ObituaryWilliam Luker
Submitted on Saturday, December 22, 2012
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.