S.A.U. in Magnolia, Ark., will be honoring a group of distinguished alumni at a gathering later this month. 

The Southern Arkansas University Alumni Association is hosting its annual Dinner of Distinction awards ceremony at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, 2015, at the SAU Reynolds Center Grand Hall.

Alumni and friends are invited to attend. RSVP by calling the SAU Alumni Office at (870) 235-4079 or toll-free at (800) 797-1986.

The Alumni Association will highlight the following award recipients:

  • Distinguished Young Alumni – Samuel Jones, 2009
  • Distinguished Alumni – Michael Ray Dumas, 1979; David Moore, 1986; and Jeff Flaherty, 1985.

Also a Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Dr. David Rankin.

SAU President Dr. David Rankin will retire at the end of this academic year on June 30. Rankin has served SAU for 45 years, and the past 13 as president. In 2002, he set forth with his ambitious “Blue and Gold Vision,” SAU’s first capital campaign. He has almost completed that vision with numerous campus capital projects completed, totaling more than $100 million. The most recent project, the $4.4 million SAU Story Arena and Farmers Bank Reception Center, opened this spring.

He also built upon the tradition of the Mulerider, not only telling the history of SAU’s unique athletic mascot at his speaking engagements, but using the Mulerider as a way to nationally brand the University. Resulting have been years of steady enrollment growth. Despite difficult times in higher education, the fall of 2013 witnessed a record system-wide enrollment of 5,451 students (including SAU Tech) followed by another record enrollment fall 2014 semester.

In addition to his duties as SAU President, Rankin has served as the Economic Advisor to Arkansas Governors Mike Beebe, Mike Huckabee, and Asa Hutchison, and is Chairman of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. The economic advisor to the governor is responsible for chairing the Governor’s Council and reviewing the Arkansas state revenue forecast

In 1968, Rankin joined the faculty of SAU as an Assistant Professor of Business.  From 1977-80, he served as Dean of the School of Business Administration and Professor of Economics and Finance at SAU.  Rankin also served as a Puterbaugh Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at SAU, and again as Dean of the School of Business Administration from 1994-2001. Fellow faculty colleagues selected Rankin as the University Honor Professor in 1986. Rankin and his wife, the former Toni Cameron, reside on their farm in Magnolia and have two sons, Curtice and John, and a daughter Beth Anne.

Nominations for 2016 Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Awards are open. To nominate an alumnus, go to www.saumag.edu/alumni.

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