Martin School Inducts Hall of Famers, Honors Alumnus
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 8, 2016) — The University of Kentucky’s Martin School of Public Policy and Administration recently honored a distinguished alumnus and inducted two new members into the Kentucky Public Service Hall of Fame. The awards were presented during the school’s annual Alumni and Friends Reception.
Former Kentucky Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen and Merl Hackbart, the first person ever to serve as director of the Martin School in the early 1970s, were welcomed into the hall of fame. Larry W. Gray, president of Baptist Health Corbin was selected as the school’s distinguished alumnus for 2016.
Martin School Board of Visitors Chair Brad Cowgill said, “When the Martin School honors people of this caliber — people who have elevated the standards of those around them and devoted their lives to the advancement of the common good — we honor the best in ourselves and our own organization.”
Luallen is known as one of the Commonwealth’s most experienced and respected public leaders, after serving with seven governors and being elected twice to statewide office, as state auditor. She also served as state budget director, secretary of the governor’s executive cabinet, secretary of finance, secretary of tourism and commissioner of the Department of the Arts. Luallen is a native of Frankfort and a graduate of Centre College in Danville, where she serves on the board of trustees.
Hackbart joined the UK faculty in 1973 to lead the development of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. A native of South Dakota, he holds a doctoral degree from Kansas State University. Hackbart has served the Commonwealth, the nation and the university in a wide variety of roles, including as a senior fellow at the Council of State Governments, twice as state budget director, interim dean of the Gatton College of Business and Economics, and as a member of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. He is the Provost’s Distinguished Professor of Finance and Public Policy.
Gray holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from UK, a master of divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a master’s degree in health administration (MHA) from UK. He has served as adjunct faculty in the MHA program since 2002 and has participated in the comprehensive exams as a member of review committees. In his role in Corbin, Kentucky, which he has held since 2011, Gray continues to work to expand and enhance the community’s health care services, including cardiology, oncology, women’s care, behavioral health and addiction treatment.