Dr. Bill Loe’s Education & Career

HOPE— Dr. Bill Loe attended college at Magnolia A&M for 2 years, which is now called Southern Arkansas University. While at Magnolia A&M, Loe, worked about 120 hours a week in order to pay for room and board. For 0.36 cents/hour, he milked cows in the morning and night. He graduated with a 2.76-grade point average because he did not push himself to do better knowing he could. His goal was just to pass with a C and that is what he did. He then transferred to the University of Arkansas where he received his Bachelors in Agriculture science degree. He pushed himself a little harder by making his goal to graduate with a B average and then an A average for his Masters. Dr. Loe used the GI bill to pay for his Masters in Science degree from the University of Arkansas. Dr. Loe taught at Lonoke High school for 1 year, Blevins High school for about 4 years, the University of Monticello for 3 years, and at SAU from 1966-1978. At SAU they offered a ½ salary to those who furthered their education. So, Dr. Loe decided to enroll at Louisiana State University in 1968 to receive his Ph.D. In August of 1970, Dr. Loe graduated with his Ph.D. His goal was to get his Ph.D. by 40 years old and if he did not achieve it he was just going to give up because he was tired of school, but that June he turned 40 so his goal was met. In 1978, Dr. Loe and his family moved to Hope for a job opportunity as Director at the Southwest Research and Extension Center (Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station). The Southwest Research and Extension Center funds were allocated for 2 years by Bill Clinton to build a new office building and other improvements. In January of 1994, he retired from the experiment station and has been retired ever since. Dr. Loe said teaching students was the most rewarding job for him, but he enjoyed working at the experiment station more.