College Professor Gary Poe is selected for week-long program for third time
GRAMBLING, La. – Once a year, for the last 11 years, the University of Louisiana System has partnered with Pôle University Léonard De Vinci to select professors from each of the ULS institutions to participate in “International Week” with faculty from other countries.
Gary Poe, a business professor at Grambling State University has been selected to represent Grambling State in France, March 16-24. Poe and other professors will collaborate with professors from Canada, Europe, Russia and South America as they lecture for six hours about various topics. Poe’s selected topic is “Ideas Have Social Consequences.”
Each year professors from all the participating universities are encouraged to apply for the program. Each university selects and recommends one faculty member for the PULV program. PULV decides whether to approve the recommendation or request another suggestion. Poe made the cut, as he’s done for each of the previous two years. President Frank G. Pogue, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Connie Walton and Business College Dean Carl Wright are happy with Poe’s selection and congratulated him as soon as they learned the news.
“I would like to thank the State of Louisiana, the University of Louisiana System for the opportunity to participate in this program,” said Poe. “I would like to particularly thank Dr. Pogue, Dr. Walton, Dean Wright and my colleagues and students in the College of Business for their support and encouragement. I hope my participation at Pole University’s International Week will bring honor to the faculty, staff and students of Grambling State University.”
The “International Week” program serves as a tool to expose students to different ideas outside of their own communities. According to PULV, in Europe every college business student is exposed to international business and they leave their country to do an internship or take a job in a different country. This is called their “Erasmus year,” and PULV supplements these experiences by bringing in lecturers from abroad to teach for a week.
"We are thrilled that Dr. Poe has been chosen for this special program abroad," said Wright. "It clearly shows the quality of his academic rigor, his professionalism and his stature in the academic community beyond Grambling’s campus. He’s a great representative of our faculty, and what students gain from professors like him in our College of Business."
During the week in France, the visiting professors serve as university ambassadors. Poe hopes to see College of Business students visit France to enrich their educational experiences.
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Dr. Edith Rayford, the wife of Richard Rayford, is an obstetrician/gynecologist and director of the Central Mississippi Health Services’ Southwest Clinic in Jackson, Miss. She is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the National Medical Association. She served a two-year term as president of the Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association and serves that organization as treasurer today. A Diamond Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Edith Rayford is also a member of The Links in Jackson and an associate member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. She graduated from Tougaloo College.
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Wilkerson was known for being a social activist in the community. During the 1960s, Wilkerson established voter registration drives to raise money for local and NAACP cases defending the civil rights of those abused by authority figures. He took part in the historic Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., personally handing King $900 in contributions from Grambling citizens. Wilkerson served as a Lincoln Parish School Board member, a Board of Trustees member for the University of Louisiana System, and was a member of the Grambling Business League and Federal Credit Union Board.
