As a student, faculty member and administrator, Dr. Janna Vice has spent more than 40 years on the EKU campus.
Now future generations of students will learn of her impact on the University every time they enter the Business and Technology Center.
At a retirement reception honoring the outgoing provost and vice president for academic affairs on Friday, May 6, EKU Board of Regents Chair Craig Turner announced that the BTC atrium will soon bear Vice’s name.
Hundreds showed up on a beautiful Derby Eve in the lobby of the adjacent EKU Center for the Arts to thank Vice for her service. The number included current and past colleagues, students and alumni, retired faculty members who mentored Vice as a young student fresh from rural southeastern Kentucky, and others. Vice also received a watercolor painting of the Business and Technology Center by the late Ron Taylor.
The honor came just two days after Vice received the Susan Baldwin Smith Endurance Award from Baptist Health Richmond. Also, at the recent Noel Studio Appreciation Night, it was announced that the Dr. Janna Vice Award for Student Scholarship would be awarded to a Studio staff member who exemplifies a commitment to advancing academic excellence through scholarly and creative endeavors.
Vice will remain in the office until a new provost arrives. She acknowledged that she’s staying beyond her original planned retirement date because of her love for Eastern and because of her “utmost faith” in President Benson.
In his remarks, Benson cited “four things I love about Janna”:
· Her demeanor: “She’s unfailingly pleasant. I never met a more pleasant, agreeable person than Janna Vice.”
· Her ability to wield a “velvet hammer. When it comes to making a tough decision, Janna will step up and do it.”
· Her love for EKU. “A lot of football players have said Janna was like a second mother to them. If it hadn’t been for Janna, many would not have stayed.”
· Her priorities, centered on family. “She always puts first things first.”