Page 21 - Laker Connection Fall 2012

Stephens
Steve Stephens Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Bluefield State College
Brigadier General (Ret.) Robert L. “Steve” Stephens, then-vice pres- ident of External Relations for Clayton State University, went home to West Virginia in May to give the commencement address at Blue- field State College, and to receive a singular honor. “The General,” as he’s known around the Clayton State campus, is now a doctor as well.
As part of his keynote speech for the Bluefield State graduation ceremonies Stephens, a native of Welch, W. Va., was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humanities, becoming the first Clayton State administrator in recent memory to receive an honorary degree from another institution of higher learning. The award came to Stephens as he prepared to retire from Clay- ton State after 10 years of service. His final day was June 30, 2012.
Bass
Ginny Bass Named Distance Learning Administration Wagner Award Winner for 2012
Ginny Bass, director of Degree Completion at Clayton State Uni- versity, has been named the recipient of the Distance Learning Ad- ministration’s (DLA) Outstanding Instructional Support Award for 2012. This award is one of three DLA Wagner Awards to be pre- sented to outstanding individuals, to recognize them and/or the groups that they represent, for their excellence in Distance Learning
Administration Innovation, Outstanding Instructional Support, or Leadership.
The Outstanding Instructional Support Award recognizes outstanding achievements by an individual in developing and implementing projects to improve support and services for distance students and/or faculty. Bass, the assistant director of the Clayton State – Fayette in- structional site in Peachtree City, Ga., received her award on June 3, at the DLA Conference
at Jekyll Island.
FALL 2012 19
Former Dean Shakun in Demand... All the Way to the Yalu River
Dr. Wallace “Wally” Shakun, former dean of the School of Technology at Clayton State University, may have retired from the University System of Georgia in June 2004, but he’s still in demand throughout the world as a technology-related guest speaker and seminar instructor.
Ostensibly retired to Evansville, Ind., after 15 years at Clayton State as dean of Technology and then dean of Continuing Education, Shakun re- cently visited Dandong, China, along the Yalu River and just north of North Korea. It was Shakun’s 10th lecture trip to China at the invitation of the Chinese government, and his fourth appearance in a series of lectures on Test Automation and Instrumentation, as well as a review of the technology associated with same. As has been the case previously, Shakun was the keynote speaker.
Eighteen Tons
Eighteen tons, or, more precisely, 18.7 tons; that’s how much the Clayton State University campus recycled from May 2011 to November 2011.
Maybe you can’t quite grasp the scope of 18.7 tons. Well, first of all that’s 37,400 pounds. It
also equates to 318 trees saved, since one ton equals 17, 40-foot Douglas firs. Or, perhaps you think in terms of energy saved. Here, one ton equals 4,102 kilowatt hours of electricity. That’s 76,707.4 kilowatts. If you’re into preventing air pollution, a recycled ton equals 60 pounds of air pollution, so 18.7 recycled tons equates to 1,122 pounds of air pollution prevented. Finally, if you want to talk landfills, that’s 56 cubic yards of landfill space saved.