratosphere.<br />
Equal to them in intelligence, O’Reilly<br />
proved more skillful in the art of verbal<br />
jousting. “It was fun to watch him spar with<br />
students and professors,” Carter says.<br />
Small wonder the two men clicked.<br />
According to Carter’s professors at <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong>, like his friend O’Reilly, Carter never<br />
backed down if he thought he was right.<br />
“Just ask Betty Joe Wallace (history professor<br />
and adviser),” he says. “She’ll tell you<br />
about our heated discussions. If I felt I<br />
deserved a better test grade than I received, I<br />
would argue the merits with her. She listened<br />
respectfully—and then came back at me.<br />
Betty Joe challenged me; she pushed me.<br />
Today, I thank her and am honored to call her<br />
my friend.”<br />
Photo: ©Spencer Platt/Getty Images<br />
After his graduation from Harvard, Carter<br />
returned to Tennessee as a senior adviser to<br />
cabinet-level officers, first in the Department<br />
of Environment and Conservation and then<br />
in the Department of Transportation. “I<br />
needed time to legitimize what I’d learned in<br />
class,” he says.<br />
For five years, he served in state government,<br />
but when the Bush administration<br />
began occupying Washington, D.C., in<br />
January 2001, Carter couldn’t deny a yearning<br />
to be part of it.<br />
On Thursday, Sept. 6, he interviewed with<br />
the chief of staff of the U.S. Department of<br />
Transportation, who offered him a choice of<br />
two positions. Comfortable with his pending<br />
place in the administration, Carter flew back<br />
to Nashville, where his wife, Cheryl, was<br />
preparing their daughters— Alexandra, now<br />
7, Katherine, now 4, and Jacqueline, now<br />
2—for the imminent move back to her home<br />
state of Virginia.<br />
The following Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001,<br />
terrorists attacked the Pentagon and New<br />
York City. Like the rest of the nation,<br />
Washington, D.C., was in chaos. Contacted<br />
by a Department of Transportation staff<br />
member, Carter learned rumors were flying<br />
that a new federal agency might be fasttracked<br />
to better secure America’s transportation<br />
systems.<br />
Over the phone, Carter heard the words:<br />
4 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: David Gleeson (’64) is president of Morflex Inc., in Greensboro, N.C. Way to Go!
“Ronnie, if you want either of the jobs I<br />
offered, it’s yours. But with your background,<br />
we could use you in starting up a<br />
“ 9/11 caused a shift<br />
of consciousness in<br />
our country...<br />
We’ve learned our<br />
good nature can be<br />
used against us.”<br />
new agency.”<br />
At the time, the organizational blueprint<br />
for the agency was sketchy, and its responsibilities<br />
were vague. But Carter knew, if the<br />
plan were approved, it would be the first pure<br />
federal government start-up in more than 70<br />
years. “I wasn’t inclined to say ‘no,’” he<br />
says.<br />
“As a K School graduate, I was committed<br />
to public policy, and I knew I’d never<br />
see another pure government start-up. I didn’t<br />
know what I would be doing when I got<br />
there, but I went. There’s no way to put a<br />
price tag on such an opportunity.”<br />
On Nov. 19, 2001, a bill creating the federal<br />
Transportation Security Administration<br />
(TSA) passed. Carter was on the job three<br />
weeks later—the fifth person selected for<br />
Transportation Secretary Mineta’s TSA task<br />
force. As the operations chief for the task<br />
force, Carter helped shape an agency that,<br />
essentially, would hold the security of the<br />
traveling public in its hands.<br />
The importance of the new agency was<br />
apparent in how quickly it received congressional<br />
approval. For everyone involved, the<br />
first few months were a blur. “It was so<br />
intense at first—like being involved in a<br />
business start-up,” Carter says. “I just<br />
worked the problems day-by-day.”<br />
Carter literally was involved with every<br />
major policy issue faced by TSA during the<br />
first six months. “ I hired 150 consultants in<br />
the first few months,” he says. “The ‘dotcoms’<br />
had gone under, and we were flooded<br />
with MBAs, CPAs.”<br />
The enthusiasm and energy within the<br />
new agency was fueled by a red-hot patriotism.<br />
“We worked cooperatively with other<br />
agencies,” he says. “There were no politics<br />
involved. It was an energizing atmosphere.”<br />
Initially, Carter helped set the policy and<br />
programs surrounding the new national security<br />
initiative. Later, he was charged with<br />
establishing TSA’s nationwide logistics network.<br />
His official title today? Senior policy<br />
adviser to the Office of the Administrator.<br />
But, for Carter, a title always took a backseat<br />
to the mission. And he is passionate about<br />
TSA’s mission.<br />
“9/11 caused a shift of consciousness in<br />
our country,” he says. “The world’s a lot<br />
smaller. The essence of the American spirit<br />
was not damaged, but Americans are more<br />
pragmatic now. We’ve learned our good<br />
nature can be used against us.”<br />
Oversight of TSA, which at first was<br />
within the Department of Transportation, was<br />
shifted to the new cabinet-level Department<br />
of Homeland Security in March <strong>2003</strong>. What<br />
does he think of his new boss? “Tom Ridge<br />
is a dedicated public servant. He’s intelligent<br />
and, more importantly, he’s effective. His<br />
experience in the military, the public sector<br />
and politics prepared him to be successful in<br />
this job.”<br />
Although an admirer of Ridge, Carter<br />
laments the increasing bureaucracy as TSA<br />
matures.<br />
What Carter does like is to “work the<br />
problem,” and he does it well. His desire to<br />
“work the problem” echoes the admonition<br />
of his high school band teacher, an admonition<br />
Carter took to heart: If you’re not part<br />
of the solution, you’re part of the problem.<br />
Now that TSA is humming along, one<br />
wonders if this adventurous young man’s<br />
heart is turning toward the next challenge.<br />
Thus, the question begs to be asked: Given<br />
his education and experience, does he aspire<br />
to public office —perhaps in his beloved<br />
Tennessee? The corners of Carter’s mouth<br />
turn up in a faint smile. He says, “I keep an<br />
open mind about everything.”<br />
Although not a musician, he’s become<br />
an experienced player, one who walked<br />
fearlessly into the spotlight of a different<br />
stage—the stage of public policy.<br />
Ronnie Carter (’88), senior policy adviser to the Office of the Administrator, U. S. Department of<br />
Homeland Security, returned to APSU to give the Spring <strong>2003</strong> Commencement address.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
5
Making APSU Headlines<br />
Changing Minds. Changing Lives: Alumnus’ gift kick starts capital campaign<br />
At a celebration May 3 at Pace Alumni Center at<br />
Emerald Hill, three key volunteer leaders unveil a<br />
thermometer showing the status of APSU’s first<br />
capital campaign. Ann Ross, center, is chair of the<br />
campaign with Don Jenkins, left, and Billy Atkins,<br />
right, serving as co-chairs.<br />
During the silent phase of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s<br />
first-ever capital campaign, <strong>University</strong> staff<br />
and volunteers vacillated between anticipation<br />
and anxiety, wondering if the goal of $15 million<br />
were attainable, especially since the<br />
APSU administration was bucking the advice<br />
of a consultant who researched the potential<br />
for private gifts to APSU.<br />
Given the lagging economy, the fiscal<br />
uncertainty of Tennessee higher education<br />
and the many other local nonprofit organizations<br />
already in the midst of major fundraising<br />
efforts, the consultant told APSU<br />
President Sherry Hoppe this was not the best<br />
time to launch a major fundraising initiative—especially<br />
a history-making first-ever<br />
capital campaign.<br />
Optimistic and confident APSU’s alumni<br />
and friends would support their <strong>University</strong>, Dr.<br />
Hoppe thanked the consultant—and moved<br />
forward with the campaign’s silent phase.<br />
Three community leaders stepped up to<br />
help with the effort—dubbed the Changing<br />
Minds, Changing Lives Campaign. Campaign<br />
chair is Ann Ross, Clarksville, who worked 30<br />
years as manager of the APSU Book and<br />
Supply Store. Co-chairs are Don Jenkins,<br />
owner of Jenkins & Wynne Automotive, and<br />
Billy Atkins, president of Legends Bank.<br />
Hopeful the $15 million ultimately would<br />
Heather Kennedy<br />
be reached, APSU officials set an interim target<br />
goal of $7.5 million by September <strong>2003</strong>.<br />
But at a May 3 dinner at Pace Alumni Center<br />
at Emerald Hill, an enthusiastic Hoppe<br />
announced that more than $10 million already<br />
had been committed.<br />
She also announced that the largest gift to<br />
date was that of Clarksvillians Ben (’51) and<br />
Margaret Kimbrough, who pledged $2 million<br />
from their estate in addition to a gift of<br />
$150,000 during the campaign. A 1951 graduate<br />
of APSU, Kimbrough is the former president<br />
of First Trust & Savings Bank (now<br />
Bank of America).<br />
“I’m a great believer that, if you’ve been<br />
blessed with some of the resources of the<br />
world, you should show your appreciation by<br />
sharing,” Kimbrough said. “Giving to <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong> is one way Margaret and I give back to<br />
the community that has given us so much.”<br />
Because the campaign is going so well,<br />
Hoppe thinks it likely will top $25 million,<br />
and she urges all APSU alumni and friends<br />
join the effort.<br />
Gifts and pledges will go to academic<br />
scholarships or to any area the donor specifies.<br />
For information or to make a pledge,<br />
telephone 931-221-7127 or go to<br />
www.apsu.edu/development.<br />
Paces honored for philanthropy<br />
with statewide award<br />
At the May 3 dinner at Pace Alumni Center<br />
at Emerald Hill, Wayne (’68) and Bobbi (’69)<br />
Pace of New York City and Atlanta received<br />
the inaugural Tennessee Board of Regents<br />
(TBR) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in<br />
Philanthropy.<br />
The honor recognized the more than<br />
$1 million the couple has given APSU.<br />
In presenting the award, TBR Chancellor<br />
Charles Manning, Nashville, cited numerous<br />
instances of the Paces’ generosity to APSU,<br />
both in time and money. Manning noted that<br />
the couple recently donated more than<br />
$500,000 to renovate and expand Pace<br />
Alumni Center at Emerald Hill, an antebellum<br />
mansion that is home to the APSU<br />
National Alumni Association.<br />
He also told how, in February 2002, the<br />
couple flew from New York City to Nashville<br />
to attend the Candlelight Ball, APSU’s annual<br />
black-tie fundraiser. There, Pace made a<br />
commitment for $400,000 to fund four fully<br />
endowed scholarships in honor of four professors<br />
at APSU, each of whom had a profound<br />
influence on his life.<br />
Clearly moved by his selection to receive<br />
the statewide award for philanthropy, Pace<br />
took the podium. “There’s so much we get<br />
called upon for our time and our money and<br />
our commitment. But this (giving to APSU)<br />
always seemed right to Bobbi and me.”<br />
Years ago when the Paces first began talking<br />
about supporting APSU, they came up<br />
with an amount they felt they “should”<br />
give—and then decided to stretch themselves<br />
as donors, he said.<br />
Pace challenged everyone to reach beyond<br />
what they think they should give, saying<br />
“Folks, it feels good…very, very good.”<br />
Echoing Pace’s sentiment that giving to<br />
others blesses the giver as much as the one<br />
who receives, Hoppe concluded the event by<br />
citing an ancient Chinese proverb: “He who<br />
gives flowers to others discovers the fragrance<br />
remains on his hands.”<br />
Hoppe named OVC president<br />
For the first time in its 56-year history, the<br />
Ohio Valley Conference Board of Presidents<br />
is under the leadership of two women.<br />
Dr. Sherry Hoppe, APSU president, was<br />
6 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: The Honorable Larry Potter (’73) is general sessions judge for Shelby County, Tenn. Way to Go!
Making APSU Headlines<br />
chosen president and board chair. Eastern<br />
Kentucky <strong>University</strong> President Joanne<br />
Glasser was named vice president and board<br />
co-chair.<br />
In addition to being a first for the OVC, it<br />
is believed to be the first time in NCAA history<br />
that two women have held the top leadership<br />
positions of a Division I conference in<br />
the same year.<br />
The first woman to head a four-year university<br />
in Tennessee, Hoppe said, “I’m<br />
pleased to be able to serve in a leadership<br />
role at this important time in the Ohio Valley<br />
Conference’s history.<br />
“With two new institutions joining our<br />
conference and a new commissioner who<br />
brings fresh energy and ideas, it’s an exciting<br />
time in the league. I look forward to working<br />
with Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher in<br />
maintaining the strong traditions of the OVC<br />
while adapting to the ever-changing world of<br />
intercollegiate athletics.”<br />
Students groan as tuition<br />
jumps—again<br />
During the first few days of July 2002, the<br />
citizenry was on pins and needles as state<br />
government shut down while Tennessee lawmakers<br />
struggled to adopt a budget. Happily,<br />
on July 3, 2002, a compromise budget<br />
passed. Unhappily, it led to an increase in<br />
APSU tuition of 7.5 percent.<br />
This year, newly elected Gov. Phil<br />
Bredesen followed through on his promise to<br />
move toward resolution of ongoing statebudget<br />
short<strong>fall</strong>s. As part of that, the base<br />
budget for all public colleges and universities<br />
was reduced by 9 percent. The process proceeded<br />
more smoothly than last year—but the<br />
outcome was even worse for students.<br />
Tuition for Fall <strong>2003</strong> Semester increased a<br />
whopping 14 percent. In fact, students have<br />
seen undergraduate tuition more than double<br />
since 1992.<br />
“There is certainly concern…students may<br />
reach the conclusion that access to higher<br />
education is too expensive,” said Mitch<br />
Robinson, APSU vice president for finance<br />
and administration. “Historically, enrollment<br />
has not declined as a result of tuition increases,<br />
but at some point it may—and the question<br />
is, where is that point.”<br />
APSU alumnus and Secretary of <strong>State</strong><br />
Riley Darnell (’62), a member of the<br />
Tennessee Higher Education Commission,<br />
said, “I personally don’t see a light at the end<br />
Jennifer Adcock<br />
Brooke Armistead<br />
After unprecedented athletic success<br />
throughout 2002-03, <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> capped off<br />
the year of achievements by claiming one of<br />
the Ohio Valley Conference’s most prestigious<br />
honors—the OVC Academic Achievement<br />
Banner—for the first time in history!<br />
The OVC Academic Achievement Banner is<br />
given annually to the school whose student-athletes<br />
have the highest combined grade-point<br />
average (GPA) compared to the average for the<br />
entire, full-time undergraduate student body.<br />
APSU’s student-athletes had a combined GPA<br />
of 2.89, which was slightly higher than the 2.74<br />
GPA of all full-time, undergraduate students.<br />
“The OVC Academic Achievement Banner is<br />
truly an award that demonstrates outstanding<br />
dedication of an institution’s student-athlete<br />
population to the importance of academics,”<br />
of the tunnel. I think we’re in for several<br />
more years of this.<br />
“But I’d rather see a 14 percent increase than<br />
watch the institutions slowly bleed to death.”<br />
Casey Kelley<br />
APSU athletes win in the classroom, too<br />
Jordan Eads<br />
Exemplifying the best in academic achievement among athletes are Jennifer Adcock in softball, Brooke<br />
Armistead in women's basketball, Casey Kelley in volleyball and Jordan Eads in women's cross country and<br />
women's track and field. Each received an OVC Medal of Honor for having a perfect 4.0 GPA.<br />
OVC Commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher said.<br />
“<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> deserves to be proud of this significant<br />
accomplishment of its student-athletes.”<br />
APSU’s performance marks just the fourth<br />
time in the coveted award’s 17-year history<br />
that it has gone to an institution in Tennessee.<br />
Past Tennessee recipients are UT-Martin,<br />
Tennessee <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong> and Middle<br />
Tennessee <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong>.<br />
OVC staff also announced that four APSU<br />
student-athletes received OVC Medals of<br />
Honor for perfect 4.0 GPAs: Brooke<br />
Armistead, women’s basketball; Jordan Eads,<br />
women’s cross country and women’s track<br />
and field; Jennifer Adcock, softball; and<br />
Casey Kelley, volleyball.<br />
Forty-eight APSU student-athletes were<br />
named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll.<br />
Racism at APSU?<br />
Actions speak louder<br />
than words<br />
Following protests by a small number of<br />
African American students regarding budget<br />
cuts, academic reorganization and a perception<br />
of racial profiling, the <strong>University</strong>’s decisions<br />
were investigated last spring by the<br />
Clarksville Chapter of the NAACP and the<br />
Black Legislative Caucus.<br />
President Sherry Hoppe appeared before<br />
the Black Caucus to respond to questions,<br />
and more than 1,100 pages of documents dating<br />
back as far as 1985 were generated by<br />
APSU in response to requests from the<br />
NAACP.<br />
After presenting the facts and documents to<br />
refute all allegations, APSU’s leadership team<br />
turned its attention back to ongoing initiatives<br />
to recruit and retain African American students,<br />
faculty and staff.<br />
Richard Jackson, the president’s senior<br />
adviser for affirmative action, diversity and<br />
legal affairs, is working with other members<br />
of the leadership team on these efforts.<br />
Examples are:<br />
ASTAR Program<br />
For the second consecutive year, APSU staff<br />
actively recruited African American students<br />
Continued on page 20<br />
Photos: APSU Sports Information<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
7
“And o’er them the lighthouse looked lovely as hope—<br />
that star of life’s tremulous ocean.”<br />
—Paul Moon James<br />
Once a chemistry major, Howard W. Roddy (’71) practices a modern-day<br />
alchemy—bringing disparate elements together to create health-care solutions.<br />
In the process, he’s lighting his community’s darkest corners.<br />
From<br />
beakers toBeaco<br />
By: Debbie Denton, Marketing Manager<br />
Howard W. Roddy<br />
loves lighthouses.<br />
Prints of lighthouses<br />
grace the wall opposite<br />
his desk in the<br />
executive office<br />
suites of Memorial<br />
Health Care System<br />
in Chattanooga.<br />
Miniature lighthouses embellish wall-hung<br />
shelves and march across the window sill behind<br />
him. Decorative plates bearing images of lighthouses<br />
accessorize the tables to the right and left<br />
of the two comfortable chairs facing his desk.<br />
“I love their history, their beauty, the fact that<br />
they’ve survived in time,” he says, attempting to<br />
explain the attraction.<br />
But what Roddy doesn’t see, and others quickly<br />
do, is that lighthouses—structures whose purpose<br />
is to guide sailors and warn them of dangers—are<br />
the perfect metaphor for Roddy.<br />
His is a life dedicated to leading, guiding and<br />
protecting others. To making a difference.<br />
The phrase, “make a difference,” turns up frequently<br />
in Roddy’s conversations, and it turned<br />
up early in his life as a compelling personal motivator.<br />
As a student at <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>, he was a member<br />
of Alpha Phi Omega, a fraternity whose purpose<br />
is “to develop leadership, promote friendship and<br />
provide service to humanity.”<br />
Roddy graduated with a BS and a major in<br />
chemistry in 1971. His plan was to pursue a job<br />
with a major chemical company like Dupont or<br />
Eastman-Kodak. But he was offered a job with<br />
the Hamilton County Health Department, and<br />
seeing the opportunity to “go home,” he immediately<br />
accepted.<br />
“I did everything from inspecting swimming<br />
pools to rodent control to licensing and inspecting<br />
day-care centers,” he recalls. “A little of<br />
everything.”<br />
After a couple of years, Roddy returned to<br />
school for a master of science degree in environmental<br />
health administration, graduating from<br />
ETSU in 1974. He worked as a planner and grant<br />
writer for two community health centers until<br />
1981, when the Hamilton County executive<br />
appointed him director of the health department.<br />
continued on page 32<br />
8<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Dr. Phil Roe (’67) is an obstetrician in Johnson City, Tenn. Way to Go!
n<br />
Photos & layout: Bill Persinger<br />
Lighthouse photo: Getty Images<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
9
<strong>2003</strong> Alumni Awards<br />
The APSU National Alumni Association<br />
proudly presents its top awards during<br />
Homecoming weekend—a tradition that<br />
began in 1992.<br />
This year’s recipients will be honored during<br />
the Alumni Awards and Reunion Brunch,<br />
which begins at 10:30 a.m., Nov. 1 in the<br />
Tommy Head Atrium, Sundquist Science<br />
Complex—a choice spot to watch the<br />
Homecoming Parade. Friends and relatives<br />
are invited to celebrate with the honorees and<br />
enjoy a delicious brunch.<br />
The Outstanding Service Award was established<br />
by the APSU National Alumni<br />
Association to give special recognition to<br />
individuals who, through fund raising,<br />
recruiting, advocacy or faithful service, have<br />
brought honor and distinction to APSU. This<br />
award, which may be given to someone who<br />
is not an APSU alumnus/a, represents the<br />
highest honor conferred by the APSUNAA.<br />
The Outstanding Young Alumnus/a Award<br />
is given to a graduate of APSU who is age 42<br />
or younger. It recognizes outstanding accomplishments<br />
in one’s profession, business, community,<br />
state or nation that have brought a<br />
high level of honor and pride to the<br />
<strong>University</strong>.<br />
The Outstanding Alumnus/a Award is relatively<br />
new; it was established last year to<br />
honor an APSU graduate, regardless of age,<br />
for outstanding accomplishments in his/her<br />
profession, business, community, state or<br />
nation that have brought a high level of<br />
honor and pride to the <strong>University</strong>.<br />
The Outstanding Service Award for <strong>2003</strong><br />
goes to Brandon Buhler (’51), Perkins<br />
Freeman and James T. Mann, all of<br />
Clarksville.<br />
The Outstanding Young Alumnus/a Award<br />
for <strong>2003</strong> is shared by Nelson Boehms (’86),<br />
Clarksville, Dr. Valencia May (’86),<br />
Memphis, and Kathryn Shearer (’92),<br />
Huntsville, Ala.<br />
Recipients of the Outstanding Alumnus/a<br />
Award are Gordon Jackson (’61), Memphis,<br />
and Dr. Ramona Lumpkin (’67), London,<br />
Ontario, Canada.<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Service Award<br />
Brandon Lee Buhler (’51)<br />
As a student at<br />
APSU, Brandon<br />
Buhler was Dave<br />
Aaron’s right-hand<br />
man, working as<br />
the manager of several<br />
of Aaron’s<br />
teams.<br />
Brandon Lee<br />
Buhler<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Today, Buhler is<br />
known as a founding<br />
father of the<br />
Aaron Foundation at<br />
APSU. In memory<br />
of the beloved coach and athletics director,<br />
Buhler and several of Aaron’s former players<br />
established the foundation in 1991. Through<br />
their efforts, the Aaron Foundation stands at<br />
more than $175,000, with interest going<br />
toward athletic scholarships.<br />
During Homecoming, the founding fathers<br />
host a reunion for a closely knit group of<br />
men, all connected by a common thread—<br />
each played or worked under Aaron, who<br />
ingrained in them precepts that went far<br />
beyond the court or field, lessons that continue<br />
to light their lives today.<br />
Buhler was born in Stewart County, the<br />
son of Franklin and Gladys Buhler. When<br />
Camp Campbell was created in the 1940s,<br />
the farm was absorbed into the new Army<br />
post, and the family bought a farm in<br />
Christian County, Ky., which now belongs to<br />
Buhler and his brother, Andrew.<br />
Buhler earned a degree in secondary education<br />
from APSU. From 1951-55, he<br />
coached and taught at Montgomery Central<br />
High School and, during the summers, measured<br />
tobacco and sold jewelry, cookware and<br />
sporting goods. Such double-duty set the<br />
tone for his business career.<br />
After teaching, he became a partner in<br />
several restaurants and a jewelry/sporting<br />
goods business in Clarksville. Then he and<br />
his family moved to Atlanta where he got<br />
into construction and recreational-vehicle<br />
sales. In 1967 the family returned to<br />
Clarksville, and Buhler continued to sell<br />
RVs. From 1968-75, he was district sales<br />
manager for Winnebago Industries. After<br />
selling real estate briefly, Buhler was district<br />
sales manager for National Homes and<br />
National Building Systems from 1978-92. In<br />
1992 he retired to oversee the family farm.<br />
He is active in the Madison Street<br />
Methodist Church and has a 10-year record<br />
of service to the Governors Club. He is a<br />
Mason, Kentucky Colonel and Shriner. He<br />
belongs to the Winnebago VIP Club,<br />
National Homes Presidents Club and<br />
National Building Systems Chairman’s Club.<br />
Buhler has two children from a previous<br />
marriage, Deborah McCullough of<br />
Douglasville, Ga., and Mark Buhler of<br />
Dickson, and five grandchildren—Megan,<br />
Sara and Amie McCullough and William<br />
Brandon and Lori Leanne Buhler.<br />
In 1994 Buhler married Thelma McKenzie<br />
(’58), a highly respected speech pathologist<br />
with offices in Clarksville, Hopkinsville and<br />
Greenville, Ky. She has three grown sons,<br />
William, Bryon and Brad.<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Service Award<br />
Perkins Freeman<br />
With his ready<br />
smile, zest for life<br />
and quick wit,<br />
Perkins Freeman<br />
spreads happiness<br />
wherever he goes<br />
and, thankfully,<br />
years ago his career<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
brought him to<br />
Clarksville and<br />
Perkins Freeman <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>.<br />
One of 15 children,<br />
Freeman was born in 1919 on a farm<br />
near Gallatin. By scrubbing dorm floors, he<br />
was able to attend David Lipscomb his freshman<br />
year. The next year, he got a football<br />
scholarship to Cumberland <strong>University</strong>,<br />
Lebanon. Freeman didn’t make the team but,<br />
undaunted, he waited tables for three meals a<br />
day, seven days a week, to pay for tuition,<br />
room and board.<br />
Freeman’s struggle to attain a college education<br />
is perhaps one reason he has helped<br />
ease the way to college for young people in<br />
financial need.<br />
When the first military draft of Oct. 15,<br />
1940, rolled around, Freeman was too young,<br />
so he took a job with Southern Bell,<br />
Nashville—digging holes, setting poles. His<br />
pay? Thirty cents an hour.<br />
In December 1941, with WWII underway,<br />
he volunteered for the U.S. Navy and soon was<br />
called to active duty. Because he had experience<br />
with a telephone company, the Navy sent<br />
him to radio school. In 1942, he was issued a<br />
rifle and sent to the South Pacific to set up<br />
10 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Dr. William Russo (’67), Memphis, is a renowned cardiologist and science-fiction author. Way to Go!
adio equipment. After the war ended, Freeman<br />
was discharged in October 1945.<br />
On Dec. 1, 1945, he rejoined Bell, just as a<br />
new program was beginning. Headquartered<br />
in Atlanta, where Freeman and his wife, Ruth,<br />
moved, the program took telephone service to<br />
rural areas within the nine states served by<br />
Southern Bell.<br />
The couple’s only child, Cindy, was born<br />
during their time in Atlanta. She later enrolled<br />
at APSU, graduating in 1973.<br />
In 1953, the family moved to Nashville<br />
where Freeman worked nine years in<br />
Southern Bell’s Business Office before transferring<br />
to Clarksville as manager for a 13-<br />
county area. In 1968, AT&T and the “baby<br />
Bells” split, giving Freeman oversight of 25<br />
Middle Tennessee counties.<br />
Eventually, he was asked to transfer to<br />
Birmingham, Ala., headquarters of South<br />
Central Bell, but he didn’t want to move. With<br />
41 years of service, he retired July 1, 1981, so<br />
his family could remain in Clarksville.<br />
Freeman is a respected community leader.<br />
During his nine years in Springfield, Tenn.,<br />
he was Rotary Club president and secretary<br />
and president of the Chamber of Commerce.<br />
After moving to Clarksville, he continued<br />
his community involvement. He is a lifetime<br />
member of the Conservation Club and a corporate<br />
member of the Association of the United<br />
<strong>State</strong>s Army. He belongs to the Montgomery<br />
County Sportsman Club, the Pointer and Setter<br />
Club, Clarksville Country Club and is an elder<br />
and board chair of First Christian Church.<br />
His service to APSU is long and strong. He<br />
is a member of the Tower Club, Governors<br />
Club, APSU Foundation Board of Trustees<br />
and the President’s Circle of Advisers.<br />
He sponsors the Governors Club/Perkins<br />
Freeman Academic Achievement Award.<br />
From the $50,000 given or raised by<br />
Freeman, a $1,000 award is presented annually<br />
to a top student-athlete.<br />
With awards averaging $1,500, more than<br />
50 music students have received Freeman-<br />
Meise Scholarships, sponsored by Freeman.<br />
Few Gov fans are as loyal. Although he<br />
gives much of himself to APSU, he says he<br />
gets more than he gives. “APSU…is the<br />
greatest because of its people,” he says.<br />
“My great friends at <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> have<br />
meant more than most of you will ever know.<br />
Thanks for letting me be a part of all the good<br />
times we have enjoyed.”<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Service Award<br />
James T. Mann<br />
In Clarksville,<br />
the name Jim Mann<br />
is synonymous with<br />
top-notch leadership<br />
in banking, education<br />
and the arts.<br />
Although not an<br />
APSU alumnus,<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Mann appreciates<br />
the <strong>University</strong> as if<br />
James T. Mann it were his alma<br />
mater. As a bank<br />
president and as a man who has drunk from<br />
the well of education, Mann understands<br />
APSU’s value to the community—from an<br />
infusion of $165 million annually into the<br />
economy to the <strong>University</strong>’s role as the area<br />
nurturer and provider of the arts.<br />
Mann earned his bachelor’s degree from<br />
Vanderbilt <strong>University</strong> and a master’s degree<br />
in mathematics from The Ohio <strong>State</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>. In 1964 he was commissioned a<br />
2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Army and was in<br />
active service in 1970-71.<br />
Before entering the financial world, Mann<br />
was an academician—working nine years as a<br />
teaching assistant at The Ohio <strong>State</strong><br />
<strong>University</strong>. In 1973, he joined First Federal<br />
Savings Bank and rose steadily up the ranks<br />
until becoming president and chief executive<br />
officer in January 1981.<br />
Mann is a “mover and shaker.” In 2001-02,<br />
he chaired the Clarksville Area Chamber of<br />
Commerce and the Clarksville Economic<br />
Development Council and has been on their<br />
board since 1986, including two terms as<br />
chair. Since 1991, he has been on the board<br />
of Intrieve, serving as board chair since 2000.<br />
He is on the board of the local United Way<br />
and was a board member and chair of the<br />
Clarksville Armed Services YMCA from<br />
1978-81. He served two terms as chair of the<br />
Clarksville Salvation Army unit. He was district<br />
chair for the Cogiobia District Boy<br />
Scouts for two years and area chair for the<br />
Middle Tennessee Council of Boy Scouts of<br />
America in 1997-99. He served in 1997-98 as<br />
chair of the Clarksville/Montgomery County<br />
Public Library Foundation.<br />
In addition to a successful presidency of<br />
the Clarksville Community Concert<br />
Association, he was co-founder and president<br />
of Leadership Clarksville and was chair of<br />
Youth Leadership Clarksville. He is active in<br />
Madison Street United Methodist Church. He<br />
is a member of the Kiwanis Club, where he<br />
was Distinguished Past President and<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Distinguished Past Lt. Governor.<br />
Among his many other honors, he was<br />
named the William O. Beach Citizen of the<br />
Year in 1995 by the local chapter of the<br />
American Cancer Society. In that same year,<br />
he received the Ovation Award from the<br />
APSU Center for the Creative Arts for his<br />
strong support and advocacy. The Middle<br />
Tennessee Council of Boy Scouts of America<br />
presented him with the Silver Beaver Award in<br />
2001, and in 2002 he received The Gracey<br />
Award for distinguished service to the<br />
Customs House Museum, Clarksville.<br />
Mann, who was chair of the Tennessee<br />
League of Savings Institutions in 1980-90 and<br />
president of the Southeastern Conference of<br />
Community Banks in 1995-97, is on the<br />
board of America’s Community Banks (ACB)<br />
and a member of ACB Legislative<br />
Committee, Mutual Institutions Committee<br />
and Technology Committee.<br />
He and his wife, the former Dorothy Anne<br />
Newton, have three grown children—Laura,<br />
31, James Jr., 29, and William Russell, 26.<br />
Dr. Valencia<br />
McChristian-May<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Young Alumna<br />
Dr. Valencia McChristian-May (‘86)<br />
Her office e-mail address, heavnsentdentist@msn.com,<br />
says a lot about what the practice<br />
of dentistry means to Dr. Valencia<br />
McChristian-May. But it says even more<br />
about what her care means to her patients.<br />
For them, she truly is Heaven-sent.<br />
McChristian-<br />
May of Memphis is<br />
in private practice at<br />
Plaza Dental Offices<br />
in the Poplar Plaza<br />
Shopping Center.<br />
Besides her private<br />
practice, she volunteers<br />
in free dental<br />
clinics, providing<br />
treatment to people<br />
with no insurance.<br />
She also donates her time to visit schools and<br />
talk with children about the importance of caring<br />
for their teeth.<br />
“The most rewarding aspect of my work is<br />
the smiles and hugs from kids when they’ve<br />
had their dental work completed with little or<br />
no discomfort,” she says, “or from adults who<br />
have conquered their phobias and cry when<br />
they see their smile restored.”<br />
May earned her bachelor’s degree from<br />
APSU in 1986 and a doctorate of dental science<br />
from the <strong>University</strong> of Tennessee-<br />
Memphis in 1989.<br />
Continued on page 18<br />
11
From Tennessee to<br />
Texas: Blazing a trail<br />
By: DENNIE B. BURKE<br />
Executive Director<br />
Public Relations and Marketing<br />
The skyscrapers of downtown<br />
Houston pierce the pale blue sky. A<br />
predawn storm that blew up from<br />
Galveston is just a memory. By 9<br />
a.m. the April sun has dried up any<br />
rain puddles, leaving the air clean,<br />
almost cool, with no hint of the<br />
cloying humidity that soon will<br />
wrap the city in a damp embrace.<br />
Flanked by a bright profusion of<br />
yellow and purple pansies, marble<br />
steps lead up from a wide sidewalk<br />
to the Bell Street entrance of the<br />
building. Inside the lobby, the familiar<br />
line of security people and paraphernalia<br />
prevent unescorted visitors<br />
from reaching the elevators.<br />
In a tailored, black suit, she strides quickly<br />
and confidently across the lobby, offering her<br />
hand and a welcoming smile.<br />
Her black hair is brushed sleekly back<br />
from her face, clasped at the nape of her neck<br />
in a ponytail. A no-nonsense style softened<br />
by her luminous, hazel-hued eyes.<br />
Jolyn M. Pope (’99) is an ambitious young<br />
woman who knows who she is, what she<br />
wants and how to get it. She embodies the<br />
essence of Houston—a bustling metropolis<br />
where country and cosmopolitan collide, an<br />
upstart, smart city full of the energy and optimism<br />
of youth.<br />
Pope has worked as an in-house attorney<br />
for ExxonMobil Corp. for a year, having been<br />
scooped up by the international oil company<br />
immediately after law school.<br />
Growing up, there was never a question<br />
she would attend college. After graduating<br />
from APSU, she went directly to the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Tennessee School of Law. The<br />
person who propelled her toward higher education<br />
was her grandfather, the late Odell M.<br />
Hargis of Stewart County.<br />
As a tribute to him, within weeks of graduating<br />
from law school, Pope pledged to<br />
endow a scholarship in his name. The<br />
first Odell M. Hargis Memorial<br />
Scholarship was awarded in<br />
<strong>2003</strong>. Pope says, “I’m<br />
thrilled to endow the<br />
scholarship. It’s something<br />
I wanted to do<br />
for a long time.”<br />
Was her grandfather<br />
an attorney,<br />
too? “No,” she<br />
says. “But he was<br />
very smart. He<br />
finished the eighth<br />
grade—a rarity for a<br />
Tennessee farm boy<br />
back then.”<br />
After working for a<br />
while on the family farm,<br />
Hargis left Tennessee, traveling<br />
all over and working myriad jobs.<br />
Finally, he settled in Jacksonville, Fla., where<br />
he built a tool-and-die business from the<br />
ground up. There he met and married Pope’s<br />
grandmother. When he retired, the couple<br />
moved back to Tennessee.<br />
‘He lived an interesting, fulfilling life,”<br />
Odell M. Hargis<br />
Pope says, “but he regretted he never completed<br />
school. He did everything possible to make<br />
sure his children and grandchildren received a<br />
proper education, because he was never<br />
afforded an opportunity to go to college. I<br />
know he would be happy I’ve endowed a<br />
scholarship to help others.”<br />
Did her degree in political science prepare<br />
her for law school? “I don’t know if anyone<br />
can be prepared,” she says. “Law school is a<br />
different world.”<br />
But her honors prove she, indeed, was<br />
ready for the rigorous regimen. A member of<br />
Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, she served<br />
as Student Bar Association secretary<br />
and chaired both the Faculty<br />
Appointment Committee and<br />
the Development Council.<br />
She was named to “The<br />
Law Review” and when<br />
she graduated in May<br />
<strong>2003</strong> she received a<br />
Dean’s Citation for her<br />
contribution to the<br />
College of Law.<br />
A book she wrote,<br />
“Braving the Waters: A<br />
Guide for Tennessee’s<br />
Aspiring Entrepreneurs,”<br />
is being used as a college<br />
textbook. “The Tennessee Law<br />
Review” published her article on<br />
financial crime and disclosure of<br />
confidential information, and another of<br />
her articles was cited recently in a brief<br />
before the Supreme Court in Washington<br />
<strong>State</strong>.<br />
Before her law school graduation, Pope<br />
was not sure she wanted to work in a large<br />
law firm. Large firms rotate young associates<br />
12<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Keri McInnis (’95) is senior vice president for Pinnacle Financial Partners (Green Hills office) in Nashville.
through several specialty areas, one of which<br />
generally is trial law. Pope felt time spent in<br />
litigation would be a waste for her because she<br />
had no interest in it.<br />
Large law firms also are notorious for pushing<br />
young associates relentlessly, sometimes<br />
working them around the clock. Pope was<br />
adamant about having a life outside work. “One<br />
reason I chose the corporate path was I don’t<br />
want to be here 70 hours a week. I have many<br />
interests, and I want balance in my life.”<br />
She enjoys working for ExxonMobil. Her<br />
daily schedule is fairly stable, and her cases are<br />
interesting. The job offers opportunities to<br />
work with esteemed colleagues and to travel<br />
within and outside the United <strong>State</strong>s.<br />
“(My grandfather)<br />
lived an interesting,<br />
fulfilling life, but<br />
he regretted he<br />
never completed<br />
school. He did<br />
everything possible<br />
to make sure his<br />
children and grandchildren<br />
received a<br />
proper education.”<br />
Her specialty is environmental issues.<br />
Currently, she has a matter pending in the<br />
Congo—and that’s as much as she can say.<br />
When she is working on cases in another<br />
state, she hires a local attorney. Not only is the<br />
attorney licensed in that state, but he or she<br />
understands the nuances of local politics. In<br />
such a situation her supervisor might assign<br />
Pope the case and secure outside counsel. Pope<br />
continued on page 24<br />
Photo by Jeff Fitlow<br />
Way to Go!<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
13
Alumni News & Calendar of Events <strong>2003</strong>-2004<br />
September<br />
Sept. 13<br />
Sept. 16<br />
Sept. 27<br />
“Big Fat Greek Luau”<br />
(second annual APSU Greek alumni event)<br />
6 p.m., Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill<br />
Sponsored by Budweiser of Clarksville<br />
$30 per person, $55 couple.<br />
Book signing and reception for<br />
Joe Calloway (’74)<br />
4-6 p.m., Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill. Free.<br />
Pre-Game Tailgate Party<br />
5 p.m., APSU vs. Kentucky Wesleyan<br />
Armory parking lot, APSU. Free.<br />
Sept. 29- Phonathon <strong>2003</strong><br />
Oct. 23 6-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday<br />
Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill.<br />
October<br />
Oct. 9<br />
Oct. 13<br />
Oct. 18<br />
Oct. 25<br />
Cheatham County Alumni Chapter Reception<br />
6-8 p.m., New National Guard Armory,<br />
1935 Highway 12 North, Ashland City. Free.<br />
Career Explorations and Connections Seminar<br />
6 p.m., Keynote address by Wayne Pace (’68)<br />
music/mass communication concert theatre<br />
7 p.m., Breakout session. 8 p.m., Reception.<br />
Sponsored by APSU National Alumni Association.<br />
Montgomery County Alumni Chapter “Round Up”<br />
7 p.m., Ajax Distributing Co. Pavilion<br />
330 Warfield Blvd., Clarksville<br />
$25 per person; advance ticket purchase required<br />
Sponsored by Ajax Distributing Company and<br />
Miller Lite.<br />
Pre-Game Tailgate Party<br />
11 a.m., APSU at Davidson, N.C. Free.<br />
(details TBA)<br />
Oct. 31- Homecoming <strong>2003</strong><br />
Nov. 1 See pages 16-17<br />
November<br />
Nov. 29<br />
14<br />
We’ll be calling<br />
From Sept. 29-Oct. 23, APSU will conduct its annual scholarship<br />
phonathon. Faculty, staff and students will be calling all<br />
alums to request pledges, remind you of upcoming<br />
Homecoming and alumni events and answer questions you may<br />
have about APSU. It’s one way we stay in touch.<br />
Pre-Game Tailgate Party<br />
5:30 p.m., The Pyramid, Memphis.<br />
APSU vs. <strong>University</strong> of Memphis. Free.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
December<br />
Dec. 5<br />
Dec. 6<br />
March<br />
Senior Salute<br />
4-6 p.m.<br />
Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill<br />
Pre-Game Tailgate Party<br />
5:30 p.m., Tuscaloosa, Ala.<br />
APSU vs. <strong>University</strong> of Alabama.<br />
Details to be announced.<br />
March 13 Candlelight Ball<br />
6:30 p.m., Hilton Suites, Nashville.<br />
$150 per person<br />
Call (931)221-7127 for more information.<br />
April<br />
April 17 50-Year Reunion (Class of 1954)<br />
Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill<br />
(details TBA)<br />
New alumni online community<br />
New and improved Alumni Online Community coming<br />
soon from Internet Association Corporation!<br />
Watch for the launch date and be sure to register<br />
online. Check out these easy-to-use features so we can<br />
keep you up-to-date on all alumni and <strong>University</strong> news:<br />
Class Notes Postings, Online Event Registration,<br />
Homecoming Registration and Information Online,<br />
Personal Photo Upload Capability, Online Alumni Directory,<br />
eMessage Center, Pager Messaging, Personal Pals Lists.<br />
Attention donors!<br />
In 1997, <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> created a series of pewter plates<br />
for donors who contributed $1,000 or more. The first four<br />
plates depict the Pace Alumni Center at Emerald Hill,<br />
Harned Hall, the Browning Building and the Memorial<br />
Health Building. This series ended in 2000.<br />
The pewter plate for 2001 depicts the Sundquist<br />
Science Complex. The 2002 piece is a glass stein.<br />
If you believe you are entitled to one or more of these<br />
plates or steins and did not receive it or them, please<br />
contact the <strong>University</strong> Advancement Office at 931-221-<br />
7127. Your item will be delivered or mailed to you.<br />
We need your help!<br />
Can you help locate our “lost” alumni? Please go to the<br />
Alumni and Friends Web site at<br />
www.apsu.edu/alumni/lost1.asp to view the current list<br />
of “lost” alumni. We appreciate any information to help<br />
locate them. Responses can be made by e-mail, telephone<br />
or fax.<br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Rick Canady (’73) is executive administrator for Houston Eye Associates in Texas. Way to Go!
Alumni News & Calendar of Events<br />
50-Year Reunion <strong>2003</strong><br />
Want to travel?<br />
Special deals on travel are available through the APSU<br />
National Alumni Association. For details call 931-221-<br />
7979. You also can e-mail a request for information to<br />
alumni@apsu.edu.<br />
Left, Governors Guild members join with<br />
the Class of ’53 during their 50-Year<br />
Reunion in April.<br />
Photos: Heather Kennedy<br />
Right, Eleven members of<br />
the Class of ’53 returned to<br />
campus in April to<br />
celebrate their 50-year<br />
Reunion. (top row, l-r) Dr.<br />
Dawson Durrett, Waldo<br />
Young, Paul Welker, Jim<br />
Odum, Bobby Ladd, John<br />
Nolen, Dr. Herbert Rowland<br />
Cole. (front-l-r) Dr. William<br />
Ellis, Carrie Hadley Malone,<br />
Lelah Baggett McClearen,<br />
John McClearen.<br />
Above, Dr. Herbert Rowland Cole (’53), left, and<br />
Robert Thompson (’52) catch up on old times during<br />
the 50-Year Reunion dinner April 12.<br />
Above, Mrs. Agnes Ellis enjoys refreshments at the Pace<br />
Alumni Center at Emerald Hill during the 50-Year Reunion<br />
reception.<br />
Above, Governors Guild members Dr. and Mrs.<br />
Charles Waters attend a reception at Archwood<br />
hosted by Dr. Sherry Hoppe prior to the 50-Year<br />
Reunion dinner.<br />
50-Year Reunion<br />
Committee co-chairs<br />
Dr. William Ellis<br />
(left) and Dr. Herbert<br />
Rowland Cole present<br />
their "class gift" to<br />
APSU President<br />
Sherry Hoppe.<br />
President<br />
Hoppe chats<br />
with Class of<br />
’53 member<br />
John Nolen at<br />
Archwood during<br />
a wine<br />
and cheese<br />
reception.<br />
Classmates Dr. William<br />
Ellis (l-r), Dr. Dawson<br />
Durrett and Waldo<br />
Young look through<br />
their '53 yearbook during<br />
the 50-Year<br />
Reunion reception at<br />
the Pace Alumni<br />
Center at Emerald Hill.<br />
See more<br />
alumni photos<br />
on pages 30-31<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
15
United We Stand... R<br />
Homecoming <strong>2003</strong> Calendar of Events<br />
Jay (’89) and Gena (’94) Albertia, Homecoming Co-Chairs<br />
Monday, Oct. 27<br />
War of the Wings (chicken wing<br />
cook-off), Campus Cookout and<br />
Chariot Races<br />
Times TBA; Intramural Field (corner<br />
of Drane and Marion Streets), open<br />
to the public. Contact Student Life<br />
and Leadership (931) 221-7431.<br />
Tuesday, Oct. 28<br />
International/Multicultural Event<br />
Time, location and admission TBA;<br />
open to the public.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
Wednesday, Oct. 29<br />
Variety Show<br />
7 p.m. (with announcement of<br />
Queen and King Court).<br />
Clement Auditorium; admission<br />
TBA; open to the public.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
Thursday, Oct. 30<br />
Event TBA<br />
Location, time and admission TBA;<br />
open to the public. Contact Student<br />
Life and Leadership (931) 221-7431.<br />
Staying overnight?<br />
Consider one of these host hotels<br />
Riverview Inn<br />
50 College Street<br />
Clarksville<br />
1-877-487-4837 or<br />
931-522-3331<br />
Quality Inn<br />
Downtown<br />
Highway 41-A<br />
Clarksville<br />
1-800-4CHOICE or<br />
931-645-9084<br />
Remember to ask for the special APSU<br />
Homecoming Room Rate when making<br />
reservations! There will be an APSU information<br />
table in the lobby of both hotels.<br />
APSU Percussion Ensemble<br />
Halloween Concert<br />
6 and 8 p.m., concert theatre,<br />
music/mass communication building.<br />
$3 per person or donation of two<br />
cans of food for Loaves and Fishes.<br />
Open to the public.<br />
Contact the department of music<br />
(931) 221-7818.<br />
Friday, Oct. 31<br />
25th Annual Homecoming Golf<br />
Tournament<br />
8 a.m., Swan Lake Golf Course; $55<br />
per person.<br />
Sponsored by Ajax Distributing Co.<br />
and Miller Lite.<br />
Fee includes ditty bag, refreshments<br />
on course and light lunch.<br />
Nelson Boehms (’86) and Jeff<br />
Turner, co-chairs.<br />
Open to the public. Contact the<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
Alumni and Friends Card Party<br />
10 a.m., Morgan <strong>University</strong> Center;<br />
$8 per person.<br />
Advance reservations required.<br />
Larry (’67) and Kay (’62) Martin and<br />
Margaret Ann Marshall, co-chairs.<br />
Open to the public. Contact the<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
GHOST (Great Halloween Options for<br />
Safer Trick or Treating)<br />
5-7 p.m., location TBA; open to<br />
the public. Contact Student Life and<br />
Leadership (931) 221-7431.<br />
12th Annual Dave Aaron Reception<br />
6 p.m., Pace Alumni Center at<br />
Emerald Hill, free.<br />
Former players for the late Dave<br />
Aaron are encouraged to reunite<br />
during this special event.<br />
Creson Briggs (’51), Glyn Broome<br />
(’51), Brandon Buhler (’51), Ben<br />
Fendley (’51), George Fisher (’52),<br />
Hendricks Fox (’51) and Dick<br />
Hardwick (’49), co-chairs.<br />
Contact the Alumni and Annual<br />
Giving Office (931) 221-7979.<br />
Homecoming Street Dance<br />
7 p.m. – midnight; band starts at 8<br />
p.m., free admission.<br />
“Follow the beacon to The Brary.”<br />
Reunite with friends and dance the<br />
night away at the corner of<br />
<strong>University</strong> and Main streets and bid<br />
farewell to an old campus hangout.<br />
Music by The Beagles. Food and<br />
beverages for sale; sponsored by<br />
Budweiser of Clarksville and The<br />
Black Horse Pub and Brewery.<br />
Terry (’80) and Debbie Griffin,<br />
Nelson (’86) and Deborah Boehms,<br />
Craig (’85) and Lori (’87) O’Shoney<br />
and Garnett (’83) and Nancy (’80)<br />
Ladd, co-chairs.<br />
Open to the public. Contact the<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
Bonfire<br />
7:30 p.m., Intramural Field (corner<br />
Drane and Marion streets), free.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
continued on page 16 (after insert)<br />
Don’t miss out on the<br />
College of Arts and<br />
Letters Reunion<br />
Call or visit our Web site<br />
for details.<br />
www.apsu.edu<br />
(931) 221-7979
Red,White & True<br />
Homecoming <strong>2003</strong> Calendar of Events<br />
(continued from page 16)<br />
Above photo: Robert Smith - The Leaf-Chronicle. Other photos: Bill Persinger<br />
Former Athletic Letter-Winners<br />
Reunion<br />
8-10 p.m., location TBA, free (cash<br />
bar).<br />
Hosted by APSU Athletics Office.<br />
Contact Athletics (931) 221-7904.<br />
Comedy Show<br />
8:30 p.m., Memorial Health<br />
Gymnasium; general admission $20,<br />
students $10.<br />
RJE Urban Comedy Cabaret Tour as<br />
seen on BET’s “Comic View” and<br />
HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam.” Hosted<br />
by Ms. B Phlat, with Steve Brown<br />
as opening act, Redbone the feature<br />
act and Joe Clair as headliner.<br />
Open to the public.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
Saturday, Nov. 1<br />
Homecoming 5K Run<br />
8 a.m., registration fee $18 in<br />
advance, $25 day of race.<br />
Fee includes windshirt and continental<br />
breakfast; prizes and cash awards.<br />
Mike (’78) and Lisa (’81) Kelley, cochairs.<br />
Open to the public, all ages. Call<br />
the Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
Homecoming Parade<br />
10 a.m., through downtown<br />
Clarksville, free.<br />
Open to the public.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
Alumni Awards and College of Arts<br />
and Letters Reunion Brunch<br />
10:30 a.m. – Noon, Sundquist<br />
Science Complex, $20 per person;<br />
advance reservations required.<br />
Gather early to meet and mingle<br />
and view the parade from this prime<br />
location. After the parade, the<br />
brunch will continue in the Tommy<br />
Head Atrium. Highlights include<br />
the presentation of the <strong>2003</strong> alumni<br />
awards and recognition of graduates<br />
from the College of Arts and Letters.<br />
Jerry (’76) and Fessey (’75)<br />
Hackney, Gail (’77) and Rick<br />
Longton and Dottie (Elrod) and Pat<br />
Miner, co-chairs.<br />
Open to the public. Contact the<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
Tailgate Lunch<br />
Noon-1:30 p.m., parking lot on west<br />
side of Governors Stadium.<br />
Sponsored by Student Life and<br />
Leadership, National Alumni<br />
Association, <strong>University</strong> Advancement,<br />
Governors Club and SGA. Free. Open<br />
to the public.<br />
Contact the Alumni and Annual<br />
Giving Office (931) 221-7979.<br />
APSU vs. St. Joseph’s Homecoming<br />
Football Game<br />
2 p.m., Governors Stadium<br />
The grand finale is the presentation<br />
of the fourth annual National<br />
Alumni Association Wyatt Award.<br />
Free admission for reunion groups.<br />
Open to the public.<br />
For admission prices, telephone the<br />
Athletics Ticket Office<br />
(931) 221-7761.<br />
Family Event<br />
5-7 p.m., Morgan <strong>University</strong> Center<br />
Details TBA. Open to the public.<br />
Contact Student Life and Leadership<br />
(931) 221-7431.<br />
African-American Alumni Chapter<br />
Reception<br />
4:30-6:30 p.m., Quality Inn<br />
Downtown, Highway 41-A.<br />
Free except for cash bar.<br />
Makeba Webb (‘00) and Caryn<br />
Darwin (’00), co-chairs.<br />
Open to the public. Contact the<br />
Alumni and Annual Giving Office<br />
(931) 221-7979.<br />
Wine and Cheese Reception<br />
5-7 p.m., Pace Alumni Center at<br />
Emerald Hill, free.<br />
Drop by to enjoy light refreshments,<br />
reminisce with fellow alumni<br />
and take a tour of this “gem” of<br />
the campus.<br />
Sponsored by the Nursing Alumni<br />
Chapter. Dr. Doris Davenport (’91),<br />
chair. Open to the public.<br />
Contact the Alumni and Annual<br />
Giving Office (931) 221-7979.<br />
Aaron Schmidt Alumni Reception<br />
6:30-7:30 p.m., music/mass communication<br />
building lobby, free.<br />
Former band members and<br />
Governettes who studied with the<br />
late Aaron Schmidt are encouraged<br />
to attend this special reunion.<br />
Dennis Noon (’66), Sherwin Clift<br />
(’60) and Larry Schmidt, co-chairs.<br />
Contact the Alumni and Annual<br />
Giving Office (931) 221-7979.<br />
Jazz Collegians Alumni Concert<br />
7:30 p.m., concert theatre,<br />
music/mass communication building;<br />
free, donations to the Aaron<br />
Schmidt Scholarship Fund will be<br />
appreciated. Open to the public.<br />
Contact the Alumni and Annual<br />
Giving Office (931) 221-7979.<br />
NPHC Step Show<br />
8 p.m., Memorial Health<br />
Gymnasium, open to the public.<br />
Admission TBA. Contact Student<br />
Life and Leadership (931) 221-<br />
7431.<br />
17
Outstanding Alumni Awards (continued from page 11)<br />
She grew up in Shelbyville, Tenn., the oldest<br />
of four girls and one boy born to William<br />
and Yvonne McChristian.<br />
Initially a math major at APSU, her main<br />
interest was playing basketball. Ironically, the<br />
need for braces on her teeth changed the<br />
course of her life. During visits the orthodontist<br />
kept telling her she would make a great<br />
dentist. Heeding his advice, she quit basketball<br />
and changed her major to pre-dentistry.<br />
With five children, her parents might have<br />
had a difficult time putting her through college<br />
and dental school. Fortunately, her scholarly<br />
achievements earned her academic scholarships<br />
to both. Since she changed majors<br />
her junior year, she credits Dr. John Foote,<br />
professor of chemistry, with helping her<br />
“keep my schedule and goals in order.”<br />
Despite studying hard to maintain a high<br />
grade-point average, she earned other honors<br />
at APSU, too. In 1983, she was crowned<br />
Homecoming Queen and also named Miss<br />
Black Clarksville.<br />
After dental school, she entered the U.S. Air<br />
Force so she could gain additional experience<br />
in dentistry while also serving her country.<br />
McChristian-May is a member of the<br />
American Dental Association, National Dental<br />
Association, Delta Sigma Delta Dental<br />
Fraternity and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,<br />
and she is active within Network of Memphis.<br />
She and her husband, James, have two<br />
children, Alex, 11, and Darragh, 7.<br />
Kathryn Anne<br />
Shearer<br />
Contributed photo<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Young Alumna<br />
Kathryn Anne Shearer (‘92)<br />
One of the country’s<br />
top experts on<br />
foreign anti-missile<br />
radar, Kathryn<br />
Shearer, Huntsville,<br />
Ala., works with<br />
anyone within the<br />
United <strong>State</strong>s government<br />
needing<br />
such expertise —<br />
from soldiers in the<br />
field to policymakers<br />
in Congress and the Pentagon.<br />
Shearer earned her bachelor’s degree in<br />
physics from APSU in 1992. In 1994 she<br />
completed a master’s degree in physics at the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Alabama at Huntsville.<br />
From 1995-2000, she worked as a research<br />
analyst for Dynetics Inc., Huntsville, where<br />
she designed, developed and tested software<br />
simulations of modern foreign surface-to-air<br />
missile systems. She specialized in radar<br />
simulation, vulnerability analysis and electronic<br />
counter-measure effective analysis.<br />
In 2000, she became a systems engineer<br />
and analyst for the Missile & Space<br />
Intelligence Center, Huntsville, analyzing<br />
foreign surface-to-air missile systems and foreign<br />
anti-tactical ballistic missile systems and<br />
providing threat information to American soldiers<br />
and policymakers.<br />
Shearer played a key role in Operation<br />
IRAQI FREEDOM, working as an air-defense<br />
expert at the European Command Joint<br />
Analysis Center (EUCOMJAC). Her stellar<br />
work garnered her a commendation letter<br />
from the commander of the EUCOMJAC for<br />
“providing immediate technical expertise to<br />
Command decision makers and Theater air<br />
assets operating over northern Iraq.”<br />
She has briefed defense officials and policy<br />
makers on foreign anti-tactical ballistic missile<br />
(ATBM) systems’ performance and provided<br />
assessment of its capabilities. She has<br />
written many articles for Pentagon and<br />
Defense Intelligence Agency officials, assessing<br />
foreign ATBM systems.<br />
Additionally, she has been involved in programs<br />
to evaluate the effectiveness of U.S.<br />
strike platforms, jamming techniques and/or<br />
electronic countermeasures against specific<br />
modern surface-to-air missile systems.<br />
Shearer is married to Daniel Todd Konkle.<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Young Alumnus<br />
Nelson Boehms (’86)<br />
Most people in<br />
Middle Tennessee<br />
consider Nelson<br />
Boehms one of the<br />
area’s most promising<br />
young leaders.<br />
Without doubt, he<br />
is one of APSU’s<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
most loyal alumni<br />
volunteers.<br />
Nelson Boehms Boehms, as the<br />
son of Dr. Charles<br />
Boehms, former dean of students, almost grew<br />
up on the <strong>University</strong> campus, so he has a<br />
unique connection to APSU. Since family helps<br />
family, this perhaps explains his willingness to<br />
assist his alma mater as needed.<br />
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in business<br />
administration from APSU, Boehms<br />
graduated from the American Institute of<br />
Banking. In 1995, he attended the Robert<br />
Morris Associates Commercial Lending<br />
School at East Carolina <strong>University</strong>, and in<br />
1998 he attended the Tennessee Bankers<br />
Association Southeastern School of Advanced<br />
Commercial Lending, Owen School of<br />
Management, Vanderbilt <strong>University</strong>.<br />
In May <strong>2003</strong>, Boehms was named vice<br />
president for commercial lending for Planters<br />
Bank, Clarksville’s newest bank. For the previous<br />
two years, he was vice president for<br />
commercial lending for Old National Bank.<br />
His banking career began in 1987 when he<br />
was named assistant manager and then manager<br />
of the Nashville branch of United<br />
Companies Lending of Raleigh, N.C. He<br />
became assistant sales manager for First Union<br />
Home Equity Company, Raleigh, in 1992.<br />
During 1993-96 he was with Central Carolina<br />
Bank and Trust Company, Raleigh, moving up<br />
the ranks to assistant vice president and commercial/real<br />
estate loan specialist.<br />
Boehms is committed to assisting APSU,<br />
the community and Hilldale United<br />
Methodist Church, where he chairs the<br />
Finance Committee. He is a 2000 graduate<br />
of Leadership Clarksville, treasurer-elect of<br />
the Downtown Kiwanis Club and a member<br />
of the Downtown District Partnership’s<br />
Promotions and Events Committee. He is<br />
active with the United Way in such leadership<br />
roles as a board member, board chair, vice<br />
president and campaign co-chair.<br />
Boehms’ loyalty to APSU is evidenced by<br />
his service to the <strong>University</strong>. He is a member<br />
of the Tower Club and the APSU Foundation<br />
Board of Trustees, serving as its treasurer. He<br />
is on the board of directors and is vice president-elect<br />
of the APSU Governors Club.<br />
He is district director of the APSU National<br />
Alumni Association, having been NAA vice<br />
president in 1998-2000 and president in 2001-<br />
02. He worked as Homecoming chair three<br />
consecutive years—1999, 2000 and 2001.<br />
He is a founding member and vice chair of<br />
the Tennessee Board of Regents Federation of<br />
Alumni Associations, established in 2002 to<br />
promote the education, welfare and common<br />
good by supporting a better-educated citizenry<br />
through TBR institutions.<br />
Boehms and his wife, Deborah, have three<br />
children, Charlie, 10, Analena, 8, and Samuel, 5.<br />
18 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Kathy Beach (’87) is owner of Direct Furniture Sales in Clarksville. Way to Go!
Dr. Ramona<br />
Lumpkin<br />
Contributed photo<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Alumna<br />
Dr. Ramona Lumpkin (’67)<br />
Dr. Ramona<br />
Lumpkin spent<br />
much of her professional<br />
life in the<br />
United <strong>State</strong>s and<br />
Canada, preaching<br />
the importance of<br />
the liberal arts, lifelong<br />
learning and<br />
progressive higher<br />
education.<br />
On July 1, 2001,<br />
Lumpkin commenced her term as the 15th<br />
principal (president) of Huron <strong>University</strong><br />
College in London, Ontario, Canada.<br />
At her APSU graduation, Lumpkin<br />
received the coveted William McClure Drane<br />
Award, which goes to the most outstanding<br />
baccalaureate graduate. After graduating with<br />
a degree in English, she left for England on a<br />
prestigious Fulbright Fellowship to study at<br />
the <strong>University</strong> of Birmingham.<br />
Upon completing her Fulbright Fellowship,<br />
she remained in England as a research fellow<br />
at Dartington College of Arts and, later, a<br />
high school English teacher at Talbot Heath<br />
Girls’ School in Bournnemouth.<br />
After returning to the U.S., Lumpkin<br />
received a master’s degree from UT-<br />
Knoxville. In 1977, she earned a PhD in<br />
English from the <strong>University</strong> of Kentucky,<br />
Lexington. Postdoctoral work included summer<br />
studies at the Institute for Women in<br />
Higher Education Administration at Bryn<br />
Mawr College and at Harvard <strong>University</strong>’s<br />
Institute for Educational Management.<br />
She began her academic career as a English<br />
faculty member at Kentucky <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong>,<br />
Frankfort, after which she was named director<br />
of the Appalachian College Program, where<br />
she administered research fellowships and<br />
development programs for humanities and<br />
social science faculty at 32 liberal arts colleges<br />
throughout Appalachia.<br />
Subsequently, she was appointed executive<br />
director of the Kentucky Humanities Council,<br />
a state agency of the National Endowment for<br />
the Humanities, where she worked to build<br />
bridges between communities and universities<br />
and to secure funding for innovative programs,<br />
including the literacy program “New<br />
Books for New Readers.”<br />
From 1990-92, she worked as associate<br />
dean of the College of Lifelong Learning at<br />
Wayne <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong> in Detroit and, subsequently,<br />
as dean of continuing education at<br />
the <strong>University</strong> of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.<br />
Before assuming her current position, she<br />
served as vice president for learning and<br />
provost of Royal Roads <strong>University</strong>, British<br />
Columbia, Canada.<br />
Throughout her career, Lumpkin has been<br />
successful. As an example, during four years<br />
at Royal Roads <strong>University</strong>, she led in developing<br />
more than 20 new degree and certificate<br />
programs, primarily at the graduate level,<br />
and helped increase enrollment from 400 to<br />
1,200 full-time students.<br />
Lumpkin’s extensive research and publications<br />
center primarily on 19th century literature<br />
and adult and continuing education. Her<br />
commitment to lifelong learning was recognized<br />
by her induction as an Honorary Life<br />
Member of the Canadian Association for<br />
<strong>University</strong> Continuing Education and as an<br />
Honorary Lifetime Member of the Ontario<br />
Council of Universities for Lifelong<br />
Learning.<br />
She is on the board of Canada’s organization<br />
for the advancement of the high-speed<br />
Internet. Her community service includes<br />
work with Big Sisters, the Kentucky<br />
Women’s Resource Center, Windsor Women<br />
Working With Immigrant Women and<br />
Leadership Victoria.<br />
Lumpkin is a self-proclaimed “activist on<br />
behalf of the values of a liberal arts education.”<br />
<strong>2003</strong> Outstanding Alumnus<br />
Gordon E. Jackson (’61)<br />
Gordon Jackson<br />
is a nationally<br />
renowned author<br />
and speaker on the<br />
subject of positive<br />
employee relations.<br />
He is the senior<br />
partner of Jackson,<br />
Shields, Yeiser &<br />
Cantrell, a management-oriented<br />
law<br />
Gordon E. Jackson<br />
firm with offices in<br />
Cordova, a suburb of Memphis. A specialist<br />
in labor relations and employment law,<br />
Jackson launched the firm in 1978, after earning<br />
a doctorate of jurisprudence from the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Tennessee School of Law.<br />
Originally from Robertson County, he was<br />
one of seven children born to Carl and Cora<br />
Jackson. Dr. Carlette Hardin (’71,’79), professor<br />
of education at APSU, is his sister.<br />
Contributed photo<br />
As an APSU student, Jackson was president<br />
of the Student Government Association.<br />
In 1997, he was named to the Academic Hall<br />
of Fame for APSU’s chapter of The Honor<br />
Society of Phi Kappa Phi.<br />
He is a member of the prestigious College<br />
of Labor and Employment Lawyers, the<br />
Labor and Employment Law Section of the<br />
American Bar Association and the American<br />
Academy of Hospital Attorneys of the<br />
American Hospital Association.<br />
Jackson has authored many books on innovative<br />
management, including “Unlawful<br />
Termination and Employment-at-Will,” “Law<br />
of Employer and Employee Rights Case<br />
Manual” and the “Labor and Employment<br />
Law Desk Book,” a Prentice-Hall reference<br />
manual on federal and state labor laws.<br />
He is co-author of “How to Defend and<br />
Win Labor and Employment Law Cases,” and<br />
his book “Coaches Encourage—Bosses<br />
Punish” was published in 1999. Written to<br />
appeal to all, the book provides four “secrets”<br />
for excellence in relationships.<br />
A member of the National Speakers<br />
Association, Jackson was named to “Who’s<br />
Who in Professional Speaking” and was<br />
selected as one of 31 Consummate Speakers<br />
for 1996 by “Sharing Ideas,” the international<br />
magazine for meeting planners.<br />
He is one of fewer than 400 people worldwide<br />
to earn the Certified Speaking<br />
Professional (CSP) designation. He is a frequent<br />
speaker at management meetings and<br />
seminars throughout the nation, averaging<br />
more than 100 speaking engagements annually.<br />
Jackson and his wife, Sandy, live in<br />
Memphis. He is the father of two grown children,<br />
Amanda and Eric, and has one grandchild,<br />
Jackson, his daughter’s son.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
19
Photos: Bill Persinger<br />
Making APSU Headlines (continued from page 7)<br />
from area high schools for<br />
the summer ASTAR<br />
Program. Led by Darolyn<br />
Porter, the program’s enrollment<br />
goal was 100 students.<br />
“We hope our ASTAR<br />
Richard Jackson Program inspires students to<br />
concentrate the remainder of<br />
their time in high school on<br />
subjects that will make their<br />
entry into college easier,”<br />
said Jackson, who explained<br />
that taking college-preparatory<br />
math and English allows<br />
Dr. Sherry Hoppe<br />
students to enroll in for-credit<br />
college courses immediately, rather than<br />
having to attend remedial classes.<br />
ASTAR participants are exposed to APSU<br />
African American student leaders who serve<br />
as group leaders. In addition, they interact<br />
with African American faculty and staff.<br />
“ASTAR students have an opportunity to be<br />
exposed to potential career options and to<br />
become familiar with time-management and<br />
study skills, which are critical in attaining success<br />
in college,” Jackson said. “Hopefully,<br />
the ASTAR experience will demonstrate that,<br />
along with the freedom that comes with college,<br />
there also are responsibilities.”<br />
Stats reveal APSU to be a safe campus<br />
Bridge Program<br />
Dr. Jennifer Meningall,<br />
vice president for student<br />
affairs, wrapped up plans<br />
for APSU’s first Bridge<br />
Program, which enables<br />
first-time African American<br />
Dr. Jennifer freshmen to participate in<br />
Meningall early orientation.<br />
“The Bridge Program is a way to jumpstart<br />
these students,” Meningall said. “Before<br />
other freshmen arrive on campus, students in<br />
the Bridge Program have become acquainted<br />
with the campus and resources available. We<br />
talk with them about what they need to do to<br />
be successful.<br />
“We try to impress upon them the importance<br />
of avoiding ‘digging themselves into a<br />
hole’ —gradewise—that’s hard, if not impossible,<br />
to get out.”<br />
Students on Retention Pilot Project<br />
President Sherry Hoppe said APSU officials<br />
continue to study environmental, social<br />
and other factors that cause some African<br />
American students to be less successful in<br />
their studies at APSU and what can be done<br />
to assist and retain them.<br />
“This is a continuation of a pilot program<br />
for African American students facing academic<br />
probation,” Hoppe said. “We provide<br />
financial incentives, tutorial assistance and<br />
workshops on such issues as time-management<br />
to help them get off academic probation<br />
and on a path where they can experience academic<br />
success.”<br />
Recruitment Blitz for African<br />
American Faculty<br />
According to Dr. Bruce Speck, vice president<br />
for academic affairs, APSU is committed to<br />
adding minority faculty across the <strong>University</strong>,<br />
especially in under-represented areas.<br />
To strengthen this effort, Richard Jackson is<br />
partnering with a recently retired faculty<br />
member on a plan to create awareness of<br />
opportunities for African American higher<br />
education professionals at APSU, particularly<br />
in fields where it’s difficult to hire African<br />
American faculty.<br />
Jackson said, “Dr. Jim Mock (retired public<br />
management professor) is compiling an itinerary<br />
of conferences, association meetings<br />
and graduate programs we’ll attend to talk<br />
about opportunities for African American faculty<br />
at APSU.”<br />
African American Staff Development<br />
APSU continues to provide financial assistance<br />
for staff who want to improve their<br />
education. Jackson is making a point to meet<br />
regularly with participating staff to see if he<br />
can assist them in identifying possible careeradvancement<br />
paths.<br />
“I’m particularly interested in trying to<br />
match the skills they have or are acquiring<br />
with the requirements for faculty in certain<br />
departments,” he said. “We currently are providing<br />
funds for an advanced degree for a<br />
staff member who will fill a faculty position<br />
in a department where it’s been difficult to<br />
recruit candidates of any race.”<br />
Parents and prospective students concerned<br />
about safety on college campuses are encouraged<br />
to take another look at <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong>.<br />
APSU Police Chief Eric<br />
Provost is pleased with the<br />
<strong>University</strong>’s ranking in campus<br />
crime, based on the Tennessee<br />
Bureau of Investigation’s latest<br />
annual Crime on Campus report.<br />
Eric Provost “We are lower than the average<br />
Contributed photo<br />
in the vast majority of categories,” Provost said.<br />
“In the significant 22 categories, we are at or<br />
below the average in 16 of the 22.”<br />
“I do feel safe on campus,” senior David Baron,<br />
a residence hall director, said. “I rarely hear of any<br />
issue regarding safety.”<br />
For more information, go to www.apsu.edu and<br />
click on “Stats show APSU is safe,” which takes<br />
you to the full article published in The Leaf-<br />
Chronicle on May 25, <strong>2003</strong>.<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Campus Policing Initiative<br />
Jackson is working with APSU Police<br />
Chief Eric Provost to put together a diversitytraining<br />
experience modeled after programs<br />
used by urban police departments. It emphasizes<br />
relationship-building between officers<br />
and community members.<br />
“All of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s police officers graduate<br />
from the state police academy, so they are<br />
ready to serve on any city or country lawenforcement<br />
squad in Tennessee,” Provost said.<br />
“But they’ve received no training on issues<br />
unique to a residential university community.<br />
20<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Lt. Col. James M. Walker Jr. (’81) is director of Alabama’s Homeland Security. Way to Go!
New UC offers great places to meet<br />
Not only does the new Joe Morgan<br />
<strong>University</strong> Center serve as the<br />
<strong>University</strong>’s social hub, it also<br />
holds promise as a new economic<br />
fixture for Clarksville and<br />
Montgomery County.<br />
With its spacious ballroom,<br />
executive dining rooms and numerous<br />
meeting and reception areas,<br />
the 93,000-square-foot building is<br />
becoming a favored gathering<br />
place, not only for campus events<br />
but for community events as well.<br />
“We get anywhere from 15 to 25<br />
requests a day for facilities,” said<br />
Andy Kean, director of the UC.<br />
“We hold about 25 events a day in<br />
this building.”<br />
The pace slows only slightly on<br />
weekends, as conferences, luncheons<br />
and presentations give way to<br />
proms, breakfasts, large birthday<br />
parties and wedding receptions.<br />
With rental fees ranging from<br />
$50 for a regular-size meeting<br />
room to $750 for the ballroom, the facility<br />
holds significant financial promise.<br />
“Our ultimate goal is to make enough to<br />
sustain the operation of the building,” Kean<br />
said, “About $100,000 annually. But we’re<br />
Photos: Bill Persinger<br />
not even close to that<br />
yet.”<br />
With an average of five<br />
rentals per month by offcampus<br />
organizations and<br />
with word of the facility’s<br />
dining, dancing, exhibit and meeting areas<br />
spreading quickly, it’s only a matter of time—<br />
and space.<br />
Photo: Scott Thomas<br />
Photo: Scott Thomas<br />
“Some thought processes applicable to this<br />
environment may not be relevant to the larger<br />
community. We want our officers and security<br />
staff to be aware of that and adapt their<br />
strategies accordingly.”<br />
Take a tour<br />
Haven’t visited your alma mater for a<br />
while and would like to see what the campus<br />
looks like now? Like prospective students,<br />
you can visit APSU without leaving the comfort<br />
of your home.<br />
ECampusTours.com, a college-planning<br />
Web site specializing in virtual tours of campuses,<br />
is featuring APSU. The service is free,<br />
and the Web site is marketed to high school<br />
students nationwide as a way to research colleges<br />
and universities.<br />
EcampusTours.com, which is linked to the<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> homepage, gives 360-degree<br />
views of the Dunn Center, Sundquist Science<br />
Complex, Pace Alumni Center, Browning,<br />
Ellington, Harned Hall, Kimbrough College of<br />
Business, Mabel Larson Fine Arts Gallery, the<br />
concert theatre of the music/mass communication<br />
building and Morgan <strong>University</strong> Center.<br />
To take a virtual tour of APSU, visit<br />
www.eCampusTours.com and type in <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong>, or go to APSU’s homepage<br />
(www.apsu.edu) and click on Admissions’<br />
“Schedule a campus tour” and then “virtual<br />
tour of campus.”<br />
Graduating class is largest yet<br />
With 679 candidates for graduation, the<br />
May 9 commencement showcased the largest<br />
graduating class in <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s history.<br />
Years ago, as numbers of graduates<br />
increased and seating for families became<br />
tight, <strong>University</strong> officials elected to hold two<br />
graduations annually—December and May.<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
This year, once again, the Aaron Arena of<br />
the Dunn Center was packed to the ceiling, as<br />
graduates and their families and other guests<br />
heard Ronnie Carter (‘88) give the keynote<br />
address.<br />
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet<br />
returns to APSU<br />
One of the famed members of the Beat<br />
Generation of writers, internationally<br />
acclaimed poet Gary Snyder returned to<br />
APSU April 12.<br />
When Snyder, a longtime friend of Dr. David<br />
Till, professor of English, visited the <strong>University</strong><br />
in 1976, he had just won the Pulitzer Prize for<br />
his book, “Turtle Island.”<br />
Speaking of Snyder’s visit, which he called<br />
“a return engagement of sorts,” Till said, “It<br />
was a wonderful occasion…and it’s equally<br />
wonderful we’re all still here—well, a lot of<br />
us are anyway.<br />
“Older now, so the coffee’s a little darker, a<br />
richer brew. But it’s a new generation of students,<br />
hearing the music for the first time.”<br />
Ronnie Carter (’88) gives the keynote address at<br />
the spring commencement. Continued on page 25<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
21
Sports News & Upcoming Schedules<br />
Armistead sweeps awards, drafted by WNBA<br />
APSU basketball star Brooke Armistead<br />
added another first to her illustrious resume.<br />
After being named the 2002-03 OVC<br />
Female Athlete of the Year in late May, she<br />
was this year’s recipient of the prestigious<br />
Steve Hamilton Award, presented to an OVC<br />
athlete who best exemplifies the traits of the<br />
late Morehead <strong>State</strong> student-athlete, coach and<br />
administrator. Criteria are significant athletic<br />
performance along with good sportsmanship<br />
and citizenship.<br />
Armistead became the first OVC athlete to<br />
receive both Athlete of the Year honors and the<br />
Steve Hamilton Award in the same season.<br />
She was the 2002-03 OVC Women’s<br />
Basketball Player of the Year and OVC<br />
Tournament MVP for the second time. She led<br />
the Lady Govs to their third-straight OVC<br />
Tourney title and NCAA Tournament appearance.<br />
She was named first-team All-OVC for<br />
the third-straight time and OVC All-Tourney<br />
for the fourth straight year.<br />
Armistead led the Lady Govs to an<br />
unprecedented 27-4 record, including 22-<br />
straight wins and an unbeaten (16-0) conference<br />
season. She ended her career being<br />
named to every all-tournament team (10) in<br />
which she was eligible.<br />
This Elmwood, Tenn., native is APSU’s alltime<br />
leading scorer (2,508 points) and probably<br />
Brooke Armistead, seen here playing against North Carolina in the<br />
<strong>2003</strong> NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, became the first player in<br />
Ohio Valley Conference history to be named an OVC Player of the Year<br />
and receive the prestigous Steve Hamilton Award for sportsmanship.<br />
Armistead also was the <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> athletics department’s <strong>2003</strong><br />
Female Joy Award recipient as the most valuable female senior athlete<br />
and the Most Outstanding Female Athlete honoree.<br />
would have broken the OVC<br />
scoring record (2,526) if an<br />
injury had not sidelined her for<br />
three games. She finished her<br />
career as the NCAA’s 29th allteam<br />
leading scorer and left as<br />
APSU’s career leader in scoring,<br />
field goals, field goals attempted,<br />
free throws, free throws attempted<br />
and free-throw percentage.<br />
Her 18.9 points per game ranked<br />
first in the OVC last season<br />
Armistead scored 32 points<br />
in the Lady Govs’ near-upset of<br />
third-seeded North Carolina in<br />
the NCAA Tournament and<br />
became the first OVC player to<br />
be drafted by the WNBA.<br />
Besides being a star on the<br />
court, Armistead shines off the<br />
court, too. In late spring <strong>2003</strong>,<br />
she received the Governors Club<br />
Academic Achievement Award<br />
for owning the highest GPA<br />
(3.85) among all of APSU’s<br />
graduating athletes. She is a two-time OVC<br />
Medal of Honor recipient, a three-time member<br />
of the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll<br />
and a three-time honoree as a Lady Govs<br />
Scholar-Athlete. She was named 2002-03 second-team<br />
Verizon Academic All-American.<br />
Additionally, in recognition of her extensive<br />
volunteer service within the community,<br />
Armistead received this year’s coveted Halbert<br />
Harvill Civitan Citizenship Award at graduation.<br />
Robert Smith, The Leaf-Chronicle<br />
Basketball Govs sign juco,<br />
prep stars<br />
A pair of junior college standouts and one<br />
prep star joined the men’s basketball team, as it<br />
prepares to defend the Ohio Valley Conference<br />
crown.<br />
William Durden, a 6-5, 205-pound juco<br />
All-American forward from Three Rivers<br />
Community College (Poplar Bluff, Mo.) and<br />
Eric Young, a 6-6, 215-pound center from<br />
Southeastern Illinois College (Harrisburg),<br />
were the two junior college players signed.<br />
Fernandez Lockett, a 6-4, 195-pound wing<br />
from Bob Jones High School, Madison, Ala.,<br />
was the prep signee.<br />
Durden averaged 11 points and a teamleading<br />
5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore.<br />
He earned first-team, all-conference,<br />
All-Region XVI and third-team National<br />
Junior College Athletic Association All-<br />
America for the 30-6 Raiders, who advanced<br />
to the NJCAA tourney.<br />
“If you like Corey Gipson, then you’ll like<br />
Will Durden,” APSU Coach Dave Loos said.<br />
“He has many of the same qualities and intangibles<br />
Corey does. He is an excellent competitor<br />
and a great defender who, offensively,<br />
has a pretty good mid-range game.”<br />
Young, meanwhile, averaged 7.1 points,<br />
shooting 60 percent from the floor and getting<br />
5.2 rebounds as a starter for Southeastern, one<br />
of the nation’s top-two junior college programs<br />
most of the season. He is expected to<br />
provide relief up front for Josh Lewis and<br />
Adrian Henning.<br />
Lockett averaged 16 points and a teambest<br />
10 rebounds per game as a senior, helping<br />
lead his team to a 31-5 record and into the<br />
Class 6A state title contest. He was named<br />
first-team All-Metro Huntsville, All-Region<br />
and second-team 6A All-<strong>State</strong>.<br />
Gardner resigns;<br />
Blackston accepts<br />
After leading <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong> to three straight<br />
NCAA tournament appearances<br />
and an unprecedented<br />
27-4 (16-0 OVC) mark,<br />
Susie Gardner resigned in<br />
April as Lady Govs head<br />
Andy Blackston<br />
basketball coach to assume<br />
a similar post in Arkansas.<br />
“When you achieve the success that program<br />
has, especially this season, you have to<br />
Contributed photo<br />
22<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Dr. Marcus DiLorenzo (’72) is a pulmonologist in Ocala, Fla. Way to Go!
ecognize other universities’ interest in pursuing<br />
Susie,” Dave Loos, athletic director, said.<br />
“We at <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> appreciate her efforts in<br />
building this program to where it is today.”<br />
Loos and senior women athletics administrator<br />
Cheryl Holt moved quickly to find a<br />
replacement. Clarksville native and former<br />
Belmont <strong>University</strong> star Andy Blackston, who<br />
turned around a dormant Alabama-Huntsville<br />
women’s basketball program in two years,<br />
was hired.<br />
Blackston went to UAH as a men’s assistant<br />
in 1999-2000. After two seasons, he took<br />
over the struggling women’s program leading<br />
the team to a 14-12 record in his first season<br />
and 17-10 last season and earning Coach of<br />
the Year honors.<br />
Blackston began immediately to assemble<br />
his coaching staff. Kidada Holtzclaw, a former<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Alabama player who served<br />
the past two seasons as a Marshall <strong>University</strong><br />
assistant, and Eric White, former assistant at<br />
Tennessee-Martin and MTSU, have been<br />
named assistant coaches.<br />
In addition, Brooke Armistead and Paige<br />
Smith, two former Lady Govs, will return as<br />
coaches—Armistead, as the program’s graduate<br />
assistant and Smith as student assistant.<br />
Lady Govs basketball team<br />
signs prep all-star<br />
Andy Blackston, new women’s basketball<br />
coach, signed one recruit in an attempt to fill<br />
some holes for the <strong>2003</strong>-04 season. Christy<br />
Elliott, a 5-9 guard from Tuscaloosa, Ala.,<br />
inked a scholarship in May.<br />
The Hillcrest High School star averaged<br />
15 points and six assists per game while leading<br />
her team to the elite eight of the 6A state<br />
championship, a 22-4 overall record and a<br />
No. 10 ranking in the final state all-tournament<br />
and regional all-tournament selections.<br />
Golf team takes third<br />
straight OVC title, comes in<br />
short at NCAA regional<br />
For the third consecutive year, the men’s<br />
golf team was the OVC champion. The<br />
Governors shot a final-round 296 on April 30<br />
and rolled to a 15-stroke victory at the par-72<br />
Country Club of Paducah (Ky.) to become the<br />
first team to win three straight conference<br />
titles since MTSU in 1996.<br />
The victory gave the Govs an automatic<br />
bid to their third-consecutive NCAA Regional.<br />
Junior Matt Gallant and Joe Humston<br />
were honored on the All-OVC team, while<br />
Peter Lockley<br />
From left, Joe Humston, Matt Gallant, Ryan<br />
Strickland, Richie Head, Adam Shanks and head<br />
coach Mark Leroux<br />
head golf coach Mark Leroux was named<br />
OVC Coach of the Year.<br />
The golf team brought national attention<br />
to the program. On March 27, they appeared<br />
on the Golf Channel’s weekly college show,<br />
after shooting a 32-under par 832 in the<br />
Colonial Classic at Eastern Kentucky<br />
<strong>University</strong>, Richmond.<br />
Three Bat Govs get<br />
shot at pros<br />
All three baseball seniors—catcher A.J.<br />
Ellis, shortstop Travis Beech and pitcher<br />
Dustin Smith—began their professional<br />
careers this past summer.<br />
Ellis was drafted by the Los Angeles<br />
Dodgers. Beech was selected by Tampa Bay,<br />
and Smith signed a free-agent contract with<br />
the Detroit Tigers.<br />
Ellis, Bethke, Mault named<br />
All-OVC baseball<br />
Senior catcher A.J. Ellis was named firstteam<br />
All-Ohio Valley Conference for a fourth<br />
straight year, while junior outfielder Ron Bethke<br />
and junior relief pitcher Jeff Mault earned firstteam<br />
recognition in a vote of league coaches<br />
and sports information directors.<br />
Gary McClure, who led APSU to its first<br />
regular-season title since 1996, was named<br />
OVC Coach of the Year.<br />
Lady Govs soccer set<br />
for second season<br />
Soccer coach Kelley Poole is confident the<br />
Lady Govs’ young program is on the fast<br />
track in the right direction.<br />
Despite playing almost all freshmen in<br />
their first season, the Lady Govs were competitive<br />
in most matches a year ago. Injuries,<br />
however, dealt a serious blow to the fledgling<br />
program as it went winless (0-13-3). With the<br />
returning players a year older, plus the addition<br />
of nine new recruits, depth shouldn’t be<br />
as great a concern.<br />
Heading the list of returnees is sophomore<br />
goalkeeper Sarah Broadbent, who led the<br />
nation in saves per game while earning second-team<br />
All-OVC, and forward Stephanie<br />
Shwetz, also a second-team all-league pick.<br />
Soccer’s Shwetz participates<br />
in NCAA leadership<br />
conference<br />
Women’s soccer player Stephanie Shwetz<br />
was selected to participate in the seventh<br />
annual NCAA Foundation Leadership<br />
Conference May 25-29 at Walt Disney’s Wide<br />
World of Sports Complex and Coronado<br />
Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.<br />
A Surrey, British Columbia, native who<br />
owns a 3.8 GPA, Shwetz was one of 302 student-athletes<br />
selected for the CHAMPS/Life<br />
Skills Program from the 1,172 nominees from<br />
296 NCAA member institutions.<br />
Football Govs prepare for<br />
season under new coach<br />
APSU football opened<br />
the <strong>2003</strong> season under a<br />
new football coach with the<br />
goal of improving on last<br />
season’s 7-5 mark.<br />
New coach Carroll<br />
Carroll McCray McCray will have some 48<br />
lettermen returning, including<br />
17 starters, as the Govs shoot for their<br />
first Pioneer Football League South crown.<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Lady Govs volleyball<br />
loaded with vets<br />
Lady Govs volleyball will have an experienced<br />
look in <strong>2003</strong>. Eight of the top nine<br />
players from 2002 return, including senior<br />
middle hitter Amy Walk and junior outside<br />
hitter Sarah Schramka, both honorable mention<br />
All-OVC a year ago.<br />
However, the Lady Govs are coming off a<br />
10-19 season, a disappointing one, especially<br />
for longtime coach Cheryl Holt.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
23
From Tennessee to<br />
Texas: Blazing a trail<br />
Continued from page 13<br />
would meet with counsel, review the case,<br />
study local statutes and arrive at a strategy.<br />
All filings would be handled by outside counsel,<br />
with Pope serving as project manager.<br />
These cases can take her away from<br />
Houston for days, weeks, even months.<br />
During her first year with ExxonMobil, Pope<br />
oversaw cases in Louisiana, New Jersey,<br />
Pennsylvania and Vermont.<br />
But she loves it, especially since her job<br />
with ExxonMobil was, as she calls it, “a<br />
fluke.” During the summer before law school<br />
graduation, she interned with a top Nashville<br />
law firm, where she was offered a job. Before<br />
signing on, however, she<br />
wanted to check other<br />
opportunities.<br />
Her mother learned<br />
about an upcoming job fair<br />
in Atlanta, specifically to<br />
hire attorneys. The women<br />
perused the list of participating<br />
companies and liked<br />
what they read about<br />
ExxonMobil. The job<br />
description, however, indicated<br />
a preference for an<br />
attorney with a science<br />
background and proficiency<br />
in a foreign language. Pope<br />
had neither.<br />
Undaunted, she went for<br />
an interview. Two days<br />
later, she received a call<br />
from the Houston office,<br />
inviting her for a second interview. She flew<br />
out, interviewed and landed the job. Today,<br />
she is among 400-500 ExxonMobil attorneys<br />
who work in the Houston or Fairfax, Va.,<br />
offices.<br />
Pope is well on her way to the top, professionally.<br />
And to her own amazement, besides<br />
finding the perfect job in Houston, she also<br />
found her soul mate. “I’ve always been<br />
career-oriented,” she says. “I wasn’t terribly<br />
interested in dating. I thought I would be the<br />
elderly aunt who helps send her brother’s kids<br />
to college and Europe.”<br />
But an introduction to a biomedical science<br />
graduate from Texas A&M knocked that<br />
notion out of the ballpark. Two weeks after<br />
Pope moved to Houston, a friend invited her<br />
to a Sunday brunch. Although she was busy<br />
beginning a new job, hunting for an apartment<br />
and studying for the bar exam, she<br />
went. Kyle Swanson was a guest also.<br />
“From the moment we met, we knew,” she<br />
says. “Neither of us has dated anyone else<br />
since that Sunday. ” At the time, Swanson<br />
lived in Corpus Christi, but his work took<br />
him through Houston often. Each time he<br />
came to town, Pope accepted his invitation to<br />
go out. Over several dinner dates, they<br />
learned they had much in common.<br />
“Kyle had lived and worked all over,” she<br />
says. “He was enjoying his freedom and had<br />
no desire to be tied down.” However, she<br />
Jolyn Pope and her fiance, Kyle Swanson, pose for their engagement photo.<br />
shared his love of travel.<br />
They learned they shared other interests,<br />
too. And their differing personality types balance<br />
each other: She describes him as laid<br />
back, whereas she’s a typical type A personality.<br />
A hard-driving perfectionist, Pope began<br />
suffering from severe headaches, so she went<br />
to a migraine clinic.<br />
Doctors advised her to try yoga for relaxation.<br />
So four mornings a week, she takes a<br />
yoga class that lasts almost two hours. Each<br />
class begins at 6 a.m. Although she says she’s<br />
not a morning person, she’s up with the sun.<br />
“Yoga gets my day started off right,” she<br />
says. “It’s a calming experience.” And no<br />
more migraines!<br />
Swanson, who also is a calming influence on<br />
Pope, relocated to Houston after they began dating<br />
and, within weeks, the couple decided to<br />
marry. Because she shares his appreciation of<br />
history, he took her to Iloff’s, the city’s oldest<br />
jeweler, for an engagement ring—a breathtaking<br />
sapphire flanked by brilliant-cut round diamonds.<br />
The wedding—less than a month away—will<br />
be in Houston. Her brother Justin will give her<br />
away. Her mother, Melinda Pope, and grandmother,<br />
Mary Evelyn Hargis, both of<br />
Clarksville, will be part of the wedding party.<br />
Excitedly, Pope outlines plans for the wedding<br />
and reception, both of which will be held in<br />
the historic Rice Hotel, Houston’s oldest hotel,<br />
dating back to 1870. Since many guests are<br />
from out of town, the couple has planned several<br />
casual events, including a Texas-style barbeque<br />
and a Houston Astros baseball game, so friends<br />
and family can get to know each other.<br />
“We want it to be a big, fun<br />
party,” she says.<br />
Pope has chosen a classically<br />
simple Vera Wang gown. It<br />
champagne in color and features<br />
a netted back that ends in a<br />
chapel-length train. Her custom<br />
veil is ivory illusion trimmed in<br />
champagne-colored ribbon.<br />
Her nine bridesmaids will<br />
wear black dresses of their individual<br />
choosing. “I have an<br />
eclectic group of friends, and I<br />
want their dresses to reflect their<br />
personalities,” she says. Two<br />
bridesmaids, Melanie Dennis<br />
(‘00) and Mesina Bullock (‘01),<br />
are Pope’s best friends from<br />
APSU.<br />
Besides commemorating the<br />
couple’s love and commitment,<br />
the wedding is to be a celebration<br />
of friends and family. Everyone Pope loves<br />
will be there—except her late grandfather.<br />
Happily contemplating the approaching wedding,<br />
yet wishing could be there, Pope says softly,<br />
“You know, Kyle reminds me of my grandfather.<br />
They have the same values.”<br />
Although she’ll miss not having her grandfather<br />
with her on this special day, she recalls his<br />
matchless gift to her when he made it possible<br />
for her to enroll at <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong>.<br />
He told her at the time: “In giving you your<br />
education, I’m giving you the world.”<br />
Jeff Fitlow<br />
24<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Dr. Jimmy Dixon is a plastic surgeon at St. Simons Island, Ga. Way to Go!
Feedback<br />
Feedback<br />
Shawn and I were glued to the TV, elated<br />
to hear updates on APSU during their NCAA<br />
basketball game. We tried our best to get<br />
tickets to the game.<br />
My last attempt was calling the Ticket<br />
Office and asking the operator to buy the<br />
tickets for us! Alas, the line was busy, so I<br />
took it as a sign to watch the games at home.<br />
(While Shawn is overseas), I got the job (I<br />
wanted in Washington, D.C.) Specific<br />
strengths cited were my graduate work and<br />
experience in the Office of Public Relations.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> continues to bless me even now!<br />
Cristina Henley (‘01)<br />
Herndon, Va.<br />
Super article on Fred and Judy (Landiss)<br />
and the Boehm collection.<br />
Ned Crouch (’72)<br />
Clarksville<br />
Just got the latest “<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>” publication<br />
and, as always, it’s interesting and inspiring.<br />
When I read (the) feature articles, I feel as<br />
if I’m sitting in the room during (the) interview.<br />
I could almost reach out and touch the<br />
Boehm porcelains.<br />
Shelby H. Draper (’67)<br />
Mount Juliet, Tenn.<br />
Judy and I are still getting calls and e-mail<br />
regarding the article (“Lucy’s Love and Other<br />
Lasting Treasures,” Spring <strong>2003</strong>).<br />
Fred Landiss (’71)<br />
Clarksville<br />
Having grown up in Clarksville and as a<br />
1991 graduate of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>, I wanted to let<br />
the entire Clarkville area know how proud they<br />
should be of the Lady Govs.<br />
As a resident of the Denver area, my family<br />
and I were able to attend the NCAA first-round<br />
game versus North Carolina. I was extremely<br />
impressed with how hard the ladies played.<br />
Their effort brought attention to <strong>Austin</strong><br />
<strong>Peay</strong> and Clarksville. Coach Gardner has<br />
done a tremendous job with the program and<br />
is truly an asset to the <strong>University</strong>.<br />
I fielded many questions from fans at the<br />
game inquiring “exactly where is <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong><br />
located?” and “what conference is it in?”<br />
Everyone in attendance, as well as a national<br />
audience watching on ESPN, should now<br />
know that answer.<br />
The ladies on the team should hold their<br />
heads high and feel tremendous about what<br />
they accomplished this year. I was proud of<br />
their effort, especially against a nationally<br />
ranked program.<br />
Although disappointed in the outcome, I<br />
was proud to walk out of the arena as an<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> alumnus. 27-4, 22 consecutive<br />
wins, undefeated in OVC play—quite an<br />
impressive season.<br />
Thanks for making everyone associated<br />
with the <strong>University</strong> and Clarksville proud!<br />
Bryan Alsobrooks (’91)<br />
Aurora, Colo.<br />
(© <strong>2003</strong>, The Leaf-Chronicle, reprinted with permission.)<br />
It was perhaps the greatest athletic year in<br />
the history of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong>.<br />
First, it was the football team ending their<br />
season with a winning record. Then it was the<br />
magical seasons of the men’s and women’s<br />
basketball teams. Both went to the NCAA<br />
tournament, which allowed the school to<br />
claim some $40,000 for their efforts.<br />
Not long after that, it was the men’s golf<br />
team capturing their third straight OVC title.<br />
They also advanced to the NCAA tournament.<br />
Just a couple of weeks ago, the baseball<br />
team joined in the championship party and<br />
won their first OVC title since 1996.<br />
With all of this success barely in the<br />
rearview mirror, the administration at APSU<br />
must find a way to make over $130,000 in<br />
athletic budget cuts. This is a problem that<br />
the <strong>Peay</strong> shouldn’t be facing.<br />
For a school like the <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Tennessee, that amount of money is nothing.<br />
Their athletic budget is $55 million, with<br />
about $21 million of that going toward football.<br />
Even more astounding is the fact that<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s entire athletic budget is less<br />
than 5 percent of the UT football budget.<br />
What do all these facts and figures mean?<br />
Nothing really. Maybe they will serve as<br />
notice to the citizens of Clarksville that we’ve<br />
got a nice little university of our own to worry<br />
about before we worry about its big stepbrother<br />
in Knoxville. <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> is Clarksville’s<br />
university. Whether you went there or not, you<br />
probably have some connection to it.<br />
It’s the same song we’ve heard for years.<br />
But now, more than ever, the words have<br />
meaning. <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> needs our support.<br />
Let’s Go <strong>Peay</strong>!<br />
Justin Wamble<br />
Clarksville<br />
(© <strong>2003</strong>, The Leaf-Chronicle, reprinted with permission.)<br />
Send us your feedback<br />
We want to hear from you. Tell us what you<br />
like and dislike about your alumni magazine.<br />
You can contact us the following ways:<br />
E-mail:<br />
publications@apsu.edu<br />
Phone: 931-221-7459<br />
Mail:<br />
In person:<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> Alumni Magazine<br />
P.O. Box 4567<br />
Clarksville, TN 37044<br />
Public Relations &<br />
Marketing Office<br />
206 Browning Building<br />
Making Headlines<br />
(continued from page 21)<br />
Former news correspondent<br />
gave insight on UN, Iraq<br />
On March 5, <strong>2003</strong>, Tom Osborne gave a<br />
talk at APSU titled “Iraq and the U.S,”—a<br />
most timely topic as America was preparing<br />
to go to war in Iraq without approval of the<br />
United Nations.<br />
Osborne was an ABC reporter/producer to<br />
the United Nations in 1990, just before the<br />
first Gulf War. For 10 years, he covered the<br />
UN for “ABC World News Tonight with<br />
Peter Jennings,” “Good Morning America,”<br />
“Nightline” and “20/20.” He also provided<br />
editorial oversight of several primetime specials<br />
and general coverage of the UN for<br />
ABC News through 2000, when he moved<br />
south to Tennessee Ridge in Houston County.<br />
Just prior to his APSU talk, Osborne completed<br />
work as executive producer for the<br />
documentary “In Shifting Sands—The Truth<br />
about UNSCOM and the Disarming of Iraq,”<br />
which received the highest award of the<br />
Arkansas Film Festival.<br />
Osborne’s talk was sponsored by Pi Sigma<br />
Alpha (political science honorary) and the<br />
political science department.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
25
Class notes<br />
1930s<br />
RUTH GARRISON KOSTER (’39) is<br />
enjoying retirement in DePere, Wis.<br />
Koster was an assistant professor of<br />
health and director of physical education<br />
and recreation at <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>.<br />
She received her master’s degree in<br />
health, physical education and recreation<br />
from the <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Tennessee.<br />
1950s<br />
JAMES CORLEW SR. (’58) received<br />
the first Distinguished Gentlemen’s<br />
Award from The Network, a group of<br />
about 35 local businesswomen.<br />
Corlew is the owner of James Corlew<br />
Chevrolet-Cadillac-Oldsmobile,<br />
Clarksville. As president of the New<br />
Car Dealers of Clarksville, he helped<br />
develop the Automotive Business<br />
Code of Ethics to educate dealers<br />
and customers about their rights and<br />
responsibilities and won his dealership<br />
the 2001 Torch Award for<br />
Marketplace Ethics from the Better<br />
Business Bureau for his efforts.<br />
Personal Information<br />
Name<br />
Street<br />
1960s<br />
JIM CHARLET<br />
(’63),<br />
Brentwood,<br />
retired after 22<br />
years of federal<br />
service with the<br />
International<br />
Trade<br />
Jim Charlet<br />
Administration.<br />
He received the<br />
U.S. Commerce Department’s Silver<br />
and Bronze medals for healthcare<br />
technologies work. He was the<br />
director for trade missions to Russia,<br />
Hungary, Poland, Romania, Austria,<br />
France, Switzerland and the<br />
Caribbean. His wife BARBARA (’79),<br />
is acting director for the <strong>State</strong> of<br />
Tennessee Department of Correction,<br />
Management Information Services in<br />
Nashville. The couple has two<br />
grown children, Jamie Katherine and<br />
Caldwell.<br />
Been promoted? Honored? Awarded?<br />
Recently moved? Married? Had a baby? What’s the scoop about you and your family?<br />
We want to hear from you!<br />
Date<br />
(first) (middle) (maiden) (last)<br />
City <strong>State</strong> Zip<br />
Contributed photo<br />
COL. DAVID HACKWORTH (’64),<br />
Greenwich, Conn., one of the U.S.<br />
Army’s most decorated soldiers, was<br />
interviewed by Mike Wallace on “60<br />
Minutes” in February <strong>2003</strong>.<br />
✁<br />
Hackworth<br />
warned that<br />
American troops<br />
deployed to the<br />
Persian Gulf had<br />
inadequate protection<br />
gear to<br />
survive a chemical<br />
or biological<br />
David Hackworth<br />
attack. In his syndicated newspaper<br />
column that same week, Hackworth<br />
criticized the Pentagon for sending<br />
soldiers “into a potentially poisonous<br />
caldron…without the right gear.”<br />
Colleges/universities attended (include undergraduate and professional schools even if<br />
degrees were not earned)<br />
Institution<br />
Major/Minor<br />
Degree<br />
Contributed photo<br />
DR. MILDRED B. PERRY (’65, ’69),<br />
Pittsburgh, is president of this year’s<br />
Pittsburgh Conference—PITTCON<br />
<strong>2003</strong>—the world’s biggest exposition<br />
and technical conference on<br />
laboratory science. PITTCON is a<br />
meeting of people and companies<br />
striving to solve scientific problems<br />
related to energy and the environment,<br />
agriculture and foods, pharmaceuticals<br />
and health, and other<br />
concepts and products to improve<br />
the quality of life worldwide.<br />
MARLON CROW (’68, ’76) was honored<br />
at the JFK Center for the<br />
Performing Arts<br />
in Washington,<br />
D.C., for his<br />
three years of<br />
service on The<br />
Kennedy Center<br />
Partners in<br />
Education<br />
Marlon Crow<br />
Advisory<br />
Committee. Crow assisted with<br />
membership meetings and advised<br />
the Kennedy Center Education<br />
Department on new initiatives in<br />
professional development as well as<br />
on policies affecting membership.<br />
Year<br />
Contributed photo<br />
DICK LITTLETON (’68, ’73),<br />
Clarksville, was named the No. 1<br />
Prudential real estate agent in<br />
Tennessee for 2002. He and his<br />
wife, KATHY (‘85), own Littleton and<br />
Company, a part of Prudential<br />
Professionals Realty.<br />
DON M. BUCK (’69), president of<br />
Buck Contractors Inc., has had a<br />
busy year. He is on the board of<br />
directors of the newly established<br />
Planters Bank in Clarksville. He<br />
received the <strong>2003</strong> Jerry Thompson<br />
Spirit of Survivorship Award, which<br />
Phone SSN Grad Class<br />
E-mail address<br />
I would like my name and e-mail address to be included in an online directory of APSU<br />
alumni: ❏ Yes ❏ No<br />
Campus Affiliations and Activities<br />
Family Information<br />
Spouse’s Name<br />
SSN Did spouse attend APSU? Grad Class<br />
Spouse’s Employer<br />
Personal News<br />
Address<br />
Position<br />
Children’s names and ages<br />
Phone<br />
Employer<br />
Address<br />
Position<br />
If retired, former occupation and retirement date<br />
Phone<br />
Attended APSU? Class SSN<br />
Please return survey to Alumni Office, P.O. Box 4676, Clarksville, TN 37044,<br />
or complete the online form at www.apsu.edu/alumni<br />
26 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Neil Whit Darnell (’90) is a special agent for the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, Washington, D.C. Way to Go!
Class notes<br />
is named in honor of a newspaper<br />
columnist for The Tennessean and<br />
APSU alumnus who died after a 12-<br />
year battle with cancer. Buck<br />
received the award, not only because<br />
of his own struggle with cancer, but<br />
because of his efforts to fight cancer<br />
within the larger community. He<br />
served as board member and president<br />
of the local chapter of the<br />
American Cancer Society and now<br />
counsels others with cancer.<br />
1970s<br />
Shelia Mayhew<br />
York<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Stanley, New York City.<br />
The mystery book<br />
“Star Struck<br />
Dead,” written by<br />
SHEILA MAYHEW<br />
YORK (’71), is<br />
slated to be<br />
released in<br />
October. York is a<br />
supervisory analyst<br />
for Morgan-<br />
DOUG BARBER (’71), Clarksville,<br />
received WorkForce Essential’s <strong>2003</strong><br />
President’s Award of Excellence for<br />
his commitment to the community.<br />
A case manager for the Montgomery<br />
County Career Center, Barber was<br />
honored for his service as a board<br />
member of the Clarksville Downtown<br />
District Partnership and as co-chair of<br />
Clarksville’s Rivers and Spires Festival.<br />
MITCHELL ROSS (’72) is on the board<br />
of directors for Clarksville’s Planters<br />
Bank. Ross is one of eight local<br />
business leaders chosen to help<br />
organize the location and develop<br />
the new bank in Clarksville. Ross is a<br />
partner in the law firm of Rudolph,<br />
Ross, Fendley and Hogan.<br />
BEVERLY BERARD (’72, ’73), a biology<br />
and physiology teacher at<br />
Northeast High School, Clarksville,<br />
was one of two teachers named <strong>2003</strong><br />
Distinguished Classroom Teacher of<br />
the Year by the Tennessee Education<br />
Association.<br />
DR. V. MICHAEL CARRIGAN (’73) was<br />
designated by the Certifying<br />
Commission and Council of Fellows<br />
in Medical Management as a fellow<br />
with the American College of<br />
Physician Executives. Carrigan has<br />
practiced medicine in Clarksville for<br />
20 years and serves as the medical<br />
director for Premier Medical Group.<br />
CHARLES A. (CHUCK) HENDERSON<br />
(’73), Hopkinsville, Ky., was appointed<br />
Civilian Aide to the Secretary of<br />
the Army for <strong>2003</strong>-05. Henderson is<br />
president and general manager of<br />
Kentucky New Era Corp. He is a<br />
founding member of the<br />
Hopkinsville-Christian County<br />
Military Affairs Committee and of<br />
Operation Eagles Nest Fund Drive.<br />
Henderson has been an active member<br />
of the Association of the United<br />
<strong>State</strong>s Army (AUSA) since 1979 and<br />
is a former president of the<br />
Kentucky/Tennessee Chapter of<br />
AUSA. He and his wife, Cathy, have<br />
three children.<br />
SAM L. WAMBLE (’73) recently moved<br />
to Pine Bluff, Ariz., with his wife<br />
Susan and daughter, Caithyn. He is a<br />
physical education teacher for<br />
Watson Chapel Schools.<br />
MICHAEL L. WORSHAM (’73) is the<br />
new human resources director for<br />
the city of Clarksville. He brings<br />
more than 20 years of experience to<br />
the position, having worked with<br />
Levi Strauss, Kenneth O. Lester<br />
Company and, most recently, Tire<br />
Distribution Systems, where he was<br />
responsible for more than 2,000<br />
employees at 100 different locations<br />
in 15 states.<br />
Dr. Andrew N.<br />
Barrass<br />
Contributed photo Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
DR. ANDREW N.<br />
BARRASS (’74,<br />
’76) returned to<br />
APSU July 1,<br />
<strong>2003</strong>, as the new<br />
director of the<br />
Center of<br />
Excellence in<br />
Field Biology.<br />
JOE CALLOWAY<br />
(’74) of Nashville<br />
added the word<br />
“author” to his<br />
list of achievements.<br />
His book,<br />
“Becoming a<br />
Category of One,”<br />
Joe Calloway was released in<br />
August <strong>2003</strong> by<br />
Wiley & Sons Publishing. He is a<br />
partner in Mirror, an award-winning<br />
Nashville restaurant, which was featured<br />
on television’s Food Network<br />
and reviewed in The New York Times.<br />
A nationally renowned speaker on<br />
business competition and consultant<br />
on successful branding in today’s<br />
marketplace, Calloway was inducted<br />
into the Speakers Hall of Fame.<br />
RICK N. WHITFIELD (’74) recently<br />
received his doctoral degree in higher<br />
education management from the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Pennsylvania, where he<br />
is employed as vice president of<br />
audit and corporate compliance. He<br />
and his wife, Nancy (’75, ’90), live<br />
in Bryn Mawr, Penn. He is the sonin-law<br />
of Virginia Quick (42),<br />
Clarksville, former secretary in<br />
APSU’s Alumni Relations Office.<br />
CARL WILSON (’74) has been elected<br />
chair of the Clarksville-Montgomery<br />
Industrial Development Board for<br />
<strong>2003</strong>-04. General manager of<br />
Cumberland Electric Membership Corp.<br />
for the past six years, Wilson has<br />
been with the company since 1973.<br />
JERRY HACKNEY<br />
(’76), Clarksville,<br />
has been<br />
appointed<br />
national sales<br />
manager for<br />
eLynx, a leading<br />
provider of electronic<br />
document<br />
Jerry Hackney<br />
delivery solutions for mortgage<br />
lenders and the first Web-based<br />
service to offer electronic capabilities<br />
directly to homebuyers. In this<br />
position, Hackney is responsible for<br />
developing the company’s marketing<br />
strategy and directing sales efforts<br />
of the company’s flagship products—eLynx<br />
Web Posting Service and<br />
eLynx uSign.<br />
Contributed photo<br />
MARGUERITE SALLEE (’77), who was<br />
named “Businesswoman of the Year<br />
2001” by “Business Nashville,”<br />
resigned in April <strong>2003</strong> as chief executive<br />
of The Brown Schools, a Texas<br />
company that provides residential<br />
treatment and educational services<br />
for troubled young people. She now<br />
works in the Washington, D.C., office<br />
of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander as<br />
staff director for the Children and<br />
Families Subcommittee, which<br />
Alexander chairs and which is part of<br />
the Senate’s Health, Education,<br />
Labor and Pensions Committee. In<br />
her new role, Sallee is positioned to<br />
influence national policy in the area<br />
in which she has specialized for the<br />
past 25 years.<br />
RANDY CLOUSER (’78), Clarksville,<br />
joined Cumberland Bank and Trust as<br />
executive vice president, bringing<br />
with him more than 20 years of<br />
experience.<br />
Former New York City resident and<br />
production manager for NBC’s<br />
“Today” show, NANETTE<br />
(NOFFSINGER) CROWELL (’78),<br />
Nolensville, Tenn., continues her<br />
work for NBC. During the first two<br />
months of <strong>2003</strong>, her travels included<br />
numerous trips to Fort Campbell, Ky.,<br />
to cover the deployment of the<br />
101st Airborne Division (Air<br />
Assault). Her work, also, took her<br />
to Norfolk, Va., to cover a story on<br />
the Coast Guard, to North Carolina,<br />
where there was a major factory<br />
explosion with fatalities, and to<br />
Houston’s Kennedy Space Center following<br />
the breakup of the Columbia<br />
space shuttle.<br />
LINDA A. SITTON (’78, ’81), director<br />
of <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>’s Tennessee Early<br />
Childhood Training Alliance (TECTA),<br />
was selected to receive the Family<br />
Child Care Advocate Award at a<br />
TECTA banquet in April. Sitton’s<br />
selection was based on her work in<br />
enhancing family child care through<br />
early childhood coursework, promoting<br />
attendance at state and national<br />
conferences through assistance with<br />
fees and providing focused consulting<br />
for National Association for<br />
Family Child Care (NAFCC). Thanks to<br />
her efforts, seven of the nine programs<br />
accredited in Tennessee are<br />
from the APSU-TECTA site.<br />
VICKI CHAMPION CARTER (’78) is<br />
building her retirement home in<br />
Tuscaloosa, Ala., after traveling the<br />
world “compliments of Uncle Sam.”<br />
She retired in 1998 as a major in the<br />
U.S. Army Signal Corp. She spends<br />
winters skiing in Lake Tahoe, Nev.,<br />
while visiting LTC ALICIA NYLAND-<br />
ALGARD (’78) and summers, in<br />
Navarre, Fla., visiting DONNA<br />
WOODARD-ORBIK (’78).<br />
ROBERT W. MARTIN (’79) was named<br />
Hopkinsville’s chief financial officer<br />
following the closing of<br />
International Paper Co. in<br />
Hopkinsville, Ky., where he was<br />
accounting supervisor.<br />
JIMMY STEPHENS (‘79), a theatre<br />
and social studies teacher at<br />
Montgomery Central High School,<br />
was appointed assistant principal of<br />
Liberty Elementary for the <strong>2003</strong>-04<br />
academic year.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Continued on page 28<br />
27
Class notes (continued from page 27)<br />
1980s<br />
NANCY LEWIS LADD (’80) and CURTIS<br />
JOHNSON (’86) are on the board of<br />
directors for Clarksville’s new Planters<br />
Bank. Ladd and Johnson are two of<br />
eight Clarksville business leaders<br />
chosen to help establish the bank’s<br />
Clarksville location. Ladd is a partner<br />
in Lewis, Smith and Ladd,<br />
Certified Public Accountants;<br />
Johnson is president of Johnson<br />
Auto Sales.<br />
KAY DREW (’81), a 10-year employee<br />
of Clarksville Academy, was appointed<br />
head of the school in June <strong>2003</strong>,<br />
after the former headmaster resigned.<br />
Before joining the Clarksville<br />
Academy faculty, Drew was a teacher<br />
in the Fort Campbell School System<br />
for eight years. She and her husband,<br />
U.S. Army Maj. Tom Drew, have a<br />
10th-grade daughter, Kaley.<br />
ROCKELLE P. DANIELS (’82), judicial<br />
administrative assistant for Circuit<br />
Court Judge Michael R. Jones,<br />
Tennessee 19th Judicial District,<br />
completed advanced skin-care program<br />
at the International Derma<br />
Institute, Postgraduate School of<br />
Skin Care and Body Therapy. She<br />
holds a clinical cosmetician certificate<br />
from the Advanced Skin Care<br />
Institute, a division of the department<br />
of dermatology and burn center,<br />
USC Medical Center, San<br />
Francisco. As a trainer for the<br />
American Cancer Society’s national<br />
Look Good-Feel Better Program, she<br />
has volunteered her services to cancer<br />
(and burn) survivors since 1989.<br />
Rhonda J.<br />
Kennedy<br />
Contributed photo<br />
RHONDA J.<br />
KENNEDY (’83,<br />
’86), principal of<br />
Hazelwood<br />
Elementary<br />
School, was recognized<br />
at the<br />
2002 national<br />
Born to Win<br />
Leadership<br />
Conference for her many achievements.<br />
A member of the 2002-03<br />
Class of Leadership Clarksville, she has<br />
worked in the local school system for<br />
20 years. She received the<br />
Distinguished Classroom Teacher Award<br />
and was selected as one of Clarksville’s<br />
Outstanding Young Women by the<br />
Jaycees. She and her husband, attorney,<br />
KEVIN (’78, ’79), have three children,<br />
Kevin Jr. (K.C.), Kenneth and<br />
Katelin. Following a family tradition,<br />
older son, K.C., is a freshman at APSU.<br />
Kathie Scobee<br />
Fulgham<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Shortly after the<br />
space shuttle<br />
Columbia broke<br />
apart, Jan. 28,<br />
<strong>2003</strong>, KATHIE<br />
SCOBEE FULGHAM<br />
(’84),<br />
Chattanooga,<br />
found herself<br />
once again in the<br />
national spotlight—this time to<br />
offer comfort to others like her.<br />
The daughter of the late Dick<br />
Scobee, commander of the<br />
Challenger, which exploded on takeoff<br />
in January 1986, Fulgham knows<br />
what it’s like to lose a parent in<br />
such a public tragedy. In addition<br />
to meeting with the Columbia families,<br />
Fulgham was featured in various<br />
broadcast and print media, including<br />
an article titled “Love and Loss: A<br />
Daughter Remembers,” in the Feb.<br />
17 edition of “People” magazine.<br />
EDDIE BURCHETT (’85) was named<br />
2002 Homebuilder of the Year by the<br />
Clarksville-Montgomery County Home<br />
Builders Association. Since 1985, he<br />
has constructed more than 1,000<br />
homes ranging from $70,000 to<br />
$500,000. Burchett was elected the<br />
first president of the local Home<br />
Builders Association in 1991 and<br />
again in 1992. He serves as board<br />
adviser to the Association’s directors.<br />
GREG SMITH (’85) was elected president<br />
of the Clarksville Zeta<br />
Parliamentary Chapter #73 of the<br />
American Institute of<br />
Parliamentarians. Smith is the chief<br />
financial officer of Forensic Medical<br />
in Nashville.<br />
NELSON BOEHMS<br />
(’86) was named<br />
vice president for<br />
commerce and<br />
lending for<br />
Planters Bank,<br />
which opened for<br />
business in<br />
Nelson Boehms<br />
Clarksville in<br />
Spring <strong>2003</strong>. He and his wife,<br />
Deborah, have three children, Samuel,<br />
6, Analena, 8, and Charlie, 10.<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
JACKIE JONES (’89, ’90, ’02) was<br />
appointed assistant principal at<br />
Byrns Darden Elementary School for<br />
the <strong>2003</strong>-04 academic year. She has<br />
worked in the Clarksville-Montgomery<br />
County School System since 1990.<br />
DAVID ALFORD (’89), described as<br />
“Nashville theatre’s heavy-hitter” by<br />
The Tennessean, attended the byinvitation-only<br />
premiere of “Charlie’s<br />
War” on May 2 at the Nashville Film<br />
Festival. Others attending were<br />
Oprah Winfrey and her longtime<br />
beau, Stedman Graham, Natalie Cole<br />
and film co-stars Diane Ladd and<br />
Bobbie Eakes. Alford studied acting<br />
at Juilliard in New York City and is a<br />
member of the supporting cast for<br />
the film.<br />
1990s<br />
MELISSA ALEXANDER GROSS (’90)<br />
was hired as project-information<br />
coordinator for the American Leprosy<br />
Missions in Grille, S.C. She resides<br />
in Piedmont, S.C., with her husband<br />
Randy, a network administrator for<br />
National Electric Carbon, and daughter,<br />
Jordan Samantha.<br />
CHIP KNIGHT (’90), business banker<br />
with Clarksville AmSouth, was honored<br />
for his top performance in 2002<br />
at the annual Chairman’s Club’s<br />
Banquet on Paradise Island, the<br />
Bahamas. AmSouth awards the top<br />
15 percent of its bankers with an<br />
annual trip to celebrate their sales.<br />
MARTIN KOON (’91) was named<br />
Montgomery County’s new 4-H coordinator<br />
this past March. Koon is a<br />
10-year 4-H coordinator veteran in<br />
Wayne and Davidson counties.<br />
SHELBY H. (BYARD) DRAPER (’81),<br />
the mother of SHELBY LYNETTE<br />
BYARD STERLING TAYLOR (’91) and<br />
TAMMY RAY BYARD COWAN (’92),<br />
wrote to share both her daughters’<br />
accomplishments. Taylor, who<br />
earned a master’s degree at Middle<br />
Tennessee <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong>, teaches<br />
special education at Sango<br />
Elementary School. She lives in<br />
Clarksville with her son, Zach.<br />
Cowan received the “Kentucky Young<br />
Mother of the Year” award in March<br />
<strong>2003</strong>. She lives in Hopkinsville with<br />
husband, CARY SCOTT COWAN (’91),<br />
son, Blake and daughter, Lauren.<br />
Her husband works for Hillard Lyons.<br />
BRIAN MCKINNEY (’94), Clarksville,<br />
was appointed assistant principal at<br />
East Montgomery Elementary School<br />
for the <strong>2003</strong>-04 academic year.<br />
KERI MCINNIS (’95), Brentwood,<br />
made The Tennessean’s “Top 40<br />
Under 40” list of accomplished<br />
Middle Tennesseans. She is a senior<br />
vice president and market manager<br />
for Pinnacle Financial Partners’ Green<br />
Hills office. In addition to many<br />
contributions to the community as a<br />
financial leader, McInnis volunteers<br />
to work with community groups,<br />
such as the Junior League of<br />
Nashville, United Way, Red Cross and<br />
the PENCIL Foundation.<br />
GABRIEL SEGOVIA (’96) made The<br />
Tennessean’s “Top 40 Under 40” list<br />
of accomplished Middle Tennessee<br />
men and women. Segovia, who is<br />
mayor pro tem for Clarksville and<br />
school resource officer for Northeast<br />
High School, volunteers with Boy<br />
Scouts of America, Click It or Ticket,<br />
Adopt a Street, the Clarksville-<br />
Montgomery County Adult Literacy<br />
Council, Hispanics Organized for<br />
Progress and Education (HOPE) and<br />
Big Brothers/Big Sisters.<br />
WALTER WAYNE STUCK II (’96) is the<br />
project geologist at Kemron<br />
Environmental in Marietta, Ohio.<br />
Stuck resides with his wife, Stacie,<br />
in Mineral Wells, W.Va. The couple<br />
has two children, Krystal Lee, 18,<br />
and Levi Nathaniel, 1.<br />
MARC WHITAKER (’96) is the art<br />
director and art department manager<br />
for Compendia Music Group,<br />
Nashville. From 1990-2001, he<br />
worked for the Nashville advertising<br />
agency Steve Diggs & Friends, first<br />
as a graphic designer and then as<br />
the art director.<br />
CHRISTOPHER G. CLARK (’97, ‘98),<br />
Clarksville, recently completed his<br />
doctorate of jurisprudence from<br />
Nashville School of Law.<br />
DAVID STEPHEN FREELS (’98) is the<br />
pastor of Limestone Baptist Church<br />
in Bedford, Ind. He also teaches<br />
history at Oakland City <strong>University</strong> in<br />
Bedford.<br />
JOSEPH PAUL WEYANT (’98) recently<br />
earned the doctorate of jurisprudence<br />
from Mississippi College<br />
School of law.<br />
NATALIE PARKS (’99) is completing a<br />
pharmacy practice residency at<br />
Vanderbilt <strong>University</strong> after having<br />
received a doctor of pharmacy<br />
degree (with honors) from the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Tennessee-Knoxville.<br />
She is married to GUY ADAM<br />
KITTRELL (’00), who works as a<br />
patient representative for<br />
Haemophelia Health Services.<br />
28 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: William C. Ferguson (’58) is chair of Financial Information Systems, LLC in Hurst, Texas. Way to Go!
KRISTIN CARTWRIGHT (’99) and her<br />
husband, MARK CARTWRIGHT (’97),<br />
Woodlawn, were winners on “Wheel of<br />
Fortune” in February when the show<br />
was filming its “Sweethearts Week”<br />
edition in Nashville at the Grand Ole<br />
Opry. The couple won $52,900.<br />
NANCY WASHINGTON (’99) was hired<br />
as an attorney in the office of the<br />
General Counsel of the Tennessee<br />
Board of Regents, Nashville. While<br />
an APSU student, she was a student<br />
member of TBR and interned with<br />
TBR through the Nashville Bar’s<br />
Minority Law Intern Program.<br />
Washington graduated from<br />
Vanderbilt <strong>University</strong> Law School.<br />
TARA R. GARGUS-FIESE (’99),<br />
Cerulean, Ky., is employed by<br />
Pennyrile Allied Community Services,<br />
Hopkinsville, Ky., as an in-home<br />
therapist for family and community<br />
intervention.<br />
STEVEN G. FULLER (’99), Tulsa,<br />
received his jurisdoctorate from the<br />
<strong>University</strong> of Tulsa College of Law in<br />
May <strong>2003</strong>. While in law school, he<br />
earned three “CALI Excellence for<br />
the Future” awards in administrative<br />
law, antitrust law and race, racism<br />
and American law. The award goes<br />
to the student with the highest<br />
grade in a particular area of study.<br />
Fuller and his wife, Lisa, have two<br />
sons, Jackson and Jefferson.<br />
AMANDA BURDEN (’99), who was<br />
named The Leaf-Chronicle’s <strong>2003</strong><br />
Tennis Coach of the Year, left<br />
Clarksville Academy to accept a job<br />
in Orange Park, Fla., teaching high<br />
school math and serving as the girls<br />
basketball assistant coach.<br />
2000s<br />
MATTHEW G. NAGEL (’00) has been<br />
named account executive with Ruane<br />
Communications Inc., an independent<br />
public relations agency based in<br />
Atlanta that specializes in health<br />
care, consumer products and sports<br />
marketing. Nagel was a television<br />
reporter for WKAG in Clarksville and<br />
a production assistant for WTVD in<br />
Durham, N.C.<br />
BETH MCKINNEY (’00) received a<br />
doctorate in physical therapy from<br />
Belmont <strong>University</strong>, Nashville, in<br />
August <strong>2003</strong>. She is the daughter of<br />
DEWAYNE (’74) and CHERYL (’74)<br />
MCKINNEY, Hendersonville, Tenn.,<br />
and her brother, Blake, is a senior at<br />
Beech High School, where their<br />
mother teaches. Their father is vice<br />
president of sales for Handling<br />
Systems, Nashville.<br />
CRISTINA HENLEY<br />
(’01) has been<br />
named a junior<br />
account executive<br />
with the<br />
American<br />
Institutes of<br />
Research,<br />
Cristina Henley<br />
Washington,<br />
D.C., where she assists with public<br />
and media relations on healthawareness<br />
campaigns. Henley earned<br />
a master’s degree in corporate communication<br />
at APSU and worked a<br />
year as the communication specialist<br />
in APSU’s Office of Public Relations<br />
and Marketing.<br />
HEATHER PIPER (’02), Clarksville, is<br />
the communications coordinator for<br />
the Southern Governors’ Association<br />
in Washington, D.C.<br />
Births<br />
Gray Stephan<br />
Davis<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Contributed photo<br />
GINNY GRAY<br />
DAVIS (’87) and<br />
her husband,<br />
Craig, Cincinnati,<br />
welcomed the<br />
birth of their<br />
son, Gray<br />
Stephan Davis,<br />
on June 17,<br />
<strong>2003</strong>. Gray, who<br />
is director of the District XII of the<br />
APSU National Alumni Association,<br />
received APSU’s Outstanding Young<br />
Alumna Award in 1996. Her husband<br />
is finance manager at Proctor &<br />
Gamble, Cincinnati.<br />
Watson William<br />
Persinger was<br />
born July 29,<br />
<strong>2003</strong> at Baptist<br />
Hospital,<br />
Nashville, to LEE<br />
WATSON<br />
PERSINGER (‘91)<br />
Watson William and CHARLES<br />
Persinger WILLIAM (BILL)<br />
PERSINGER (‘91), Clarksville. He was<br />
welcomed by his four-year-old sister<br />
Lainey Katherine, and grandparents,<br />
SANDRA (’76,‘79) and DAVID WATSON<br />
(‘83) of Clarksville and MARY LU<br />
(’61) and CHARLES W. PERSINGER,<br />
SR. (’61), also of Clarksville.<br />
Watson’s mom is employee relations<br />
manager at Jostens, and his father is<br />
graphic design director, APSU Office<br />
of Public Relations and Marketing.<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Ashten Faith and Brennan Grace Byard<br />
DENISE POE BYARD (’91) and husband<br />
George, Clarksville, announce<br />
the birth of twin daughters, Ashten<br />
Faith and Brennan Grace, on Jan.<br />
16, <strong>2003</strong>. Mrs. Byard works as a<br />
human resource generalist for Dana<br />
Corporation in Franklin, Ky.<br />
SHANNON SUE WILLIAMS (’94)<br />
announces the birth of her first<br />
child, Mackenzie Paige, born Dec.<br />
13, 2002. Williams is an accounting<br />
specialist for Notary Public @ Large.<br />
Cooper Stone<br />
Long<br />
Contributed photo<br />
KRISTEN (VOGLE)<br />
LONG (’95) and<br />
husband<br />
Christopher,<br />
Gracey, Ky.,<br />
announce the<br />
birth of their son<br />
Cooper Stone<br />
Long, on Jan. 19,<br />
<strong>2003</strong>. Mrs. Long<br />
recently received her National Board<br />
Certification and is a middle-school<br />
reading teacher in Trigg County. Mr.<br />
Long is a lineman for BellSouth.<br />
JENNIFER (POWERS) BAGWELL (’96)<br />
gave birth to her second child, Sarah<br />
Elizabeth, Dec. 13, 2002. Bagwell<br />
resides in Clarksville with her husband,<br />
Jimmy, and son, Dawson. Her<br />
husband is a civil engineer.<br />
ANGELA CHILDRESS (’96), Nashville,<br />
and her husband, Maj. Ryan S.<br />
Jones, are celebrating the birth of<br />
their daughter, Chloe Elizabeth, on<br />
May 26, <strong>2003</strong>. Chloe was welcomed<br />
by brothers, Daniel, 12, and Will, 2.<br />
Childress, former president of the<br />
Student Government Association at<br />
APSU, earned her doctorate of<br />
jurisprudence from the <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Angela Childress, right, with her husband,<br />
baby daughter and sons.<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Contributed photo<br />
Tennessee School of Law. She was a<br />
full-time attorney with the Nashville<br />
firm of Harwell, Howard, Hyne,<br />
Gabbert & Manner until July 2001<br />
when she became a stay-at-home<br />
mom and part-time attorney.<br />
KRISTI (KELLEY) JONES (’97) and<br />
STEVEN A. J. JONES (’96), West<br />
Chapel, Fla., announce the birth of<br />
their first child, Kaleigh Elaine, on<br />
Aug. 9, 2002. Mr. Jones is regional<br />
sales manager for Kobrand Corp., a<br />
New York company selling premium<br />
wines and spirits.<br />
SARAH JANE TINSLEY ROSS (’98),<br />
Murfreesboro, Tenn., and her husband,<br />
Jason, are the proud parents of Noah<br />
Harrison Ross, born May 4, 2002.<br />
MELISSA ANN SHEPPARD JONES (’98)<br />
and her husband, CHRIS (’96) welcomed<br />
the birth of Owen Christopher<br />
Jones on Feb. 10, <strong>2003</strong>. Owen’s<br />
mother is a graduate student at<br />
Belmont <strong>University</strong>; his father is an<br />
attorney with Kay, Friffen, Enkema &<br />
Brothers, Nashville.<br />
Joseph David<br />
Fiese<br />
Contributed photo<br />
TARA R. GARGUS-<br />
FIESE (’99),<br />
Cerulean, Ky., and<br />
her husband,<br />
Bruce, are celebrating<br />
the birth<br />
of their first child.<br />
Joseph David<br />
Fiese was born<br />
Nov. 1, 2002.<br />
KIMBERLY ANN WEBER SMITH (’01),<br />
her husband, David, and their son,<br />
Matthew David John, 2, announce<br />
the birth of Caitlin Beth Ann on Feb.<br />
17, <strong>2003</strong>. Mrs. Smith is a case manager<br />
for the Tennessee Department<br />
of Children’s Services, and her husband<br />
is an APSU police officer. The<br />
family lives in Clarksville.<br />
Deaths<br />
HUBERT T. (BUD) SCOTT (’59),<br />
Knoxville, died March 26, <strong>2003</strong>. He<br />
was a retired insurance account manager<br />
for BlueCross and BlueShield of<br />
Tennessee and past president of<br />
Forrest School Alumni Association.<br />
He is survived by his wife, Mary<br />
Emma Harrison; a daughter and sonin-law,<br />
Susan and Samuel B. Adams,<br />
Mountain City; a son, James Winfield<br />
Scott, Atlanta; stepson and daughter-in-law,<br />
Russell L. and Lisa Coble,<br />
Knoxville; and five grandchildren.<br />
Continued on page 30<br />
29
Alumni News & Calendar of Events (continued from page 15)<br />
Photos on this page: Alumni Relations and <strong>University</strong> Advancement<br />
Regional News<br />
Right, Nelson Boehms (’86), left, steps<br />
down as past president of the APSUNAA<br />
Board of Directors; Kevin Hackney (’89),<br />
center, is the new incoming president for<br />
<strong>2003</strong>-04, while Peter Minetos (’89), right,<br />
will serve as past president this year.<br />
Left, <strong>Austin</strong>, Texas alumni – William<br />
Kirkpatrick (‘78), Vera Kirkpatrick, Mary<br />
Pearce (‘77), Bill Pearce, retired APSU<br />
professor William Stokes and retired<br />
APSU professor Elizabeth Stokes, Eric<br />
Johnson (2001) and Amanda Johnson.<br />
Left, Gathering for<br />
dinner in Bedford, Texas<br />
in June were (l-r) Tina<br />
and Don (’68) McCall,<br />
Amy Hines (’01),<br />
William Ferguson (’58),<br />
Lance Buky and father<br />
Brad (’75).<br />
Dan Hunt (’89), left, Cynthia (’85) and<br />
Steve Harmon (’83), right, talk about their<br />
days at "the <strong>Peay</strong>" at a wine and cheese<br />
reception in Orlando in June.<br />
Above, in June, these alumni and friends attended a<br />
wine and cheese reception at the Eola Wine<br />
Company in Orlando in June.<br />
Right, meeting for<br />
dinner at Joe T.<br />
Garcia’s in Fort<br />
Worth were alumni<br />
and friends Jerald<br />
and Anita (’59)<br />
Plummer, Brad Buky<br />
(’75) and wife Sue,<br />
and Todd Wainman<br />
(’99).<br />
Center, San Antonio alumni -- Mark<br />
Hargreaves (‘85), Tammie Jones<br />
(‘93), Connie Ouellette (‘80), Ken<br />
Jones (‘95)<br />
Right, it was a large group of<br />
Washington, D.C., alumni who<br />
attended a reception held at the<br />
Senate Dirksen Building in May.<br />
From left, Houston alumni<br />
– Rick Canady (‘73),<br />
Donald Towe (‘70), Susan<br />
Towe (‘76), Jimmie<br />
Gibbons, Nancy Gibbons<br />
(‘50), Michelle Schroeder<br />
(‘96), Jennifer Conger,<br />
Warren Chaney (‘64),<br />
Bobby O’Brien (‘88)<br />
Left, these Tampa area alumni<br />
and friends gathered for a<br />
fun evening around the pool<br />
at the Temple Terrace Golf &<br />
Country Club in April, (l-r)<br />
Philip Farinella (’68) and<br />
wife Tonya; Bill Everett (’55)<br />
and wife Meletha; Dave (’68)<br />
and Sheryl (’67) Small and<br />
Jeff Wilde.<br />
Class notes (continued from page 29)<br />
PHILLIP THOMAS (’71), Clarksville,<br />
died April 15, <strong>2003</strong>. He was director<br />
of Journey to Recovery in Clarksville<br />
and a U.S. Air Force veteran. He is<br />
survived by his wife Lina Adkins<br />
Thomas; two daughters, Fran<br />
Mackdanz and Amanda Thomas, both<br />
of Clarksville; his mother, and sister,<br />
Montez Arnold, both of Jonesboro,<br />
Ark.; and three grandchildren.<br />
The body of HENRY COCHRAN (’72),<br />
Clarksville businessman, was discovered<br />
early in the morning of June 27<br />
30<br />
in Kentucky Lake near Paris Landing.<br />
Preliminary results of an autopsy<br />
revealed the cause of death was<br />
drowning. Survivors include his wife,<br />
Jean Heath, Clarksville; a son, C.J.<br />
Cochran, Clarksville; a daughter,<br />
Misty Cochran, Nashville; and sister,<br />
Ann Bennet, Southern Pines, N.C.<br />
ALAN GEHRKE (’90), Chattanooga,<br />
died Feb. 26, <strong>2003</strong>, following a long<br />
battle with Devic’s disease, a progressive<br />
form of Multiple Sclerosis.<br />
He was preceded in death by his<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
father and a brother. He is survived<br />
by a sister, brothers and his mother,<br />
Marilyn Gehrke of Clarksville.<br />
RUTH NEWMAN (’99), Etowah, Tenn.,<br />
died April 8, <strong>2003</strong>.<br />
Weddings<br />
MALCOLM BRASHER JR. (’85) and<br />
Barbara Maygood were married Feb.<br />
7, <strong>2003</strong>. Brasher is the residential<br />
life manager at Alabama Agriculture<br />
and Mechanical <strong>University</strong> in Normal,<br />
Ala. They reside in Huntsville, Ala.<br />
GREGORY PARKER (’95) and HEATHER<br />
(LYLES) PARKER (’01), Pleasant View,<br />
Tenn., were married in the summer<br />
of 2002. He is an art director for<br />
The Maverick Group, a Nashvillebased<br />
advertising agency, and serves<br />
as vice president of the Eta Tau<br />
Chapter alumni association of Pi<br />
Kappa Alpha. She is the emergency<br />
room registration director at Skyline<br />
Medical Center, Nashville.<br />
PEAY Alum FACT: Sheila Mayhew York (’71), New York City, works at Morgan-Stanley as a supervisory analyst.
Homecoming 2002<br />
Photos on this page: Bill Persinger<br />
Far left, that's Garnett Ladd<br />
III (and sister Elizabeth,<br />
left) riding in the APSU<br />
National Alumni<br />
Association, Montgomery<br />
County Chapter car in the<br />
Homecoming parade. They<br />
are the children of Garnett<br />
('83) and Nancy ('80) Ladd,<br />
co-presidents of the<br />
Montgomery County Alumni<br />
Chapter.<br />
Left, Cecil Morgan plans his<br />
put at the 24th annual<br />
Homecoming Golf tournament.<br />
Below, Jack Jackson on left<br />
with L.M. Ellis (’65), center,<br />
and Ted Smith (’65).<br />
Above left, the Alumni and Friends Card Party<br />
was a great success last year with approximately<br />
100 women attending.<br />
Far left, the first and second place winners of<br />
the annual Homecoming 5K run do a radio<br />
interview with Hank Bonecutter, center, from<br />
WJZM and Rip Watts (’76), right, of the<br />
<strong>University</strong> Advancement Office.<br />
Left, Homecoming Co-Chairs Sean ('92) and<br />
Gina ('92, '98) Castleberry, along with son<br />
Chris, joined in the Homecoming parade.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Her new mystery book is to be released this October. Way to Go!<br />
31
From Beakers to Beacon (Continued from page 8)<br />
From his earliest days as an administrator,<br />
Roddy made a point of volunteering for various<br />
organizations. His environmental background<br />
allowed him to capably serve several<br />
terms as chair of Hamilton County’s Air<br />
Pollution Control Board during his 13-year<br />
tenure.<br />
He went on to become chair of the<br />
Chattanooga Area Urban League and president<br />
of the East Tennessee Area Health<br />
Education Center. In all, he has served on<br />
more than 50 boards since 1983. He doesn’t<br />
see such efforts as particularly noble.<br />
“As leaders, we’re called to be servants,”<br />
Roddy says, “to give back to the community<br />
and make it a better place. My parents<br />
instilled that in me. Both were teachers, but<br />
they were involved in a lot of things outside<br />
education as well. It was something that just<br />
stuck with me.”<br />
Roddy also sees volunteering as the perfect<br />
way to expand your professional and personal<br />
horizons. “You meet lots of people outside<br />
your niche,” he says. “If what you do is limited<br />
to the area you work in, you’ll only know<br />
people in that area.”<br />
Stepping outside one’s niche can lead not<br />
only to new friendships and knowledge but to<br />
major life changes, as Roddy discovered. It<br />
was in Leadership Chattanooga, a community<br />
service and leadership workshop, that he<br />
began working with County Executive Dalton<br />
Roberts and County Executive Claude<br />
Ramsey. “They made such an impression on<br />
me that in 1994 I decided to run for mayor.”<br />
Though his bid for mayor wouldn’t be successful,<br />
Roddy says it was a good campaign.<br />
“I got over 42 percent of the votes and really<br />
enjoyed the experience.”<br />
In 1998, he was offered another<br />
new challenge: to serve as the<br />
vice president for a new initiative<br />
called Healthy Community.<br />
Offered through the Memorial<br />
Health Care System, its goal is to<br />
develop partnerships that would<br />
improve health care in the<br />
Chattanooga area, particularly in<br />
underserved areas.<br />
“When I came here, Memorial<br />
had one primary-care clinic.<br />
We’re opening our fourth in<br />
July,” Roddy says proudly. “The<br />
clinics provide care to patients<br />
who previously didn’t have access<br />
to health care—TennCare<br />
patients, charity indigents,<br />
Medicare patients, the working<br />
poor.”<br />
The Northshore Center, which<br />
started in 1997, has seen such<br />
growth in the number of people<br />
served that Memorial is moving it<br />
a couple of blocks away to a larger<br />
facility.<br />
Healthy Community emphasizes<br />
not only medical care but<br />
also preventive care. Through<br />
area churches, Memorial has presented<br />
programs on diabetes,<br />
heart disease and weight management,<br />
among other topics. The programs have<br />
had a profound effect on some participants.<br />
“One man had high blood pressure, diabetes,<br />
and was overweight,” Roddy says.<br />
“Now, every morning at 5 a.m. he’s at the Y,<br />
teaching a class. He’s off all medication and<br />
preparing to run in a marathon.”<br />
Roddy sees Healthy Community as a perfect<br />
extension of Memorial’s mission. “Jesus<br />
Christ went about healing. That’s Memorial’s<br />
mission, to promote the healing ministry of<br />
Christ, emphasizing social justice, the dignity<br />
of the individual and a healthier community.”<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Memorial doesn’t do any of this alone, he<br />
emphasizes, but through community partnerships.<br />
The new clinic, for example, is being<br />
opened in partnership with the Salvation<br />
Army. “They build the facility, and we staff<br />
and operate it,” Roddy says.<br />
Similar partnerships support an effort<br />
called Project Access. The Medical Society<br />
will recruit 300 primary-care and specialtycare<br />
doctors who will agree to see patients.<br />
The hospital will provide in-patient admission,<br />
lab work and surgical suites. “The goal<br />
is to improve access to health care for the<br />
poor,” Roddy says.<br />
Again, the phrase “making a difference”<br />
enters the conversation. “The clinics, the<br />
health teams, my work with the boards of<br />
organizations like the Y, help our organization<br />
make a difference in the community,” he<br />
says. “It’s a chance to be creative. To work<br />
with others to find answers.”<br />
How does the 50+ executive maintain his<br />
equilibrium in the face of multiple demands?<br />
How does he balance work, family and community?<br />
It’s not easy, he admits. “There are a<br />
lot of competing forces.”<br />
A clue to one of Roddy’s antidotes for<br />
stress is found among the personal objects in<br />
his office. Just over his left shoulder is a<br />
model of a Corvette.<br />
“I love ’vettes,” he says, boyish excitement<br />
lighting his face. “I always wanted one. When<br />
I turned 50, I decided it was time.” With nary<br />
an apology, then or now, he went out and<br />
bought himself a low-slung little number in<br />
British racing green. He drives the Corvette<br />
to work every day.<br />
He also loves tennis. And the aforementioned<br />
lighthouses. And Hilton Head Island,<br />
which has both.<br />
He’s also more than a little fond of politics.<br />
“I just may try a run for mayor again someday,”<br />
he says. “If I could just convince my<br />
wife….” He trails off, and the sound of<br />
wheels turning in his head is nearly audible.<br />
Clearly, he’s exploring how he might achieve<br />
his objective in this unique and highly personal<br />
partnership.<br />
Whether he’s shaping politics or programs,<br />
Roddy’s forte is achieving objectives through<br />
partnerships, bringing sometimes disparate<br />
elements together to form new solutions.<br />
When you think about it, he’s still the<br />
chemist he set out to be.<br />
32 <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
PEAY Alum FACT: C. Don Ladd (’69) is senior financial adviser with American Express Financial Advisors Inc., Nashville. Way to Go!
Rebecca Lynn Howard Concert<br />
Above, Howard signs a program for fan Paula Hallett, who was<br />
welcomed as Governors Club president for <strong>2003</strong>-2004 at the<br />
event.<br />
Left, country music star Rebecca Lynn Howard performs her #1<br />
hit single, “Forgive,” at this year’s Athletic Concert Fundraiser.<br />
Above, Director of Corporate Relations Rip Watts shows off his<br />
auctioneering ability during the pre-concert festivities. The<br />
signed Beatles guitar, shown, was the night’s hottest auction<br />
item.<br />
Above, Howard not only donated her<br />
time for the concert but also took time<br />
to greet fans at a post-reception party.<br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
Photos: Heather Legg<br />
Above: Rebecca Lynn Howard,<br />
center, poses with the APSU<br />
athletic coaches at the Govs<br />
Club Appreciation Luncheon.<br />
Right: Athletic Director Dave Loos<br />
thanks Dr. Richard Ribeiro for<br />
serving as the 2002-<strong>2003</strong><br />
Governors Club president.<br />
Right: Rebecca Lynn Howard<br />
speaks to Billy Atkins during the<br />
Govs Club Appreciation Luncheon.<br />
The event was highlighted by a<br />
special announcement and introduction<br />
of Howard as the guest<br />
artist for the concert.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>/Fall <strong>2003</strong><br />
Photo: Bill Persinger<br />
33
...is the greatest of all human forces. Change the mind, and you change the world.<br />
That quote, from film great Jay Griffin, captures the<br />
mission that has guided <strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong> <strong>State</strong> <strong>University</strong> for<br />
more than 75 years—and has found fruition in the lives of<br />
thousands of graduates.<br />
<strong>Austin</strong> <strong>Peay</strong>. Changing minds. Changing lives.<br />
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