Featured Alumnus

Dennis Haley

Dennis Haley (BS Zoology 1969) is a fine example of how an education in Arts and Sciences prepares one to meet the challenges associated with career and life-style changes.  Haley has enjoyed two very different professional careers, initially a practicing dentist and later a floral distributor. Throughout it all, he has been a staunch supporter of the university that prepared him for his life's journey.

A Lubbock native, Haley was born into the floral distribution business that his father Ed Haley founded, and he spent his teenage years like so many others sons and daughters of small businessmen, working at a variety of menial jobs that are necessary to learn about a business from the bottom up. As a teenager he had dreams of becoming a dentist and pursued them by first becoming a Zoology major at TTU and then, after graduating with a BS, by enrolling in the University of Texas Dental Branch, completing his dental degree in 1973. Haley had a successful career as a practicing dentist in Fort Worth and then moved back to Lubbock where he practiced dentistry for several more years.

In the early 1980s, however, Haley began to lose enthusiasm for his dental practice, and the opportunity came to take over his family's floral distribution business (Lubbock Wholesale Florist) that had grown to include all of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, and to receive and distribute to retailers flowers, plants, and floral supplies from growers around the world. This would be a new challenge, but, as it turns out, he was definitely up to it. Business acumen is based on both specific knowledge and critical thinking skills, each acquired and honed during university studies, and Haley has put them to good use in responding to the issues and needs facing his business, each day making far-reaching decisions that affect his buying, marketing, and distribution plans.

Naturally, Haley is impressed with the changes, both physical and otherwise, that have occurred at Tech since he graduated.  When asked about the growth of Texas Tech, especially that which has occurred in recent years and also that which is projected in the strategic plan and quest for Tier 1 status, Haley replied, “The growth of TTU is impressive and the university has grown tremendously while keeping a small town atmosphere.” When asked about similarities between growing a business and growing a university, he replied, “A university is similar to a business – you have to grow and can't afford to stagnate.”

Congratulations, Dennis, on what you have accomplished. The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to have had a part in your success.