David Bethea, serving as Senior Manager of Manufacturing Engineering at Aerojet Rocketdyne, presented the commencement address at the 2025 Commencement Ceremony at Southern Arkansas University on Friday, May 9 at W. T. Watson Athletic Center on the SAU campus. He addressed those graduating from the College of Science and Engineering, their families and friends along with the administration and faculty.
Dr. Bruno Hicks, SAU President, introduced David as a 2001 graduate from SAU with a BS in Mathematics. Following the September 11 attacks David enlisted as a commissioned officer in the United States Air Force where his initial assignment was as a Combat Weapons and Tactics Analyst. In 2006, David was selected for the Air Force’s Graduate Degree Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology, earning his MS in Applied Mathematics in 2008.
After graduation David was reassigned as a Weapons, Tactics and Combat Analyst to the Air Force Wargaming Institute. He was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom on three separate deployments serving as a Weapons, Tactics and Combat Analyst.
David transitioned from active duty to the Air Force Reserves and moved back to his hometown of Hampton, Arkansas to begin his career at Aerojet Rocketdyne in East Camden where he oversaw the manufacturing processes of some of the very weapons that he saw used in combat. He and his team worked to improve the manufacturing, safety and quality of the company’s products. After working at Aerojet for thirteen years, he recently accepted a position at Lockheed Martin as Principal Mechanical Engineer, where he will serve as On-site Solid Rocket Motor Hardware Engineering Subject Matter Expert.
In his address, David explained to the future graduates that as a 2001 graduate of Southern Arkansas University he could have never dreamed of the path that his Mathematics degree has taken him, but that his years and experiences at SAU had prepared him well. The encouragement and patience of the SAU faculty and staff afforded him the opportunity to grow and excel, giving him the self-confidence to pursue opportunities as they arose. He encouraged the future graduates to be willing to follow new paths with an open mind and the perseverance skills that they had gained at SAU.
David is a 1997 graduate of Hampton High School. He is married to Lindsey Bethea who is also a graduate of Hampton High School and SAU and has two children, Rhett and Audrey. David is the son of Virgil and Regina Bethea of Hampton.
