Tech Topics - Summer 2008 - (Page 30) Burdell&Friends 1980s Dana R. Gordon, EE 89, assumed command of the Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light-42 in April. In 1994, he received an award for valor, Air Crewman of the Year recognition and the Sikorsky Rescue Pin for a nighttime, high seas rescue of five civilians from a sinking vessel. In 1998, he received his second Sikorsky pin for his role in the rescue of six civilians and one air crewman atop a burning smokestack. He received the Commander Naval Air Forces Leadership Award and was assigned to the Joint Staff’s Force Application Assessment Division in Washington, D.C., in 2003. He and his wife, Rolanda, have two daughters, Reese Catherine, 4, and Danielle Lauren, 9. Daniel L. Hambrock, MS CE 81, of Eagan, Minn., has been appointed associate vice president for capital planning and campus services at Metropolitan State University and Minneapolis Community and Technology College. He had served as planning and facilities director for the Minneapolis Public Schools since 2001. Lynda B. Herrig, ME 84, MS ME 85, who is employed by Newcomb & Alumna Awarded Historic Harvard Appointment G eorgia Tech alumna Evelynn Hammonds has been named dean of Harvard College. She will be the first female and the first African-American to serve as dean of the undergraduate college. Hammonds, EE 76, currently Harvard’s senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity and a professor of the history of science and of African and African-American studies, will assume the job June 1. “I know that there are many challenges facing the college and I am ready to tackle them with my colleagues’ help,” she told the Harvard University Gazette. Hammond earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Spelman College, a master’s degree in physics at MIT and a doctorate in the history of science at Harvard. Harvard University president Drew Faust called Hammonds a “strong Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology and Medicine. Hammond’s scholarly interests include the history of scientific, medical and sociopolitical concepts of race, the history of disease and public health, gender in science and medicine and African-American history. She is the author of “Childhood’s Deadly Scourge: The Campaign to Control Diphtheria in New York City, 1880-1930” and is working on “The Logic of Difference: A History of Race in Science and Medicine in the United States.” In February, Hammonds was named a fellow of the Association for Women in Science and recently was appointed to the National Research Council’s Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Expansion of the Science and Engineering Workforce Pipeline. HAMMONDS institutional leader” and a person “who cares profoundly about the educational experience of our students in all its dimensions. This is an exciting moment of change for the college.” Hammonds joined the Harvard faculty in 2002 after teaching at the Boyd in Atlanta, has become a LEED-accredited professional. Cathy Hill, EE 84, has been elected vice president of Georgia Power’s coastal region by the company’s board of directors. Hill will oversee the company’s business operations in Georgia’s coastal region, which includes the Savannah, Statesboro, Brunswick and St. Mary’s communities. She most recently served as assistant to Georgia Power’s president and CEO. Steve Hopper, IE 86, has joined global management consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates as senior manager and GoalPost business development leader. He will direct all sales, marketing and business development activities for the GoalPost labor management system software, which boosts productivity in warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing facilities. He lives in Roswell, Ga., with his wife and two children. Rick McDonald, IM 82, has been promoted to vice president of product supply for the cleaning division of the Clorox Co. He has been with Clorox for 16 years. He, his wife, Virginia, and their family live in Danville, Calif. Geoffrey P. Morris, CerE 82, has accepted a position as a senior research specialist with 3M Unitek, a world leader in digital orthodontics. Deputy Commanding General Retires from Corps of Engineers M aj. Gen. Ronald L. Johnson, deputy commanding general of the Army Corps of Engineers, retired from a 32-year military career in a ceremony March 31. “I love the Army and I always will. I love the people I’ve had the pleasure and honor of serving with,” said Johnson, MS OR 85, in his farewell remarks to coworkers, civilians, fellow soldiers and friends. Johnson’s introduction to the Army came through junior ROTC at a Chicago high school where, he said, “an angel” ROTC instructor “tricked” him into pursuing his education at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Johnson was commissioned as an engineer officer from the academy in June 1976. During his career, Johnson has commanded at every level — company, battalion, brigade, division — and in 2001, became the first African-American officer to be appointed commanding general and division engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers. He wore dual hats as the commanding general of the Corps’ Gulf Region Division and as the U.S. deputy director to the Program Management Office in Baghdad and commanding general of the Corps’ Pacific Ocean Division in Hawaii. He was a company commander and operations officer for the Army District Recruiting Command in Atlanta, where he met his wife, Iris. He also was selected to teach at West Point. The post required a master’s degree and he came to Tech. Johnson said he surprised himself in graduate school. “I found it to be very easy because I had the discipline. It was a way of life in the Army.” Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, chief of engineers and commander of the corps, said Johnson “played a shaping role in the future of Iraq as the commanding general of the Gulf Region Division, headquartered in Baghdad building clinics, schools, roads, pipelines and power distribution systems.” On Feb. 16, Johnson was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 22nd annual Black Engineer of the Year awards conference in Baltimore. In 2003, Johnson was named the recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Professional Achievement in Government Service. 30 TECHTOPICS | SUMMER 2008
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