Spirit of America nominee: Kenneth Dobbins

Nominated by Art Wallhausen

A self-made man, Ken Dobbins personally epitomizes the spirit of America by rising from his birth to a single mother, growing up in poverty, working his way through college, serving in the military, and finally becoming a distinguished educator and civic leader.

Dobbins exemplifies this award because he is patriotic, having served for seven years as an Air Force officer, and as a university president who created a program for veterans and servicemen and women attending college.

He also is a loyal person who has given 24 years of dedicated service to his university, his adopted community of Cape Girardeau, the Southeast Missouri region and the state.

Dobbins is a giving person who has donated many thousands of hours and dollars to a variety of charitable causes.

He also is entrepreneurial and has been an innovator at Southeast Missouri State University, finding a way to build the state's first campus to devoted to the arts at a time when new state funding was almost impossible; developing new academic programs to meet the changes in student demand; finding new ways to "sell" the institution to prospective students; establishing an unprecedented center for entrepreneurship; creating programs to help individuals develop new business for the region; and inventing the Catapult business incubator on Broadway to benefit student entrepreneurs.

Community involvement:

• Greater St. Louis Council Executive Board, Boy Scouts of America (awarded the Silver Beaver Award in 2010, the highest honor bestowed on a Boy Scout volunteer by a council)
• National Council, Boy Scouts of America (local council representative)
• Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce (board of directors)
• Cape Girardeau Area Wide United Way (board of directors)
• Cape West Rotary Club
• Southeast Missouri University Foundation (board of directors)
• Southeast Missouri State Symphony Board
• St. Francis Medical Center Foundation (vice president)
• Cape Girardeau Public School Foundation (vice president)
• City of Cape Girardeau Investment Committee
• Young Life (Cape Girardeau chapter, board of directors)
• Ohio Student Loan Commission Advisory Council
• United Way of Portage County, Ohio (annual fund team captain)
• Christ Episcopal Church, Kent, Ohio (senior warden, finance chair, vestry member)
• Rotary Club, Kent, Ohio (board of directors, fundraising committee chair)
• Kent State University Sinfonia Orchestra Board of Directors
• St. John's Episcopal Church, Hampton, Virginia (youth group adviser)