B.S. Civil Engineering 1968 Larry Whaley grew up with a passion for construction and design. As a young boy in Maysville, Ky., he spent hours creating model houses and other imaginative structures with American Plastic Bricks and Erector Sets.
B.S. Mechanical Engineering 1953 Jim McCurry accomplished a career of 39 years in systems engineering and program management on a diverse assemblage of major engineering programs spanning aircraft, manned space, scientific and defense satellites and computerized command and control systems for the Air Force, Navy, Army and NASA.
B.S. Civil Engineering 1979 A career in mining wasn’t D.L. Lobb’s first choice. “When I started at UK, I was actually pre-medicine,” Lobb recalls. “While at the hospital during my first semester, I saw blood and passed out. At that point, I figured I probably shouldn’t be a doctor.”
B.S. Electrical Engineering 1988 When Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch was considering which engineering discipline to choose for a major, she determined that electrical engineering would be the most difficult of all the options. Naturally, she chose it for a major. “I never shy away from a challenge,” she says. “I love solving problems and believed the breadth of electrical engineering—power, electronics, etc.—would give me the most opportunities.”
B.S. in Civil Engineering, 1956 Bill Sears knows engineering is primarily a technical business. That is why when he reflects on his induction into the Hall of Distinction, Mr. Sears regards the honor as recognition that he took the fundamental technical training he received at the University of Kentucky and maximized it over the course of his career – a career spanning 40 years in oil and gas exploration and production and characterized by an uncompromised concern for safety.
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, 1986 When Jim Pauley was working as an electrician and electrical contractor prior to enrolling at the University of Kentucky, he often installed hardware produced by electrical component manufacturer Square D. Little did Mr. Pauley know that almost 30 years later, he would be a senior vice president within the company.
B.S. in Mining Engineering 1966 D.J. Patton isn’t reluctant to talk about his humble beginnings. By his account, he wasn’t a good college student, grew up in a poor family and went to a high school where the academics were well below average. For those reasons, Mr. Patton credits the University of Kentucky and, specifically, the Department of Mining Engineering, with giving him the training for a successful career in the mining industry.
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 1982 With a civil engineer for a father and an engineering major for a brother, Steve Macadam didn’t need much persuasion that engineering offered a promising future. What he did not know at the time he enrolled at the University of Kentucky was that he would parlay his engineering degree into a successful business career.
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, 1980 Ruth Dyer joined the faculty at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., in 1983. Throughout her tenure, she has built an impressive career as a professor, associate provost and now senior vice provost; but perhaps the most distinguishing aspect of her career is her substantial contributions to helping students and faculty members from underrepresented populations advance their education and careers.
B.S. in Computer Science, 1982
