University Names Commencement Speakers for Saturday Ceremony
Keynote speakers for the Spring Commencement at Texas A&M International University have been named for ceremonies scheduled Saturday, May 10 at 10 a.m.
Indoor ceremonies will take place in the recently dedicated Kinesiology/Convocation building, part of the University's new Phase II complex.
Judge Solomon Casseb Jr. will provide the commencement address while Class of 1997 student Carlos Alberto Guzman will provide the student response. An additional highlight of the ceremony will be the presentation of the University's first Faculty Scholar.
Judge Casseb, a San Antonio native, has long had a prominent role in philanthropy in the Gateway City and is familiar to many Laredoans for his leadership as a Trustee of the Bruni- Vergara Trust.
A graduate of St. Mary's University and the University of Texas Law School, he was admitted to practice law in 1938. He also served in the Air Force at the outbreak of World War II and after overseas service was honorably discharged as a Major.
He returned to private practice until his appointment and later election to two terms as Judge of the 57th District Court. He has also served as Presiding Judge of the District Courts of Bexar County and Presiding Judge for the Fourth Administrative District.
Since retiring in 1985, he has served as a Senior District Judge and a member of the Advisory Committee to the Supreme Court of Texas and of the Joint Task Force. He presided over the critical phases of the Pennzoil vs. Texaco case which resulted in the largest jury award in American jurisprudence.
Casseb received the Texas Bar Association's 1987 Outstanding Jurist Award and was named the Outstanding Judge of 1985 by the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and was also cited for his contributions to the legal profession by the American Trial Lawyers Association.
In 1991, he was named Mr. South Texas and selected for Incarnate Word College's prestigious Insigne Verbum Award. The University of Texas Law School established a professorship in his honor in 1992 and in 1994 he received the San Antonio Bar Association's highest honor, the first Joe Frazier Brown Award of Excellence.
In addition to his philanthropic service, Casseb is on the Board of Santa Rosa Medical Center, the San Antonio Heart Foundation and is a Director Emeritus of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition and Honorary Chairman of the San Antonio Bar Foundation.
He is a member of the San Antonio Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association, an advocate of the American Board of Trial Advocates and a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Guzman, who will receive a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance Saturday, has earned a 3.85 Grade Point Average and will graduate Summa Cum Laude. Born and raised in Nuevo Laredo, he and his family came to Laredo in 1988.
The 1993 United High School graduate was included in the 1989-90 edition of Who's Who Among American High School Students. He attended Laredo Community College and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society in 1995 and was listed on The National Dean's List.
He has accepted a position in the Development Program at The Laredo National Bank and plans to earn a Masters of Business Administration at A&M International.
For more information on Spring Commencement Exercises at Texas A&M International University, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at 326 - 2180.
Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu