Posted on Friday, October 07, 2022
One of the college’s time-honored Homecoming events is the Alumni Awards luncheon, a celebration that recognizes alumni who exemplify the college’s mission and values in their professions and communities.
Today’s event will recognize the recipients of the Shackelford Alumni Achievement Award, the Outstanding Young Alumni Award and the Honorary Alumni Award. This year’s honorees are Sarah Decker ’02, F. Maxwell “Max” Wood ’81, Dr. Conrad Clevenger ’14, Dr. Joseph “Joe” Cafaro and Robert “Bobby” Carmichael Jr.
“All of our recipients have made significant strides in their careers and communities,” said Martha Pirkle, Director of Alumni and Community Relations. “We honor their accomplishments.”
Shackelford Alumni Achievement Award
Sarah Decker ’02 earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from LaGrange College.
She is a pediatric peritoneal dialysis coordinator at DaVita Dialysis. In her role, she conducts patient home visits to assess safety of environment for home dialysis and coordinates family-centered care of pediatric dialysis patients.
Decker is also a clinical nurse educator in the transplant stepdown unit of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta: Egleston, where she is responsible for training new clinical staff and caring for patients aged birth to 21 who are either pre- or post-kidney or liver transplant, in kidney or liver failure, dialysis dependent or have short gut syndrome and are in the intestinal rehab program.
While at LaGrange, Decker was a member of the Lambda Chi chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi and has been the fraternity’s alumnae advisor since 2003. Decker was inducted into the LaGrange College Nursing Honor Society in 2004.
She is active in her community, volunteering as a nurse at Camp Independence, a place for children who are on dialysis or have had a transplant. Decker also serves in the nursery at her church, St. Mary Magdalene.
Maxwell “Max” Wood ’81 earned a bachelor’s degree in history from LaGrange College, a Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law and a post-graduate degree from the Air War College at The Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base.
He is the Director of the Office of Hearing and Appeals at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he oversees 30 administrative law judges in Alexandria, Virginia.
Previously, he was the Attorney Advisor for Air Force Material Command at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Before retiring with the rank of Colonel in 2016, Wood served 34 years in part-time and full-time roles in the United States Air Force and Georgia Air National Guard. He worked as a Judge Advocate and a reserve Air Force officer, with active-duty deployments that included traveling to the Philippines, Iraq and Pakistan. While in Baghdad, he served one year as the Department of Justice attaché to the U.S. Embassy.
In addition to his military service, he also has an extensive legal career that spans 37 years.
Following his five-year stint as a General Practitioner at his private law firm in Macon, Wood was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the 70-county Middle District of Georgia.
After working during both of President Bush’s terms in office, Wood continued his public service in the role of chief administrative law judge of the State of Georgia, where he spent six years working in the administration of former Governor Nathan Deal.
He and his wife, Suzanne, have three children.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Dr. Conrad Clevenger ’14 earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from LaGrange College and a master’s degree and doctorate in mathematical sciences from Clemson University.
He is an R&D S&E Computer Science employee at Sandia National Laboratories, a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
In his role, Dr. Clevenger develops software packages for various scientific models, focusing on large scale parallel C++ programming.
He has had articles published in the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications, ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software and the Journal of Numerical Mathematics.
At LaGrange College, Dr. Clevenger participated in the Wilkinson Family Servant Scholars program. As a member of the program’s first cohort, he volunteered his time at Circles of Troup County and Our Daily Bread, an organization he co-founded in 2012.
He and his wife Abigail, have one son, Landon.
Honorary Alumni Award
Dr. Joseph “Joe” Cafaro earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Florida Atlantic University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in modern European studies with a concentration in Russian history from Florida State University.
He came to LaGrange College in 1984 as a history professor, a position he held until his retirement in 2017. Previously, Dr. Cafaro taught at Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College.
While at LaGrange, he prepared three lectures focusing on Spain, Croatia and Vietnam for the college’s 3D Journeys program. Dr. Cafaro also helped with the implementation of “Gateway to Success,” a college 101 program for entering freshmen. He served as its co-director from 1987-2000 and 2009-2011.
Dr. Cafaro is a two-time recipient of the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry Exemplary Teacher Award. He has also received the John R. Hines Undergraduate Research Faculty Award and the Vulcan Materials Company Teaching Excellence Award.
In his retirement, Dr. Cafaro became involved with Panther Treks, a LaGrange College alumni travel program that ran through 2020. He led trips in England, France and Italy.
He and his wife, Beth, have three children.
Robert “Bobby” Carmichael Jr. earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Auburn University and a graduate degree from Louisiana State University’s School of Banking.
He is the vice chairman of LaGrange College’s Board of Trustees.
Carmichael, who has been a Board member since 1994, was first elected chairman in 2018. He has worked on the college’s three most recent presidential search committees.
Before retiring as the executive director of the Development Authority of LaGrange and the Downtown LaGrange Development Authority in 2018, Carmichael was the president of Commercial Bank and Trust for 22 years and a Certified Public Accountant for seven years. He also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army.
Carmichael’s volunteer work includes serving as chairman in the following organizations: LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce, West Georgia Health System, First United Methodist Church Council, United Way, LaGrange Development Authority, Downtown LaGrange Development Authority, LaGrange Rotary Club, West Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Bankers Association and Georgia Department of Human Resources. He was also a board member in the Private Colleges and Universities Authority of Georgia.
In 2017, the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce named Carmichael the first recipient of the Tom Hall Innovation Award.
He and his wife, Molly, have two sons and four grandchildren.
On Saturday, the campus and community can cheer on the Panthers at the Homecoming football game against Maryville at 1 p.m. in Callaway Stadium. Halftime will feature the announcement of the 2022 Homecoming King and Queen and Student Government Association Spirit Contest winners.
Check LC Connect for Virtual CE events and instructions
Through Friday, Oct. 28
Young Alumni Lecture: Kelsey Tinker Hannum ’11
Homecoming 2022 is jam-packed with reunions, sporting events and fun. Use this fast-moving video list of activities to plan your weekend.
Cross Country
The LaGrange College Cross Country teams took a short road trip to Valley Saturday, Oct. 1, for the Skyhawk Valley Invitational. Competing in the 5K, the women's team posted a seventh-place finish and was led by freshman Kennedy Young, who had a time of 21:34.5—a personal record. The LC men earned a sixth-place finish and were paced by freshman Steven Petty and sophomore Isaiah Oden who finished only 10 seconds apart with times of 30:35.7 and 30:45.9, respectively.
Football
The Panthers traveled to North Carolina Wesleyan Saturday, Oct. 1, and lost 37-22 in a rain-soaked contest, dropping to 1-3 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. LC was led on the ground by Christian Waymon who ran for 120 yards on 9 carries, including a 65-yard burst for a touchdown. The team plays Maryville tomorrow, Oct. 8, at 1 p.m. in the Homecoming game.
Men’s Soccer
The LaGrange Men's Soccer team (7-4-1) upended Covenant 3-2 Saturday in a major victory for the program. The team suffered a non-conference loss to regionally ranked Sewanee on Sunday, but rebounded with a strong 3-1 win over Huntingdon on Wednesday. Senior Enrique Hernandez became LC’s career leader in goals with 37 during the match. The team hosts Berea on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 3 p.m.
Women’s Soccer
The Panthers won two conference games this week, lifting their record to 2-0-2 in the CCS and 6-2-2 overall. The team dominated Agnes Scott on Saturday 4-0, and won a close contest against Huntingdon on Tuesday 1-0. The team is on the road Saturday, Oct. 8, at Belhaven, looking to extend the winning streak to three.
Volleyball
LC suffered a tough week on the court with losses to Covenant, Piedmont and Huntingdon. The Panthers host a tri-match today (Friday) in Richter Gymnasium, facing Maryville and Agnes Scott, then travel to Belhaven on Wednesday.
(Please note that schedules may change due to circumstances beyond our control. Please check www.lagrangepanthers.com to confirm.)
Friday, Oct. 7– Volleyball vs. Maryville College (CCS Tri-Match), noon, Richter Gymnasium
Friday, Oct. 7 – Volleyball vs. Agnes Scott College (CCS Tri-Match), 4 p.m., Richter Gymnasium
Saturday, Oct. 8 – Football vs. Maryville College, 1 p.m., Callaway Stadium
Saturday, Oct. 8 – Men’s Soccer vs. Berea College, 3 p.m., Panther Field
Saturday, Oct. 8 – Women’s Soccer at Belhaven University, 7 p.m., Jackson, Mississippi
Monday, Oct. 10 – Golf at Oglethorpe/Royal Lakes Fall Invitational (Round 1), Flowery Branch, Georgia
Tuesday, Oct. 11– Golf at Oglethorpe/Royal Lakes Fall Invitational (Final Round), Flowery Branch, Georgia
Tuesday, Oct. 11 – Men’s Soccer at Piedmont University, 6 p.m., Demorest, Georgia
Wednesday, Oct. 12-Women’s Soccer at Piedmont University, 6 p.m., Demorest, Georgia
Wednesday, Oct. 12 – Volleyball at Belhaven University, 6 p.m., Jackson, Mississippi
Category: College, Events
Keywords: Homecoming, alumni
