Summer Commencement was the highlight of activities on campus this week. Dr. Reggie Owens, the F. Jay Taylor Endowed Chair of Journalism at Tech, was our commencement speaker. Reggie has had a long history with Tech, actively serving as a student leader in the 1960s and then, after a distinguished career in the corporate and academic world of communications, returning to his alma mater in 1997 to serve under his mentor Wiley Hilburn. I was most pleased that Lou Taylor and Kate Hilburn were able to join us for a pre-commencement breakfast as well as the commencement ceremony. Some of our journalism faculty and other family members and special friends of Reggie were also able to join us for this special day. Reggie had a significant impact on our campus as a student leader. As Tech was transitioning to an integrated institution, Reggie founded the first two African American student organizations on our campus, Soul Tech and Alpha Phi Alpha. The latter continues to serve as a vibrant fraternity for supporting the development of student leaders. Reggie’s inspirational commencement address most appropriately focused on “Words Matter” and the importance of effective communications and diversity in society. Reggie retires from Tech at the end of this month. More about his commencement address can be found here. In the midst of several on-campus meetings this week, I took a couple of days to travel to Bossier City to plan some projects and activities related to the Louisiana Tech Research Institute. LTRI is a 501c3 organization affiliated with Tech and founded to support the advancement of research with government, defense and corporate entities. Our colleagues at the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City have worked with us over the past several years to advance activities that are having significant impacts across the region, state and nation, and are now giving us even greater opportunities to be key national players in the future. Here are a few of my favorite pics for the week: