TWO DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERS TO BE INDUCTED INTO ENGINEERING HALL OF FAME

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Rodger S. Kline and Ralph E. Martin, two distinguished University of Arkansas College of Engineering alumni, will be inducted into the Engineering Hall of Fame during the college commencement ceremony on Saturday. The Engineering Hall of Fame honors prominent graduates and engineers who have made outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and society.

Rodger S. Kline is chief operating officer, company operations leader and director for Acxiom Corporation. He received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the U of A in 1966. This month marks Mr. Kline’s 30^th anniversary with Acxiom, a $1 billion public company headquartered in Little Rock, Ark. He joined the company in 1973 as director of marketing and was promoted to executive vice president and named to the Board of Directors in 1975. He has also served as chief information officer, treasurer and chief financial officer.

Acxiom Corporation is a recognized leader in customer information technology. Computerworld has selected the company as one of the magazine’s "Top 100 Best Places to Work in Information Technology," and this year the company ranked for the fifth time on Fortune’s list of "100 Best Companies to Work For."

Mr. Kline is a member of the UA Campaign for the Twenty-First Century Steering Committee and the College of Engineering Campaign Committee. He is also a member of the

Arkansas Academy of Electrical Engineering and currently serves as chairman of the College of Engineering Advisory Council.

Ralph E. Martin is chairman of the board of Petrofac, Inc., a full service engineering, fabrication and construction contractor specializing in the design of hydrocarbon processing plants based in Tyler, Texas. He earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1958 and a M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1960 from the U of A.

Following graduation, Mr. Martin moved to Tyler to accept a position with Howe Baker Engineers. In 1972, he and a fellow chemical engineer formed their own engineering company, Marsco, which they sold eight years later. The following year, Mr. Martin and several former Marsco employees formed Petrofac, Inc.

Under Mr. Martin’s guidance, Petrofac has grown from fewer than 50 employees in 1981 to its current status as a world leader in the design and fabrication of refineries and gas plants for the oil refining, oil production, gas treating and petrochemical industries. With offices in Tyler, London, England and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, Petrofac has designed and built refineries in over a dozen foreign countries in the past two decades.

Mr. Martin serves on the UA College of Engineering Advisory Council and the college committee for the UA Campaign for the Twenty-First Century.