Milligan College graduates 126

By Julie Fann
star staff
jfann@starhq.com

   MILLIGAN COLLEGE -- Milligan College graduated 126 students on Sunday afternoon in Seeger Chapel on the college campus during two commencement ceremonies held at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
   Graduates of the class of 2004 included 33 bachelor of arts (B.A.), 77 bachelor of science (B.S.), 11 bachelor of science in nursing (B.S.N.), two master of education (M.Ed.), and three master of science in occupational therapy (MSOT). Top majors of study for the class of 2004 include business administration, communications, biology, nursing and psychology.
   Twenty-one members of the class of 2004 have already been accepted to graduate schools, including Mercer University's Southern School of Pharmacy, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Duke Divinity School, Towson University, Eastern Kentucky University, and the University of Saint Augustine for Health Sciences.
   Milligan's 10 a.m. baccalaureate address was presented by Cam Huxford, III, senior pastor of Savannah Christian Church, Savannah, Ga., and father of Cam Huxford, IV, a member of this year's graduating class. Mr. Huxford is a graduate of Emmanuel School of Religion in Johnson City and serves on the boards of Christian Standard Publishing Committee, Atlanta Christian College, and Church Planting Ventures. He is a popular speaker for men's retreats, ministers' conferences, church leadership and growth conferences, and marriage seminars across the United States.
   Dr. John Temple, a native of South Africa and a successful businessman responsible for the establishment and growth of numerous international companies, was the keynote speaker for the 2 p.m. ceremony. He is currently chairman of Saratoga Software, parent company of Saratoga Technologies Inc. of Johnson City. A Christian who has established several schools and churches in South Africa, Temple also supports Christian training needs and promotes the distribution of Christian literature in Southern Africa.
   In 1993, Temple was advisor to the South African Cabinet on the introduction of cellular telephones. He has been described as a businessman who is particularly keen on strategic, financial and marketing aspects of business. Most of his career has been spent in international companies or building a multinational business in Southeast Asia.
   Temple holds a Ph.D. in electronic engineering from London University and later earned an MBA. His career started in 1963 with steel producer Iscor, where he rose through various engineering executive ranks. He has since served as CEO of McKechnie Brothers, the largest nonferrous metal producer in South Africa; Almex, a subsidiary of Metal Box South Africa, and most recently at Plessey, South Africa.
   Temple, who now lives in England and shares his time between the UK, USA and South Africa, retired in 1998 as chief executive of Plessey. During his tenure the company grew 20-fold from a small subsidiary of a British company to a significant multinational electronics company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. During his tenure there, Temple led the establishment of Plessey's overseas interests, notably operations in Malaysia and Australia.
   Since his retirement as CEO of Plessey, he has served as chairman of several Plessey subsidiaries, including Tellumat and PlesTel. He continues as a director of numerous other companies, including chairman of Saratoga Software and Synergy Computing, a business intelligence software company. Throughout his career, Temple has served on numerous industry associations and was founder and president of both the Aerospace Industries Association and the Arms Industry Association. In 1988, he was voted "Computer man of the year for the Western Cape". From 1990 to 1994 he served on the State President's Advisory Council on Science and Technology.
   Temple has also been an active proponent for higher education throughout his life. In addition to teaching at various institutions in both London and South Africa, he has served on the Council of the Peninsula Technicon and given numerous addresses and papers at technical conferences and universities in South Africa. He also helped establish four schools and three churches.
   Milligan College Public Relations Director, Lee Fierbaugh, provided the information for this story.