Judson “Bud” M. Grant, Jr. personifies what it means to be a neighbor, friend and entrepreneur. He was born and raised in Bangor and loved the family farm that because the university campus. Grant has been a lifelong entrepreneur, from peddling vegetables and eggs in the Great Depression to mobile homes, furniture, restaurant, shopping malls and real estate. Today, he owns or has sold the lots for 800 mobile and traditional homes in Bangor. He is a family man and a man of faith, whose generosity is as private as it is kind. He is a role model as an entrepreneur. From his early days on Husson’s Hillman Farm campus to his gifts of landscaping and scholarships, to his life-long counsel to five Husson presidents, Grant has honored Husson University.

Arthur D. Fuller, ’66, received his Bachelor’s Degree in accounting in 1966 and an Honorary Doctoral degree in Business Administration in 2003 from Husson. A Rumford native, he joined Husson’s Board of Trustees in 1996 and was elected vice chair of the board in 2003 and chair in 2006. Upon graduation from Husson, he began his career at International Paper Co. in New York and Great Northern Paper Co. in Millinocket in 1970. At the time of his retirement in 2006, he held the title of president of Bowater Newsprint and executive vice president of Bowater, Inc., the largest newsprint producer in the US. Fuller is a man of singular devotion to higher education and the state of Maine. While immersed in his career, he raised a family and gave back, in equal measure, to his family, college, community, and friends.

James E. Miller, ’71, received his Bachelor’s Degree in business administration and finance from Husson in 1971. Living in Belfast, he has worked at Wooden Boat Publications for 25 years and has been president and general manager for the last 10 years. Throughout those years, he devoted himself to community service including Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the Belfast YMCA, where he co-chaired a capital campaign, as well as 15 years on the board of the Belfast Co-Op serving as treasurer. He is a supporter of the United Way, sitting on the UW’s Children and Families Council for the past three years. He recently was appointed to the board of directors of the United Way of Eastern Maine.

Stephanie Laite Lanham, ’03, received her advanced degree in nursing from Husson in 2003, however her career began in 1976 as a new registered nurse traveling and performing with Up with People. Her specialty focus in trauma began early with intensive care nursing including many years at Eastern Maine Medical Center while she and husband Sam raised three sons, Samuel, Andrew and John. When Stephanie moved to Acadia Hospital 16 years ago, her specialties developed in adolescent psychology, polysubstance abuse and post trauma. While in graduate school at Husson, she wrote “Veterans and Families’ Guide to Recovering from PTSD,” now in its fourth edition with 600,000 copies in circulation. Education is very important to her and she plans to keep writing, lecturing, teaching, treating patients, and “getting the word out” that having experienced trauma doesn’t mean you have to keep suffering.

Bruce A. Granger, ’90, received his Bachelor’s Degree in business administration and marketing in 1990. His career has spanned almost 19 years in technology sales and executive management throughout the world including Brazil, Australia, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. Today, he is vice president of Oracle Corp. overseeing the Communications Global Business Unit’s Americas Region that encompasses everything from Canada to Chile — $200 million a year operation. He is charged with advancing Oracle’s platforms approach to the market, customer success, as well as growing the customer base across more than twenty countries around the world. He and his wife Cyndy, whom he met at Husson, have three children and reside in Charlotte, N.C.

Dennis B. Mitchell, ’84, received his Master’s in business from Husson College in 1984. He is a senior vice president with Ledyard Financial Advisors, a division of Ledyard National Bank, with overall responsibility for business development for Ledyard Financial Advisors. Dennis has over 20 years of business development experience. He previously served as senior vice president for Sales & Marketing in the New England market at Northern Trust in Boston. Mitchell was the northwest region president for Northern Trust in Seattle, Wash., and also served as the northern California president based in San Francisco. He began his banking career at Peoples Heritage Bank in Portland, Maine, and also spent time at Key Bank there as their trust and investment sales manager. He and his wife, Linda Mitchell, reside in Lebanon, N. H.

Sports Hall of Fame Inductees 2008

Jay J. Durfee, ’96, ’98, (golf) earned his first degree in business in 1996 and his second in teacher education in 1998. His induction into our Sports Hall of Fame is in recognition of his distinguished career in professional golf and ice hockey. Durfee entered the PGA in 1998 and has spent the past decade in a variety of official capacities that have taken him from first assistant pro at the Waterville Country Club for seven years to founder of the Northeast College Golf Combine in 2009. Over those years, he has taught golf management at Thomas College in Waterville, was first assistant pro at Cohasset, Mass., Country Club and Cape Neddick Country Club while directing Harmon, Mass., Golf Club junior golf and development programs. Durfee also refereed for USA Ice Hockey at state, regional and national championships six years in a row. In 2007, he was selected to referee for the Division One NCAA Men’s Nationals Ice Hockey Championship. Recently married, Jay and his wife, Alicia Arnold, live in Weymouth, Mass.

Bryan E. Jefferson, ‘96 (basketball) Since his graduation from Husson with a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration and sports management, Jefferson has worked his way up the corporate ladder in the Washington, D.C. area from positions with Freddie Mac, U.S. Department of Education and Enterprise-Rent-A-Car to his present job as a marketing consultant at AARP, where he plays an integral role in developing sponsorships for the Annual Life@50+ National Convention. In 2003, he started his own business, Clean Sweep Cleaning Services, LLC. Throughout his career, he has maintained his connection with sports including his tenure as the teen program director for the Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission. In 2004, he teamed up with Husson backcourt mate and alumni Xavier Joyer as an assistant basketball coach at Montgomery College in Germantown, Md. Currently, Jefferson is pursuing an opportunity to begin an after-school basketball academy in the D.C. Public School System.

Amy Dyer Kelley ‘95 (basketball) graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration and sports management. She is the varsity girls basketball coach at Searsport District High School. She also coached at the Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast from 2004-2006 where the team of eighth-grade girls won the sportsmanship award and the Busline League championship. Her awards include the Most Improved Player for Husson basketball in 1994, captain of Husson varsity basketball in 1995 and captain of the school’s varsity softball team in 1995. While playing basketball at Husson, she was ninth in total career games and fifth in career field-goal percentages. “There were many nights when Amy would go to school, practice and then drive home to Belfast to work an all-night [job] just to get up and do it all over again,” Husson coach Kissy Walker has commented. “In my opinion, Amy has all the qualities of a Hall-of-Fame member.”

Alexander “Sandy” McCuaig ’98 (baseball). After graduating from Husson with a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration and sports management, McCuaig accepted a position with Olympia Sports in Nashua, N. H., as a member of their management trainee program. In 2001, he decided to make a career change and began work at Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, N.H. in the area of accounting for mutual funds. Today, he is a unit manager in trade operations responsible for a team that performs trade settlements, trade revisions, allocations and collateral management in support of the fixed income trading desk. Throughout the years leading up to his 1998 graduation from Husson, McCuaig’s baseball career included winning the Maine Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year award in 1994, New England Player of the Year in 1997 and being a member of the Husson coaching staff in 1998. His jersey number was retired in 2000.

James E. Murphy ’74 (coaching) has been involved in coaching and the business side of athletics all his life. He has been teaching business education at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill since his graduation from Husson with a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration. Murphy became GSA’s athletic administrator in 1984. He established new programs in sailing, track, wrestling, tennis, golf and swimming while adding subvarsity teams in softball, soccer, basketball, tennis and golf. As co-founder and director of the Blue Hill Activities Group in the town where his wife, Linda, and he brought up three children, he has become very much a part that community. In his own words, “My plate is always full, as is most of my peers. Teaching class each day certainly guarantees that, but I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish at George Stevens Academy. I really don’t consider any of my personal accomplishments as outstanding, but, rather, as opportunities and challenges that I have been given to help make our community a better place to live, our school a better place to learn, and our conference a better league to compete.”