By A.J. KING

ajk012@latech.edu

 

Tech’s 38th annual Alumni Awards Luncheon honored the accomplishments of Tech’s most outstanding alumni at noon Oct. 12 in the Student Center, Main Floor.

An Alumnus of the Year, Young Alumnus of the Year and alumni from each college were honored.

The distinguished alumni are chosen by the dean and a special committee from each college.

Tech President Dan Reneau awarded the Alumnus of the Year. Reneau said how much the alumni mean to the university because the alumni help make professorships and eminent scholar chairs, among other opportunities of learning, available to students.

“[The alumni] have an impact on the future of the university and the halls of the red and blue,” Reneau said.

Reneau also said that the efforts of the Alumni Association have raised $12 million for university funding this year.

The Alumnus of the Year award was presented to John D. Caruthers, president of the seven-state Interstate 69 Mid-Continent Highway Coalition and graduate of ‘50.

He expressed his thanks by describing what his alma mater meant to him and said that alma mater is defined as “fostering mother.”

“The university had met all of my needs,” Caruthers said of his mothering school. This is the reason Caruthers said he is motivated to work toward the betterment of the university.

“I just want to pay back as much as I’ve gotten,” Caruthers said.

Caruthers is active within the Tech community as a privileged director of Tech’s Alumni Foundation as well as one of the incorporating members and first president of the alumni foundation.

Dr. Brandon L. Phillips, the Young Alumnus of the Year and 2000 graduate of chemistry, expressed his gratitude when he was presented with the honor.

“I look back on the time I spent at Tech with much fondness,” Phillips said.

The distinguished alumni awards were given to Rufus Estis, ’73 alumnus of the College of Administration and Business; Bobby J. Neill, ’58 alumnus of the College of Applied and Natural Science;

Jason C. Owen, ’47 alumnus of the College of Education; Robert W. Upchurch, ’62 alumnus of the College Engineering and Science; and Karen W. Gordon, ’86 alumna of the College of Liberal Arts.