During an educational career that spanned more than 40 years, Dr. Lucille Patton has earned a deserved reputation as one of Oklahoma’s most respected educators.

Patton began her career in 1941 as business education instructor in the tiny Oklahoma town of Hammon and ended it in 1984 as dean of the Special College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Oklahoma.
In between, she left some mighty big footsteps in vocational education, especially in the field of marketing and distributive education. In 1966, she become the first full-time distributive education teacher-educator at Oklahoma State University and in 1971 moved to Edmond to become the first vocational educator at what was then Central State University. In 1972, she became chairman of CSU’s Department of Vocational Teacher Education and four years later was chosen to become the dean of the Special College of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Patton’s education wasn’t all learned in the halls of ivy. She also worked as a secretary and clerk at two Oklahoma oil companies and at Tinker Air Force base and owned a home furnishings store. From 1984 to 1988, she worked as a sales associate with an Edmond realty firm, where she earned the title of million dollar producer for two consecutive years.

Dr. Patton was inducted to the CareerTech Hall of Fame in 1991.