Former education official mourned

From Staff Reports

Published: November 20, 2007

Alvin Hanes Alcorn, a former University of Central Oklahoma administrator and Rose State College regent, died Wednesday at age 89.

Alcorn recently was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame. He worked at the University of Central Oklahoma for 23 years, as business manager and comptroller and then vice president of administration.

At UCO, Alcorn helped increase the size of the campus from 40 acres to 210 acres, managing the budgets and construction for 18 buildings.

Previously, he worked in the finance division at the state Board of Education and was a teacher, principal and coach in several small school districts.

Alcorn was appointed to the Rose State College Board of Regents by Governors Henry Bellman and David Walters, serving from 1987 to 2001. The grand foyer of the Communications Building at Rose State is named after Alcorn.

"Alvin Alcorn has devoted his entire adult life to education. The state of Oklahoma and its citizenry have been well served by his knowledge and valuable experience, his unique personality and his love for his fellow man. He was a great man, a great mentor and he will be greatly missed,” said Terry Britton, president of Rose State College.

For the past two decades, Alcorn was a member of the UCO Foundation Board of Trustees, and foundation director Anne Holzberlein said he never hesitated to give opinion and advice.

"He had a vision,” she said. "He wanted to make the community a better community.”

Alcorn worked to attract new businesses to Edmond, serving on the board of directors for the Edmond Chamber of Commerce. He was named Edmond Citizen of the Year in 1976 and was inducted into the Edmond Hall of Fame in 1983.

During World War II, Alcorn served aboard the USS Quincy in the Pacific Theater for two years.

Alcorn was preceded in death by his wife, Naomi.

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