By University Relations

Recipients include Dodson, Helms, Clark, and Mahoney

November 8, 2008

VINCENNES, IND. – Vincennes University presented Recent Outstanding Alumni awards at a Saturday Homecoming Brunch at Green Activities Center.

The recipients included James Bradley Dodson, a Vincennes native who is a communications engineer for a defense contractor in Florida; Brady Helms, Boonville, coordinator for Training and Exercise for the Indiana State Health Department’s District 10 and an adjunct instructor at VU, and Dave Clark, Indianapolis, a retired pharmacist who graduated from VU’s Aviation Maintenance program last year and now tutors students in the program.

From left, recipients of Vincennes University's Recent Outstanding Alumni awards are Brad Dodson, Dave Clark, and Brady Helms.  Their awards were presented at a Homecoming Brunch at Green Activities Center on Saturday.

Another recipient of a Recent Outstanding Alumni award was not able to attend Saturday’s award presentation due to his recent military deployment. U.S. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Office Michael Mahoney was the first graduate of VU’s Military Education Program in 2005. He now helps with the development of the program from coast to coast. He currently is pursuing his master’s degree in humanities with plans to teach in the VU Military Education Program when he retires from the Coast Guard.

The award recipients praised VU for helping prepare them for success in their respective careers.

“I attended both the University of Illinois and Butler University—and they were both great—but I have never had such camaraderie with the professors as I have had at Vincennes University,” Clark said. Noting that he is VU’s oldest recent graduate, Clark said “there is life after retirement.” Clark received his associate degree in Aviation Maintenance in 2007.

Dodson, who is pursuing a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, also praised the personal instruction at VU. “My experience here was more educational than I could get at a bigger school when starting out. VU prepared me very well for the classes I took at Purdue University,” Dodson said. A 2001 VU graduate, Dodson received VU’s Outstanding Physics and Electrical Engineering student awards.

Helms said that the diversity of VU’s programs was a benefit to him. “I really have not decided what I want to be yet but that is why I liked VU. I had varied interests and VU allowed me to pursue all of those interests. My instructors all took the extra time and effort to make sure we could get the most we could out of our programs. I really appreciate that,” Helms said. Helms holds a 2005 associate degree in Funeral Service Education and a 2007 associate degree in Emergency Management and Planning.