Dr. Conrad Garner of Harrison has been appointed to the University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees.
He replaces Kelley Erstine who resigned from the board in December to become the university?s vice president for development and alumni services.
Garner?s term will expire Jan. 14, 2007.
Dr. Garner gives the University much credit for his lifetime of achievement in the Air Force. After one semester at the University of Arkansas, Garner, like many others of the day, went into the Air Force and served four years.
At 24, he came to Conway to finish his education and became a standout football player for the Bears in the process. He finished his bachelor?s degree at ASTC (now UCA) in 1949.
?It?s a privilege and an honor to serve (on the board),? Garner said Tuesday from his home at Harrison. ?I love the school. I wouldn?t be where I?m at today without it.? he continued. Garner called UCA President Lu Hardin a man of vision and said the ?sky?s the limit? for the university with Hardin at the helm.
Hardin said of Garner: ?Dr. Conrad Garner brings a wealth of experience to our board. He not only was an outstanding football player and alum, but he also spent over a quarter of a century in higher education. Dr. Garner is a good man, a friend, and will be an asset to UCA.?
After earning his degree from ASTC, Garner earned his master?s at George Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University) in school administration. After coaching and serving as school principal for one year each in Arkansas, Garner spent the next 20 years as an education officer at various bases and wound up education director for all of the Third Air Force.
In 1977, he finished his doctorate in educational psychology at California Western, University of Southern California and UCLA. He served as president of the Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad, Calif.; vice president of Georgia Military College at Vandenberg Air Force Base,
Calif.; and director of USC Master in Aerospace Operations Management, also at Vandenberg. Four years ago, he retired to Harrison.