Clayton State School of Business Honors Two Students

Photo: Left to right; Jacob Chacko, Michael Deis, Momoh Kerkula, Michelle Terrell, Michael Tidwell

Dean Dr. Jacob Chacko and the faculty of the Clayton State University School of Business recently honored two of their students, Momoh Kerkula and Jonathan Howard, under what could only be called unique circumstances.

Chacko, along with Associate Professor of Management Dr. Michael Deis, Student Advisor Michelle Terrell and Associate Professor of Management Dr. Michael Tidwell, first journeyed to Kindred Hospital in Midtown Atlanta where Kerkula has been hospitalized since a November 2007 automobile accident. Standing by Kerkula’s beside with this fellow faculty members, Chacko performed the native of Liberia’s graduation ceremony, presenting Kerkula, who has been residing in Jonesboro while attending Clayton State, with a framed diploma.

Later that same day, Chacko joined with Assistant Professors of Business Dr. Nikki Finlay and Dr. Anita Whiting in what was most likely a first for the School of Business, if not the University as a whole. A native of Griffin, the founding president of the Clayton State Marketing Association, and one of the School of Business’ outstanding students, Howard died unexpectedly this past winter. As part of the School’s annual Beta Gamma Sigma induction ceremony, Howard’s father, Steve Howard, was presented with his son’s posthumous diploma – believed to be the first posthumous degree awarded by the University. At the same time, Jonathan Howard was also posthumously inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society in business, management, and administration for AACSB accredited business schools.

A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.