Rogers State University has named Dr. Thomas Carment as the O.D. Mayor Endowed Professor of Business at Rogers State University in Pryor.
Carment is the first faculty member to be named as an endowed faculty chair holder in the history of the Pryor campus.
“This is a significant achievement not only for the RSU Pryor campus, but for the Pryor community,” said RSU President Dr. Larry Rice. “Dr. Carment will be a resource for not only students, but will help advance business and industry in the Pryor area.”
The O.D. Mayor Endowed Chair was funded with a $250,000 gift from the O.D. Mayor Foundation and funds were matched by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s Endowment Trust Fund.
Rice expressed the university’s gratitude to the O.D. Mayor foundation for providing funding for the chair, which honors Oliver Dewey Mayor.
O.D. “Jock” Mayor was a rancher, businessman, entrepreneur and longtime resident of Mayes County. One of 12 children in the Mayor family, he was a 1917 graduate of Pryor High School and played on the school’s first football team. He was a mail carrier for 20 years, owned several thousand acres of land in Mayes County, became involved in several businesses, and owned and operated several parts stores in Pryor and other communities for more than 50 years.
His thriftiness and shrewd business dealings helped him amass a personal worth of more than $9 million at the time of his death in 1985.
The foundation operates exclusively for public, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes in Mayes County and in Grayson County, Texas, where Mayor also lived during his lifetime and had business interests.
Carment is the fifth endowed chair at RSU. The university is working towards a goal of establishing a total of 10 endowed chairs. The purpose of establishing an endowed chair is to attract and retain highly credentialed faculty members to RSU, Rice said.
Carment has a background in financial and managerial accounting and research interests in capital markets and financial reporting. He previously served on the faculty of the School of Business and Technology at the RSU campus in Claremore, and also served on the faculties of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Hawaii. He received his doctorate in business administration from OSU, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to teaching, he was employed by Ford Motor Company, Burroughs Corporation, and Conoco. Carment has entrepreneurial small business experience in wholesale gasoline marketing and farming.
“This is an exciting time for the RSU Pryor campus and we are happy to have Dr. Carment here to help us continue growing,” said Sherry Alexander, director of the RSU Pryor campus.
RSU recently completed a 1.3 million, 7,400-square-foot expansion project adding a new wing to the existing campus building located at 421 S. Elliott St. The expansion project was funded by a $300,000 grant from the Oliver Dewey Mayor Foundation, $750,000 from a state higher education bond issue and $250,000 from the RSU Foundation. In addition, more $100,000 has been raised from individuals and business to furnish and equip the expansion. Carment will office in the new RSU campus addition.
He is responsible for teaching accounting and economics classes in Pryor as a full-time, tenured faculty member. In addition, he will work with Pryor businesses as a liaison for RSU Pryor.
Carment said he plans to use his experience in accounting and finance to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs in the area, as well as introduce services provided by the RSU Innovation Center to the Pryor area.
“The people here in Pryor are fantastic and I look forward to meeting more members of the community in the future,” Carment said. “The students are engaged, interested and enthusiastic.”
Carment has published articles in The Journal of Accounting Case Research, The Pennsylvania Economic Journal, Journal of Government Financial Management, and the Mid Atlantic Journal of Business.
He is married to Deborah Carment, professor of mathematics at Northeastern State University. They have three children and three grandchildren.
RSU is the only four-year university serving the Pryor and Mayes County area. For more information about RSU’s Pryor campus, call (918) 825-6117.