Stillman Board Elects New Officers, Names New Members

May 27, 2005

     During its May meeting, the Stillman College Board of Trustees elected new officers, elected three new members to its ranks, and issued a public statement of support for Stillman President Ernest McNealey.

     Robert Burns of Tuscaloosa, a 1968 graduate of Stillman, was elected chairman of the board. A 31-year telecommunications and transportation veteran, Burns served as vice president of National Security Emergency Preparedness Planning and Operations with the National Telecommunications Alliance and later directed BellSouth’s NSEP programs and activities for the nine state BellSouth regions until he retired in 1997. Serving as the new vice chairman is David Johnson of Califon, New Jersey, an investment broker with UBS, a member of the Bond Club of New Jersey and a member of the New Jersey Board of Governors. Evelyn Jenkins-Gunn of New Rochelle, New York, was named secretary. A 1962 Stillman graduate, Mrs. Jenkins-Gunn is a Carnegie Scholar and Fellow and has spent nearly 40 years in various aspects of public school teaching, curriculum writing and teacher education. 

     Newly elected board members are Gloria Dennard of Fairfield, Alabama; Ann Lavender Simmons of Chicago, Illinois; and Bernard Warren of Bayside, New York. Dennard, a 1967 Stillman graduate and president of the College’s National Alumni Association, is director of the Library Media Services Department for the Jefferson County School System. She has been active on numerous boards, committees and organizations including the National Conference for Community and Justice, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Education Reform Task Force, and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. She is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham and Leadership Alabama. Her many honors and awards include Alabama Media Professional of the Year, Alabama Library Hall of Fame, and The Birmingham News’ Top 40 Most Influential Women in Birmingham. She received the Master’s Degree in Education and School Librarianship from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is a graduate of Birmingham Southern College’s Executive-in-Residence Program for Public Management.

     Simmons, a 1969 Stillman graduate, is a learning behavior specialist at York High School in Chicago. She is president of the Chicago-Area Stillman Alumni Association and is a member of the Chicago Inter-Alumni Council/UNCF. Simmons, who has been teaching for nearly 36 years, has received various awards for her work and service including the CCDOC Outstanding Teacher of the Year, the Dorcus Award, the Stillman Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Stillman “S” Award, and the UNCF C.E. Washington Award. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Chicago State University.

     Warren of Bayside, New York, is a senior vice president and director of Operations at Webb and Brooker, Inc., a Manhattan-based real estate management company. Warren holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing management from Baruch College and a Master of Science degree in Human Resources Development from Fordham University. His affiliations include serving as chairman of the Greater Harlem Real Estate Board and membership on the management committee of the Real Estate Board of New York. He is a regular guest lecturer at Baruch College.

     The board also publicly issued a statement of support for President Ernest McNealey and acknowledged his work since arriving at Stillman. Dr. McNealey will celebrate the beginning of his eighth year at Stillman on July 1.

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