NEWS

Louisiana Tech University added 245 graduates to the all-time total of over 117,000 alumni on Saturday during a brisk but buoyant commencement ceremony in the Thomas Assembly Center on campus.

Lee Kinnebrew, IV, a 1992 Louisiana Tech graduate and a full-time captain for Southwest Airlines, delivered the ceremony’s keynote address. Kinnebrew holds a bachelor’s degree in professional aviation and a minor in flight engineering from Tech, and he was recognized by the Alumni Association as the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in the College of Liberal Arts in 2023. He received Southwest Airlines’ Presidents Award in 2013 and 2021. Kinnebrew was a key piece of the establishment of Destination 225 at Louisiana Tech, a partnership with Southwest that provides the University’s aviation graduates a direct path to careers with the company.

“By earning a diploma from Louisiana Tech, you’ve proven that you can put your mind to a large, complicated task and see it through to the end,” Kinnebrew said during his address. “Remember when you walk out of here today that your education at Louisiana Tech has prepared you to go out into the world and change it in only ways that you can imagine.”

Borrowing words from author Patrick Lencioni, he advised the graduates to “be humble, be hungry, and be smart,” and he encouraged the students to approach their careers with patience, confidence, and humility.

“I firmly believe that a lifetime of great achievements starts with a first good deed,” he said. “I look forward to seeing what yours might be.”

This summer commencement ceremony, often the smallest annually in number of graduates, notably produced 13 doctors, the most since Spring 2023 commencement. Ten of those doctoral candidates were able to receive their hoods on stage.