UA College of Human Environmental Sciences Names Outstanding Alumni

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Sciences and the Home Economics Society have announced the winners of their outstanding alumni awards.

The UA Jack Davis Professional Achievement Award is awarded annually for professional accomplishments in administration, education, extension, research or business in the several fields of home economics. Recipients must have demonstrated that they have advanced the home economics field in their field through recognized leadership.

The 2001 recipients of the Jack Davis Professional Achievement Award are Perry W. Fulton of Montgomery, William Hughes McDonald of Northport, Wallis E. Davies of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Michael A. Perko of Wilmington, N. C.

Fulton holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in foods, nutrition and institutional management, both from UA. He has worked as the administrator of the Alabama State Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Programs since 1998. Fulton developed and implemented electronic accounting, meal count system and ordering systems for both the Pickens County Schools and the Birmingham City Schools. He has also implemented the statewide Internet ordering system for the procurement process in Alabama schools. Fulton developed the “Let’s Do Lunch at School” marketing program, and has designed and participated in the design of 43 new cafeterias and/or kitchens across the state. He is the author of numerous publications and holds several patents.

McDonald currently serves as the director of sports medicine at UA and is the assistant football travel coordinator. He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health, physical education and recreation from UA, and also completed some post-graduate work at the University of Georgia. McDonald is a member of the University’s President’s Alcohol and Drug Task Force, is the network administrator of the Intercollegiate Athletic Department’s Sexual Harassment Committee, and is an adjunct instructor and clinical coordinator in the athletic training program. McDonald served as a member of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics Sports Medicine/Athlete Village Athletic Training Room.

Davies currently serves as the child life director at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn. She holds a bachelor’s degree in home economics/child life from UA and a master’s degree in child development from Purdue University. Davies is a certified child life specialist and is affiliated with the Child Life Council, Children’s Hospice International and Kappa Omicron Nu. She previously held positions as child life manager at Home Hospital in Lafayette, Ind., and as site supervisor for child health students at Purdue University. She has also completed an unpublished thesis, “A Group Intervention for Children Who Have Experienced Sibling Death.”

Perko currently serves an assistant professor and the coordinator of the health education department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He was awarded a joint Ph.D. from the UA College of Education and the UAB Schools of Public Health and Education. His emphasis was on health education and health promotion. Perko is affiliated with many committees and advising activities at UNC-Wilmington and has helped generate much funding for research projects. His work has been published in International Electronic Journal of Health Education, Journal of Health Education and Journal of Sports Behavior.

Recipients of the award were honored at festivities during UA Homecoming Week this past fall.