Does anyone know D. Wayne Parker?

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Commencement speaker praises Tech for graduation rates - dtucker




Louisiana Tech awarded degrees to a class of 396 graduates on Saturday.

At Louisiana Tech’s 270th commencement ceremony on Saturday, Tech alum and retired businessman D. Wayne Parker told a fall graduating class numbering 396 to keep on learning.

Parker, retired from Willamette Industries Inc. as vice president of the Southern Building Materials Group, also told the graduates to establish a strong work ethic, be good team players, cultivate trust and integrity, and let their lights shine.

A member of the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System, Parker praised Tech for its record of accomplishments in educating students. “From day one on the state board, I started learning about Tech, that it had one of the highest graduation rates in the nation, right now at 57 percent,” he said.


Anna Holton of Jonesboro collects her diploma from President Dan Reneau.

He cited mention of Tech’s graduation rates in a recent Education Trust report and said Tech has now been asked to participate in a national study of 12 schools with high graduation rates to see how they do it.

He also praised Tech as a leading role model in the state for selective admissions and for its nanotechnology research in the area of medical treatment.

He said Tech’s success had led him to fear the university might become complacent, so much so that he asked for a meeting with Tech President Dan Reneau.

“The whole time I talked he just sat there and smiled and then he reached into his desk and pulled out a copy of university objectives that set forth tremendously high goals,” Parker said. “So I compliment you that no matter how well you do, you always set your sights higher.”

Parker graduated from Tech in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and played football four years. He told graduates that they can feel confident that their Tech education gave them all the tools they need to succeed.

“Your degree will be recognized and respected in your field, and you will be qualified to compete,” he said.

Among the graduates was Mary Jo Thorpe, who was getting a master’s in education with a concentration in teaching blind students. The program in which she participated is part of the College of Education and also of the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness, located on Tech’s campus.

She said she had spent the day trying not to cry.

“I’m just going to miss this program,” she said. “I’m excited to be done, but I’m sad to see something so important to me coming to a close.”

Thorpe, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Atkinson of Woods Cross, Utah, said she would also miss the Louisiana Center for the Blind in Ruston, but was taking away from Tech and from the center a new outlook on her field.

“I have confidence now that I can go out and make a difference in the lives of blind students,” she said.

Another graduate getting her master’s in education was Susan Cline Prado of Ringgold. Her husband, Art, and daughters Isabella, 2, and Olivia, 4, were on hand to watch.

Besides being a mom while going to school through Tech’s Barksdale Program, Susan Prado also worked as a research associate at the Veterans Hospital in Shreveport.

“I tell her she owes me for watching the kids,” Art Prado said. “But in truth I’ll probably watch them about the same amount after this.” Commencement marked the end of Tech's fall quarter. Winter quarter classes begin on Wednesday, Dec. 1.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

If so, ask him if he's seen a list of objectives for the Athletic Dept. and ask him where is the Carr report and Louisiana Tech's corrective action plan?