Alumni Awards
Three Lander graduates chosen for annual Alumni Association awards
The Lander University Alumni Association has selected three alumni as this year's recipients of the association's highest alumni awards.
The honorees are Jacquelyn "Jackie" DeVore Roark of Greenwood, Margaret Ellen Derrick Lee of
Aiken and Jonathan Rowe of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who is now residing in Shanghai, China.
Jacquelyn "Jackie" DeVore
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Steve Grogan, director of Alumni Affairs at Lander, described all three recipients as passionate supporters of Lander who have made a positive impact through their careers and community service.
Roark, a Realtor with The Whitmire Real Estate Agency and Lake Greenwood Real Estate, will
receive the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award, which is presented to Lander graduates who have
gained distinction in their chosen fields.
A 1972 Lander graduate, Roark spent more than 30 years in Admissions at Lander, serving as
director of the office from 1975-2002. A cum laude graduate and recipient of Who’s Who Among
Students in American Universities and Colleges, Roark served as president of Alpha Phi Sorority
while at Lander and was a member of the Alpha Chi Scholastic Honor Society. She received a master’s
degree from Clemson University in 1975.
Roark has found much success since entering the real estate industry. She has received the
Realtor Honors Award since 2004 and was named Realtor of the Year in 2006. A member of the Lander
University Alumni Association Board of Directors, Roark is active in numerous community, church and
civic organizations. She serves on the boards for the American Red Cross and Greenwood Country
Club, and she is a member of the Greenwood Woman’s Club and Greenwood Women’s Forum. She is also
affiliated with Delta Kappa Gamma Women Educators.
Roark said she was extremely honored to receive the alumni award, adding that her years at
Lander, both as a student and an employee, are still dear to her heart. "I guess one can say that I
graduated from Lander but never left," Roark said. "Lander has been an important part of my
personal and professional life for so many years, and it continues to be in the spotlight in my
retirement years."
Among her favorite memories, she said, are enjoying the food in "Duckett’s Diner," witnessing
Lander’s first men’s basketball team, being a part of the university's first European study tour
and graduating during Lander's centennial year.
"Little did I think that my four-year undergraduate experience would lead to a 32-year career
in Admissions at Lander, and these were grand years," Roark said. She witnessed Lander’s
progression from a private college into a state university, assisted with an expansive growth in
student population and served on committees that brought new administration, buildings, majors and
athletic programs to the university. "I think of the thousands of students that were admitted while
I was director and of the significant influences they have and will have on their communities and
beyond."
Roark and her husband, Walter Roark III, have two children: Walter Roark IV and Elizabeth
Roark, a 2007 Lander graduate.
Margaret Ellen Derrick Lee
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Margaret Ellen Derrick Lee was selected to receive the Grace Iler Norman Award, which recognizes significant achievements within the Alumni Association and the university. Lee has served numerous terms on the Lander Alumni Association Board and has been loyal in attending alumni events, both in Greenwood and in Aiken.
A retired English teacher and language arts coordinator with the Aiken County School
District, Lee graduated with a degree in English from Lander in 1946.
Awarded Best All-Around Senior in 1946, Lee was a member of the poetry, biology,
international relations and Spanish clubs while at Lander, and she served on student council and
the staff of Lander College’s literary magazine, The EROTHESIAN.
Lee earned a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in 1975. A retired member
of the Aiken County Education Association, Lee has remained active in civic and church
organizations. She served as coordinator for relocation and construction for St. Paul Lutheran
Church in Aiken, where the fellowship center is named in her honor. She formerly served as a Sunday
school teacher and is involved with the Altar Guild and the music and worship committee.
Lee said her favorite memories while at Lander include the "great, caring faculty" and
meeting the man she married, Fitz Lee, whom she wrote to for two years while he was in military
service. The couple dated for two years and were married for 52. She and Fitz, now deceased, have
four children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Her daughter Ellenanne Lee Hester is a
1978 Lander graduate.
"Lander was and still is a highlight in my life," Lee said. "Seeing Lander grow from the
small Methodist college to what it is today is a real joy."
Jonathan Rowe
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Florida native and 2004 Lander graduate Jonathan Rowe has been selected to receive the Young Alumnus of the Year Award, which recognizes alumni who have graduated from Lander within the last 15 years and who have served their communities in exemplary ways.
Rowe attended Fort Lauderdale High School before coming to Lander University on a tennis
scholarship. He spent his sophomore year studying Spanish in Barcelona, Spain, and in July of 2002,
he trekked the length of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage stretching 500 miles from the French
border to Santiago de Compostela on Spain's west coast.
After returning from Spain in 2003, Rowe took a year off from college to hike the Appalachian
Trail and to raise funds for the Margarita Tejada Foundation for Down syndrome in Guatemala.
Together with the support of local businesses, Rotary Clubs and Rotarians, Lander University and
private donations, Rowe completed the 2,100-mile hike of the trail, raising $20,000 for the Tejada
Foundation. In 2003, he received the key to Guatemala City, and in 2004, as a guest of TACA
air and the Tejada Foundation, Rowe attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for two clinics constructed
for the Tejada Foundation’s use in aiding the city’s Down syndrome population. The clinics were
named in Rowe’s honor.
After graduating cum laude with a degree in Spanish and minor in economics and finance in
2004, Rowe returned to Guatemala to study for a semester in the highland city of Quetzaltenango.
While there, he conducted research on Guatemala’s bilingual education system and volunteered at a
rural school in San Martin, a village where most children’s parents had never received formal
schooling. He was also selected to the USA Today’s All USA, All Academic Team.
In July 2005, he moved to Tainan, Taiwan, where for two years he studied Chinese at the
National Cheng Kung University and worked as an English teacher. Currently, Rowe is in Shanghai,
China, on a $26,000 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship studying international relations. He and his
wife, Wenya, reside in Shanghai.
"It feels great to be given this award," Rowe said. "But I am the one who needs to thank
Lander for the education which put me in a position to be in China on a generous scholarship from
Rotary International."
The awards were presented to Roark, Lee and Rowe at the Alumni Association luncheon on
Saturday, Feb. 16, during Lander’s annual homecoming weekend.
Nominations Sought
Nominations are being taken for Distinguished Alumni, Young Alumni of the Year
and Grace Iler Norman awards.
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Nominees for the Distinguished Alumni Award must have participated in civic, cultural, educational and/or church activities. They should have gained distinction in their chosen field.
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Young Alumni of the Year Award nominees must have graduated within the past 15 years (since 1990). They must have manifested special interest in Lander and their communities.
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The Grace Iler Norman Award recognizes significant achievement within the Alumni Association and Lander.
Please send nominations by Dec. 1 to: Office of Alumni Affairs, CPO Box 6004, Lander
University, Greenwood, SC 29649 or e-mail
sgrogan@lander.edu. Include nominee's name, maiden name if
applicable, year of graduation and reason for nomination.
