MAGNOLIA-– Four alumni of Southern Arkansas University will be recognized at the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Dinner to be held at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10, in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center located on the University campus. This year’s event is called, “A Red Carpet Affair.”
Cecil E. Yates, Jr. will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. While attending then-Southern State College from 1953-1954, Yates joined the Agri Club. He graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in 1959, with a B.S. in Chemistry and from George Washington University in 1972, with a M.S. in Forensic Science.
Upon graduation, Yates served in the U.S. Army, Europe, from July 1959 to Nov. 1962, as an armored reconnaissance officer and a classified custodian officer in Germany. He also trained as a chemical, biological, and radiological warfare officer.
In 1963, Yates joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent to the fugitive squad where he was involved with the apprehension of 163 fugitives in the Baltimore, Maryland area. He continued to work with the FBI until his retirement in 1986.
During his years with the FBI, Yates was trained and used as an FBI and police firearms and defensive tactics instructor. He was also trained as a forensic chemist and eventually was assigned as unit chief to the laboratory’s Forensic Science Training Unit at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where he was instrumental in the planning, designing, constructing, and manning of The Forensic Science Research and Training Center—a training facility for local, state, federal, and foreign forensic laboratory personnel.
Cecil Yates served as adjunct professor with George Washington University’s Department of Continuing Education where he was an instructor in the newly established Forensic Science Program, which was the first of its kind. He later served as adjunct professor with the University of Virginia’s Department of Continuing Education where he was an instructor and also coordinated the University’s accredited courses at the FBI Academy.
After retiring from the FBI in 1986, Yates became the director of Corporate Security with FieldCrest Cannon, Inc.–a major textile industry in Eden, North Carolina. Here he was responsible for the security of corporate facilities, properties, and personnel; as well as providing special security for executive and employee travel.
During his career and after retirement, Yates taught classes and seminars to various schools, community colleges, churches, police and fire departments across the southern United States. His favorite public activity has been to work with youth for more than 45 continuous years in the development of recreational, professional, educational, and personal self defense skills, as well as teaching Sunday school classes for youth and weekly Bible studies at a local assisted living facility for the elderly. When he retired for the second time in 1997, Yates and his wife, Jerry moved to Holly Springs, N.C., to be near his son, Mark, daughter, Lisa, and five grandchildren.
Dr. William C. Lindsey will be recognized as a Distinguished Golden Rider.
Lindsey attended then-Southern State College from 1954-1956, where he was a member of the Engineers’ Club. He graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1958 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He then earned both his M.S (1959) and Ph.D. (1962) in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
Upon graduation from Purdue University, Lindsey joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has served as Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California since 1968.
Dr. Lindsey was Chairman of the Board and CEO of LinCom Corporation, a company he founded in 1974. He is also a frequent consultant to the U.S. government and various industrial organizations, has published more than 150 papers on diverse topics in communication and information theory, and holds numerous patents.
Authoring three landmark textbooks on digital communication and synchronization systems, editing two best-selling IEEE Press books on synchronization and the ubiquitous phase-locked loop, as well as numerous papers, lectures, and presentations have made Dr. Lindsey internationally known as a leading expert in synchronization and communications.
He serves on Commission C, Signals and Systems of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), was Vice President for Technical Affairs of the IEEE Communications Society, served as the second Vice Chairman of the Communications Society (1963), and is a former Editor of the Communications Society Journal. He currently serves as an editor for the Journal on Communications and Networks.
Dr. Lindsey is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and Fellow of the International Engineering Consortium (IEC), a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and serves on the advisory board for Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and several other startup companies. He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Xi, and Pi Mu Epsilon.
Gaye Manning will be recognized as a Distinguished Alumni. She earned her B.B.A. from Southern Arkansas University and M.B.A. from Henderson State University.
Manning has 24 years of experience as a higher education administrator and is presently the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration at SAU Tech in Camden. She is responsible for campus operational and capital budgets, accounting operations, payroll and benefits, financial aspects of construction projects, as well as the Campus post office, bookstore, and food service. Manning is also chief fiscal officer of the Arkansas Fire Academy, the Arkansas Environmental Academy, and the SAU Tech Career Academy.
Just a few of the many volunteer activities Manning is involved with include: various offices held with the Arkansas Association of College and University Business Officers (1992-1995), Southern Association of College and University Business Officers (1996-2007), National Association of College and University Business Officers (1997-2008), the Southern Arkansas University Alumni Board (2000 -2006), SAU Tech Foundation Board, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and the American Cancer Society.
Manning was awarded the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Award in 1998; both the Outstanding Administrator Award for Southern Arkansas University Tech and the Arkansas Association of Two Year Colleges, Outstanding Staff Award in 2000; and the Arkansas State Employees Association Top Five Finalist (State Employee of the Year) in 2008.
Prior to SAU Tech, Manning was the Assistant Credit Manager for Talbot’s Department Store and an accountant for a local accounting firm. She and her husband, Gerald enjoy gardening, camping, and attending Arkansas Razorback Football games. Her son, Zachary Hooper, is a senior at the University of Arkansas.
Stephen Weaver will be recognized as the Young Alumni award recipient.
Weaver attended SAU from 1990-1993– playing football for the Muleriders in 1990, and then graduating with a B.S.E in 1993. Several members of his family also graduated from SAU including his wife, Susan; mother, Tommye Miller Weaver; and in-laws, Ken and Carol Sibley.
Weaver is presently General Manager at CMC Steel Arkansas/Southern Post. Not only is he the youngest General Manager at Commercial Metals Company, he is the only general manager who was born in Magnolia and has spent his entire life here from grade school to graduation from SAU. He credits Dr. Hugh Johnson of the SAU biology department with having a lasting influence on his life: “He took the time to really get to know each and every one of his students. I had great respect for him as a teacher and a person.”
As a leader of a local company, Weaver tries to promote SAU by targeting SAU graduates for management training positions and encouraging employees “to further their education at SAU while maintaining their current position.” CMC Steel also sponsors scholarships to SAU for all employees and immediate families each semester and is in the process of increasing the amount of the scholarship.
In addition to attending sporting events and the annual foundation banquet at SAU, Weaver also appropriates funds to the SAU Foundation and supports most other University fundraisers annually.
Weaver serves on several boards in Magnolia and Columbia County including the United Way of Columbia County, serving as president in 2006 and 2007; Magnolia Boys and Girls Club, serving as vice president; Chamber of Commerce; and the Rotary Club. He is the co-holder of a U.S. Patent through CMC–helping lead the plant to being the safest steel mill in North America in 2007.
Stephen Weaver lives in Magnolia with his wife, Susan, daughter, Anna, and son, Coleman.
