SAU to honor six alumni members at awards dinner
The Southern Arkansas University Alumni Association will honor six alumni members Thursday during the Dinner of Distinction awards ceremony.
The event will be held at
6 p.m. in the SAU Reynolds Center Grand Hall.
Honorees include Clyde “Ed” Baxter Jr., Lt. Col. Carl Callaway Keese (posthumously), Michael Kinard, Pushkar Rao, Dr. Rodney Griffin and J.W. Rowe.
Kinard, of Magnolia, Ark., will be presented the Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a native of Waldo, Ark., and received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Southern State College and the University of Arkansas. He served as deputy prosecuting attorney for Columbia County from 1966 to 1973, and as prosecuting attorney for the 13th Judicial District from 1977 to 1980.
Kinard served in the
Arkansas State Senate from 1987 to 1990 and as a special justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1992. He recently completed a two-year term on the Arkansas Court of Appeals and is a founding partner of the Magnolia, Ark., law firm of Kinard, Crane, Butler & Phillips.
Baxter, of League City, Texas, and Griffin, of Magnolia, will be presented with the Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Baxter received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from SAU. He has spend more than 40 years in the area of chemical research, and is the lead inventor on 22 patents and more than 100 corresponding foreign patents. He also developed technology which is the basis for the yearly production of more than 500,000 pounds of high-value polymer products on the Texas Gulf Coast.
He served as the technical director for Soltex, Inc. and the senior vice president for technology for Envirofuels LP, both in Houston. Baxter also received the 2015 Presidential Green Chemistry Award at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Griffin attended Southern State College from 1962 to 1965 and earned a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Arkansas and a medical degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. He served as campus physician at SAU and currently serves on the Arkansas Medical Board. Griffin has served as chief of staff at Magnolia Hospital and on the board of the American Cancer Society, Abilities Unlimited and the Chamber of Commerce.
Griffin also served as a fellow diplomat in the American Academy of Family Physicians and is a recipient of Magnolia Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow Award. He is a deacon at Central Baptist Church and creates stained-glass windows for churches and homes in Texas and Arkansas.
The Distinguished Golden Mulerider Award will be given to Rowe, a Waldo native, and the late Lt. Col. Keese.
Rowe earned a bachelor of science degree from Southern State College in 1954. He served as director of Red River Vo-Tech, the training director of vocational education for El Dorado COOP and assistant director of Pines Vo-Tech. He is also past-president of the Vo-Tech Directors Association. Rowe also served in the U.S. Navy, on the Southern State Alumni Board and the SAU Foundation Board.
Rowe has been active in the Civitan Club in El Dorado, Pine Bluff and Hope, the Boy Scouts of America, Columbia County Community Foundation and is an active member of the First Baptist Church of Hope. He has been named Outstanding Young Man of the Year by the El Dorado Jaycees, served as past-president of the Hope-Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce and Hempstead County Industrial and Economic Foundation, and has participated in mission trips to Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru.
Keese attended Southern
State College on a football scholarship and earned a bachelor’s degree in education. He then volunteered for the U.S. Army and later graduated from Officer Candidate School as the Outstanding Cadet of the Year. His first assignment was at West Point, where he taught for three years, and was then assigned to Korea.
During his service, Keese was ordered to recruit and coach an Army football team to beat the Navy team, which it did. He completed a master’s degree in Kansas while serving as the commanding officer at Fort Leavenworth. Following his retirement, he worked with the Shriners as a Master Mason and also competed in national shooting competitions.
Keese was also active in veterans’ research programs at the VA Hospital in Waco, Texas, where he participated in programs for post-traumatic stress disorder and the effects of Agent Orange. He later died of cancer traced to the pesticide, and although his children arranged for him to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, it was his wish to be buried in a small cemetery near Comanche, Texas.
Pushkar Rao of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, graduated from SAU in 2000 with a bachelor of science degree in math and computer science. He attended the school on a presidential academic scholarship worth $40,000 and graduated magna cum laude.
Rao is an advisor on strategic planning and development and serves on the board of directors of Canadian Heavy Oil Association. He has led and executed projects for Sunjet Aviation, and served as vice-president of business development and corporate development for TG Engineering, Inc. He is also co-founder of True Site View, Inc., a geospatial technology company in the oil and gas industry.
Alumni and friends are invited to attend. RSVP by calling the SAU Alumni Office at 870-2354079 or toll-free at 800-797-1986.