Thursday, April 27, 2006

405 MAY 5 AFRICAN-AMERICAN AWARDS SALUTE STUDENTS, ALUMNI

Date: April 26, 2006
Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Event contact: Valerie Avent, 615-898-2718


(MURFREESBORO) — Darrell S. Freeman Sr., president and chief executive officer of Zycron Computer Services Inc. in Nashville, will be the featured speaker for the African-American Awards Ceremony. The event will be held starting at 5 p.m. Friday, May 5, in the Tom H. Jackson Building (Alumni Center).
“I am excited to have the opportunity to recognize these extraordinary individuals,” MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee said. “They have all demonstrated outstanding achievements, and I am proud they are students and alumni of this great institution.”
The student scholarship awards are held in honor of the late Al Wilkerson (B.S. ’73, M.A. ’79, Ed.S. ’92), who was an MTSU alumnus and former faculty member who helped establish the Office of Multicultural Affairs on campus and the first MTSU African-American alumni organization.
This marks the first year the event will recognize both student and alumni award recipients at the same ceremony.
The alumni award recipients include: Mark Gwyn (B.S. ’85), director, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation; Dr. Forrest D. Toms (B.S. ’74, M.A. ’76), CEO, Training Research Development Inc.; Dr. Susan Hill West (B.S. ’81), associate vice president for presidential affairs at Belmont University; and attorney Luther D. Wright (B.S. ’92), partner, Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry PLC.
Freeman (B.S. ’87, M.S. ’90) founded his company in 1991 a year after earning his master’s at MTSU. Zycron employs more than 100 people.
Freeman serves on boards for the Boy Scouts of America, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Small Business & Labor Advisory Council and Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. He serves as chairman of the board for StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, where he and his wife, Gloria, and their four children live, chairman of the 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee and member of various other organizations.
An avid golfer and member of the Governors Club of Tennessee, Freeman enjoys flying (he is an instrument-rated pilot) and successfully has completed four marathons.
Tickets will be $10 per person and $5 for students, and can be purchased by calling 1-800-533-MTSU (6878) or visiting mtalumni.com.
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Media welcomed.

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