William A. Luker (’57 M.Ed., ’63 Ed.D.), Dean Emeritus of the School of Community Service, died June 25 in Denton. He retired in 1991 as dean of the school, which is now the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, and is credited as a major force in its development. He earned his graduate degrees at North Texas while working as a business instructor and assistant registrar. After teaching at Texas A&M University, he returned in 1968 to join the economics faculty. He was the founding director of the Center for Economic Education and executive director of the Texas Council on Economic Education, which he helped organize. Both centers focused on the teaching of economics and its integration into Texas schools. Named dean in 1984 after serving as acting dean for two years, he helped create a master’s degree program in behavior analysis and other academic programs that dramatically increased enrollment in the school. He was chair of the committee that planned the UNT Centennial Celebration in 1990 and received the President’s Award for his contributions to the university. Upon his retirement as dean, an endowed fund for student scholarships was established in his name. He continued to teach as a professor of applied economics and in 1994 received the Hiram J. Friedsam Faculty Community Service Award of Distinction. He served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s and married Geneva Jo Wimberley (’74), who died in 2009.
