Alabama Power employee honored as Outstanding Alumni Volunteer by the University of Alabama College of Engineering
Alabama Power Engineering Supervisor J. Gaston Large III is committed to serving customers from his base in Haleyville. But his accomplishments and dedication to service have been recognized farther afield.
Large was recently honored as the 2020-2021 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer by the University of Alabama (UA) College of Engineering. The college has given the annual award since 1995.
J. Gaston Large III. (University of Alabama)
In an announcement about the award, college officials praised Large for demonstrating “consistent loyalty” to the institution. Since 2004, he has served on the Capstone Engineering Society (CES) board of directors and in March 2021 was voted chair-elect. In 2019, he chaired the annual CES Golf Tournament.
Recently, Large served on the dean’s ad hoc committee that developed a strategy for increasing enrollment and retention of underrepresented populations in the College of Engineering. Large is also an alumni mentor in the Mentor UPP: Undergraduate Professional Partnering program and participates in CES networking receptions.
Large has spent his entire professional career with Alabama Power. Since March 2019, he has worked as distribution engineering supervisor in Haleyville, where he manages operations including system improvements, installations, reliability, engineering and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers crew personnel. He also dispatches crews and evaluators during storm restoration.
J. Gaston Large III speaks at an awards ceremony at the University of Alabama. (contributed)
Prior to his role in Haleyville, Large worked in Tuscaloosa as a distribution support engineering supervisor, senior engineer, project engineer and distribution engineer. He joined the company in 2004.
Large received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2003 with a concentration in computer engineering and minors in criminal justice and computer science. In 2008, he received an executive MBA from Auburn University with a concentration in technology and supply chain management. He also holds a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Large is active in the nonprofit mentoring and tutoring organization LevelUp 205, an industry adviser for the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program at UA, board member for YMCA Tuscaloosa, advisory council member for YMCA Benjamin Barnes Branch and past mentor at Tuscaloosa’s Central High School for Learning Engineering Applications and Principles. He also serves on the Business Office Management and Technology Technical Advisory Committee at Shelton State Community College.
Large is a 2015 Leadership Tuscaloosa graduate and a 2018 Alabama Power Company Leadership Development Program graduate. He is a past chapter president of the National Society of Black Engineers and served as an Ambassador to the College of Engineering while at UA. He was named the 2016 Omega Man of the Year from the Alpha Tau chapter of Omega Psi Phi, and the UA National Alumni Association named him an Outstanding Alumni Association Recipient in 2004.
An Oneonta native, Large and his wife, Khristy, live in Haleyville with their daughters, Ava and Addison.