Service tests sailor’s dedication to earn UA degree
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/225369/
FAYETTEVILLE — Pursuing a master’s degree is stressful enough for most people.
Try finishing one in a war zone.
U. S. Navy Lt. Matthew Underwood, formerly stationed in Afghanistan, walked across the stage Saturday at the University of Arkansas to accept his master’s of science in operations management.
Underwood was among the estimated 3, 700 graduates who participated in commencement ceremonies at the state’s flagship campus in Fayetteville.
Underwood, 30, changed his uniform jacket for his graduation robe in the Reynolds Razorback Stadium parking lot. He got help with his hood from his wife, Jennifer, as their two children stood nearby.
Underwood completed about half of the two-year advanced degree in his “hooch” at an Afghan National Army garrison in Jalalabad, about 30 miles from the Pakistan border. He corresponded with his professors via e-mail. His wife sent him the books and DVDs he needed for his classes.
The degree was part of the mission for which Underwood was a volunteer: provide human resources assistance to the Afghan Army.
On Saturday, Underwood thanked the professors who helped him stay on track. He also credited his wife, who stayed behind in Millington, Tenn., to care for their children, William, 6, and Lauren, 4.
During his deployment, Jennifer Underwood collected clothing to pass out to more than 100 Afghan children.
Matthew Underwood grew up in the Memphis area, and he has been in the Navy since 2002. He volunteered for the “temporary additional duty” assignment in Afghanistan.
He helped save the lives of two boys who were injured by one of the thousands of land mines left behind by the Soviet army.
He used the combat life-saving training to help keep the children alive until they could be taken to a hospital.
Underwood went through the University of Memphis ’ Navy ROTC program. He said he’ll likely be back on a ship after the first of the year.
He took part in the College of Engineering’s graduation ceremony at Barnhill Arena. UA held its all-university commencement in the morning, where speaker Terrence Roberts, one of the nine students to integrate Little Rock Central High in September 1957, told graduates he is hopeful that there can be real change in society.
“You don’t want to be judged as not having lived,” Roberts told graduates as camera flashes flickered throughout Bud Walton Arena.
Little Rock Central High School became internationally known Sept. 2, 1957, when Gov. Orval Faubus sent Arkansas National Guardsmen there. Faubus said he called out the National Guard “to maintain... the peace and good order of the community” and directed the Guard to prevent nine black students from entering the school, notwithstanding a court-approved desegregation plan.
On Sept. 20, complying with the order of a federal judge, Faubus removed the guardsmen.
When the black students went to Central three days later on Sept. 23, a violent crowd gathered. The students were removed for their protection. President Eisenhower then federalized the National Guard and sent 101 st Airborne Division troops to the school the next day to enforce the school’s integration. The black students attended school the rest of the year under federal protection. Speaking after the ceremony, Roberts said that during his time at Central High he learned that not all white people are racists and not all black people had his best interests at heart. Things have changed in the 50 years, he said, but that divide still remains, he said. Roberts issued a challenge to graduates in his address. “You are charged with repairing the world even though you know your work will be fruitless,” Roberts said.
To contact this reporter: awallworth@arkansasonline. com