News
Voorhees selects new chair of the board
November 12, 2009
The Voorhees College Board of Trustees recently unanimously appointed Dr. Donald L. Fowler, who has served on the board since 1983, as the new chairman of the board.
Fowler is currently the chairman of Fowler Communications, Inc., a public relations and governmental affairs firm in Columbia. He began teaching at the University of South Carolina in 1964, where he now serves as an adjunct instructor of American politics in the political science department.
Retiring in 1987, Fowler served for 30 years in the United States Army as an active duty officer and reservist. He also is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee and the South Carolina Democratic Party.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at Wofford College, and a Master of Arts and a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky in political science. He is a native of Spartanburg.
Fowler is currently a board of visitors member for the University of South Carolina and the University of Kentucky. He is also a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In addition, Fowler received the Order of Palmetto under former South Carolina governors John C. West, Richard Riley and Jim Hodges.
"I accept the board's charge as both a privilege and a challenge," Fowler said. "Voorhees College has been a great, contributing institution in South Carolina that has experienced some difficulty in recent years. But with our exceptionally fine president, Cleveland Sellers, our best years are ahead of us."
As chairman of the board, Fowler is replacing former chairman Dr. Marshall B. Bass, who served on the board since 1995 and as chair of the board since 1998. Bass is president of Marshall B. Bass and Associates, a management consultant firm in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Fowler spoke highly on the leadership Bass has demonstrated as the chair. "Marshall Bass cannot be replaced as chair of the Voorhees College Board of Trustees. He has been a magnificent leader and indeed the savior of our beautiful college."
The Voorhees College Board of Trustees also selected Mary Ellen Moule to serve as the vice chair of the board replacing St. Clair Guess, III. Moule has served on the board since 2007.
Moule is currently a pro se staff attorney in the eastern district of New York. She earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School, a master's degree at Cornell University and a bachelor's degree from Williams College in Massachusetts.
Fowler and Moule's new positions will be effective Jan. 1, 2010.
In addition, new members to the board include: Senator John L. Scott Jr. of Richland County District 19, who is also owner of J.L. Scott Realty Company, Inc.; Representative Harold Mitchell of Spartanburg County District 31, who is also the executive director of the Regenesis Community Health Center of Spartanburg; Virginia L. Crocker, judicial director at the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Commission; Dr. Michael A. Smith, who is currently a student at the Medical University of South Carolina and expected to graduate in May 2010; and Veronica Gromada, an associate attorney for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.