TAMIU Annual Report 2018

2018 Annual Report / IMPACT Retired TAMIU Professor A ‘North Star’ for Others If the measure of a life is a measure of love and respect, 45-year veteran of Laredo’s higher education profession, Dr. Julio F. Madrigal, is indeed loved and respected. This past January, Dr. Madrigal, former Texas A&M International University executive director of Special Programs, celebrated his retirement among friends and colleagues at TAMIU’s Helen Richter Watson Gallery in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library. TAMIU provost and vice president for Academic Affairs Dr. Tom Mitchell said Madrigal’s lifetime impact on education here defies measure. “In the remarkable arc of his years of educating and leading, his impact is beyond measure. His students have gone from classrooms to research laboratories and boardrooms, leading change and vastly improving their quality of life and that of the communities they now serve, many in our Laredo-Webb County area. His passion, drawn from his own life experience, encouraged students to find their way, without limits, regardless of perceived barriers.  This is the epitome of what educators strive for: to help students realize their true potential, and then reach further still.  “He is an inspiration to us all and will be the North Star that others must follow to achieve and exceed,” Dr. Mitchell said. A C H I E V E M E N T S / I M PA C T Thompson’s Historical Impact is Simply Award-winning One of TAMIU’s most prolific authors, Regents Professor Dr. Jerry D. Thompson, is the recipient of four prestigious awards, one from the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), another from the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL), a third from the Webb County Heritage Foundation and a fourth from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). The TSHA named Dr. Thompson its recipient of the Mary Jon and J. P. Bryan Leadership in Education Award. Thompson is also among a select group of 2018 TIL Prize winners.  His “Tejano Tiger:  José de los Santos Benavides and the Texas-México Borderlands, 1823-1891,” received the Ramírez FamilyAward for Most Significant Scholarly Book. “Tejano Tiger” was also a Pulitzer Prize nominee. Last May, the Webb County Heritage Foundation also named him its recipient of the Elizabeth Gill and Sam Johnson, III Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of an individual making significant contributions to the preservation of Webb County Heritage on a continuous basis. This September, Thompson was named one of 12 Laredoans to receive the prestigious 2018 Tejano Achievement Award presented by Laredo’s LULAC Council No. 12 for his service to Tejano history. He has been a cherished TAMIU faculty member since 1987 and is one of the country’s leading experts on the Civil War in the Southwest.  Thompson has taught in Laredo over 50 years and is the author or editor of 26-plus books on the US-México borderlands.  14