Alumni In the past five years, Birmingham-Southern graduates have received 14 Rotary International Scholarships, seven Emory University Pitt/Cannon Scholarships, six United Methodist Church US-2 positions, four Mickey Leland/Bill Emerson Hunger Fellowships, two Truman Scholarships, two Woodruff Scholarships to Emory, a James Madison Scholarship, an Alabama Leadership Scholarship, a New York Teaching Fellowship, and a Peace Corps acceptance, among many other honors, career offers, and graduate school acceptances. Graduates of Birmingham-Southern are prepared to be lifelong and participatory learners and leaders, as evidenced by these accomplishments over the past year. Retired U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin ’42 of Tuscumbia received the 2003 John Marshall Award, a national honor created by the American Bar Association Justice Center to recognize individuals responsible for extraordinary improvement in the administration of justice. Heflin served in the Senate from 1979 until his retirement in 1997, and prior to that was Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Receiving the college’s 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award were Dr. Richard deShazo ’67 of Brandon, Miss., professor and chair, Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center; the Hon. James Garrett ’67; and Rev. Dr. Florence Wates Pert ’51.
BSC President Dr. Neal R. Berte (far left) congratulates the three Distinguished Alumni Award recipients during the annual Alumni Awards Luncheon (from left) Rev. Dr. Florence Wates Pert, the Honorable James Garrett, and Dr. Richard deShazo.
ram challenges students to understand a Bishop Robert C. Morgan ’56, bishop-in-residence at Birmingham-Southern, delivered the 2003 Baccalaureate address in May. In 1999, Morgan served as president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the highest elected office in the church. Dr. Royce W. Murray ’57, Kenan Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, received the 2002 Oesper Award, given each year by the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society to honor an outstanding researcher in the field. Dr. Sena Jeter Naslund ’64, critically acclaimed author of Ahab’s Wife, has written a new novel, Four Spirits. Published by HarperCollins, the book is based on Naslund’s experiences during the civil rights movement in Birmingham. The novel’s main character, Stella Silver, is a student at BirminghamSouthern. Naslund, a distinguished teaching professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Louisville and the director of the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program at Spalding University, embarked on a nationwide book-signing and media tour to promote the book.
Maj. David Tabor ’92, an executive officer and helicopter pilot with the 20th Special Operations Squadron based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., was named the U.S. Air Force’s Exceptional Pilot of the Year for 2003. John P. Watts ’86 of Huntsville, managing director-investments for Watts & Schrimsher Investment Group of Wachovia Securities, was national president of the college’s Alumni Association for 2002-03. DeLynn Moring Zell ’86 of Birmingham, certified financial planner/shareholder, First Financial Group of the South, Inc., is the national president for 2003-04. Dr. Sena Jeter Naslund.
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