Lou Watkins, left, was presented with the Distinguished Former Faculty Award during East Central University’s 2019 Evening of Honors and Recognition held recently in ECU Foundation Hall of the Chickasaw Business and Conference Center. Presenting Watkins with the award was ECU President Dr. Katricia G. Pierson. Watkins, the wife of former U.S. Congressman Wes Watkins, served as chair of the ECU Government Department and saw the list of departmental majors grow from 13 to 51. She also had the drive to raise funds and arrange the details to take 15 to 25 students and faculty to Washington D.C. or New York City every other year. Lou and Wes also endowed a graduate scholarship in water research at ECU. Sponsors for the Evening of Honors and Recognition were the Chickasaw Nation, LegalShield, Vision Bank, Citizen’s Bank of Ada, ECU Foundation, Mercy, Heritage Trust, ECU Alumni Association, Oklahoma Heritage Bank, RamJack, Jay and Kenda Horne Family, Lou and Wes Watkins, Melvin Moran, the Ramadan Family and the Tony A. Scott Family.
-ECU-