By Jimmie Covington, August 24, 2005
from the Commercial Appeal
Howard Lawrence has worked as an engineer and headed a state technical institute.
And he has traveled the world for pleasure with some work mixed in.
For the past 18 years, he has been a professor of accountancy at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.
Reaching his mid-60s, he decided it was time for another change. He is still teaching accountancy, but he is now at the University of Mississippi at DeSoto Center in Southaven.
"I reached the age of retirement and wanted to do something different," Lawrence, 66, said. "I thought, well, I would come to Ole Miss."
Just like CBU, Ole Miss is one of his alma maters. He received his doctorate in accountancy at the university in 1972. He had received a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering at CBU, and in between, a master of business administration at the University of Memphis.
"I really enjoyed Christian Brothers," Lawrence said. "It is a wonderful, wonderful school... But I have always loved Ole Miss, also. When this opportunity came up, I was anxious to get into it and be a part of this place because this (Ole Miss at DeSoto Center) is a very dynamic organization. I think they have great things ahead for this place. It will be nice to be a part of it."
Lawrence was born in Tamms, Ill., but grew up in the Memphis area. He attended Memphis Catholic High School. After graduation from CBU, he worked for several years as an engineer in St. Louis before returning to Memphis as plant engineer at the old Chromium Mining and Smelting plant on Fite Road.
He then taught for six years at the old State Technical Institute at Memphis, left for a while and returned as State Tech's dean of instruction. Afterward, he served for nine years as president of Nashville State Technical Institute before joining the CBU faculty in 1987.
State Tech and Shelby State Community College have since merged to become Southwest Tennessee Community College and the Nashville institute is now Nashville State Technical Community College.
Lawrence enjoys music of all types and loves to travel.
"I spend a lot of time in other parts of the world," he said. "I was gone for about 12 weeks this summer, a lot of it in Thailand. I do some work in Thailand. This summer I was also in Malaysia and Austria."
Dr. Bonnie Buntin, Ole Miss dean at DeSoto Center, said Lawrence has done international teaching and has experience in both the faculty and administration at higher education institutions. With his engineering background, he is well versed in technology, she said.
Lawrence is the first Ole Miss accountancy faculty member to be located full time at the center. Other professors come from Oxford to teach accountancy classes.
"He already has some proposals for us," Buntin said. "I think it (his presence) broadens certainly what we will do in accountancy. It opens the doors for graduate opportunities for us."
Also, Buntin said, "He crosses between business and accountancy and engineering. He is a mix of exactly what is needed at DeSoto Center. I think he is going to be a superb addition for us."
-- Jimmie Covington:(901) 333-2010
