Richards university of company Celebrates Milestones whenever Roy Richards Jr. talks about their father’s 1

December 24, 2020

UWG News

by Gary Leftwich

Whenever Roy Richards Jr. talks about their father’s 1931 graduating class picture through the district that is fourth class, he views significantly more than smiling faces and scholastic regalia. He views hope—hope that stays as strong at the University of West Georgia as it was when the camera shutter snapped on that photo today.

Roy Richards Jr.

“They had been farm men and farm girls,” Richards—chairman of Southwire business , launched by their dad, told an audience collected recently to commemorate the anniversary that is 50th of company college while the twentieth anniversary of this naming associated with Richards university of company .

“This organization had the capability to alter their everyday lives,” he added, attributing most of that capacity to Irvine S. Ingram, the school’s principal at that time. “He can find in individuals the capability to go on to the following channels of the everyday everyday everyday lives.”

Eighty-six years later on, that continues to be the priority that is top of Richards university.

“We are in the industry of changing everyday lives through training engagement and experiences,” stated Dr. Faye McIntyre, dean associated with the university. “We are dedicated to training the business enterprise leaders of the next day, if they stay here in Georgia or go to other areas associated with globe.”

Growing up within the tiny hamlet of Hulett, about a dozen kilometers through the UWG campus, Roy Richards Sr. matured through the tough lifetime of this rural Southern throughout the Great Depression. Not really in their teenagers, he began their first task cotton that is picking 10 cents each day, getting compensated every fourteen days.

Their very first paycheck of $5 funded the removal of a enamel that began aching right before payday.

Dr. Faye McIntyre

“Dad stated, ‘We had been poor. But, every person all around us ended up being bad, so we didn’t understand we had been bad,” Richards Jr. recalled.

The son of an entrepreneur that is“highly motivated” the elder Richards went their father’s saw mill, churning out lumber at age 10. At 14, he quit college to perform the company regular, managing worker issues, payroll therefore the mill’s basic procedure.

One early morning, a person stopped during the mill, asking Richards Sr. where his daddy ended up being. The answer ended up being, “I don’t understand.” After waiting around for almost all of the workday, the person asked once more where their daddy ended up being.

“It ended up being he recognized he had been performing a man’s work,” Richards Jr. stated of their daddy. “That helped him understand exactly just just just what he could do.”

After that, Richards Sr. went to Berry university after which into the district that is online payday loans Iowa no credit check fourth class. Ingram’s support directed their road to Georgia Tech, where he obtained a diploma in engineering.

Going back to Carroll County, Richards Sr. began Southwire for A march that is cool morning 1950 by having a dozen workers and three second-hand wire-making machines. Today, the organization, nevertheless headquartered in Carrollton, employs some 7,500 individuals global and it is North America’s wire that is largest and cable producer therefore the 3rd biggest on the planet.

“I spent my youth within the shadow for this institution,” Richards Jr. stated. “This organization has filled hope and opportunity to our community. The University of western Georgia is really a beacon of light, not merely for greater learning, but also for what exactly is feasible in well being, possibility and training.”

Dr. Kyle Marrero

Together, Southwire while the Richards university of company developed the Southwire Sustainable company Honors Program , allowing pupils to make both bachelor’s and master’s levels, along side a certification in sustainable company, in four years. Pupils work alongside business professionals on sustainability programs and business that is developing, that they provide to top leadership.

Richards stated Southwire employs 90 pupil employees from UWG. About 325 employees—10 % associated with the company’s neighborhood base—are UWG alums.

“Our business wouldn’t normally have prospered without this organization so we could perhaps not continue steadily to prosper with no partnership we share,” Richards Jr. stated.

Year founded in 1967 and led by Dr. Mark Miller, the Division of Business and Economic Studies conferred 64 degrees in its first. The very first MBA had been granted in 1971 as well as the unit became the western Georgia university class of Business 2 yrs later on. With help from the Richards household, the college ended up being called in honor of Roy Richards Sr. in 1997.

A year ago, the school conferred 545 levels, pushing its total to 15,123. Three quarters of teachers hold doctoral levels and all sorts of of those are active in research. That research has been cited by other people significantly more than 17,000 times.

Seeking to the long run, McIntyre and UWG President Kyle Marrero shared plans for the brand new building to house the faculty. The task stays when you look at the design and fundraising phases.

“This would be a house that brings all of us together,” McIntyre stated. “We have been around in two separate structures for 14 years now and now we are searching ahead to presenting everyone else underneath the same roof.”

“This building is the peak of continuing our legacy in to the future,” Marrero stated. “Somewhere around 2020ish, I will be in a position to have pupils head into those halls and carry on our legacy. I’m excited to create together to check out where we could just just just simply take ourselves in the foreseeable future.”