TROY News Center

MONTGOMERY—Major General Walter D. Givhan of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base will deliver the keynote address to Troy University graduates on Monday, May 20, during the spring commencement ceremony for the Montgomery Campus.

The ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. inside the Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts. About 180 students will receive undergraduate and graduate degrees this semester at the Montgomery Campus.

General Givhan, a TROY alumnus, serves as Commander of the Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education and Vice Commander of Air University. The LeMay Center is responsible for the research, development and production of Air Force doctrine and input for joint and multinational doctrine development activities.

A native of Safford, Ala., General Givhan graduated from Morgan Academy in Selma and the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where he was a National Merit Scholar. His postgraduate degrees include a Master of Science in interantional relations from Troy University in 1989.

He served as the U.S. air liaison officer to the commanding general, French ground forces, for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he led the effort to rebuild the Afghan air force as Commanding General of the Combined Air Power Transition Force. The general has commanded a combat training squadron, an operations group, an air base wing, an air expeditionary wing and the Air Force Institute of Technology.

His previous staff assignments include deputy military assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of the Congressional Action Division for the Air Force Legislative Liaison.

General Givhan is a command pilot with more than 2,500 flying hours in the T-37, T-38, T-1, AT-38, F-15 and A-10 aircraft.

DOTHAN—Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver will deliver the keynote address to Troy University graduates during the spring commencement ceremony for the Dothan Campus on Sunday, May 19.

The ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. at the Dothan Civic Center. More than 190 students are set to receive undergraduate and graduate degrees this semester at the Dothan Campus.

Culver, a lifelong resident of Dothan, was first elected to the Houston County Commission as District 4 representative in 1986, the youngest person ever elected to the commission. He was appointed chairman in 1997 by then Governor Fob James to fill a vacancy, and was elected to a full term the following year. He has been re-elected three times.

During his more than 25 years on the commission, Culver has played an active role in recruiting new business and industry to the area, and was president of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama in 2001.

Culver is married to the former Tami Cochran of Dothan. He has three children: Stephanie, 27, Robert, 24 and Cannon, 13. Culver is an active member of the First United Methodist Church.

MONTGOMERY—Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum will host an exhibit this month featuring a selection of paintings by local artist Pamela Boggs of Montgomery.

Exploring a wide range of themes and subject matters with a unique visual style, “Truth & Spirit: The Paintings of Pamela Boggs,” will be on display inside the exhibit hall from May 6 to June 28.

Part of the long and honored tradition of self-taught artists in Alabama, Boggs’ paintings draw viewers into a greater understanding of life’s joys, struggles and mysteries through the representation of dreams, visions and events from everyday life, said Daniel Neil, curator of the Rosa Parks Museum.

“Ms. Boggs’ compositions draw on her deep personal spiritual convictions and the role that ancestors play in shaping our contemporary lives,” Neil said. “The descendant of spiritual teachers from both Saint Kitts B.V.I in the West Indies and the Muskogee peoples (Creek Nation) from Alabama, Ms. Boggs’ work resonates with a profound respect for the role that forbearers play in the lives of their children.”

The exhibit hall at the Rosa Parks Museum is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
 
For more information on this exhibit or other upcoming contact Daniel Neil at (334) 241-8701.

The painting “Jubilee” is among several works by local artist Pamela Boggs of Montgomery on display in May at the Rosa Parks Museum. “Truth & Spirit: The Paintings of Pamela Boggs,” will be on display inside the exhibit hall from May 6 to June 28.

Calling on her father’s dinner-table wisdom remembered from her childhood, Congresswoman Martha Roby told Troy University students on Wednesday that they could achieve anything they wanted to achieve as long as they were willing to work for it.

The event was presented by the University’s Motivating and Instilling Sophisticated Students into an Elite Society (M.I.S.S. Elite), a student organization seeking to help students realize their full potential through building self-confidence, molding leadership skills and emphasizing good character and proper personal appearance.

“I grew up in a home where my dad said often around the dinner table, ‘You can be anything you want to be.’ I felt really empowered by those words,” Rep. Roby said. “It never occurred to me that I would face challenges because I was a woman. I believed that I could be anything I wanted to be because my dad told me so.”

It was that determination that has seen Roby successfully transition from the desire to rise to the top in the music industry to becoming a lawyer to her current role of public servant.

“We make all of these plans and God just kind of laughs,” she said. “Life is going to provide you with a lot of twists and turns. Life truly is about finding balance. Women don’t have to choose between having a career and having a family. You can have both. You need to have a good support system of friends and family in place and you can’t be unwilling to ask for help.”

During her first semester of law school at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law, Roby met her future husband, Riley. The two decided that, once married, they would make their home in Montgomery and serve their community.

Roby entered public service in Montgomery, winning election to the City Council by “outworking the other candidates” on the campaign trail. In 2010, she was elected to serve Alabama’s second Congressional District. However, the road to Washington was littered with plenty of skeptics along the way, Roby recalled.

“When the opportunity for me to run for Congress presented itself, I heard from a lot of people who were skeptical that I was doing the right thing,” Rep. Roby said. “Whatever path you choose, you have to believe in yourself. Along with that belief you have to be able to execute. You have to be able to say, ‘I don’t care who is telling that I can’t succeed,’ and you have to be willing to work hard to reach your goals. It isn’t just going to fall in your lap; it takes hard work and determination.”

Congresswoman Martha Roby responds to a question from a Troy University student during Wednesday morning’s presentation “Equipping Today’s Women for Life’s Journey.” The women’s leadership event was presented by the University’s Motivating and Instilling Sophisticated Students into an Elite Society (M.I.S.S. Elite), a student organization seeking to help students realize their full potential through building self-confidence, molding leadership skills and emphasizing good character and proper personal appearance.

Congresswoman Martha Roby was named an honorary member of Troy University’s M.I.S.S. Elite Society and presented with a t-shirt from organization officers on Wednesday following her presentation “Equipping Today’s Women for Life’s Journey” on the Troy Campus. From left to right are: M.I.S.S. Elite President Tierra Belser, Rep. Roby, Troy University First Lady Mrs. Janice Hawkins, and M.I.S.S. Elite Vice President Tiffany Slater.