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BOLIVAR, Mo. â Rev. Barbara Ruth Clemmons, of Seabrook, Texas, and Lee Kanakis, of Bartlesville, Okla., received Honorary Doctor degrees from ±«Óătv during the annual Foundersâ Day chapel service held Monday, March 4, in Pike Auditorium on the Bolivar campus.
âIt is always our goal to honor the University by recognizing outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to society and to the Kingdomâs work,â ±«Óătv President Dr. Eric A. Turner said. âWe indeed honor our University by awarding two great individuals honorary doctorates.â
Rev. Barbara Ruth Clemmons
Rev. Barbara Ruth Clemmons was born to Herbert and Lenore Miller in Minneapolis, and was raised in Ann Arbor, Mich. She graduated in 1961 from Pioneer High School, in Ann Arbor, earned her bachelor of arts in religion from Michigan State University in 1965, her MA in history from the University of Arizona in 1967 and her BD from Harvard Divinity School in 1971.
Clemmonsâ life has been dedicated to service, including Rotary International and the ministry. She was recognized with the distinguished âService Above Self Awardâ by Rotary International. Clemmons and her husband, Charlie â59, who received an honorary doctorate from ±«Óătv in 2017, were inducted into the Rotary Foundationâs Arch Klumph Society and are among the foundationâs top leaders, innovators and philanthropists.
Clemmons has served as Christian Education Minister at La Porte (Texas) Community Church, and the Senior Minister of the First Christian Church of Woodville, Texas. She also served on the Regional Committee on Ministry and has trained many who entered the ministry. She currently is retired and serves as an occasional worship leader in the Taylor Lake Christian Church.
The Clemmonses founded the Rotary Books for the World program and ultimately the Second Wind Foundation, which collects books and other educational material and ships them to developing countries. Since its founding in 2000, the foundation has sent more than 14.5 million books to 20 different countries. Many of the books, including Bibles, go to orphanages and schools in countries where it is hard for missionaries to enter. They currently are exploring a partnership with the Bolivar Rotary Club and First Baptist Church to send books to a private Christian School in San Salvador, El Salvador.
The Clemmonses also founded Pro-Tem, Inc., the dominant developer of access control and exposure management software to the nuclear power industry throughout the world. Prior to Pro-Tem, Inc., they were engineers with NASAâs Space Shuttle program. The couple belongs to the Taylor Lake Christian Church in Seabrook, Texas. They have four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Dr. Brad Johnson, vice president for university relations at ±«Óătv, said Clemmons âis one of the most brilliant individuals you will ever meet.â
Barbara and Charlie have been faithful scholarship donors to ±«Óătv since 2014 and recently partnered with ±«Óătvâs Robert W. Plaster College of Business and Computer Science to fund the Psalm 15 Walkway. They use Psalm 15 as an anchor scripture for Pro-Tem, Inc., and have committed to funding an endowed Chair in Accounting in memory of her mother.
âShe has a distinct love of history and can relay intricate details of experiences she encountered throughout her life,â Johnson said. âWhile she may have degrees from other universities, she has become a diehard ±«Óătv fan.
âBarbara, for the many accomplishments we have mentioned today, and the many, many more that we have not, we are so pleased to be able to bestow upon you this honorary degree. You are now, and forever, an ±«Óătv Bearcat.â
Clemmons, recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Computer Science, recalled getting her start in computer science through a summer job after her freshman year at Michigan State.
âWeâre down to the âI have seen everythingâ part of the story,â Clemmons said. âWhat Michigan State University had was a vacuum tube computer. Every bit had two tubes: one for the 1 and one for the 0. It was the second real computer in the United States. I didnât know that; I just did my job.â
Clemmonsâ academic advisor gave her a Fortran 2 manual, which Clemmons, a math major, studied.
âI went and found how to make things work, when you were really learning from the ground up,â Clemmons said.
âNow, here I am, after having done all of these first-of-a-kind of things,â Clemmons said of her career. âBut, I feel like this is my third home, here in Bolivar. People are friendly; their horizons are open; they support one another; and they have good faith. I want to thank you for including me in your role of Bearcat.â
Lee Kanakis
Lee Kanakis was born in Arkansas and lived in Illinois during his early years before moving to Joplin, Mo. He is a graduate of Carl Junction High School and earned his bachelor of science degree in business administration from Missouri Southern State University in 1978 and his master of divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1981.
From 1982-1996, Kanakis served in a variety of areas at ±«Óătv, including as associate director of admissions, associate director of development, senior associate director of admissions, assistant menâs and womenâs soccer coach and director of international relations. He served in various areas of public relations and outreach within the university system, was the longest-serving admissions recruiter and assisted in the development of the soccer programs at ±«Óătv.
Kanakis also has worked at Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Okla., and East Central University, in Ada, Okla., and served as the president of the Oklahoma Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. He was on staff at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and has continued to volunteer there for the past 20 years. Currently, Kanakis serves as a project manager for Diversified Systems Resour