DISTINGUISHED SERVICE ALUMNI AWARD

Dr. R. Rhett C. Yates receives Distinguished Service Alumni Award

The LaGrange College Alumni Association presented Dr. Rhett Yates M’99 with the Distinguished Service Alumni Award in May. The recipient is selected based on his or her continuous devotion to, and support of, the institution and its mission to challenge the minds and inspire the souls of young men and women.

Dr. Yates M’99 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aviation management/flight technology from the Florida Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in business administration from LaGrange College and a doctorate in educational leadership from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

He is a professor of aeronautics at Jacksonville University’s Davis College of Business, where he was previously an assistant professor, interim director and associate professor of aeronautics. Before working in Jacksonville, Yates was employed as an adjunct graduate professor at the University of the West Indies, a guest lecturer at Auburn University, an adjunct professor at Lynn University, an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota and an assistant professor at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

During his career, he has developed an aviation management curriculum for a Southeastern institution and assessed unmanned systems in USA Baccalaureate programs. Yates holds memberships in the University Aviation Association, National Intercollegiate Flying Association, Aviation Accreditation Board International and the Academic and Business Research Institute.

At LaGrange College, he serves as immediate past president on the Alumni Executive Committee and is also the chair of philanthropy for the committee.

Yates, a Quadrangle Society member and supporter of the LaGrange College Fund, contributed to the college’s From Promise to Prominence campaign. He also collaborated with the Development office to create the Gateway Sustaining Contributor Society. To become a member, a person commits a recurring gift of $31 on the 18th of each month for a year.