The Northwestern State University College of Education inducted six outstanding alumni into the Hall of Distinguished Educators during Homecoming festivities Oct. 24-25. This year’s Distinguished Educators are Connie Gaines Buck and Dan Chase of Baton Rouge, John Dilworth of Montgomery, Ala., Hershel M. Machen Jr. of Winnfield and Dr. Jerry Payne of Marshall, Texas.
Buck earned a bachelor’s degree in business education inn 1971, a master’s in business education in 1973 and +30 in business education in 1978. She began her career as a business teacher at Bossier High School before joining the Department of Education for 22 years as program manager and executive officer. She later worked for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System for 5 years as coordinator for Perkins Leadership.
Among her memorable experiences as an educator was the 14 years she spent as state director of Louisiana’s chapter of Future Business Leaders of America and her year with the Department of Education where she worked with business education teachers and parish leaders in assisting in the delivery of quality business education programs.
Chase graduated form Northwestern in 1957 with a degree in health and physical education and earned a masters in education administration at Northeastern State College in 1964. He began his career as a teacher and coach in Concordia Parish and later worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas before returning to Louisiana as a teacher and coach in East Baton Rouge Parish and the Louisiana State School for the Deaf.
Among his fondest memories as a coach at Vidalia was leading his team to four straight victories over parish rival and perennial powerhouse Ferriday, which was a source of pride for the whole town.
Dilworth earned undergraduate and master’s degrees in education at Northwestern and completed post-masters study at NSU, LSU-Shreveport, Louisiana Tech and Grambling. He is currently the superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools in Montgomery, Ala., where he is the instructional and operational leader for Alabama’s third largest school district. He manages 58 schools with 32,000 students and 4,500 employees and is engaged is a $364 million building program. In one year, his district increased advanced placement enrollment by 53 percent and he continues to improve student achievement and community support.
Dilworth began his career as a teacher and coach in the Caddo Public Schools and served as principal and assistant principal at four Caddo schools before being named chief operating officer for Caddo Public Schools. Before his appointment in Alabama, Dilworth was Vice President for University Affairs at Northwestern, where he oversaw the physical plant, health and environmental issues, new construction and renovation.
Machen graduated from Northwestern in 1959 with a degree in health and physical education and a minor in math. He earned a master’s degree in education from Northeastern Louisiana University in 1966 and completed +30 at NSU in 1974. He began his career as a math and P.E. teacher and coach at three schools before moving to Winnfield in 1966, where he was a football coach and P.E. and math teacher at Winnfield Jr. High and Winnfield High School. He served as principal at Winnfield Senior High from 1975-1992.
With a large portion of his career centered on coaching, Machen remembers the 1982 Class AA football playoffs with great fondness when, under adverse circumstances, Winnfield Senior High won the state championship. He acknowledged the victory as the proudest he has ever been of a group of athletes, spirit groups, band, student body and fans in his career.
Payne earned bachelors and masters degrees in music education from NSU in 1957 and 1968, specialist in education in 1969 and doctorate in education in 1973. In a career spanning 45 years, Payne was a music educator for 20 years in Louisiana and 25 years in Texas, including four years as director of bands at NSU. During that time, Payne led his bands in numerous outstanding competitive performances and was recognized with several professional honors.
Payne noted that as a student, he intended to become a professional musician, but fell in love with teaching and was motivated by several mentors to continuously pursue excellence in his career. He recalls his entire 45 years as a music educator as the most rewarding career an individual could have and was honored in 2002 with a surprise retirement party in which hundreds of former students performed a tribute to him.
