[ Dr. Jannice Aaron ] - [ John Carpenter] - [ Gordon B. Ford ]
[ Lowell Harrison ] - [ Gene Shearer ]
Dr. Jannice Aaron
RealVideo Clip (23 sec.)
Dr. Jannice Aaron is one of the women pioneers in the medical field, working her way from
registered nurse to chair of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. At the time of her appointment, she was one of three women to hold such a position in the United States, and the only woman department head at the U of L Medical School.
In addition, Dr. Aaron developed a Teleradiology program for Vencor Hospitals, a network of 54 hospitals in 42 states. (She is licensed in all 42.) Through this program -- the largest in the world -- all Vencor hospitals send their images (X-rays, scans, ultrasounds) via fiber optic cable to the facility in Louisville to be interpreted. A diagnostic report is then dictated electronically into the patient's chart.
A 1973 WKU graduate, Dr. Aaron received her medical degree from U of L. She completed an internal medicine internship at U of L; a radiology residency at Yale University School of Medicine; and a fellowship in neuroradiology at the Harvard Medical School.
Since that time, Dr. Aaron has divided her time between practicing medicine and teaching. She began teaching at U of L in 1991 and progressed through the ranks from associate clinical professor to clinical lecturer to acting chair to chair of Diagnostic Radiology -- with 16 residents -- a post she held until her retirement from U of L in 1997.
Before becoming the medical director of the Imaging Center for Vencor-Louisville Hospital in 1995, Dr. Aaron served as chair and medical director of St. Anthony Medical Center Imaging Center in Louisville and staff physician of Humana Hospital Audubon in Louisville. She also works as a general radiologist and neuroradiologist at the Jane Todd Crawford Hospital and South Central KY Open MRI in Greensburg, not far from Campbellsville where she lived her early years. She has one son, Trent, who lives in California.
Dr. Aaron has held numerous positions in professional organizations, including the first chairperson of the Student Section of the AMA and president of the Greater Louisville Radiological Association. She was the first chairperson of the Healing Place for Women, Louisville's nationally-recognized homeless shelter.
During her career, Dr. Aaron has published more than 30 books, articles and research activities and made nearly 50 presentations. She is also the author of "Open Heart," a collection of short stories about her patients, and is currently writing a novel. She now lives in a house overlooking Lake Jericho on a farm in Henry County, where she raises Belted Galloway cattle and keeps her horses.
John Carpenter
RealVideo Clip (6min. 15 sec.)
Fans of such cult horror films as "Halloween" and "The Fog" may notice some familiar 
references: streets, places, even some people are reminiscent of Bowling Green. That's because they were directed by former Bowling Green resident John Carpenter.
The former Western student (1966-68) and College High graduate has become one of the best know directors of horror films, although his talents have extended to other genres as well.
Growing up in Bowling Green as the son of a now-retired WKU music professor, Carpenter got his start with a hand-me-down movie camera. He says he knew he wanted to be a director when he was 8 years old. While studying at Western, Carpenter succumbed to the call of filmmaking and moved west to study at the University of Southern California. Even as a student, Carpenter's work achieved notoriety. The short film "The Resurrection of Bronco Billy" won an Academy Award for Best Short Live Action Film in 1970.
Over the last 20 years, Carpenter has become a successful writer, composer (writing many of the scores for his movies) and director. He has directed 19 major motion pictures, including "The Fog," "Big Trouble in Little China," "Prince of Darkness," "Village of the Dammed," "Memoirs of an Invisible Man," "Starman," "Escape From New York," "Escape From L.A." and "Vampires." In 1979, the Los Angeles Film Critics honored Carpenter with the New Generation Award for "Dark Star," "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Halloween."
He has also written movie scripts, including "The Eyes of Laura Mars" and "Zuma Beach." Carpenter lives in California, is married to Sandy King and has one son, Cody.
Gordon B. Ford
RealVideo Clip (1min. 32 sec.)
Gordon B. Ford graduated from the Bowling Green College of Commerce in 1934, a time of 
uncertainty and depression. However, the young accountant used his skills, training and determination to become a founding partner in the Louisville accounting firm of Yeager, Ford &Warren.
That firm merged with Coopers & Lybrand, which later merged with Price Waterhouse to become PricewaterhouseCoopers--one of the largest firms in the country. Ford retired as a partner and now lives in Louisville and Village of Golf, Fla.
Ford is a native of Greenville, Ky., and came to BU, the forerunner of Western's business college, through the hard work and determination of his mother, Mattie Newman Ford. He says she worked his way through college as a school teacher, underscoring the importance the Ford family placed on education and the long history the family has had with Western. Mrs. Ford received a teaching certificate from Western in 1909.
In December 1998, Ford honored both his mother and Western when he announced a $10.6 million gift commitment to the University, the largest single gift in the school's history. The gift created the Gordon Ford Dean's Fund for Excellence and the Mattie Newman Ford Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies. In a show of appreciation, Western renamed the college the Gordon Ford College of Business. Ford has also given 10 or more scholarships a year for worthy students at Western since 1992 and is an active member of the WKU Board of Advisors and a director of the WKU Foundation.
Ford is active in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has served as the group's vice president and director. He is also active in the Kentucky Society of Certified Public Accountants, where he has served as president and received the group's Distinguished Service Award. He is the author of several articles, including one for the Journal of Accountancy titled "Long Range Plan for Development and Growth of a CPA Firm" and is co-author of "History of the Professional Practice of Accounting in Kentucky."
He is married to Glenda Ford and has three children: Dr. Gordon B. Ford Jr. and Gayle Ford Whittenberg, both of Louisville, and Gregory N. Ford of Melbourne, Fla.
Lowell Harrison
RealVideo Clip (1min. 3 sec.)
When someone has a question about WKU history, or the history of Kentucky, one of the first 
authorities that comes to mind is Lowell Harrison.
As early as third grade, Dr. Harrison realized that "there is no more interesting subject than history," he said. He practically grew up on the Western campus, beginning his schooling with kindergarten at the Training School, graduating from College High and earning his undergraduate degree from Western in 1946 -- with an interruption for World War II. His love of history and love of Western are natural partners.
Dr. Harrison left Western to begin graduate study at New York University. His illustrious teaching career began as a part-time position at NYU. After receiving his doctorate from NYU in 1951, Dr. Harrison headed to the London School of Economics on a Fulbright Scholarship for a year, then to West Texas State College as an associate professor. By 1957, he had become head of the history department, then chair of the Division of Social Sciences.
In 1967, Dr. Harrison was enticed to return to Western as a professor of history and graduate advisor, and quickly became one of the most popular teachers on campus. In 1979 he was named university historian. Although he "retired" in 1988, Dr. Harrison can frequently be found on campus, usually researching a project in the Kentucky Library.
Those research projects have led to the publication of more than 10 books and 100 articles to his credit. His books include "The Civil War in Kentucky," "Kentucky's Road to Statehood," co-author of "A New History of Kentucky," and the definitive WKU history, "Western Kentucky University." He is currently working on two more books, "Lincoln of Kentucky," and "The Government of Confederate Kentucky."
Dr. Harrison and his wife, Penny, have funded a lecture series that brings notable speakers to campus and is himself in demand as a public speaker. He has also served on a number of national and regional committees in his professional organizations and on several Kentucky committees and commissions.
Gene Shearer
RealVideo Clip (1min. 2 sec.)
Gene Shearer, a 1961 Western science graduate, has become one of the most-cited AIDS
researchers. The 62-year-old Monticello native, has been a senior investigator in the Immunology and Experimental Immunology branches of the National Cancer Institute for more than 25 years. He is currently the principal investigator and section chief of the Cell Mediated Immunity and Disease Section of the NCI's Experimental Immunology Branch.
Dr. Shearer's research interests center on cellular immunology, including immune regulation and responses and AIDS and tumor immunology. He was ranked among the top 10 most-cited researchers during 1993-95 and 11th for the AIDS researchers for citation impact.
Dr. Shearer received his doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1967. He received the Damon Runyon Memorial Cancer Fund and American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowships at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., and the senior Weizmann Research Fellowship at Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. He joined the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., in 1972. He received the National Institutes of Health Director's Award in 1978, the NCI Technology Transfer Award in 1993, and Senior Executive Service Awards in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992 and 1996. He was appointed to the Senior Biomedical Research Service of the NIH in 1998.
Dr. Shearer has authored or co-authored more than 375 medical periodicals, research papers or books since 1964, and has served on the editorial boards of seven periodicals. He was the L.Y. Lancaster Distinguished Lecturer at Western in 1991.
He and his wife, Minetta, have two children, Matthew and Nathan.
