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Trio receives College of Charleston honors  The Medical University was well represented at recent events at its sister institution, the College of Charleston. James B. Edwards, DMD, president-emeritus of MUSC, was the speaker for the University of Charleston commencement exercises. Edwards, a 1950 graduate of the College of Charleston, received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony.  Gordan B. Stine, DDS, advisor to the dean of the College of Dental Medicine and the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium, was honored at the annual meeting of the College of Charleston Alumni Association. He received the Alumni Award of Honor, the association’s highest award, which signifies outstanding contributions or services to the College of Charleston or to the Alumni Association. Recipients of the award are selected by a vote at the annual meeting. Also at the meeting, Joseph F. Thompson Jr., administrator for the College of Dental Medicine, was elected vice president of the Alumni Association. He is a member of the college’s Board of Trustees and is entering his fourth year on the Executive Board of the Alumni Association.  Thompson’s wife, Laura, was chosen Alumna of the Year for her contributions to the community. She is the author of the children’s book “Joseph’s Charleston Adventure,” which she wrote and illustrated as a fund-raising project for the Junior League of Charleston. To date, proceeds from the sale of the book have raised more than $60,000 for charity. She was made an honorary member of the Junior League for her contribution. Edwards, whose 17-year tenure as MUSC president saw the greatest period of growth in the university’s 176-year history, previously served in President Ronald Reagan’s cabinet as secretary of energy. He also served in the South Carolina Senate and, at the time of his election in 1974, was the first Republican to serve as governor since Reconstruction. Edwards continued his education after the College of Charleston, graduating from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 1955.  He attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and completed a two year residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Following service in the U.S. Navy, in which he rose to the rank of Lt. Cmdr., he opened a private practice in Charleston. Stine, who graduated from the College of Charleston in 1944, has served in a variety of capacities for the institution. He is an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees, past president of the Alumni Association and past president of the Cougar Club. He has chaired his class reunion and his class gift project. A dentist by profession, Stine has been actively involved in community service through many organizations. He also has been active in the dental profession as a practitioner, educator and administrator, and has been honored for his service on numerous occasions. Thompson, in addition to his duties at the College of Dental Medicine, serves on several community boards and belongs to many civic organizations. Laura Thompson, who runs a retail and wholesale business, also teaches art part-time, reads to children in schools, and provides workshops on the writing process to educators, among other activities.