Lt. Gen. Vaughn to deliver commencement speech

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., - Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, retired director of the Army National Guard of the United States and a 1968 graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, will deliver the ir upcoming commencement address.

Southeast Missouri State University will hold winter commencement exercises at 2 p.m. Dec. 17 in the Show Me Center during which 656 students--543 undergraduates and 113 graduate students will receive degrees.

Among the undergraduate students honored at the Honors Convocation, 24 students will graduate summa cum laude, 27 will graduate magna cum laude and 76 will graduate cum laude. The required undergraduate grade point average for graduating summa cum laude is 3.9 to 4.0. Students graduating magna cum laude must earn a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 to 3.89. Students graduating cum laude must earn a grade point average of 3.5 to 3.74.

The commencement speaker, Vaughn, retired as the director of the Army National Guard in July 2009 after nearly 40 years of service to the Guard and the U.S. Army. As director of the Army National Guard -- a force of over 350,000 Soldiers in the 54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia -- Vaughn guided the formulation, development and implementation of all programs and policies affecting the Army Guard. He built an innovative and highly successful recruiting program; undertook the changes necessary to raise Army National Guard combat readiness levels to all time highs; enabled the Army National Guard to meet all wartime and deployment requirements, deploying more than 300,000 soldiers; guided the deployment of Army National Guard soldiers to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Southwest Border; and developed several innovative programs such as the Afghanistan Agriculture Development Teams.

Among the unique approaches to the challenge of recruiting 70,000 new soldiers a year were establishing a National Guard High School Academy in Indiana, and a GED institution in Arkansas. These schools were for nationwide, high potential, high school dropouts who desired to join the Army National Guard and serve their country.

Vaughn was commissioned through the Missouri National Guard Officer Candidate School program in 1974 and served in a wide variety of command and staff positions as a traditional Guardsman and on active duty. He also served extensively in Central and South America on several deployed task forces.

His general officer assignments were as deputy director of operations, Readiness, and mobilization and deputy director of military support under the G3 of the U.S. Army, deputy director of the Army National Guard, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for National Guard Matters, and director of the Army National Guard from June 2005 to July 2009.

Vaughn has received the Army Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit with four Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters. In 2006, he was honored with the Alumni Merit Award by Southeast Missouri State University. In 2010 he was awarded the McLain Medal by the Association of the U.S. Army, which is awarded to one Army National Guard Soldier each year.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Southeast Missouri State University and a Master of Public Administration from Shippensburg (Pa.) University. His professional military education includes the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

Vaughn grew up in Dexter, Mo. He met and married Carol Westrich of Cape Girardeau while attending Southeast. They have two children, Kristi and Chad, and four grandchildren. Vaughn and Carol, his wife of 44 years, currently reside in Winchester, Va.