The Georgia Southern University Alumni Association presented its biennial Alumni Awards at a campus luncheon held Saturday, March 25, 2017. “Honoring our outstanding alumni is truly a privilege,” said Wendell Tompkins Jr. (‘87), senior director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving. “They have distinguished themselves as the best and brightest in their fields, and they represent Georgia Southern in a manner that makes all of the Eagle Nation proud to claim them as our own.”

Front Row: Dawn H. Cartee, Ph.D., Dr. Louvenia A. Rainge, Chris Rustin, Dr.P.H., Eugene (Nick) Wiley, Mike R. Davis, Russell R. McMurry, PE. Second Row: Robert (Bob) Mikell, Esq., Teresa A. MacCartney, Major General Leslie C. Smith, Mychael Knight

These COSM alumni were recognized for their outstanding achievements in their respective fields:

Teresa A. MacCartney, Alumna of the Year
Teresa MacCartney has served as chief financial officer for the State of Georgia and director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) since her appointment by Gov. Nathan Deal in 2012. She began her career in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB), later becoming the senior policy advisor for budget and governmental affairs at the Georgia Student Finance Commission. In 2005, MacCartney returned to OPB as director of the Education Division and was promoted to deputy director in 2010. MacCartney serves as secretary of the Board of Directors of the OneGeorgia Authority, vice chair of the Georgia Higher Education Facilities Authority Board and is on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Lottery Corporation and Georgia Higher Education Savings Plan. She is a member of the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority Board, State Depository Board, Employee Benefits Plan Council, National Association of State Budget Officers’ Executive Committee and Georgia ABLE Program Corporation Board. She also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Leadership Georgia Foundation. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Master of Public Administration degree from Georgia Southern.

Dr. Louvenia A. Rainge, College of Science and Mathematics Alumni Award
Louvenia A. Rainge has crafted a successful career in the dental profession, including being named an Honorable Fellow of the Georgia Dental Association and a Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and the American College of Dentists. She has earned the Eastern District Dental Society President’s Award; the Georgia Dental Association Committee Award, Council on Dental Health; the Augusta Dental Society President’s Award; and the Dental College of Georgia Distinguished Alumna Award. After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgia Southern in 1983, Rainge completed the Harvard University Pre-dentistry Health Professions Program and graduated from the Dental College of Georgia.

Eugene (Nick) Wiley, Department of Biology Alumni Award
Nick Wiley is executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He rose through the ranks from a wildlife resource biologist to his current position and serves as president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. A certified wildlife biologist, his work has been published in journals including Journal of Wildlife Management and Conservation Biology. Wiley is chair of the College of Science and Mathematics Advisory Board, a National Conservation Leadership Institute Fellow, a member of the Boone and Crockett Club, and a member of the North American Wetlands Conservation Council. He also previously served on the State and Federal Joint Task Force on Endangered Species Act Implementation. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Georgia Southern in 1983 and a Master of Science degree in wildlife management from Auburn University in 1986.

Wiley and Range, both COSM graduates, are also from Brantley County, Georgia, and graduated from the same high school there. Rainge was valedictorian and Wiley was salutatorian of their high school graduating class and both chose to attend Georgia Southern. This article is featured in its entirety at alumni.GeorgiaSouthern.edu