March 21, 2019
East Central Community College President Dr. Billy Stewart will receive the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction during the society’s annual convention Friday, April 5, in Orlando, Fla.
PTK’s Shirley B. Gordon Award is presented to college presidents who have shown strong support of student success on their campuses by recognizing academic achievement, leadership, and service among high-achieving students. Stewart was nominated for the award by student members of East Central’s Theta Xi Chapter of PTK on the Decatur campus.
The Shirley B. Gordon Award is Phi Theta Kappa’s most prestigious award for community college presidents and is named in honor of the late Dr. Gordon, PTK’s longest-serving Board of Directors Chair and a founder and longtime president of Highline Community College in Washington.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this award from Phi Theta Kappa,” said Stewart, who was named the eighth president of ECCC in July 2012. “The fact that I was nominated by our own East Central Community College PTK students makes this honor even more rewarding. Although I may be on stage accepting the Shirley B. Gordon Award on April 5, I will do so on behalf of the entire ECCC family who support and value the success of all of our students.”
At East Central, Stewart initiated a strategic planning process to shape and guide the future of the institution. As a result, 2020 Vision was adopted in February 2013 and includes a long-term desire to be nationally recognized and locally preferred while meeting the educational and training needs of all residents of the college district.
A native of Pearl and the son of Linda Stewart and the late Billy Stewart, Sr., Stewart earned his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, both from the University of Southern Mississippi, and his doctorate in higher education administration from Mississippi State University.
Prior to assuming the presidency at ECCC, he served as vice president for finance and administration at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Stewart has also worked as dean of community services and dean of the Simpson County Center for Copiah-Lincoln Community College. To date, he has served almost 30 years in various teaching and administrative positions in all levels of education in the state of Mississippi.
Stewart and his wife, Stephanie, reside on the East Central campus in Decatur. They have four children: Stephen, a 2016 ECCC graduate and a 2018 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM); Will, a 2017 ECCC graduate and a senior at Mississippi State University; Elizabeth, a freshman at William Carey University; and Emily, a sophomore at Newton County High School. Stephen Stewart’s wife, the former Louise Berryhill of Stratton, is a 2016 ECCC graduate, 2018 graduate of USM, and currently a first-year medical student at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in Jackson.
PTK is the premier honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them grow as scholars and leaders. PTK has more than 3.5 million members and nearly 1,300 chapters the United States and nine other countries.
The society’s annual convention, PTK Catalyst 2019, will be April 4-6 at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando.
