University's merit awards to be handed out tonight

To Dr. Susan Swartwout, recognition for the job she does goes right back to her students.

"They are brave," she said. "Many of them that are first-generation college students that just work really hard and get their degrees."

Like any teacher, she hopes her students will graduate and go on to have successful careers, much like she and six others who will receive special recognition tonight at the annual Copper Dome Society and Merit Award Recognition Dinner at the Show Me Center.

Swartwout, a professor of English and publisher and editor of the Southeast Missouri State University Press, will receive the Faculty Merit Award, which recognizes a Southeast faculty member who demonstrates excellence in teaching.

"Because it is a teaching award, it means more to me than anything," Swartwout said.

Alumni Merit Awards will be presented to graduates who have brought distinction to themselves and to the university, according to a university news release.

This year's Alumni Merit Award recipients are Bill Black of Knoxville, Tenn., a professor and associate head of theater at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Dr. Maureen Clancy-May of St. Louis, superintendent of the Bayless School District; Kevin Govero of Cape Girardeau, president and owner of B.P. Financial Services Inc.; Daniel Mohorc of Arlington, Texas, president and chief executive officer of Galactic Ltd.; Anne Schroeppel of Hutchinson, Kan., co-owner and co-manager of Jackson Brothers LLC and Jackson Brothers, Joint Venture, and general partner of the Jackson Family LP; Dr. Mark Stacy of Durham, N.C., professor of medicine/neurology and associate dean of clinical research at Duke University Medical Center; and Charles Stamp Jr. of Atlanta and Cashiers, N.C., vice president of Public Affairs Worldwide at Deere and Co.

Alumni are nominated by other alumni, faculty and staff, and an executive committee of the association's board of directors then selects recipients from each college of the university.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m., and the cost is $25 per person. Tickets are available by calling the Southeast Missouri University Foundation at 651-2332.

Before the dinner, "A Mosaic of Memories," a book commemorating alumni merit award recipients from 1958 to 2010, will be sold.

Saturday, five more awards will be presented for service to the university during the All-Alumni Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. in the Wehking Alumni Center. Distinguished Service Award recipients are Terry Benassi, Dwayne Hickman, Grace Hoover, Dan Jennings and Jon K. Rust, publisher of the Southeast Missourian.

Tickets for the breakfast are $10. Reservations are available by calling 651-2259.

eragan@semissourian.com

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