A Texas couple who graduated from Louisiana Tech have created a new endowed professorship in STEM education.
Bill and Mary Anne Waldrip of San Antonio donated $60,000 through the Waldrip Family Foundation to create the position and the University of Louisiana System Foundation also provided money, the university said.
The professor will train teachers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Professor Laura Bostick will be the first to hold the position, pending final approval from the UL System Foundation Board, the university said. She is associate director of UTeachTech, the university’s program to train STEM majors to teach secondary math and science.
The professorship’s full title is the University of Louisiana System Foundation and Linda Woodard Hensley and Dorothy Woodard Patterson Endowed Professorship in STEM Education.
Bill Waldrip said the name honors two cousins who graduated from Tech and whose father, C.T. Woodard, was dean of the school’s College of Education. Bill Waldrip’s parents also were graduates. Another uncle played on one of Tech’s football teams in 1925, an aunt was assistant manager at the bookstore for 30 years and a third uncle worked at the power plant on campus.
