Dr. Bobby Lyle, founder of Lyco Energy Corporation and Louisiana Tech alumnus, will serve as the featured speaker for the College of Engineering and Science’s 2011 Convocation, September 22.

The event, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Howard Auditorium on the Louisiana Tech campus, is free and open to the public.

Lyle, a 1963 Tech graduate in mechnaical engineering, has distinguished himself as an engineer, corporate executive, entrepreneur, civic leader, professor and academic administrator during his acomplished and multifaceted career.  He has helped found a number of private companies and joint ventures, and was instrumental in the development of the Dallas Galleria and the InterFirst Bank-Galleria.

He founded Lyco Energy Corporation in 1981 and has been recognized as a leader in the petroleum and natural gas industry for more than 25 years.  He has worked as a professor and administrator in what is now the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, ultimately serving as interim dean and executive dean.

In addition to his Louisiana Tech degree, Lyle received a graduate degree in engineering administration from Southern Methodist University and earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  

Lyle has served as a trustee of Southern Methodist University in Dallas for 20 years and is a member of the Executive Board of the Lyle School of Engineering, which bears his name.  In addition to the Lyle School Engineering Executive Board, Lyle serves on the Executive Board of the Cox School and as a trustee of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man in SMU’s Dedman College.

He is the vice chair of the Maguire Energy Institute in the Cox School and the Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, and is co-founder and current chair of the Associate Board in the Cox School and serves on the board of SMU’s Hart Global Leaders Forum.

In 1996, he received the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award and was named to the Lyle School of Engineering Hall of Leaders in 2006.  Lyle is convening co-chair of the Engineering Steering Committee for The Second Century Campaign.

His civic activities have included leadership roles with the Boy Scouts of America, National and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Advisory Boards of the Salvation Army, Texas Trees Foundation and many others.

Written by Catherine Fraser – cfraser@latech.edu