B.S. Mechanical Engineering 1987 Whether in competitive sports or the highest levels of international business, Steven Saran has known only success. Born in Denver, Colorado, Mr. Saran came to the University of Kentucky on an athletics scholarship, competing on the swim team during the 1980s. After graduating from UK with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1987, he worked as a technical support engineer for Ensco Environmental Services in Little Rock, Arkansas.
B.S. Civil Engineering 1959 M.S. Civil Engineering 1963 Clifford Randall has spent much of his professional life teaching students as a professor of engineering. But he also has taught by example, as his accomplishments as a leading engineer working with wastewater treatment facilities and other complex water-quality issues around the world have been an example to countless students he taught during a more than 35-year teaching career.
MS Computer Science 1986 After studying French at the University of Louisville, Joan Herbig realized that her liberal-arts background wouldn’t easily open the door to a career offering all that she wanted – constant change, intellectual challenge and professional risks. However, during one of her first jobs, with an insurance company in Raleigh, North Carolina, she met a co-worker who was building a computer, sparking a life-long interest that has led to a leading role in high-tech companies.
B.S. Agriculture Engineering 1975 M.S. Mining Engineering 1991 J. Steven Gardner is a prolific author and writer on significant mining engineering issues, with his pieces appearing in dozens of leading industry publications that reflect vast and deep experience in consulting work that has taken him across the country.
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.
