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Campus Review
May 19, 2014
Page 4
Pat Keane Retires After 30 Years at Clayton State
by John Shiffert
Clayton State Honored with “Tree Campus USA” Designation
By Arbor Day Foundation and Georgia Forestry Commission
Pat Keane, Clayton State University’s
longest-tenured staff member, retired at
the end of April 2014, after 30 years with
the University and 11 years running the
Athletic Department.
Yes, we know that Mason Barfield and
Carl McAloose have served as athletic
director during the years from May 1,
2003, and Gareth O’Sullivan is the current
interim athletic director, but everyone
connected with Athletics at Clayton State
knows who has REALLY been running
the show since the retirement of the equal-
ly estimable Dotty Bumbalough on Apr.
30, 2003.
Not only had Keane been with Clayton
State longer than any non-faculty member
(and there are very few faculty who have
been with Clayton State longer) at the
time of her retirement, but she was also
the winner of the University’s 2013 Alice
Smith Staff Member of the Year Award.
The administrative assistant for the
Athletic Department at the time of her
retirement, Keane was serving in her
fourth different position at the University,
which may be some kind of record in and
of itself. She first worked part-time at
Clayton State as the switch board opera-
tor, starting in 1984. She then moved over
to work full time in the Continuing
Education Division, and later spent sever-
al years in the Office of Media & Printing
Services before joining the Athletic
Department.
A native of the Mt. Airy section of
Philadelphia, as well as scenic Flourtown,
Pa., (that’s Flourtown, as in flour mills)
Keane graduated from Mt. St. Joseph
Academy in Philadelphia’s Chestnut Hill
section in 1965 as Patricia Stoffyn. Along
with her husband, John Keane, she has
three children by nature, and hundreds of
adopted children; the athletes of Clayton
State who have passed through the
University in the past 11 years. Indeed,
the Lakers have had no more loyal fans
than the Keanes over those years. In par-
ticular, John Keane is famous for his
advocacy of Clayton State basketball,
having built a long-time reputation for
cheering the Lakers from the cheap seats.
In her 30 years at Clayton State, Pat
Keane has been the face of an institution
that has grown from a junior college to a
The Arbor Day Foundation’s honoring of
Clayton State University as a 2013 Tree
Campus USA® was formally recognized
on Apr. 25 as part of the University’s
Second Annual Arbor Day Celebration…
a “Trees Made Real” event.
The celebration was held on the
University quad in front of an enthusiastic
crowd that included dozens of local
school children. Amidst long-term loblol-
ly pines and a host of newly-planted hard-
wood trees that will someday join the
pines in marking this “Tree Campus
USA,” the ceremony featured the Georgia
Forestry Commission’s Joan Scales pre-
senting the 2013 Tree Campus USA ban-
ner and plaque to Clayton State President
Dr. Thomas Hynes, Vice President for
Business and Operations Corlis
Cummings, Assistant Vice President for
Facilities Management Harun Biswas and
Assistant Director of Landscape
Management Justin Brooks.
In her address, Scales pointed out that the
Tree Campus USA designation was
awarded for commitment to effective
urban forest management and targets
those institutions that conserve, maintain
and grow trees. Scales also noted that
Clayton State is one of only nine universi-
ties in the state to be named a Tree
Campus USA.
“We’re recognizing universities that are
trying hard to maintain their environ-
ment,” she said.
Tree Campus USA is a national program
created in 2008 by the Arbor Day
Foundation and sponsored by Toyota to
honor colleges and universities for effec-
tive campus forest management and for
engaging staff and students in conserva-
tion goals. Clayton State achieved the title
Left to right: Corlis Cummings, Justin Brooks, Harun Biswas, Joan Scales.
Keane, cont’d., p. 19
Arbor Day, cont’d., p. 23