NAACP Names President Bottoms 'Citizen of the Year'

October 19, 2004

October 19, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - The Greencastle branch of the NAACP has honored DePauw University President Robert G. Bottoms as one of two "NAACP Citizens of the Year." Dr. Bottoms received the award this month at the 41st Annual Freedom Fund Dinner, held at the Walden Inn. DeWayne Norris, executive director of the Family Youth and Community Development Program, was the other recipient of the award.

Since becoming DePauw's president in 1986, Dr. Bottoms has worked to make DePauw’s faculty, staff and student body more diverse.  He is fully committed to developing a community that embraces geographic, socioeconomic, and racial diversity as DePauw students prepare for a global workforce.  He was honored this summer as a "Posse Star" by the Posse Foundation of New York City (read more here).  The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential, who may be overlooked by the traditional college selection process. The Foundation extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal achievement and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multi-cultural teams ("posses") of 10 students. The Foundation's partner universities acknowledge Posse Scholars by awarding them four-year, full-tuition, leadership scholarships. DePauw hosts two Posses each year -- one from New York City and the other from Chicago -- and has been a Posse partner since 1996. DePauw's Posse partnership was noted in Sunday's Washington Post (read more here).

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Bottoms earned his bachelor degree at Birmingham-Southern College, a B. Divinity degree at Emory University, and his doctorate at Vanderbilt University.  His career in higher education was launched when he was appointed chaplain and assistant to the president at Birmingham-Southern.  He later moved to the Vanderbilt Divinity School as assistant dean and assistant professor of Church and Ministry.  In 1978, DePauw University selected Dr. Bottoms as its vice president for university relations; he subsequently advanced to executive vice president of the University before being named president in 1986.

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