ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Five outstanding Winthrop University alumni will be honored for their service and professional achievements as Winthrop graduates during the 2018 Homecoming & Reunion Weekend, Nov. 16-17.
This year’s Alumni Award winners will be recognized during the Nov. 17 Alumni Reunion & Awards Luncheon at 11 a.m. in McBryde Hall. The winners are listed below:
Bert Bobb ’63, Mary Mildred Sullivan Award
The Mary Mildred Sullivan Award recognizes a Winthrop alumna for selfless dedication
of time, energy and talent in service to others. Bobb was selected for this prestigious
award, among the highest given by the Alumni Association, because of her many professional contributions to higher education, athletics and
to Winthrop. She has been an active member of the Winthrop community since 1963 and
currently serves on the Eagle Club Board and Alumni Executive Board. Additionally,
she has been heavily involved with Winthrop over the years as an administrator, faculty
member and Eagle sports fan. As a lifelong learner, Bobb attended Winthrop and earned
a bachelor’s degree in physical education and taught before completing a master’s
degree at the University of Tennessee and an Ed.D. from the University of Georgia.
Doug Echols ’77, Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Echols, a former Rock Hill mayor, is recognized for giving his time, talents and energy
toward furthering the university’s mission. As a former Winthrop employee, having
worked as Winthrop’s associate director of athletics and coliseum manager in the 1980s,
he left to make history as the first commissioner of the South Atlantic Conference
and stayed in that role for 19 years until his retirement in 2008. On a national level,
he worked on committees to help the NCAA in restructuring its divisions, as well as
in developing a compliance model for Division II. In Rock Hill, he was a leader on
the Rock Hill City Council for eight years before taking over the reins as mayor.
During his 20-year tenure, he was recognized with many honors for his service and
dedication to the community and state.
Maggie Gamble ’67, ’71, Alumni Distinguished Service Award
The Alumni Distinguished Service Award recognizes a Winthrop alumna/us who significantly
contributes to the quality of life in his/her community, the development of overall
values and morals within others, and serves as an outstanding citizen in his/her own
right. A long-time educator, Gamble worked in many jobs in the field: as a bus driver
training instructor for the South Carolina Department of Education, guidance counselor, as assistant principal at Andrew Jackson High School, assistant
principal at Lancaster High School and principal at Heath Springs Elementary School.
Gamble also served on the Lancaster County School Board for 16 years, the Kershaw
Town Council for four years, the Lancaster County Economic & Development Corp. and
the S.C. School Board Association. She has volunteered for an assortment of human
service, library and education groups.
Derrick Alridge ’87, ’92, Alumni Professional Achievement Award
Alridge is being honored with the Alumni Professional Achievement Award for his outstanding
accomplishments in examining African-American education and history. The award recognizes
an alumna/us who has made significant contributions to his/her professional field
while exemplifying high moral and business ethics. He is currently a professor in
the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and director of UVA’s
Center on Race and Public Education in the South, and has had a career marked by many
academic and creative successes. Alridge excelled as an educator and scholar, and
he is the founder and director of Teachers in the Movement, an oral history project that examines the contributions of teachers during the civil
rights movement. Included in this project is an interview with Cynthia Plair Roddey
’67, a Rock Hill resident and Winthrop’s first African-American graduate student.
Additionally, he has conducted research on major contributors to the African-American
experience over the past century. His findings are featured in “The Educational Thought of W.E.B. Du Bois: An Intellectual History” and another work soon to be published, “The Hip-Hop Mind: History, Ideas, and Social
Consciousness.”
Alena James ’08, ’10, Outstanding Young Alumni Award
The Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes a Winthrop alumna/us age 35 or younger
whose service to the university, service to the community and professional achievements
have reflected positively on all alumni and the university. James earned bachelor
degrees in biology and political science and a master’s degree in biology from Winthrop
and then completed a second master’s degree in biodefense from George Mason University.
She has excelled in teaching, writing and expanding her areas of expertise in chemical
and biological defense. James’ travels have taken her to the Middle East to investigate
microbial forensics to Vietnam for the 27th International Biology Olympiad. Most recently, she has worked to inform the Department of Defense on new technologies for the detection of infectious diseases at U.S. ports.
For more information about the ceremony or the 2018 Alumni Awards, contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 803/323-2145 or alumni@winthrop.edu.
