Dr. Larry Rice, President of Rogers State University, has been named the recipient of the Lamp Lighter Award by the Chouteau-Mazie Public Schools.
The Lamp Lighter Award is presented by the Chouteau-Mazie Public School District to staff, volunteers, community members and business partners who have made outstanding contributions to the students of the district.
“This award is the highest recognition given by the Chouteau-Mazie schools,” said Dr. Horn, Superintendent of the Chouteau-Mazie Public School District. “Our objective is to recognize those who have dedicated themselves to improving the quality of education in the Chouteau-Mazie schools.”
An Oklahoma native, President Rice has 30 years of experience in higher education and is the 14th president of RSU.
President Rice began his academic career in 1979 as a full-time faculty member at RSU, which was then known as Rogers State College, where he taught classes in criminal justice, psychology and sociology. He was Director of the Applied Science Division at Rogers from 1979 to 1986 and Associate Director of Academics for the Rogers campus in Pryor from 1986 to 1991.
Dr. Rice received a doctoral degree in education from Oklahoma State University, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Northeastern State University. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on “Eighty Years of University Preparatory Education on College Hill,” a history of the institution presently known as RSU.
Before being named as president of RSU, he served as Executive Assistant to the President at the University of Tulsa.
Dr. Rice served the citizens of Oklahoma as a state representative in House District 8 from 1986 to 2004. While in the Legislature, he was actively involved in promoting increased funding for the state’s higher education system.
President Rice and his wife, RSU First Lady Peggy, live in the President’s Residence on the RSU campus in Claremore.