Dr. Sue Ellen Read has been named by the Eastern Alumni Association Board of Directors to take her place in the Alumni Hall of Fame.

Office of Public Information 10-16-02
by Hank Mooney

For one Eastern Oklahoma State College alum who will be returning for Eastern homecoming November 2 the day will have a special meaning.

Saturday will be the day for alums to join the activities and reunite with their classmates for a full day and evening of activities.

Dr. Sue Ellen Read, class of 1962, has been named by the Eastern Alumni Association Board of Directors to take her place in the Alumni Hall of Fame during induction ceremonies at the annual Homecoming banquet.

Alumni activities will begin early Saturday with a 9 a.m. Hilltopper Breakfast for retired faculty and staff followed by an Alumni Coffee and Registration in the Student Union Coffee Shop and an 11 a.m. General Alumni meeting.

A free barbeque lunch will be available for everyone attending the activities from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. with special class recognition lunch in the East Cafeteria for the classes of 1954-1956.

The Lady Mountaineers will begin their second home basketball game at 1:30 p.m. in the Field House followed by the men’s game at 3:30 p.m.

Read will be inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame during the 6:30 p.m. homecoming banquet.

She is currently a professor at Northeastern State University, College of Education, specializing in brain based education and learning styles. Read has been a school teacher and administrator, a child welfare worker, an adult educator and a mental health professional.

She is the Director of the Oklahoma Institute for Learning Styles (OIL) and on the Board of Directors of the International Learning Styles Network. She also serves as the Director of the Native Scholars Program, a one-half million dollar scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate Native American teachers and administrators.

Currently, OIL is responsible for training facilities in 14 GearUp Programs. GearUP is a federal effort to promote post-secondary education for at-risk students. Read presents more than 40 workshops, speeches and keynote addresses across the state each year.

Read was acknowledged as a Soroptomist Woman of Distinction and has been named NSU’s Professor of the Year for excellence in teaching. She conceived a grant concept, authored the application and serves as the program coordinator for a $1.2 million grant from the United States Department of Education to the Locust Grove Public Schools to incorporate learning styles into the classroom.

Read was named 2001 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. She was selected from among five nominees in Oklahoma. The U.S. Professors of the Year salutes the most outstanding instructors in the country who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards honoring professors.

Read received her Associate Degree from Eastern in 1962, Bachelors Degree from NSU in 1964, Masters from University of Central Oklahoma in 1971 and PhD. from the University of Oklahoma in 1987.

When Read is officially inducted into the Hall of Fame, she will join McAlester native George Nigh who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Lieutenant Governor, Governor and president of the University of Central Oklahoma.

She also joins Dr. E.T. Dunlap, who has been recognized nationally for his contribution to education and served as Eastern President and Chancellor of Oklahoma Higher Education; Scott Salmon, who was a nationally known choreographer; Rita Smith Kipp, class of 1966, who serves as professor of anthropology at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, a widely published author and Wilburton native. She also joins J.D. Williams who was inducted while an attorney in Washington, D.C., and, among other things, served as Editor of the George Washington Law Review and Federal Bar Journal.

Billy West became the sixth Eastern alumni to be elected to the Hall of Fame. West served as a laboratory research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Sidney Carney, among other achievements, served as Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Director in Anadarko where he developed and supervised programs benefitting more than 40,000 Indians within a four state area.

Ross Harlan, Oklahoma City, was added to the Hall of Fame in 1992. He served as Senior Vice President of Administration and Public Affairs before his retirement from OG&E.

“Pat” Murphy, Tulsa, followed Harlan in 1993. He established the Frank W. Murphy MFR, an international company holding 15 United States and foreign patents in the area of instruments and control systems.

Sports journalist “Spec” Gammon was inducted in 1994. He served as sports information director at Texas A&M and became known as the radio voice of Texas A&M football. Don Parham became the eleventh member added to the Hall of Fame and began his academic career as an educator in southeast Oklahoma more than 40 years ago. He is recognized not only as one who has experienced success in athletics but also as one whose life’s work has stressed high academic standards.

Dr. Robert H. Purcell became the twelfth member. He is a research scientist and serves as the head of hepatitis viruses section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Charles Montgomery serves as the Director of the Center for Comparative Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas. He is recognized as an expert in comparative medicine throughout the world.

Dr. Henry Migliore, Jenks, was added as the fourteenth member of the Hall of Fame. He is a university professor and consultant in strategic management. He has lectured in universities and consulted with organizations around the world.

James F. Howell became the fifteenth member of the Hall of Fame in 1999. He was admitted to practice law in Oklahoma in 1963 and since that time has been admitted to practice in the United States District Court of Oklahoma for the Western District; The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma; The United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit and The Supreme Court of the United States of America. He was elected to the State Senate in 1970 and served until 1986.

Guy L. Curry, class of 1961, became the sixteenth member of the Hall of Fame. Curry is a professor of industrial engineering at Texas A&M University. He has served as a consultant for a number of national and international firms. During his tenure at Texas A&M he has garnered funded research grants of more than $4 million, authored or coauthored three books and has 50 papers published in 31 refereed journals.

Ken Brasfield became the seventeenth member last year. He has compiled an outstanding record of corporate and community leadership in Jackson, Mississippi. He served as president of United Way, Chamber of Commerce, YMCA, Boy Scouts Council, American Cancer Society, Rotary and the Jackson Arts Council.