Retirees Honored at Reception

Eight Fairmont State employees were honored during the annual Retiree Reception on Friday, May 4.

"We thank these dedicated employees for their years of service to Fairmont State," said Dr. Dan Bradley, FSU President. "They will be missed, but we wish them much happiness in their retirement."

This year's honorees were the following:

Delbert Batson, 1968-1976 and 1988-2007
Delbert "Lee" Batson worked for Fairmont State from 1968 through 1976 and from 1988 through January 2007, for a total of 27 years. At the time of his retirement, he was assigned to the Campus Services crew at the Feaster Center, although he had worked at several different locations at FSU.

Dr. Martin Bond, 1992-2007
Dr. Martin Bond, a native of New Mexico, received both his B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of New Mexico, where he met and married Sharon, Associate Professor of Nursing and his partner for over 40 years. After receiving his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, Bond joined the English faculty of Tennessee State University in Nashville. Having completed post-doctoral fellowships in art history at Yale and the University of California, Berkeley, he moved to Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, where he became Chair of the Division of Language and Literature and was awarded a third fellowship, this one at Columbia University. In 1992, Bond joined the Fairmont State faculty as chair of the Division of Language and Literature and was named Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Community involvement over his 15 Fairmont years includes the following: participation in Leadership Marion; membership in Christ Episcopal Church, where he served three terms as Senior Warden; volunteer service for the Soup Opera; three years as President of the Fairmont Arts and Humanities Commission; membership in the Elks; and he is currently President of the Op Shop Executive Board. Known as "Dean Martin," he has found serving as an advocate for disciplines and faculty in the Behavioral Sciences, Language and Literature, and Social Sciences Departments to be an ideal capstone experience to his 35 years in higher education.

Barbara Dodd, 1975-1980 and 1983-2007
Bobbi Dodd began her sojourn at Fairmont State in 1970 when she began working as a part-time bookkeeper in the Business Office. She finally found her niche at Fairmont when she began working for the Community & Technical College. She handled and still does handle the records for the Perkins Grants; she was responsible for advertising for all faculty and staff positions; she was the secretary for the Board of Advisors; she supervised all secretarial functions in Pierpont C&TC; and she was responsible for handling contracts for all full and part-time faculty members in Pierpont C&TC.

Nancy Rogers, 1998-2006
Nancy Rogers attended Fairmont State College as a non-traditional student to earn her bachelor's degree in Business Education with a minor in Library Science. After graduation, she taught for JTPA Program and was a substitute teacher for the Lewis County School system. In January of 1997 she was employed by Fairmont State in the library, located in the "Clarksburg Center," which in the summer of 1999 moved to its new building, the Gaston Caperton Center. She became Program Assistant II in 2002 at the Caperton Center as a Technology Liaison. Starting in March of 2005, she worked at the Lewis County Center until her retirement in December 2006 as Administrative Secretary Senior.

Dr. Rebecca Schaupp, 1984-2007
Dr. Rebecca Schaupp served as the Dean of the School of Business from August 1994 until her departure in January 2007 to accept a position as Dean of Academic Affairs North Campus at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pa. Schaupp began her tenure with Fairmont State in August 1984. She holds degrees from West Virginia University (B.S., M.A. and Ed.D.) and served at the rank of Professor of Management and Business Administration. She taught Principles of Management and Organizational Behavior during her latter years here but also taught Special Methods for Business Education and supervised student teachers in the field of Business Education during her earlier years. Schaupp has been active in the field of education since she accepted her first teaching position back in January 1970 at the age of 20. She served 14 years in various teaching capacities with Monongalia County Schools before joining the faculty of Fairmont State. Schaupp had a long and illustrious career at Fairmont State being actively involved in all phases of the campus community.

Dr. Stephen Smigocki, 1972-2007
Dr. Stephen Smigocki began teaching at Fairmont State as Assistant Professor of Art in 1972. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1964 with his B.A. degree in Art and in 1968 earned his master's degree in Drawing from the same institution. He obtained his Ph.D. in Visual Studies from Florida State University in 1974. He has participated in many art exhibitions, conducted research, has been the recipient of many awards and has been included in several publications. Some of his more notable accomplishments include one-man shows at Fairmont State in 1972 and 2004; Wheaton College Drawings 1974 National Drawing Exhibition; two-man show at Wolfe Street Gallery, Alexandria, Va., in 1976; the purchase of selected prints for the permanent collection of former West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton; prints purchased by Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Fla.; Appalachian Corridors, 13-state regional exhibition; West Virginia Juried Exhibition, Science and Cultural Center, Charleston, merit award in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995; awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities at Syracuse, N.Y., 1976; an FSC Faculty Development Grant for an 11-day study trip to Lithuania, 2000; lecture and exhibit of prints at the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington, D.C., 2000; and was invited to exhibit at the National Show Ciurlionis, 2000, in Chicago. He will participate in phased retirement and will teach his final classes during the spring terms of 2008 and 2009.

Dr. George Sprowls, 1992-1993 and 1998-2007
Dr. George Sprowls is a native West Virginian who returned home after spending 27 years in the U.S. Navy. He received his undergraduate degree at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and spent most of his career flying helicopters including a year in Vietnam flying Huey gun ships. While on recruiting duty, he earned his master's degree in Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh in 1978. He retired from active duty in 1991, after serving as U.S. Naval Attaché first in Saudi Arabia for two years then in Egypt for three years. Upon returning to this area, Sprowls enrolled in the Ph.D. program at WVU, and he and his wife Kathy opened a bed and breakfast on Locust Avenue. He taught at Fairmont State from 1992 to 1994 in the Political Science Department and remained as an adjunct until obtaining his doctorate. He served as a temporary full-time assistant professor for two years before being hired tenure track in 2000. In addition to his duties as Associate Professor of Political Science, he has been serving as Director for the Intelligence Research and Analysis major from its inception three years ago. Sprowls and his wife closed the bed and breakfast in 2004, and his wife opened an antique store on Fairmont Avenue.

Janice Williams, 1990-2006
Jan Williams came to Fairmont State in 1990 from the University of Missouri. She holds a B.S. in English from Eastern Illinois University and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Prior to that, she taught high school in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. She became Director of Academic Advising at Fairmont State, and under her direction, several faculty advisors were employed to assist undecided students at Fairmont State. In addition to her advising duties, she also served as coordinator for the Regents Bachelor of Arts and for the C&TC Board of Governors A.A.S. degree programs. She also served on the State Subcommittee for Transfer Issues related to both degrees. Prior to coming to Fairmont State, she spent six years as director of an advisement/retention program at Linn Technical College in Linn, Mo. At this institution, Jan designed and developed a Learning Center and implemented a peer tutoring program. In another position, as Assistant to the Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of Missouri, she served as an academic advisor to undeclared students and students on probation within the College of Education. After being directly involved in academic advising, counseling and adult education for more than 30 years, Williams retired from Fairmont State in July 2006.