Columbus State University honors Georgia NAACP president Edward DuBose as 2010 Dr. John Townsend Achievement Award winner

Columbus State University honored Edward O. DuBose, the three-term president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, with the 2010 Dr. John Townsend Achievement Award.

He was given the award at the annual banquet tonight in the Cunningham Center on main campus. The award is named in honor of John Townsend, the first African American to enroll in Columbus State University.

"I am truly honored and humbled to have been selected for the Townsend Award and, if not for the Image Awards, I would be there," DuBose said from Los Angeles. He is attending the NAACP Image Awards as a member of the association's national board.

The keynote speaker was real estate broker Travis Chambers. Outstanding local high school and CSU students were also recognized.

In 1997, Dubose became the 16th president of the Columbus branch of the NAACP and is credited for rebuilding and reorganizing the local group. Under his leadership, the branch increased its membership by more than 50 percent in eight months, and overcame a five-year, $6,000-plus debt in just six months.

He was reelected to his post three times, and in 2005, became the first person from Columbus to serve a NAACP president at the state level.

DuBose was selected to the NAACP National Board, while he continues to serve on the Columbus Times executive committee and the Columbus Democratic Party Committee. He is also a member of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Urban League of Greater Columbus and the American Civil Liberties Union.

He completed 21 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 1998 as sergeant first class. He also holds a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling and operates Oxygen Mental Health Counseling Services. The company provides in-home counseling to at-risk youth and familites throughout Georgia. He is also a member of Phenix City's Multi-Needs and Multi-Disciplinary committees, comprised of representatives of various agencies in the human services field. His activities in the counseling field extend to memberships with the National Board of Certified Counselors and the Licensed Professional Counselors Association of Georgia.

DuBose is a long-time Columbus resident and he and his wife, Cynthia, have three daughters.

Call Bernard McCrary, 706-568-2273.

This story was originally published February 26, 2010 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Columbus State University honors Georgia NAACP president Edward DuBose as 2010 Dr. John Townsend Achievement Award winner."