• DECATUR – Business and Office Technology instructor Christy Ferguson of Philadelphia was recently selected the 2016-17 Instructor of the Year at East Central Community College.

Ferguson joined the ECCC staff in 1999 and previously served as an adjunct instructor for ECCC and East Mississippi Community College. She is also a former business education teacher at Central Academy in Macon.

In addition to her teaching duties, Ferguson serves as a Phi Beta Lambda advisor at East Central. She received the Phi Beta Lambda Outstanding Local Advisor Award in 2014 and serves this year on the Phi Beta Lambda Advisory Committee.

She has also served as a Phi Theta Kappa advisor, where she received the Phi Theta Kappa Horizon Award and the Phi Theta Kappa Paragon Award. She also has served on the Phi Theta Kappa Advisory Committee.

Additional honors include selection for Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. She was chosen as a Lamplighter in 2006 and was named Career-Technical Instructor of the Year in 2007.

She currently serves as president of the Mississippi Business Education Association.  Other MBEA positions she has held include president-elect, vice president, Community College representative, web master and newsletter editor. In 2016, she received the MBEA Outstanding Career and Technical Business Educator Award.

Ferguson is a graduate of East Mississippi Community College and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees plus an additional 15 hours from Mississippi State University. She is a graduate of Nanih Waiya High School.

She holds certification in Online Instruction and IC3 (Internet and Computing Core Certification), and Office Proficiency Assessment in Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Keyboarding, and Quickbooks.

She and her husband, Jerry, have two daughters: Leah, an ECCC graduate and senior at Mississippi State University, and Nicole, 19, a freshman at ECCC.

Ferguson is a member of the Spring Creek Baptist Church, where she serves as Sunday School teacher, AWANA Large Group Time leader, and serves on the church’s nominating and outreach committees.

• SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College instructor Don Rodney Vaughan of Maben was named the Post-Secondary Community College Teacher of the Year during the Columbus-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce’s Education Awards Program.

Nominated for the award by faculty at EMCC, Vaughan was among five teachers and more than 20 students honored during the program at EMCC’s Lion Hills Center on April 20.

Vaughan teaches journalism, theatre and public speaking at EMCC, where he has worked since 2008. Vaughan has written plays produced at the college and scripts for radio dramas aired on EMCC Radio, WGTC 92.7.

Vaughan took undergraduate courses at Mississippi State University and completed his bachelor of arts degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Alabama in 1987. He completed his master’s degree in journalism at the University of Mississippi and earned a doctorate in mass communications from the University of Southern Mississippi.

• RAYMOND – The following area students were named Dean’s Scholars at Hinds Community College for Fall 2016. Deans’ Scholars are those students with a cumulative 3.5 to 3.9 grade point average:

Myi Fikes of Meridian; Janese Jones and Taurus McBeath, both of Lake; David Bolden of Newton; Ayana Jones of Philadelphia; Elizabeth Burgess of Quitman; Tina Reeves of Toomsuba; and Kilah Dearman and David Hodo, both of Waynesboro.

• TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The following area students were named to the Dean’s List with an academic record of 3.5 (or above) or the President’s List with an academic record of 4.0 (all A’s) for Fall 2016:

Dean’s List

Mississippi: Haley Rena Su Bailey, Christopher Galen Hicks, Hannah Marie Rogers and Cristal Suarez, all of Meridian; Bilal Ameir Ahmad of Marion; AnnaLaura R. Campbell and Charles T. Dowling, both of Bailey; Natalie M. Lowry and Ambrianna S. Jones, both of Macon; and Holly G. Ford of Waynesboro.

Alabama: Margaret Ellen Moody, Butler; Sarah A. Abston, Mason Bonner and Jared D. Sikes, all of Gilbertown.

President’s List

Mississippi: Antonio Jose Padilla Denis, Tatum Bradley Dye, David C. Majure III, Mackenzie L. Ross, Morgan A. Ross, Avery J. Watson and Connor L. Webb, all of Meridian; and Joshua G. Campbell of Bailey.

Alabama: Caroline E. Wigley of Gilbertown.

• BRISTOL, RI — Adrienne Hill of Meridian, Miss., graduated with an associate in science degree in paralegal studies from Roger Williams University in December 2016.

• ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Lauren-Alexandra Stapleford of Meridian was named to the Dean’s List at Rochester Institute of Technology for the fall 2016-17 semester.

Stapleford is studying in the game design and development program.

• OXFORD – Wanoka Diane Maxwell of Neshoba received her juris doctor from the University of Mississippi during December 2016 graduation exercises.

• BALTIMORE, Md. – Hannah Smith of Philadelphia, Miss., was named to the Dean’s list for academic excellence at Johns Hopkins University for the fall 2016 semester.

Smith, who is majoring in neuroscience, will graduate in May 2019. She is the daughter of Bobby and Laura Smith and attended Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Miss.

• TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Morgan Ross of Meridian, Miss., was selected to present a research project titled “Thermo-mechanical Testing and Evaluation of Ultrahigh Temperature Ceramics using a Novel Non-contact Loading Method” at the recent University of Alabama Research and Creative Activity Conference.

In addition to bringing attention to the outstanding work being done by UA’s undergraduates, the conference allows students to gain experience presenting, become eligible for cash prizes, and form relationships with faculty mentors and fellow conference presenters.

• BATON ROUGE, La. – The following local residents recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society: Wendy Zheng of Meridian, the University of Mississippi; Jordan Davis of Lauderdale, the University of Southern Mississippi; Ariel Elliott of Meridian, the University of Southern Mississippi; Heather Harris of Meridian, the University of Southern Mississippi; William Carey Jr. of Meridian, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Shanan Cox of Gilbertown, Ala., the University of Alabama; and Lindley Williams of Meridian, Mississippi State University.

• GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Carissalina Quirita Block of Meridian, Miss., graduated from Brenau University with a master of business administration degree in management during recent commencement ceremonies. Block attended online.