George Lowrance Hodge

When George Lowrance Hodge attended Southern Arkansas University (SSC) in 1952, he received a $25 per semester scholarship because he had been the salutatorian of his Lewisville High School graduating class. That small scholarship really helped with school expenses, and he remembers students who did not have assistance and had to work hard in the cafeteria, bookstore or other jobs to earn enough to attend college.

Although he spent only a year at SAU, the tight-knit atmosphere left a positive impression on him. ”SAU gave me an excellent educational foundation and was a bridge between high school and university life. I had excellent instructors,” Lowrance Hodge said.

So, he and his wife, Marilyn Hodge, of Dallas, Texas decided to honor SAU with an endowment for a pre-engineering scholarship. “I knew students who had a hard time paying for their education. If a scholarship can help someone get their engineering degree a little quicker or with less financial stress, then that is what we would like to have it do.”

After leaving SAU, Lowrance Hodge attended the University of Texas on an NROTC scholarship, and after his sophomore year there, served four years on active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy. With the military experience under his belt, he was eligible for the G.I. Bill and finished his undergraduate Industrial Engineering degree at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He later went on to receive his master’s degree from Oklahoma State University.

Lowrance Hodge retired in 1997 as a senior vice president of Mary Kay Inc. in Dallas. Since then he keeps active by volunteering for an organization called the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), a group sponsored by the Small Business Association. This organization provides free counseling to people who are trying to establish or improve a new business.

As for knowing someone as famous as Mary Kay, who made pink Cadillacs synonymous with cosmetics, Lowrance said she definitely lived up to her stellar reputation and had a gift for communicating with people. “She was a super lady, one of those few people that regardless of the circumstances, made you feel as though you were the most important person in the world to her.”

Albemarle Lecture March 10

MAGNOLIA—-The Southern Arkansas University college of education, in conjunction with Albemarle Corporation, will present the lecture “Education and Democracy” at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 10 in Foundation Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center.

The key note speaker of the night is Dr. George Wood, director of the Forum for Education and Democracy. Over the course of his 30-year career in education, Wood has worked as a social studies teacher in Michigan and a professor of education at Ohio University. He currently serves at the principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, where he has been for the past 14 years.

Throughout his career, Wood has written many articles about the role of education in democracy. He is also editor and a contributor of the book “Many Children Left Behind,” (Beacon, 2004).

During Woods’ tenure as principal, Federal Hocking High School, a rural school in Appalachian Ohio, has received several awards such as an Ohio’s Best award for the school’s internship program, and being chosen as one of the first five Coalition of Essential Schools “mentor schools” through the work of the Gates Foundation.

Other speakers for the night include Dr. David Rankin, president of SAU, Dr. Ruby Burgess, dean of the college of education at SAU and Joe Bossier, plant manager of Albemarle Corporation.

Albemarle Corporation has helped sponsor this event through a lectureship endowment made possible by its work producing specialty chemicals, transportation, industrial, agricultural and pharmaceutical products, and construction and packaging materials.