Released Feb. 4, 2008

CLEMSON, S. C. —The recipients of the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service were recently announced during the 26th Annual MLK Commemorative Service.

One recipient was chosen for each of the three categories: student award, faculty/staff award and community member award.

This year’s award recipients have exhibited excellence in service, above and beyond direct employment, in one or more of these areas involved in actualizing the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr.: civil rights advocacy, commitment to diversity awareness and/or education and service to Clemson University or the surrounding community.

The student recipient of the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service is Callie Boyd, a junior health science major from Greenville.

In addition to being the undergraduate student body vice president, Boyd is involved in many other aspects of the university and community. She is a leader on women’s initiatives on campus. She reallocated money within Student Government to help fund Food for Thought luncheons, a networking opportunity for women, and to host a Women’s Leadership luncheon in the spring. Boyd also is involved in the Women's Leadership Conference, which will take place in April.

She was a leader in the "One Clemson: Yours, Mine and Ours" program that all freshmen attended during their first week in Clemson that focused on respecting each other. Boyd also has spoken to many middle and high schools girls about self-esteem and body image.

Boyd received a $250 cash stipend.

The community member recipient of the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service is the Rev. Lane Glaze.

Glaze has grown the Wesley Foundation from only a few students to about 175 students and some alumni and community members.

This spring break Glaze will be leading a team of 48 students and friends to the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. This will be Wesley Foundation’s fifth spring break service trip to the Bahamas since 2003. In 2005, he led a group on one of the six Hurricane Katrina relief trips to New Orleans that the Wesley Foundation sponsored. That same year, he worked with the Gantt Intercultural Center to make the spring break trip a multicultural endeavor.

Glaze and other members of the Wesley Foundation leadership have been working closely with the Clemson University Gospel Choir, and he has served on the committee for the Martin Luther King Day of Service for several years.

Glaze received a $250 grant, which will be given to the campus or community organization of his choice. Glaze has requested that his grant be given to the Clemson University Gospel Choir.

The faculty/staff recipient of the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in Service is biology professor Barbara Speziale.

During the last five years, Speziale has provided on-campus academic experiences for rural, minority and/or first-generation potential college students from the Pee Dee and Lowcountry areas of South Carolina.

While on campus, these potentials students get the opportunity to tour the campus, meet professors and students, learn about potential majors, visit the DNA Learning Center and attend a reception to practice business etiquette skills.

She also works very closely with many teachers in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee school districts.

Speziale received a $250 grant, which will be given to the campus or community organization of her choice. Speziale has requested that her grant be given to a local women’s shelter.

Each person also received a personal plaque and their names will be placed on a perpetual plaque that hangs in the office of the vice president for student affairs.

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http://www.clemson.edu/newsroom/articles/2008/february/MLK_awards.php5

Contacts: Kenyatta Shamburger, (864) 656-1400, kshambu@clemson.edu

Julie Ledbetter, (864) 656-2061, jeledbe@clemson.edu