News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-4781 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE JUNE 16, 2008

Coleman Looking Forward To Life After ABAC

TIFTON—Instead of checking her calendar for alumni events at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Nancy Clark Coleman now plans to schedule her days around the pitching schedule of a certain Colquitt County High School baseball player.

Coleman, the Director of Alumni Relations at ABAC for the past 23 years, will retire July 31 to be able to spend more time with her son, Clark, who will be a CCHS senior this year.

“Everybody who knows me realizes this is the reason I am stepping away from it this year,” Coleman, the only full time alumni director in the history of ABAC, said. “I just don’t want to miss any of his senior year activities, but particularly baseball and FFA.”

A graduate of Cairo High School, Coleman was a member of the Class of 1975 at ABAC before completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Home Economics from the University of Georgia.

Coleman’s husband, Thomas, a Colquitt County farmer, was also a member of the ABAC Class of 1975. The two never met while students at ABAC but rather in 1987 when Nancy was working the ABAC exhibit at the Georgia Young Farmers Convention where Thomas was running for a state officer’s position.

Coleman joined the ABAC staff in 1985 after a seven-year teaching career, which included stops at CCHS, Pelham High School, Albany Tech, and Westover High School.

Memories abound from the thousands of ABAC alumni who have crossed her path. Most of them have one thing in common.

“Almost every one of them will tell you that their time at ABAC was the best two year of their lives,” Coleman said. “I have met a lot of wonderful people who really love ABAC.”

Coleman and the members of the ABAC Ag Alumni Council organized the ABAC Ag Classic golf tournament seven years ago. It has been a tremendous success, raising $141,000 for scholarships and instructional resources for the Division of Agriculture and Forest Resources.

“I was very skeptical at first because I wasn’t a golfer and didn’t know anything about running a tournament,” Coleman said. “But I had some avid golfers on the board, and they assured me it would work.”

During the past year, ABAC has celebrated its 100^th birthday. Coleman and other members of the campus community poured hours upon hours of work into planning and coordinating the events of the year.

“The whole Centennial Celebration is one thing I’ll never forget,” Coleman said. “Homecoming and all the other activities were just really special.”

ABAC President David Bridges said Coleman will definitely be missed.

“An ongoing and important part of any college’s success is linking former, current, and future students,” Bridges, a member of the ABAC Class of 1978, said. “Nancy has represented the alumni and the College well during her tenure.”

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