Alumni of the Year honored

Six alumni of Coastal Carolina University were named the 2004 Outstanding Alumni of the Year.

Alan Clemmons, left, receives a plaque as Distinguished Alumnus of 2004 from Coastal Carolina University President Ronald Ingle.

Alan Clemmons, class of 1982, was named the Distinguished Alumnus. This award is given to a graduate of Coastal who has made a significant contribution to his/her profession or community over a period of time.

Clemmons, of Myrtle Beach, has served in the S.C. House of Representatives since 2002. He was chairman of the Horry County Republican Party from 1997 to 2000. He has served on the Horry County Planning Commission, the Myrtle Beach Planning Commission, and is a past director of the Myrtle Beach Lions Club. Clemmons earned a bachelor’s degree from Coastal in 1982 with a major in business management and a double minor in computer science and Spanish. He graduated from Hamline University School of Law in 1989.

Outstanding alumni recipients, representing each college of the university for 2004, are:

• Wyatt Henderson of Greer, class of 1998, Wall College of Business Administration, is the owner of his own tax practice, CPA firm and automotive service center. While employed with Deloitte and Touche, he established the Cecil H. Black Memorial Scholarship at Coastal to assist outstanding accounting majors. He also searched for ways to enhance student involvement in the accounting club and promoted the establishment of a Beta Alpha Psi chapter at Coastal.

• William “Bill” C. Eiser of Summerville, class of 1980, College of
Natural and Applied Sciences, is an oceanographer for the office of
Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. He administers and develops the agency’s programs, policies and regulations relative to the beaches. He is also the author of the annual “State of the Beach” report.

• Stephanie Horner Toney of Cary, N.C., class of 2001, Spadoni College of Education, is an eighth-grade science teacher at Leesville Middle School. She has won many teacher of the year awards and has served on numerous committees as a teacher. She was awarded the prestigious Einstein Fellowship, which allowed her to spend a year on Capitol Hill advising the U.S. Senate on educational matters. She is working on her doctorate at North Carolina State University.

• Ashley Godwin of Washington, D.C., class of 1992, Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts, is a special assistant to the U.S. Defense Department, working in the Pentagon. In 2003 she received the Medal for Exceptional Public Service from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. She has also been a defense budget analyst for the National Security Committee, and she held positions on the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee (see page 31).

• John Trueluck of Conway, class of 1999, Interdisciplinary Studies, is a claims representative with the U.S. Social Security Administration. He served in the U.S. Air Force for nine years. He is also an ordained minister serving as associate minister at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ in Conway, where he lives with his wife and three sons.