Six prominent Kennesaw State trustees and alumni were recognized Tuesday night during the University’s annual Trustee and Alumni Award Ceremony at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

Ellen Scott Long, Steven Cadranel, Mickey Dunn, Chester A. (Chet) Austin, Jeffrey C. Shropshire and Trenton D. Turk were honored by the KSU Foundation and the University’s Alumni Association.

Ellen Scott Long - Clarice C. Bagwell Award for Distinguished Service

Ellen Scott Long, the founder of Long Engineering, is the posthumous recipient of the Clarice C. Bagwell Award for Distinguished Service. The award recognizes an individual who, through their efforts, enables KSU to advance its leadership position in higher education and offers responsive educational opportunities to students.

She and her husband, longtime trustee Shepherd Long, established the Ellen and Shepherd Long Endowed Scholarship for civil engineering students at KSU. The family also endowed a $100,000 scholarship, the Ellen Long Endowed Scholarship for CARE Services, after her passing in July. She had served on the board of CARE Services, which provides support to homeless and food-insecure students at Kennesaw State.

Steven Cadranel - Chairman’s Award

KSU trustee Steven Cadranel, president of Arris Realty Partners, received the Chairman’s Award. Established in 2001 by the KSU Foundation’s Executive Committee, the Chairman’s Award recognizes an outstanding individual whose volunteerism shows innovative solutions to complex situations.

Cadranel manages the real estate portfolio for the KSU Foundation and, through his leadership, the Foundation procured a master lease for Chastain Pointe and negotiated a memorandum of understanding for housing with the University. He has served on the Foundation’s Executive Committee since 2012 and Real Estate Committee since 2010, advancing to Real Estate vice chair in 2012 and chair in 2014.

Mickey Dunn - Horace W. Sturgis Award

Mickey Dunn, president and chief executive officer of ML Industries, is the recipient of the Horace W. Sturgis Award. Named in honor of the University’s and KSU Foundation’s founding president and ex-officio trustee, the Horace W. Sturgis Award is presented to an individual who initiates a new program or achieves a new accomplishment for the KSU Foundation.

Last year, Dunn committed $2.5 million in support of the Kennesaw State baseball program, equaling the largest one-time donation from an individual donor to the KSU Department of Athletics. An alumnus of both Kennesaw State and Southern Technical Institute (the former Southern Polytechnic State University), Dunn was a standout baseball player at Southern Tech and was inducted into the SPSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.

Chester A. (Chet) Austin - Kalafut Award for Exceptional Service

Trustee Chester A. (Chet) Austin is the recipient of the Kalafut Award for Exceptional Service. Created in 2013, this award honors George W. Kalafut in recognition of his 22 years of exceptional service to the KSU Foundation Board of Trustees, students, staff and community.

The co-founder and former CEO of Tip Top Poultry, Austin has been a trustee since 2005 and has served on the KSU Foundation’s Executive Committee and Development Committee. He also is on the advisory boards for KSU’s College of Professional Education and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Austin has received extensive recognition for his involvement with the University, including the Edwin Zaban Prize for Entrepreneurial Spirit and the Chairman’s Award.

Austin and his late wife, Hazel, have funded several scholarships for students at Kennesaw State. The University recognized their commitment to student success in 2013 with the naming of the Chet and Hazel Austin Residential Complex.

Jeffrey C. Shropshire and Trenton D. Turk - Distinguished Alumni Award

Jeffrey C. Shropshire, senior vice president of the major projects and design build divisions for C.W. Matthews Contracting Company, and Trenton D. Turk, principal/chief executive officer for GeoSurvey, are this year’s recipients of the Kennesaw State Distinguished Alumni Award.

A 1990 graduate in civil engineering technology, Shropshire was in charge of the emergency project to rebuild a section of Interstate 85 after a massive fire caused a bridge to collapse in 2017. He oversaw 11 crews that worked around the clock to replace more than 600 feet of I-85 in just six weeks, months ahead of schedule.

Shropshire is active on KSU’s Construction Industry Advisory Board, including as chair of the Resource Mobilization Committee and currently as board chair. Last year, he organized the Department of Construction Management’s fourth annual fundraising gala, helping to raise $170,000 for the department’s programs, student scholarships and student competition teams.

Turk, a 1986 civil engineering technology graduate, is vice chair/chair elect of the KSU Foundation’s Executive Committee. He supports the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology as a financial donor and advocate for the Surveying and Mapping program and its students.

Turk and his wife, LaSona, have endowed two scholarships for students at Kennesaw State, the GeoSurvey Endowed Scholarship for a surveying/mapping student and the LaSona and Trent Turk Endowed Scholarship for a student in the College of the Arts. In addition, he mentors and hires surveying and mapping students through his company, GeoSurvey.