Dr. Brent Bost, physician, author, educator, businessman and five-time Lamar University graduate, will be the keynote speaker for Lamar’s summer commencement at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, in the Montagne Center.
Lamar is scheduled to confer 408 degrees, including 10 doctorates, to graduates from 11 countries, 11 states outside Texas and 55 cities in Texas. The class also includes 225 candidates for 227 bachelor’s degrees and 171 candidates for master’s degrees.
Highlights will include presentation of the Plummer Award, recognizing the top academic graduates in the class of August 2008, and other honors graduates. President James Simmons will present introductions and student recognitions. Stephen Doblin, provost and vice president for academic affairs, will welcome graduates and guests and certify degree candidates.
Kurt Gilman, associate professor of music and president of the Faculty Senate, will lead the academic processional and recessional. Paul Hemenway, professor of communication, and Victoria Price, professor of modern languages (retired) will present the graduating class.
Noel Turner, instructor of voice, will lead in the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Lamar Alma Mater. The Lamar University Brass Ensemble, under the direction of Raul Ornelas, professor of music, will perform the processional, recessional and musical prelude.
Bost – whose five Lamar degrees span the period between 1978 and 1997 – has distinguished himself not only in the field of medicine, but also as a businessman, author, educator and activist on behalf of his alma mater. He began his medical practice in 1985, specializing in obstetrics, gynecology and infertility. He co-founded Southeast Texas OB/GYN Associates in 1995. He is affiliated with CHRISTUS Hospital St. Elizabeth and Baptist Hospital. For several years, his colleagues nationally have selected him as one of the “Best Doctors in America.”
Bost is also the founder and president of Pathfinder Management Systems Inc., a firm engaged in practice management consulting and personal financial planning.
His fields of medical specialization led him to write The Hurried Woman Syndrome (2005, McGraw-Hill) and The Hurried Woman (2001, Vantage Press), in which he applies real-life examples, humor and spirituality to help women better manage the stresses that result in physical problems he has witnessed time and time again in his own patients. The books have attracted national media attention, leading to network television interviews. More than 30,000 copies of the book are now in print. Bost has presented his research, including findings on the “hurried woman syndrome,” at meetings of the American College of Obstetrics and is a sought-after public speaker.
Bost’s business expertise – and his Lamar master’s thesis, “Integration of Physician Services in Managed Care: The Importance of Physician Ownership” – serve him well as the medical profession faces new challenges. He is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Economics and Finance at Lamar, where he serves on the Board of Advisors to the College of Business. Bost has also supported his alma mater by serving as president and board member of the Alumni Association and on the board of the Lamar University Foundation.
Bost earned degrees in chemistry and biology in 1978 and a bachelor of business administration in accounting in 1992, with highest honors. He completed a master of business administration in 1996 and a BBA in economics in 1997 before he became certified as a public accountant in 1999. He graduated in 1981 from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he was honored with the Upjohn Award for outstanding clinical proficiency and served as senior class and student body president. He completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, including service as chief resident.
As a Lamar undergraduate, he was a drum major for the Big Red Marching Band and a member of Kappa Kappa Psi music service fraternity, Beta Beta Beta biological society and the American Chemical Society. He was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, served as secretary of Blue Key and received the Kappa Sigma fraternity’s leadership award. The multi-talented student also performed with the Beaumont Community Players.
Lamar University is a tradition for the Bost family. Dr. Bost’s father, David Bost Sr., was dean of student life, overseeing the University Press, the yearbook and other areas before retiring as a vice president and later returning to teach. His mother, brother and stepmother all graduated from Lamar. Bost has four children, Amanda, Neal, Stephen and Thomas.
