On Oct. 13, 2022, The University of Tulsa inducted Tamara D. Pollard and Frank Manning into the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Hall of Fame. Both honorees have displayed their lifetime commitment to TU and their respective careers. Kudos to them both!
Tamara Pollard 
Tamara “Tamy” D. Pollard is a partner and executive in two independent oil and gas companies based in Dallas: Rising Star Petroleum, L.L.C., formed in July 2006 and Rising Star Energy Partners, L.L.C., formed in February 2019.
Pollard was the executive vice president for planning and reserves for RSP Permian, LLC, where she oversaw the company’s reservoir engineering and financial planning and budgeting groups. Pollard and five partners formed RSPP in October 2010. Over the next three-plus years, the company increased proved reserves from 44 MMBOE to over 104 MMBOE. In January 2014, the company was listed on the NYSE. In July 2018, RSPP was sold to Concho Resources, Inc. and later merged into Conoco Phillips. Prior to forming RSPP, she was a principal with Rising Star Energy, LLC, a Natural Gas Partners backed private entity, for more than 14 years. During that time, she and two long-term partners formed Rising Star Petroleum, LLC. The partners formed and sold two companies prior to the formation of RSPP.
She started her career as a reservoir engineering tech with Placid Oil Co. After eight years in the reservoir engineering department, she was promoted to manager of corporate planning. In 1995, after the sale of Placid to Occidental, she joined Lovegrove & Associates as senior reservoir engineer and commercial advisor, performing international M&A work around the globe. In late 1996, she joined Snyder Oil Co. as corporate planning manager before rejoining several colleagues from Placid Oil in 1998 in the first of several Rising Star entities.
An Oklahoma native and graduate of Broken Arrow High School, Pollard received her bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Tulsa and her MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has served on TU’s Engineering Advisory Board since 2003 and actively supports recruiting and mentoring initiatives for the PE department. Pollard represented TU at numerous high school career days throughout Texas. In December 2018, she had the privilege to be the keynote speaker at the dinner for the PE graduates. She serves on the board of directors of Hydrant Repair Parts, Inc. and several affiliated companies. She is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and was a board member of the SPE Dallas Section for several years. In 1999, Pollard was chairman of The Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium. She serves on the University of Oklahoma College of Law MLS-Energy and Natural Resources Advisory Board. She is a member of the United States Eventing Association and supports the Rehoming of Thoroughbred Race Horses initiative. Along with her husband, Tracy, also a TU graduate, she is a long-term financial supporter of TU engineering initiatives.
Frank Manning
Frank Manning was born in Barbados, West Indies, and has been a naturalized U.S. citizen since 1964. Manning’s formal education includes a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from McGill University; and master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from Princeton University. He is also a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma.
From 1959 to 1968, Manning was a chemical engineering professor at The Carnegie Institute of Technology and joined The University of Tulsa in 1968.
At TU, Manning was professor of chemical engineering, 1968- 2013; A. Paul Buthod Professor of Chemical Engineering, 2013-18; and chairman of chemical engineering, 1968-76 and 1979-85. Manning has taught nearly every undergraduate chemical engineering course, six different graduate chemical engineering courses, five engineering “core courses” and three petroleum refining and production courses. Manning served as principal and/or co-investigator in more than 40 research grants or contracts; advised 51 M.S., 25 Ph.D. and two post-doctoral students; and published over 70 publications and three books, including Thermodynamic Properties and Reduced Correlations for Gases (1967), Oilfield Processing of Petroleum, Volume One: Natural Gas (1991) and Oilfield Processing of Petroleum, Volume Two: Crude Oil (1995).
Manning’s activities in professional societies include chairman Allegheny and Midwest Sections of ASEE and ABET/AIChE accreditation visitor for AIChE. He has given numerous industrial short courses on oilfield processing of petroleum in the U.S. and in East Kalimantan, Egypt, England, India, Kuwait, Java, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Sumatra, Trinidad and Venezuela.
Manning received the following honors: Barbados Scholar in Science (1951); the R. W. Hunt Silver Medal from AIME (1969); the Andre Wilkins Memorial Award, Tulsa Section AIChE (1983); and Fellow, AIChE (1984). At The University of Tulsa, Manning received the Tau Beta Pi Teaching Excellence Award in 1986, 1994 and 2008; the Kermit E. Brown Award for Teaching Excellence in 1995 from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the Outstanding Teacher Award in 1995; Mortar Board’s Scotch and Smokes Award in 1996; and Mr. Homecoming in 2016. The Midwest Section of ASEE awarded Manning the Outstanding Teaching Award and The Deans’ Outstanding Faculty Award in 1999 and the Outstanding Service Award in 2004.