Sessions to Keynote for A&M International Commencement

The Honorable Judge William Steele Sessions will provide the keynote address for members of the Texas A&M International University summer graduating class of 1997 in Commencement Exercises scheduled Saturday, Aug. 16 at 9 a.m. in the Kinesiology-Convocation Building.

Approximately 150 students are scheduled to graduate in the morning ceremonies. Graduating class member Elda Gongora will provide the student response.

An additional highlight of the ceremony will be the formation of a congratulatory corridor at the close of the recessional. Members of the University's faculty, staff and administration will form a human corridor to congratulate exiting members of the class.

A reception will be hosted thereafter by the Student Government Association at the fountain between Canseco Hall and Pellegrino Hall.

Judge Sessions, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to become the fourth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed the Bureau from 1987 to 1993.

Sessions was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas and following graduation from the Baylor University School of Law, was admitted to practice law in Texas in 1959. He practiced law in Waco, Texas as a partner in Haley, Fulbright, Winneford, Sessions and Bice.

With wife Alice, the couple raised three sons and a daughter in Waco. Two of his sons are attorneys, one is a US Congressman from Dallas and his daughter is a professional ballet dancer with the San Francisco Ballet.

After leaving Waco, Sessions served in the United States Department of Justice as Section Chief of the Government Operations Section, Criminal Division. He was then asked to serve as United States District Attorney for the Western District of Texas. President Gerald R. Ford appointed him to become United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas, sitting in El Paso. He served in that post for six years, and was then promoted to Chief United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas, returning to San Antonio to live.

After leaving the Bureau in the summer of 1995, Sessions and his son, Lewis, formed the San Antonio-based law firm of Sessions and Sessions.

In addition to maintaining an active law schedule, he serves as director and consultant for national and international business firms and a mediator and arbitrator of legal disputes. He is also active with the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

His commitments take him to many parts of the world, but Sessions enjoys spending time with his family, especially his eight grandchildren.

For additional information on Summer Commencement Exercises at Texas A&M International University, please contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at 326. 2180.

University office hours are from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

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