Lamar University and the Beaumont Foundation of America have announced the sixth of nine Southeast Texas Legends Scholarships – this one honoring George McLaughlin, whose impact on educational excellence has extended from the Lamar campus and classroom to regional, state and international innovations in education.
McLaughlin’s service in higher education spans half a century and closely parallels that of Lamar University, President James Simmons said in announcing the Legends of Southeast Texas-Dr. George McLaughlin Scholarship. After almost 50 years of service to Lamar, McLaughlin now serves as a partner in Best Associates of Dallas, an international leader in providing educational opportunities to students.
The scholarship will assist under-served individuals who attend Lamar, Simmons said at a ceremony and news conference Tuesday (June 5, 2007) in the University Reception Center of the Mary and John Gray Library.
“Dr. George McLaughlin personifies the quest to make education – quality education – available and accessible to students, whether across the Quadrangle or around the globe,” Simmons said. “His leadership and dedication have meant a great deal to his profession and to this community.”
McLaughlin’s long and distinguished relationship with Lamar University began in 1956 when he earned a bachelor of science in history. He went on to earn a doctor of education in higher education administration/counseling psychology from the University of North Texas. He served his alma mater in almost a dozen administrative positions, including director of student activities, executive secretary of the Ex-Students Association, assistant dean of men, dean of men, dean of students, dean of student affairs and vice president for student affairs.
In 1984, McLaughlin joined the Lamar University System as vice chancellor for administration, planning and academic coordination.
Two years later, he became chancellor of the system, a post he held until 1992. Fulfilling the board of regents’ mandate for “new directions,” he dramatically increased development and fund-raising efforts, led extensive and outreach-oriented regional economic development and public service efforts; and significantly increased academic research funding, among numerous other accomplishments. He went on to serve from 1991 to 1994 as president of the John Gray Institute. He served from 2002-2004 as a higher education consultant to the Beaumont Foundation of America.
For a decade, beginning in 1994, McLaughlin lent his talents, expertise and experience to Lamar’s College of Education and Human Development as Regents’ Professor of Education and a tenured faculty member. During this time, McLaughlin earned a prestigious Fulbright Scholar award to spend 2001-2002 in Hong Kong as Fulbright professor-in-residence in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy at Chinese University. He became only the second Lamar faculty member to receive the honor.
McLaughlin continues to make a global impact on educational excellence with Best Associates, a company with a strong commitment to the education industry. The firm is investing in K-12 and post-secondary markets in the U.S. and abroad. With others, McLaughlin was invited to conceptualize, design and implement a plan to meet the expanding demand for education services. In 2004 and 2005, he performed special duties as vice president for academic affairs, assisting in reorganizing and revitalizing a 142-year-old institution, purchased and renamed the American College of Education. In 2005-2006, he served as senior advisor in an affiliated company, Higher Ed Holdings LLC. He rejoined Best Associates in 2007.
“We have been friends for 40 years, and, for most of those years, I watched George and Lamar grow up together,” said Wayne Reaud, chairman of the Beaumont Foundation board of directors, a renowned trial lawyer and 1971 political science graduate of Lamar.
“George McLaughlin cares about the students,” Reaud said. “He gave me the inspiration to stay in school . . . and I’ve had a wonderful life.”
Reaud said he would not be where he is today without the scholarship and job McLaughlin helped him receive when he was a student. And, he said, McLaughlin encouraged him to help other students – which he did soon after graduating from law school. Reaud’s contributions to his alma mater over the years include the $1.1 million Albert E. and Gena Reaud Scholarship Fund, honoring his parents.
McLaughlin said in response: “I’m overwhelmed by what is in my heart and in my mind about this university and all it has meant to me and my wife. . . My entire career was spent here. My life is a part of this place, so I have a great feeling of humility and gratitude
“The thing about scholarships is that they live in perpetuity,” McLaughlin said. “These Legends Scholarships that Wayne Reaud and the Beaumont Foundation have given to Lamar – indeed, those scholarship will last forever.”
In addition to his degrees from Lamar and North Texas, McLaughlin earned certificates of completion from the National Defense Education Act Institute for University Administrators; the Institute of Educational Management at Harvard University and the Texas Governor’s Executive Development Program. He is a licensed professional counselor in Texas.
Professional, governmental and community contributions include service as president of the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators and Texas Association of Humanistic Education and Development, as chairman of the state of Texas Technology Training Board and as a commissioner of the Texas Economic Development Council.
He served on the board of regents of the Angeles University Development Foundation Inc. of Angeles University of the Philippines. He was executive leadership committee chair for the Southeast Texas Tech-Prep Consortium and has been a member of the Texas Sustainable Development Energy Council, as well as the American Counseling Association, American Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Texas Counseling Association, Texas Association of Counselor Education and Supervision and Southeast Texas Counseling Association.
In Beaumont, he was a founding board member of the Texas Energy Museum; chaired the city of Beaumont Transit Advisory Commission and was board president of the Metropolitan YMCA, Beaumont International Seamen’s Center, Beaumont Symphony Society and Neches River Festival, which honored him as king of the Neches River Festival.
McLaughlin and his wife, the former Olive Anne Basco, also a Lamar graduate, have been married 44 years. They have four children, Lenny, Stephanie, Anthony and Georgeanne; three children-in-law, Jim, Kim and Ken; and seven grandchildren, Matthew, Grace, Jacob, James, Lauren, Maddie and Austin. Longtime parishioners of St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Beaumont, they now attend Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Dallas.
Lamar will award the Legends-George McLaughlin Scholarship beginning in fall 2007.
