JACKSON GRADUATE RECEIVES MENTORSHIP AWARD

Laura McClary Avakian, a graduate of Jackson High School, has been selected to receive the Paul Guy Mentorship Award from the American Society Human Resources Administration.

She is one of five nationally to receive this award. This will be the first time this honor will be given. It is to be presented at today's opening ceremonies of the group's conference in Chicago.

Avakian is senior vice president and director of human resources at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

In 1996, Avakian was the recipient of the SHRM Award for professional excellence and true leadership of large organizations. At the time she was a senior vice president of the Harvard Care Group, teaching hospitals for the Harvard Medical School in Cambridge.

The daughter of Elizabeth and the late Edward McClary of Jackson, and wife of Stephen Avakian of Boston, she is a graduate of Jackson High School, the University of Missouri and Northwestern University.