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THE TSU CoETCS 'MIGHTY 100' PROFILE OF EXCELLENCE George Davis, Jr. In 1958 George’s father, the late Dr. George L. Davis, Sr., was hired by legendary Tennessee A&I State University President Dr. Walter S. Davis (no relation) as a professor in the University’s History and Political Science Department. Through his teaching mission as well as his other multifaceted duties during his tenure at the University – such as acting as long-time Faculty Senate President, serving multiple stints as head of TSU’s History and Political Science Departments, and being counselor/consigliere to protesting TSU students during the 1960s Civil Rights struggle, among others – Dr. George L. Davis, Sr. proved to be an integral part of the fabric that made up A&I and TSU, even beyond his retirement in 1986 and up until his death in 1995. Although George Jr. could say he first started at Tennessee State in 1960, shortly after his dad’s arrival in Nashville – in the old TSU Nursery School (then located in the Womens’ Building) that is! – he actually matriculated into TSU’s School of Engineering and Technology after his high school graduation in 1975 under the auspices of a United States Navy educational program designed to develop minority engineers. Over the next six years – between compiling 100 man-weeks of co-operative hands-on experience with various shipboard weapons systems at the Naval Ship Weapons Systems Engineering Station in Port Hueneme, California, becoming a proud member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (TSU’s Zeta Alpha Chapter) in 1978, and deep involvement in the TSU Student Government Association during the post-civil rights/TSU-UT Nashville merger days (including an unsuccessful run for TSU SGA President in 1979) – George successfully earned his Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering, in 1981. After graduation from TSU, in July 1981 George began his professional career as a Member of the Technical Staff with the Electro-Optical and Data Systems Group (EDSG) of Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California. Upon arriving at Hughes George worked on various programs of the Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative – SDI, or more familiarly, “Star Wars” – before moving to Hughes’ Trident missile guidance system production program in 1985. George began his association with Trident guidance systems by providing MK5/MK6 production support and MK6 test system design, until in 1989 he was placed on a team of Hughes engineers who were tasked to work with the primary Trident guidance system design contractor, Charles Stark Draper Laboratories (CSDL) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the MK6A redesign of the Trident guidance system. In this effort George designed, and oversaw the prototype production and test of, many of the circuits ultimately used in the MK6A design. In addition, during 1990-92 George acted as one of only two resident/on-site Hughes engineers at CSDL’s Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters. In 1992, George was presented Hughes EDSG’s Superior Performer Award. In 1993, after having attained the title of Senior Staff Engineer/Scientist at Hughes Aircraft, George left Hughes and returned to Tennessee to take the position of Design Engineer at the Center for Telecommunication and Video (CTV) on the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee. By 1995, George had become CTV’s Assistant Director for Engineering, overseeing a technical support staff for the University’s varied television/video programs and interests such as (among others) closed-circuit dormitory security, assorted UT Athletic Department sports television/video support, cable television distribution for the Knoxville campus, and the development, procurement, and maintenance of all the University’s professional broadcast equipment. (In this position, George was also the party of primary responsibility for literally millions of dollars of the University’s video and television technology assets.) During his nine-year stint at UT, George was also instrumental in the conception and development of the UT EdNet system, UT’s private statewide teleconferencing and distance learning network; in fact, George was awarded a UT Vice Presidential Citation in 1996 for his efforts in the development of EdNet. Because of his expertise in this field, in 1999 George was given the additional duties of the (acting) inaugural Director of the University’s newly-formed Statewide Networking Services, a UT system-level department tasked with both the growth and tactical operation of UT EdNet, and also the negotiation of any digital connectivity to and from all five statewide University campuses as well as every other satellite University location, duties he successfully executed until his departure from the University. In 2002 George amicably resigned his dual positions at UT, and since that time he has once again been based in Southern California where he and his wife of 25 years, Clinese, own and operate Ultimate Progress Incorporated, a company which provides residential and vocational services to the area’s developmentally disabled population. George and Clinese are also the proud parents of two exceptional children, George III, 19, a sophomore at Moorpark (CA) College, and Claudette, 16, a junior at Viewpoint High School in Calabasas, California. George credits an abiding faith in God, the love of his family, and the deep and powerful influence that Tennessee State University and its people – particularly the faculty, staff, and fellow students of the School of Engineering – for the wherewithal and guidance that has gotten him to where and what he is today. He has always been, and will forevermore be, a Tennessee State Tiger … and he’s immensely proud of it! e-mail: gdavis@ultimateprogress.com
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George L. Davis, Jr. – a.k.a. “George Duke” – is a native of Nashville and a graduate of Father Ryan High School, and has maintained very close ties to Tennessee State University literally throughout all his life. 
