Otha Thornton
- MS Operations Management 2001
Otha Thornton came to Michigan Tech as an ROTC officer and left as an alumnus. As Major Thornton, he served three years as an Assistant Professor of Military Science. As student Thornton, he earned a Master's in Rhetoric and Technical Communication, with his research focusing on the Army's officer evaluation system.
Thornton earned a B.A. degree in Urban Management from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1989. Since then, he has spent his career with the Army. His duties have taken him from Hawaii to Upper Michigan, from Germany to Washington D.C., where he now works as a presidential communications officer in the White House Communications Agency, located in the Executive Office Building. The agency numbers 1,200 people. He supervises 26.
In May he will go to Iraq as a personnel officer, basically helping to direct the "flow of people" who are being deployed there as part of the surge in the number of troops being sent to that country. He will leave behind two children, one in high school and one in college, and his wife, Caryn, a high school administrator.
His community service includes the National Board of Directors of the Parent Teacher Association and the Boy Scouts. He was named Cub Scout Leader of the Year in 2002 by the Boy Scout's Hiawatha Council.
Thornton received the Alumni Association's Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2003.
He is featured as the keynote speaker at Michigan Tech's Spring Commencement on May 2, and will also be awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters at that time.
Excerpted from the 2003 Alumni Reunion Awards Program and Tech Today (2-26-09)
Updated April 2009
Thornton earned a B.A. degree in Urban Management from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1989. Since then, he has spent his career with the Army. His duties have taken him from Hawaii to Upper Michigan, from Germany to Washington D.C., where he now works as a presidential communications officer in the White House Communications Agency, located in the Executive Office Building. The agency numbers 1,200 people. He supervises 26.
In May he will go to Iraq as a personnel officer, basically helping to direct the "flow of people" who are being deployed there as part of the surge in the number of troops being sent to that country. He will leave behind two children, one in high school and one in college, and his wife, Caryn, a high school administrator.
His community service includes the National Board of Directors of the Parent Teacher Association and the Boy Scouts. He was named Cub Scout Leader of the Year in 2002 by the Boy Scout's Hiawatha Council.
Thornton received the Alumni Association's Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2003.
He is featured as the keynote speaker at Michigan Tech's Spring Commencement on May 2, and will also be awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters at that time.
Excerpted from the 2003 Alumni Reunion Awards Program and Tech Today (2-26-09)
Updated April 2009
