Dr. Vivia Lawton Fowler ’76, Dr. Jan Love and Betty Ulmer McGregor ’51

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Three honorees received Columbia College's highest award, the Medallion, at a dinner and awards ceremony held Thursday, November 5. Recipients of the 2009 Medallion Award are Dr. Vivia Lawton Fowler, Dr. Jan Love and Betty Ulmer McGregor. The Medallion is presented annually to those individuals whom the College wishes to recognize for exceptional accomplishments, leadership, and service.

Dr. Vivia Lawton Fowler is Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs for Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. She received the B.A. in Religion and Sociology from Columbia College, the M.A. in Religion from the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, and the Ph.D. in Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education from the University of South Carolina. First consecrated a diaconal minister in 1980 and now an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church, she served churches in S.C. for ten years before joining the faculty of Columbia College where she held teaching and administrative roles from 1986 to 2007. She became dean of Wesleyan College in June 2007, where she oversees all academic areas of the college.

Fowler’s honors include Columbia College Omicron Delta Kappa Professor of the Year (1995), Columbia College Outstanding Professor (1996), S.C. Governor’s Distinguished Professor Award (1997), and The United Methodist Church’s Francis Asbury Award (2002). She has been nationally recognized for her work to support and advance efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education. She led Columbia College’s Foundations of Excellence in the First Year of College initiative and the College’s participation in the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education.
           
As a frequent speaker in churches, her passion is sharing the stories of biblical women through character presentations and biblical instruction. She has developed monologues for ten biblical women.
           
She and her husband Richard have two adult children. Richard lives in Columbia and is executive director of the Tri-County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Stephen, an attorney, and his wife Stani live in Charleston. Claire, also a Columbia College alumna, is a management recruiter and lives in Columbia.
 
Dr. Jan Love is Dean and Professor of Christianity and World Politics at Emory University. She has served since January 2007 as the ninth dean of the Candler School of Theology. She is an internationally recognized leader in church and ecumenical arenas and a scholar of world politics, particularly issues of religion and politics, conflict transformation, and globalization. She is known for facilitating constructive relationships among people and groups with deeply held differences and for her work in racial justice.
           
Prior to coming to Emory, she served as the chief executive officer of the Women’s Division, the administrative arm of the United Methodist Women, an organization with operations in 60 countries. From 1982 to 2004, she was on the faculty at the University of South Carolina in the departments of Religious Studies and Government and International Studies, where she directed the International Studies M.A. and Ph.D. programs.
           
She represented The United Methodist Church on the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland from 1975 to 2006, and led the WCC delegation to the United Nations 4th World Conference on Women in 1995.
           
Since 1970, she has served on the boards of several United Methodist Church agencies and is currently a member of the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. She also serves on the UMC University Senate’s Commission on Theological Education as well as the Wofford College Board of Trustees. At their General Conference in 2000, the United Methodist Council of Bishops recognized her for “Exceptional Leadership in Ecumenical Arenas.”
           
A graduate of Eckerd College, she received her master’s degree and doctorate from Ohio State University. She has authored two books on international relations as well as scores of scholarly articles, book chapters, and reviews. She and her husband, Dr. Peter Sederberg, have two adult children.
 
Betty Ulmer McGregor was named the 2009 South Carolina Mother of the Year by the Association of American Mothers of South Carolina. She went on to be honored as the 2009 National Mother of the Year during the association’s national conference held in Seattle, Washington.

A native of Cameron, South Carolina, she graduated from Columbia College in 1951. Soon after graduation, she married Sam McGregor, and with him established their home in Hopkins. He was called into military service in 1952, and their first child was born at Fort Benning, Georgia. When her husband’s military service was complete, the family returned to Hopkins and the busy life of a family dairy farm. They were blessed with four additional children and she became active in the community, church, and schools. Now, they experience the joy of eight grandchildren.
           
Their children are: the Reverend Elizabeth McGregor Simmons, a Presbyterian minister; Jean McGregor Trice, a nurse and office manager; James Rhett McGregor, a civil engineer; Dr. John Ulmer McGregor, a Clemson University department chair; and the Reverend Sam Evans McGregor Jr., a Presbyterian minister.
           
McGregor believes that parenting is an awesome responsibility, requiring prayer, energy, sacrifice, time, and love, and her children express that she passed on to them her values, which emphasize the importance of faith, family, and friends. She was endorsed for Mother of the Year by South Carolina family and community leaders and recognized by The South Carolina General Assembly for this state and national achievement.