NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

8/26/2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Northwestern State University will receive $680,000 from the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund at a ceremony to be held Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 3 p.m. in the Natchitoches Room of Russell Hall on Northwestern State's Natchitoches campus.

Commissioner of Higher Education Joe Savoie will present NSU President Randall J. Webb with matching funds for the Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism, the C. Creighton Owen Endowed Professorship in Nursing and the Hopper-Curry Endowed Professorship in Business. The matching funds will create Northwestern's first $1 million endowed chair and two $100,000 endowed professorships.

The Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism was created with a donation from Erbon and Marie Wise. The Owen Endowed Professorship was set up by a donation from the Claude "Buddy" Leach and C. Creighton Owen families. Ed Curry established the Hopper-Curry Endowed Professorship in Business.

"We are grateful to each of these donors who have made generous contributions to assist Northwestern," said Webb. "These gifts will allow the university to attract and retain talented faculty who will inspire the next generation of Northwestern students. Northwestern has never been a stronger, more vibrant place in part because of people who care about the university and want it to maintain a leadership role."

Erbon Wise, a 1941 graduate of Northwestern, is a charter member of the NSU Hall of Distinction, the Long Purple Line. The Wises met while students at Northwestern. His wife, Marie also graduated from Northwestern in 1941.

After serving in World War II, Wise returned home and in 1948 purchased a newspaper in Maplewood, a community near Lake Charles. He became the publisher of 36 daily and weekly newspapers and Court News publications before retiring in 1998. Wise is the author of 19 books.

In addition to serving 27 years in the U.S. Army Air Force, the U.S. Selective Service System, U.S. Army Reserve and the Louisiana National Guard, Wise served Louisiana as adjutant general and as state director of the Selective Service System, Civil Defense and the Office of Emergency Preparedness.

Marie Wise became a teacher after graduating from Northwestern. She was co-publisher of several newspapers with her husband. For 24 years, she wrote a popular weekly column, "Challenge of Genealogy" which appeared in 35 Louisiana newspapers.

In 1991, they established the Erbon and Marie Wise Education Trust to fund advanced education in newspaper-related fields. Students at NSU and other universities have benefited from scholarships provided by the Trust.

Curry served in World War II in Italy and Japan and worked for Exxon in Baton Rouge for nearly 40 years. A graduate of Georgia Tech, he has several ties to Northwestern.

Curry's father -in-law, A. M. Hopper, taught manual training at Louisiana State Normal College (now Northwestern) from 1916 until 1918 when he moved to Baton Rouge to become supervisor of elementary schools in Louisiana. Hopper returned to Natchitoches 1940 to teach education until his retirement. Curry's wife, Betty Jane Hopper Curry, finished two years of high school in Natchitoches and later earned a bachelor's degree in commerce from Northwestern in 1945. Two of her brothers, Jim and John Hopper, are also Northwestern graduates.

The connections continued into the next generation. Curry's daughter-in-law, Wanda Lynn Cason Curry, graduated from NSU in 1976 with a bachelor's in accounting. Wanda Curry is a member of the NSU College of Business Hall of Distinction.

Owen had a long, distinguished career as an educator in Vernon Parish. He
taught English for many years in the school system before serving the Vernon Parish
School Board as a guidance counselor, supervisor of instruction, director of curriculum and superintendent of Vernon Parish Schools. After retiring as superintendent of schools, he was an adjunct and graduate advisor at NSU Leesville/Fort Polk before becoming the campus' executive director. He died in 2002.

Owen earned a bachelor's and master's degree at Louisiana State University and did additional graduate studies at McNeese State University, Northwestern State University and the University of Southern California;

As a community activist, Owen was president of several organizations including the local PTA, Louisiana Schools Supervisors Association, Leesville/Vernon Parish Chamber of Commerce (Twice), Leonidas Polk Chapter, Association of the United States Army, Owen was also involved in organizations including the Boy Scouts of America, the Boys and Girls Club and the Governor's Military Advisory Commission.

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