Ceremony to honor alumni of distinction

The 2017 C. E. Byrd High School Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held on Friday, Oct. 27, at 10:30 a. m. in the school auditorium, with a luncheon to follow at noon at East Ridge Country Club.

Former inductees include former Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton (1959); Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (1950); Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee (1940); former Shreveport Mayor L. Calhoun Allen Jr. (1938); former Shreveport Mayor James C. Gardner (1940); U.S. Federal Judge Tom E. Stagg Jr. (1939); awardwinning author, illustrator and filmmaker William Edward “Bill” Joyce (1976), along with many other Byrd High School distinguished alumni.

The Byrd Alumni Association was organized in September 1986, and the Hall of Fame was established the following year. G. Archer Frierson III (1997) is chair of the Hall of Fame Committee and is a past alumni association president.

“The selection process is very difficult,” Frierson said. “We get applications from alumni and others telling us who should be submitted. We usually honor four alumni and one faculty member. We get many worthy nominees each year, and we have to narrow it down to four or five, but there are so many who are deserving.”

C. E. Byrd High School has been turning out graduates of distinction since 1924. Byrd is a National Blue Ribbon School and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is an inner-city public high school composed of over 2,100 students in grades 9-12. The mission of C.E. Byrd High School is to establish among its diverse student population a strong foundation for lifelong learning by nurturing, guiding and challenging its students to achieve their maximum potential.

“We are proud that our students become independent, productive citizens in their communities,” Frierson said. “Our administration and teachers are just that good. They teach good values and life lessons, such as integrity and trust. It all leads to successful people.”

Tickets to the Byrd High School Alumni Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon are $30 and can be purchased from Ruth Drummond by calling (318) 861-3656. For more information on C.E. Byrd High School Alumni, including projects and past inductees, visit www.byrdhighalumni.org.

The 2017 C. E. Byrd High School Hall of Fame Inductees are:

Lynda Rowland, Faculty Lynda Rowland was born in Shreveport and raised in Blanchard and is a graduate of Northwood High School. She received her art education degree from Louisiana Tech University, a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern State University and a Master +30 in school administration from Centenary College.

Rowland is a retired Byrd High School teacher who retired in 2008 after teaching 33 years in Caddo Parish.

She taught art at Byrd High School from 1980-2008 and served as High Stepper sponsor from 1980-1985. Rowland was a member of the very first Art Break Steering Committee in 1984 and served as coordinator for both Renaissance in Education (1991-2007) and Student Activities (1991-2007). She is the creator of the annual Community Christmas that originated in 1985 and is still in place today as a bridge between Byrd students and other community students. Rowland worked with the Byrd Alumni Association on the Hall of Fame and Letterman’s Hall of Fame, and was chosen as Honorary Alumnus by the Byrd Alumni Association in 2005. Since retirement, Rowland has volunteered with various organizations that help the aging, and she is an oft-called-upon judge for area art contests and loves creating art projects for community organizations.

Robert T. Crosby (1995) Dr. Robert T. Crosby was born and raised in Shreveport. He attended Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, La. Over the course of his four years of undergraduate study, he spent his summer months researching solid state physics at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich., and at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. After graduating in May 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in physics, he proceeded to the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, Fla., where he achieved his doctoral degree in materials science and engineering in April 2005. During his graduate study, he gained expertise in ion-implantation, diffusion kinetics, doping and MBE-related research at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and the University of California in Santa Barbara, Calif. Dr. Crosby was heavily involved in Black Graduate Student Organization at UF, where he served as treasurer, student government representative, Board of Regents peer advisor and was awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his dedicated service. Upon receiving his doctoral degree, he began employment as a senior diffusion process engineer and later, as engineering manager, for the Intel Corporation in Chandler, Ariz.

Dr. Crosby married Mina Ahmad in September 2004, and they have two children. He is extremely active in community service and volunteer work particularly in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outreach activities.

Dr. George Dover (1964) Dr. George J. Dover is the Distinguished Service Professor and former director of the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as the former Pediatrician-In-Chief of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has a long history of scientific research in the study and treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD), having published over 130 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters in the fields of pediatric hematology and genetics. His laboratory was responsible for many of the initial observations of the biology and genetic control of fetal hemoglobin and was part of the team of physicians at Johns Hopkins responsible for developing the FDA-approved therapy for SCD with hydroxyurea.

A 1968 graduate of Washington and Lee University, Dr. Dover received his medical degree in 1972 from Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans. He trained in pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, joined the Hopkins faculty in 1977 and was promoted to professor in 1992. In recent years, he led faculty and staff in the development and design of the David Rubenstein Pediatric Outpatient Center and the new pediatric hospital, the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center (opened 2012).

Dover married Barbara Patterson in 1969, and they have three children and nine grandchildren.

Michael Garrison (1964) Michael Garrison has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University.

He also completed post-graduate education programs in energy design at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley. In 1975 he joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture, where he is currently a professor and holds the Cass Gilbert Endowed Teaching Fellowship in Architecture. Professor Michael Garrison is a research fellow at the University of Texas, Center for Sustainable Design, the Architecture Faculty Affiliate to the University’s Energy Institute, the Chair to the University’s Faculty Building Advisory Committee, and is on the scientific board of several international green building conferences.

Professor Garrison became a licensed architect in the State of Texas in 1975 and is recognized internationally for his numerous publications, citations and design awards featuring Green Building Design. Garrison is the author of three books including “Passive Solar Homes for Texas” (1982) “Building Envelope,” with Randall Stout (2004) and “Building Envelopes” (2017). He is past chair of the Resource Management Commission for the City of Austin, which established Austin Energy’s Green Building Program.

Sherri Parker Lee (1964) Sherri Parker Lee received her bachelor’s degree in history and biology from Texas Christian University in 1968. She colonized a chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta at the University of Tennessee while working on her master’s degree in history. Lee taught biology at the Webb School of Knoxville from 1969-1978 and has been active with various organizations serving on boards and offering her organizational development skills and fund-raising expertise to groups that span her interests from mental health, environmental education, higher education, historical preservation, athletics and the arts. Lee is currently a member of the Advisory Council to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Ladies Association and on the Board of Maryville College.

Lee married William Baxter Lee III in 1970. She has three sons and seven grandchildren. When Baxter died in 1998, Sherri became chairman of the board of his company, SSC Service Solutions, and assumed an active role in the couple’s other investments. She was invited to join C200, an international selective association of successful corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as the Society of International Business Fellows and is a member of the World Presidents Organization.

Lee is recipient of several awards including the 1986 Knoxville Heritage Award for Preservation of Open Spaces for her work at Ijams Nature Center and the Knoxville Junior League’s Sustainer of the Year in 2000. In 2015 she was chosen for the YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Balfour Sartor (1967) Dr. Balfour Sartor, MD, is the Midgette Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology and co-director of the UNC Multidisciplinary Center for IBD Research and Treatment at University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

He has served as chairman of the Training Awards, National Scientific Advisory and Grants Review Committees of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

Dr. Sartor’s clinical and research interests include management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease as well as basic and translational investigation of mechanisms of chronic intestinal inflammation and mucosal homeostasis.

His work has been published in a number of professional journals, such as Gastroenterology and American Journal of Physiology’s Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology.

Dr. Sartor earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He completed his residency and fellowship at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.