TECH RECEIVES DONATION FOR ITS FIRST 'SUPER CHAIR'
BYLINE: US States News
DATELINE: RUSTON, La.
Louisiana Tech University issued the following news release:
Louisiana Tech officials have announced the creation of the university's first $2 million "super chair" - the Herman A. "Dusty" Rhodes Endowed Chair in Engineering.
Laura Opal Wilkins Rhodes of Houston officially presented the endowment to Tech President Dan Reneau during dedication ceremonies Friday for the school's new biomedical engineering building.
Mrs. Rhodes, 96, is the widow of Herman Rhodes, a 1934 Tech engineering graduate. He had a distinguished career in the oil and gas pipeline industry and pioneered the use of microwave communication in that field. "Dusty" Rhodes died in Houston in 1999.
Mrs. Rhodes attended the University of Texas and graduated from the University of Houston. The couple had two children, both deceased: Herman A. Rhodes Jr. and Paul Stanley Rhodes.
The endowed chair is established under the Louisiana Board of Regents' Endowed Chair and Professorship Program funded by the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund. Private donations (60 percent) are matched by the LEQSF funds (40 percent) to create permanent endowments. The income from those endowments provides funding to attract and maintain superior research and teaching faculty.
Tech's 11 previous endowed chairs were all funded with $1 million.