VALDOSTA – Valdosta State University has officially opened the Shannon Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Back in September 2021, VSU President Dr. Richard Carvajal, announced the Robert L. Shannon Center will “allow all students to know the impact he made on Valdosta State.”

During, VSU’s Black History Month celebration, the open house was held with refreshments and a tour of the new center on Tuesday, Feb. 8.

Sandra Y.G. Jones, director of student diversity and inclusion said, “This is a space for our students. Now that we are officially open student diversity and inclusion will be housed here.”

The space offers comfortable lounge furniture, desk areas and a quiet room.

Jones said, this semester the Shannon Center will be holding office hours for professors that “represent different identities.”

In the future, there will be an effort for student office hours for peer to peer mentorship.

Major General Robert L. Shannon graduated from Valdosta State with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He was the first African-American student to serve as comptroller for the Student Government Association; he was elected president the following year. He also served as president of the Kappa Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. In 1980 he led the student effort to start a football program. 

Upon graduation Shannon was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force through Valdosta State’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corp Detachment 172. He served on active duty for seven years; he then transferred to the Air National Guard to attend law school, graduating with a Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia in 1991. 

Shannon is a national trial lawyer representing Fortune 100 companies in high exposure matters throughout the U.S. Shannon is a senior shareholder in the Atlanta office of Baker Donelson, the 64th largest firm in the country.

The Shannon Center is housed on the third floor of VSU’s Student Union, where the diversity and inclusion office is currently located.