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NAA Honors Embry-Riddle’s Tom Connolly with Elder Statesman of Aviation Award

Dr. Thomas Connolly and Wesley McDonald Daytona Beach, Fla., Nov. 24, 2009 -- The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) has honored Thomas Connolly, professor of aeronautical science and presidential endowed chair of aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with its Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman of Aviation Award.

The award honors outstanding Americans 60 and older who have made contributions of significant value to aeronautics.

Connolly has spent more than 36 years dedicated to the education, training, and advancement of thousands of aviation professionals at Embry-Riddle. Since joining the faculty in 1973, he has served as chair of the Aviation Education Design Department, chair of the Flight Department, chair of the Aeronautical Science Department, dean of the School of Aviation, and interim chancellor of the Daytona Beach campus. In 2001, he was appointed the university’s first endowed chair in aviation and in 2005 chancellor of Daytona Beach campus.

Connolly is past president of the University Aviation Association (UAA) and the Florida Association of Aerospace Education. He has chaired a number of visitation teams for the Council on Aviation Accreditation (CAA). He has served as an elected trustee of CAA, UAA, and Women in Aviation International. He was national winner of the FAA Administrator’s Championship Award for Excellence in Aviation Education and a recipient of the National Congress on Aviation and Aerospace Education Crown Circle Award, NAA’s Brewer Trophy, and the United Airlines/UAA Wheatley Award for outstanding contributions to aviation education.

Connolly has a doctorate in technical training and has completed post-graduate fellowships with the U.S. Air Force Human Resources Lab and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has published numerous articles on aviation education and served as an international visiting professor in aviation at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand.

Connolly’s flying career began with Naval Flight Training in 1963. After six years of active duty as a Naval aviator, he transferred to the Naval Air Reserve. He retired from the Ready Reserve in 1985 at the rank of commander.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 170 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.