COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Herbert and Lanatter Fox of El Dorado, Ark., have established a prestigious faculty endowment for Texas A&M Engineering.

The Lanatter and Herbert Fox Professorship in Chemical Engineering will support the teaching, research, service and professional development activities of a nationally recognized scholar.

"I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for the department to have endowed professorships. We use them to attract and retain outstanding people. Herb and Lanatter have made an exceptional contribution toward our drive for excellence," said Dr. Kenneth R. Hall, head of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and holder of the Jack E. and Frances Brown Chair in Engineering.

Herb Fox retired in 2003 as corporate executive vice president of Worldwide Downstream Operations for Murphy Oil Corp., capping a distinguished 33-year career with the worldwide integrated oil company.

"We chose to make this gift because we want to see the department excel, starting with an outstanding faculty," said Fox, Texas A&M Class of 1956, who serves on the chemical engineering department's advisory council and the executive forum of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, part of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station.

Fox joined Murphy Oil U.S.A. (MOUSA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corp., in 1970. He served as MOUSA president and Murphy corporate vice president from 1992 until 2001, when he became corporate executive vice president of Worldwide Downstream Operations.

Fox is a past director of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, and served on the boards of Murphy Oil Limited and Butte Pipeline Company.

He is a past director, vice president and executive committee member of the National Petroleum Refiners Association. His memberships also include the American Petroleum Institute and the 25 Year Club of the Petroleum Industry.

Lanatter Fox holds a bachelor's degree in history from Sam Houston State University. A retired elementary school teacher, she is a past president of the El Dorado Classroom Teachers Association, South Arkansas Arts Center Little Theatre and the Union County Riding Club. She currently serves on the boards of the Arkansas Arts Council, South Arkansas Symphony and South Arkansas Community College Foundation.

The Foxes previously created the Denise Lynn Fox Memorial Scholarships in the chemical engineering department's J.D. Lindsay Scholars Program for high-achieving students. They are Diamond Endowed members of The Association of Former Students.

The couple's gift counts in two campaigns -- One Spirit One Vision Campaign, the university's multiyear fund-raising campaign aimed at helping Texas A&M attain national top 10 status among public universities; and Campaign for Excellence, the endowment portion of the chemical engineering department's Stepping Up to the Challenge multiyear fund-raising campaign.

For more information, contact

Source: Exa York
979/862-3567
e-york@tamu.edu

News Story 1185, July 8, 2005

Direct page link:
http://engineeringnews.tamu.edu/news/1185

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