Chancellor Emeritus John White to Speak at Distinguished Alumni Lecture

Submitted by Dr. John White

John White, chancellor emeritus of the University of Arkansas, will give the Distinguished Alumni Lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Old Main's Giffels Auditorium.

John A. White Jr., chancellor emeritus at the University of Arkansas, will give the Distinguished Alumni Lecture at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, in Old Main's Giffels Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.

White is a native Arkansan and a 1962 graduate of the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. After brief employment at Tennessee Eastman Company, in March of 1963 he embarked on an academic career as a tenure-track instructor at Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he received a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering in 1966. He taught full-time at Virginia Tech from 1963 to 1966 before moving on to Ohio State University, where he taught while continuing his graduate studies.

White returned to Virginia Tech's faculty after completing his Ph.D. requirements at Ohio in 1969. He remained at Virginia Tech until 1974, when he joined the Georgia Institute of Technology faculty. He remained on the Georgia Tech faculty until 1997, when he returned to his undergraduate alma mater to be its chancellor. He stepped down from the chancellor position in 2008 and served as a distinguished professor in the U of A industrial engineering department until May of 2019, when he retired after serving for 56 years as an engineering educator.

Except for the three-years (1988-91) when he was "on loan" by Georgia Tech to the National Science Foundation to lead the Engineering Directorate, White spent his career educating future engineerings — including 3.5 years at Ohio State, 8.5 years at Virginia Tech, 22.5 years at Georgia Tech, and 21 years at Arkansas. He has taught more than 4,000 engineering students.

White is co-author of six books: Facility Layout and Location: An Analytical Approach, Prentice-Hall (two editions); Analysis of Queueing Systems, Academic Press; Principles of Engineering Economic Analysis, John Wiley & Sons (six editions); Capital Investment Decision Analysis for Management and Engineering, Prentice-Hall (three editions); Facilities Planning, John Wiley & Sons (four editions), and Fundamentals of Engineering Economic Analysis, John Wiley & Sons. He has authored or co-authored hundreds of papers in journals, trade magazines, and conference proceedings.

This event is sponsored by the Distinguished Lectures Committee through the Office of Student Activities and is free to current University of Arkansas students who pay the Student Activities Fee and students must show ID for entrance. Admission for general public and non-fee-paying students is contingent upon seating availability and will be on a first-come, first-served basis after fee-paying students are admitted. For questions or for accommodations due to disability, please contact the Office of Student Activities, osa@uark.edu or call 479-575-5255. 

About the Division of Student Affairs: The Division of Student Affairs supports students in pursuing knowledge, earning a degree, finding meaningful careers, exploring diversity and connecting with the global community. We provide students housing, dining, health care resources and create innovative programs that educate and inspire. We enhance the University of Arkansas experience and help students succeed, one student at a time.