[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 11, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1436-S1437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO DR. KENNETH DOBBINS

 Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I wish to honor Dr. Kenneth W. 
Dobbins on the occasion of his retirement. Dr. Dobbins has served as 
the president of Southeast Missouri State University for more than 15 
years. The people of Missouri are grateful for Dr. Dobbins' 
contributions and commitment to Southeast Missouri State University and 
the Redhawk community.
  Dr. Dobbins became the seventeenth president of Southeast Missouri 
State University in 1999 after serving as the university's vice 
president of finance and administration and executive vice president. 
Prior to his time with Southeast Missouri State University, he held 
several positions in the higher education administration at Kent State 
University in Ohio.
  Growing up in Ohio, he earned his bachelor of science degree in 
accounting from the University of Akron in

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1971. He then served his country as a commissioned officer and civilian 
executive in the U.S. Air Force for almost 10 years and was named the 
1978 Air Force Audit Agency Outstanding Civilian Auditor of the Year. 
In 1979, he received his master's degree in business administration 
from Old Dominion University and later his Ph.D. in higher education 
administration from Kent State University. His commitment to leadership 
was recognized in the form of the 2001 Distinguished Alumni Award from 
Old Dominion University and the 2011 Alumni Leadership Award for the 
College of Education, Health and Human Services Annual Hall of Fame 
Awards from Kent State University.
  As president at Southeast Missouri State University, academic 
programs have flourished and expanded, including the establishment of 
the College of Science, Technology, and Agriculture and the Earl and 
Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts. In addition, Dr. 
Dobbins increased access to higher education in the university's 25-
county service region through the development of new regional campuses 
in Sikeston and Kennett to serve place-bound students in rural 
communities. More than $400 million in capital construction and 
building improvement projects have enhanced the university during Dr. 
Dobbins' presidency.
  Dr. Dobbins' knowledge and leadership have been valued by his peers 
in higher education. He has served on the board of directors of the 
American Association of State Colleges and Universities and as chairman 
of the Finance Committee of the American Leadership Institute.
  On behalf of the grateful constituents of Missouri, I congratulate 
Dr. Ken Dobbins on his well-deserved retirement. We congratulate him on 
his remarkable career and extend a huge thank-you for all the wonderful 
contributions he has made to our Bootheel communities and our State. I 
wish the very best to Dr. Dobbins and his wife Jeanine, along with his 
son and daughter-in-law, Paul and Stacey Dobbins, and his two 
grandsons, Lincoln Kenneth Dobbins and Brady Larson Dobbins.

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