Feature Stories
Deborah L. Clanton, '76
The Honorable Deborah L. Clanton has over 31 years of
experience in the corrections field. She currently serves in a dual
capacity as magistrate and director of probation services for the
62nd B District Court of Kentwood, MI. She was sworn in as the
city’s first-ever magistrate in 1992, and was the first African
American magistrate appointed in the Greater Grand Rapids Area.
She began her distinguished career in 1977 as a correction
officer with the Michigan Training Unit in Ionia, MI. She worked for
four years as a correction officer and counselor at the Georgia
Women’s Correction Institution in Hardiman, GA, prior to her 20 year
tenure with the Kentwood District Court. She has held teaching
appointments at Grand Rapids Community College and the Atlanta Youth
Development Center.
Clanton, who earned a bachelor of
science in criminal justice from Grand Valley State University in
1976, and a master’s of public administration from Western Michigan
University in 1992, is dedicated to the pursuit of justice and
equality for all individuals and serves as a significant role model
for many within her profession.
She is a dedicated community
activist and was instrumental in bringing the issue of HIV/AIDS to the
forefront of the Grand Rapids community. She has served as
past-president of the African American AIDS Coalition and the Grand
Rapids Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, for which she
started the HIV/AIDS Speakers Bureau.
In 2001, she received
the WOOD TV8 Unsung Heroes Award for her work related to HIV/AIDS in
the Grand Rapids area, and in 2005, was honored with the Giant’s Floyd
Skinner Justice Award for her accomplishments in the Criminal Justice
arena.
Clanton currently volunteers as a youth tutor and
Sunday school teacher for the Messiah Missionary Baptist Church and
has served on a host of community and non-profit boards, including the
GVSU Alumni Association Board of Directors and as co-chair of the GVSU
Annual Giving Committee. She is a member of the Michigan Association
of District Court Magistrates and of the Michigan Association of
District Court Probation Officers.
Deborah and her husband
Richard currently reside in Kentwood.
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