My Office Wall

The walls of my den are decorated with a number of things. I have a significant collection of items from my world travels – but perhaps that’s a subject for a future blog. What I’d like concentrate on here are a number of plaques that grace these walls above and to the sides of the door of the room. There are over a dozen of them, in several different categories. I’d like to list them all by category and finish off with noting which ones I most highly treasure.

Educational Achievements

·       Michigan State University, 1969, BS in Computer Science (with honor)

o   MSU does not use the more traditional Latin of cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude, but only honor and high honor. I did not get high honor (which my wife did), primarily because I was more interested in finishing in three years instead of four in order to minimize the cost of my education (which I was paying for myself).

·       Michigan State University, 1971, MS in Computer Science

·       Michigan State University, 1971, MBA in Production Management

·       Kennedy-Western University, 1989, PhD in Information Systems

Air Products Recognition

·       30 years of employment (1975-2005) (I retired two years later)

·       Global Diversity Recognition 2006 – Outstanding Effort in Promoting and Recognizing Diversity and Inclusion

o   This was for my work in creating a new diversity group, AnyBody Concerned about Disability (ABCD) that recognized and assisted those employees with any type of disability, whether visible (blindness, wheelchair bound, etc.) or invisible (fibromyalgia, MS, etc.)

·       Golden Cylinder Award – for service to the cylinder tracking effort

o   This was normally given to members of the sales team and I was the only person from IT to receive this award

·       Year 2000 Program

o   I warned of the problems of this technology issue for nearly 20 years, then helped lead the effort to make the changes necessary so that it would not have a significant impact on our business

External Recognition

·       Who’s Who in the East

o   This was the first of a series of recognitions from Marquis’ Who’s Who. I was later recognized in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, and finally Who’s Who in Education.

·       Strathmore Who’s Who

o   This was one of a series of recognitions from outside agencies who recognized my contributions to the computing field. I never bothered to pay for the plaque for the later ones as they were not nearly as recognizable as the ones from Marquis above.

·       ICCP – Certified Computing Professional

o   The first of this type I received was the CDP (Certified Data Processor), given at the time by DPMA (the Data Processing Management Association). I then received the CCP (Certified Computer Programmer). Finally, when ICCP took over these from DMPA, and in recognition of my other accomplishments, I was one of the first recipients of the CSP (Certified Systems Professional) and I helped to develop the criteria and exam for later recipients. I was one of only a handful of individuals in the US who held all three awards. These were later combined into the CCP noted here and the others became the Management, Programming, and Systems designations below it.

Miscellaneous

·       AFS Gavel

o   This was for my service for two years of chairing the AFS National Council which was the leadership body for the 4500 AFS-USA volunteers who serve in that organization

·       Lehigh Valley Christian High School – Faithfulness Award – 1988-2013

o   Given on the 25^th anniversary of LVCHS, where I served on the Board of Directors for most of those years, including 15 as Board Chair

·       DeSales University – Tribute for service from 1980 to 2005

o   An extract from this reads, “On behalf of the DeSales University faculty, it is my honor to acknowledge Dr. Alan Russell’s quarter century of service to the computer science program of Allentown College of St. Francis de Sales and DeSales University. In 1980, Dr. Russell became the first ACCESS instructor to teach computer science, qualifying him for the distinction of being the founding father of our computer science program in ACCESS. … Dr. Russell leaves as his legacy not only the syllabi he has designed and the courses he has taught, but more importantly, the lives he has touched during the last 25 years.”

What I treasure the most of the above are those that are for areas in which I was able to influence others and have a positive impact on their lives. There are two of these – the Tribute from DeSales University where I taught others for 25 years, and the Global Diversity Award from Air Products for my work in developing a new diversity initiative.

These two plaques hang vertically just to the left of the door above the light switch, together with one additional rectangular frame – a picture of Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of my life and the reason why I care about others in the first place.

At some future date, I will no longer be living on this earth and my descendants will probably decide to dispose of all these plaques. But the influence I have had on others will live on after me. And my life will go on as well – in heaven – in constant communication with my Lord!