FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2005
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

Egnor wins Cyrus R. Vance Award for International Education

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Dr. Clark M. Egnor, Executive Director of the Center for International Programs at Marshall University, has been named the winner of the 2005 Cyrus R. Vance Award for International Education in West Virginia in the category of  postsecondary educators and institutions.

Egnor, who was nominated by Marshall associate professor of classics Dr. Jerise Fogel, received the award Monday, Nov. 14 at a dinner and reception sponsored by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary of Education and the Arts, the Higher Education Policy Commission, and the West Virginia Department of Education as part of International Education Week. Retired General Wes Clark, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000, was the keynote speaker.

“I was very proud to receive this award, but there are many faculty and staff at Marshall who have helped to internationalize our campus over the years and they should also share in this recognition,” Egnor said.

The Vance award carries with it a $5,000 grant.  Egnor said that he will apply it to the recently established Clair Matz Memorial Study Abroad Scholarship Fund to help Marshall students study abroad.

“I hope others who have benefited from the Study Abroad program will join me in supporting the fund and remembering the work of Clair Matz,” he said.

Dr. Clair Matz, professor of International Affairs and Political Science, served as a member of the Marshall faculty from 1970 until his death in 2003 and established the MU Office of Study Abroad in the mid-1980s.

“Dr. Egnor’s work … has been quietly leading to a revolution in the university’s approach to internationalism on campus,” Fogel said in her letter of nomination. “Clark’s use of his office to advocate for the inclusion of international education as part of the university’s mission – both in word and in deed – has had a remarkable impact … His achievements over his career at Marshall are amazing by any account.”

The Cyrus R. Vance Awards were created by the Office of the Secretary of Education and the Arts in 2001 to honor West Virginia educators who best exemplify Vance’s dedication to the understanding of international issues and affairs and promote greater international understanding among West Virginia students.

A native of Clarksburg, Vance served as Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Secretary of the Army under President John F. Kennedy.  He also served as a special presidential envoy to many of the flashpoints of the 20^th century: the Panama Canal Zone, Cyprus, Vietnam, South Africa, and Croatia. Vance died in January 2002.

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