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History::Deans
Buildings | Deans | Firsts of the College | Tech Engineer Magazine
Frank Bogard
Frank Bogard was born on October 16, 1882 in Golden Pong, Trigg County, Kentucky. He spent his youth on his father's tobacco plantation in this region where he was educated in the schools of Golden Pond and Cadiz, Kentucky. He attained a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky in 1906 and later received the Professional Mechanical Engineer degree from the same institution.
Frank Bogard's professional career blossomed after h is graduation for the University of Kentucky. His first job was with the railroad working on a dynamometer-testing car, which allowed him to travel through most of the states. In 1907, Bogard went to Clemson College, South Carolina, where he served as a faculty member for three years. In 1910, J.E. Keeny, the President of the Louisiana Industrial Institute, went to Clemson to interview Bogard, and hired him as head of the engineering program. He served as Dean of Engineering from 1910 to 1918 and again from 1923 until his death on August 16, 1937. In the interim period of 1918 to 1923 he was in business with W.H. Cook Company in Ruston, an agency that handled Dodge cars.
Frank Bogard worked diligently and successfully at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute (changed from Louisiana Industrial Institute in 1921) to build and expand the engineering school. The two-year course was improved and expanded to a four-year program during his tenure as Dean. Degree-granting curricula was broadened to include General Engineering, Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineering. Frank Bogard was not only a powerful contributor to the advancement of the engineering program at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, but also an enthusiastic and well-loved teacher. University President E.S. Richardson wrote that Frank Bogard was "a teacher who not only taught subject matter skillfully, but endangered in his boys a spirit that has made them successful citizens." He was perhaps most well known for his relentless efforts to develop personal friendships with his students. One of his greatest interests was concerned with the students and their welfare, and the placement of them in various industries throughout the nation. This genuine concern for his graduates did not end as they departed from the University to pursue their careers. Bogard developed a cumulative record system by which he kept in touch with engineering students after graduation, and it can be safely said that at the time of his death, he had definite information concerning 90% of his graduates. During his years as Dean of Engineering, the reputation of Louisiana Tech and its graduates grew steadily, and at times rapidly, and the companies which employed the graduates often expressed their pleasure about having employed capable and well-trained young men from this school.
Bogard Hall, Louisiana Tech engineering building was constructed in 1940 in his honor and is both a tribute and a credit to his work. Louisiana Tech is truly indebted to Frank Bogard for his hard work, dedication, and concern for the well-being and promotion of both his students and the University where he worked. President E.S. Richardson reflected on the loss of such a "Master Teacher" in his "Tribute to the Memory of Dean Frank Bogard" which states, "Mr. Bogard is gone but his Spirit lives, not only in the campus of Louisiana Tech, but in the successful lives of hundreds of young men everywhere."
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