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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2003

Birmingham-Southern College to present four with honorary degrees

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Birmingham-Southern is presenting four individuals with honorary degrees in May and June in recognition of distinguished careers and service to the college.

Dr. Peter D. Bunting of Birmingham, founder of Bunting Plastic Surgery Clinic and chief of plastic surgery for Montclair Baptist Medical Center, and Mike Warren of Birmingham, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Energen Corp., will receive Honorary Doctor of Laws degrees at the college's commencement ceremonies May 24 in Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of Birmingham, chief judge of the Northern District of Alabama, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree during Commencement, where he also will deliver the keynote address.

Dr. Peter D. Bunting	Mike Warren
U.S. Judge U.W. Clemon	Dr. John Ed Mathison

Dr. John Ed Mathison, senior minister of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree during the United Methodist Church's Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference June 3 in Montgomery.

Bunting, who holds a bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern and a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Alabama, received his surgical training at Harvard Medical School and also is on the plastic surgery staff at UAB. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Birmingham-Southern's Board of Trustees and is a co-chair of Phase II of the college's current 21st Century major gifts campaign.

Clemon, who holds a bachelor's degree from Miles College and a law degree from Columbia University School of Law, also has served as a lawyer and a member of the state Legislature. He has taught civil rights courses at Birmingham-Southern for many years, and, in 2002, the college established the Judge U.W. Clemon Endowed Honors Pre-Law Scholarship to assist deserving minority students who plan to enter law school upon graduation.

Mathison, who holds bachelor's degrees from Huntingdon College and Emory University, a master's from Princeton University, and a doctorate from Emory, has been senior minister at Frazer Memorial for 30 years. Under his leadership, the church has grown from 400 members to more than 7,550 members and has the largest Sunday School attendance for United Methodist churches in the nation. He is a member of the Birmingham-Southern Board of Trustees.

Warren, who holds a bachelor's degree from Auburn University and a law degree from Duke University, also is chairman and CEO of Energen Corp. subsidiaries Alagasco and Energen Resources. He is a member of Birmingham-Southern's Board of Trustees and past chairman of the college's Norton Board of Advisors. In 2001, The Birmingham News named Warren the Alabama CEO of the Year.