Office of the President

Speeches & Reports

Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumni Gala

Oct. 10, 2009

Good evening. It is a pleasure to be with you all as we celebrate the Aggie pride, Aggie spirit and Aggie honor that have been demonstrated time and time again by these most deserving former students.

Pete, Frank, Pablo and Charles — thank you for all that you have done on our behalf.

And to the family members of Jesse Easterwood and Fred Heldenfels — thank you for helping us keep alive the memory of these outstanding Aggies.

I am proud to be a former student of this great university… and humbled to serve as your interim president.

Every day, whether in the position of interim president of Texas A&M or as CEO of our branch campus in Galveston, I am reminded of the power of our Aggie Network, which reaches around the world. And every day, I am thankful for the commitment of our Association of Former Students and for the efforts of individual Aggies such as the great men we are honoring tonight.

They, like so many in the Aggie Family, strive to preserve what makes Texas A&M special while making this university an even better place to prepare future generations of leaders.

We are fortunate to be associated with Texas A&M during one of the university’s most exciting periods of growth and development.

More young people want to attend Texas A&M than ever before, and they come from more diverse backgrounds. We have more faculty than ever before, who have propelled many of our academic programs to rankings among the best in the country.

We are in the midst of a new era of construction and enhancements to our existing facilities. We continue to be recognized by our peer institutions for providing an excellent education at a reasonable cost. Employers continue to seek out our graduates.

We are doing a good job of fulfilling our mission as the state’s land-grant university to improve the lives of Texans through teaching, research and service. We are making great progress toward our goal of becoming one of the nation’s ten best public universities by the year 2020.

As your interim president, I am proud to tell you that we are making great strides forward… and we are doing so without leaving behind the qualities that make Aggies such special people and Texas A&M such a special university.

I am proud to report to you that our Aggie values of loyalty, integrity, respect, excellence, selfless service and leadership are stronger than ever. These are the qualities that create exceptional leaders such as the Aggies we honor tonight, and these are the qualities that I see in our young people every single day.

This, from my perspective, is what the Aggie Spirit is all about. Thank you for all that you do for Texas A&M, and congratulations to these most deserving recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award.